Platform for Development Organizations – Ambrela is the umbrella organization of 28 development, mostly non-governmental organizations in Slovakia (18 full members and 10 observers), which are dedicated to development cooperation, humanitarian aid, global development education and / or sustainable development, at home or abroad. Ambrela represents their common interests at home and abroad.

Our Ambrela is currently looking for a colleague – an expert in advocacy and public policy

Type of contract: part-time

Period: February 2021 – June 2021 (project period)

Remuneration: 600 eur / month

Selection Criteria 

• Eager and required to adhere to Ambrela’s principles and values as well as its strategy and role as a national platform.
• Master’s degree in relevant discipline with at least 5 years relevant professional experience in a similar function within international development context 
• Proven ability to communicate and adapt complex policy and development issues to different levels of target audience (essential)
• Ability to work effectively under pressure, prioritize and juggle multiple tasks within tight deadlines, and to deliver time-sensitive high-quality work. 
• Strong conceptual and research/analytical skills with the ability to quickly analyze data and information from different sources and produce coherent reports.
• Strong interpersonal and coordination skills, ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to think and operate strategically and creatively.
• Demonstrated strength in written and oral communications. 
• Ability to communicate and write competently in English.
• Proven experience of using MS Office applications (Word, Excel and Power Point)

The aim of the policy and advocacy expert is:

– to contribute to the Eurodad policy and advocacy activities and objectives at EU and international level in the field of development finance.

– to contribute to and advocate for Slovak ODA effectiveness at the national level and to share an analysis of the Slovak development sector with the Eurodad members

– to monitor, analyze and advocate for just inclusion of business sector in development cooperation that would be transparent, systematic, aligned with human rights and the strategic documents and contribute in a measurable way to the SDGs while fostering the role of CSOs in the changing environment that must not be deteriorated by expansion of other actors in development cooperation.

He/she is expected to be in charge/ contribute to the following activities but not limited to:

• mapping of the advocacy possibilities and partnership opportunities with stakeholders in the field of aid effectivness.
• two trainings on specific topics in the fields above and to be further specified between Eurodad and the applicant.
• Sharing and learning meeting with Eurodad members
• at least 3 advocacy/ policy papers produced and 3 processes/ documents to be involved in at the national level
• two 2 online/ on site discussions on selected ODA topics with Slovak and international officials, decision makers, experts, politicians
• one day conference on Aid effectiveness and post COVID-19 world

The expert will work closely with the Ambrela staff, namely the advocacy officer and senior project manager. 

Strategic areas of Ambrela and Eurodad:

The Development sector in Slovakia seems to be in a transitional period, similarly to the international level, whereas it is not fully clear where it is heading. This project aims at contributing to and safeguarding this transition from the perspective of the vision of the Slovak civil society and its partners including Eurodad and its members. This project relates to all 4 Eurodad 5-year objectives within the area of Development finance.

More specifically the project focuses on 3 following annual objectives outlined in Eurodad strategy: 

Annual objectives 1 and 2: to shift the prevailing development finance narrative in both streams (i) to provide clear and strategically focused messages and evidence-based research that challenges the current development finance paradigm and to strengthten calls for alternative approaches (ii) to provide space for CSO action, strengthening and coordinating CSO coalitions for change.

Annual objective 3 to contribute to make progress towards increasing the quantity and quality of international public finance.

10 joint activities of Eurodad and its members where there’s a lot overlapping with Ambrela strategic goals are the following but not limited to:

• Increased number and diversity of CSOs groups, including CSOs from the global south. Here Ambrela suggest to also include those CSOs that are in Slovak ODA partner countries.
• Agenda setting report on Sustainable Finance for Sustainable Infrastructure, with case studies from partners, and follow up work on financing infrastructure in Africa. Here we suggest to take stock on including also a study on a Slovak ODA partner country (e.g. Kenya, Lebanon, Georgia, Ethiopia etc.). This can be done in collaboration with other Eurodad members specially if there’s an overlapping in geographic focus.
• Follow up briefing on the implications of COVID-19 for ODA. Support in follow up, signing memorandums, co-drafting positions. We plan to dedicate a good portion of our AidWatch to COVID-19 and contribute to this topic on Eurodad level as well.
• At least two public CSOs policy positions, addressing the use of private sector instruments.
• Joint policy positions with Northern and Southern CSO groups on issues concerning development effectiveness in the run-up to the next GPEDC High Level Meeting
• Participation in next GPEDC HLM
• Regular meetings with DAC delegates including the preparation for the DAC/ OECD (Mid-term Peer Review of Slovakia), in the first quarter of 2022 but it would be of great interest to us if we can contribute to any such similar and other meetings with DAC in case of other Eurodad members peer reviews to share, learn and support each other.
• Capacity building workshops on PPPs, including webinars, for CSOs from North and South.
• Support at the selected meetings within G20 process in 2021, The first pillar, People, recognizes that policies will need to be people-centered. This means tackling poverty and inequality with determination, creating conditions conducive to protecting those who are most vulnerable and promoting women’s empowerment. We identified the work of two bodies relevant for us: Development Working Group and Engagement group: Civil 20. LDCs are very neglected in the Slovak ODA and there’s to be improved in women’s empowerment as well.
• Participation in 2021 UN Financing for Development Forum in April, 

Information about the hiring process:

If you are interested in this position, please send your CV to: daniel.kaba@ambrela.org. Based on the submitted materials, the selected candidate will then be invited for a personal interview. The ToR document can be downloaded here.

Estimated closing date: January 31.