Senior International Advocacy Manager

Reports to:                       Head of UK Advocacy
Location:                          UK  - Hybrid working with 1-2 days per week from London
Salary:                              £48k - £58k per annum dependent on experience 
Contract:                          Full-time, Permanent
Hours                                35 hours per week, Monday to Friday 

About Malaria No More UK

Malaria has been described as the oldest killer disease in history. Even now, despite recent progress, it claims the life of a child every minute.

Malaria No More UK (MNMUK) brings proven global experience and expertise in advocacy and creative communications to the zero-malaria fight. From our locations in London, UK and Nairobi, Kenya we aim to accelerate an end to this deadly disease by:

• Securing leadership and investment globally and in the UK
• Building a powerful, united voice for the global malaria campaign to hold leaders to account
• Strengthening local advocacy capacity in key countries in Africa

Since 2000, the world has made enormous progress. The global malaria fight is becoming the biggest public health success story in history, and we are determined to maintain momentum.

Job summary

Malaria No More UK is looking for an exceptional leader to further build and drive our work influencing Westminster and Whitehall and who can work with sector partners, business leaders and champions in the UK and global to strengthen parliamentary engagement and reach. In a period of significant political uncertainty, this is an exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to ensure that the UK can rebuild its role as a leader in the fight to end malaria - using its convening power, financial muscle and political voice in both domestic and international arenas.

You will have excellent understanding of parliamentary systems and procedures and excellent political nous. The role holder will be a self-starter who can think innovatively about how to create and deliver engaging campaigns for parliamentarians and who can convene a range of business leaders and science experts, amongst others, to engage and propel action in parliament and the UK government to end malaria. As an articulate and confident influencer, demonstrating political awareness and sensitivity, you will create sustainable relationships and represent the charity both internally and externally and play an active an engaged role in both supporting UK activity and the broader activities of the charity as a whole.

Key responsibilities 

• Design and lead the delivery of our UK advocacy strategy, with support from the UK Constituency Advocacy Manager, UK Advocacy Officer and APPG co-ordinator, who are direct reports, and the wider team to inspire increased support from the UK government for the malaria campaign.
• Develop strong relationships with relevant players in and around Parliament and across Government: including identifying, recruiting and working with champions, key influencers and political targets, and developing targeted collateral such as issue briefs and submissions.
• Monitor UK and international debates and policy on international development; working with the policy team and others to identify opportunities for influence.
• Monitor and report on the impact of our UK advocacy strategy and evolving external context, informing evidenced based strategy development and course corrections, contributing to organisational funding proposals.
• Coordinate and drive efforts for UK leadership and action on malaria and global health through the Commonwealth and other international platforms (e.g., UN, G7 etc.)
• Work closely with colleagues to identify and build synergies between our UK and International Advocacy, policy and communications work.
• Work collaboratively with the communications team to develop and deliver effective digital and traditional media and thought leader opportunities.
• Build external relationships and coalitions in the development sector and beyond in support of the malaria campaign and ensure an intelligence and insight driven advocacy strategy.
• Provide briefings for directors and external partners on the context and status of the government relations strategy, including in advance of meetings with senior politicians and civil servants.
• Provide ad hoc support to the CEO and Leadership Team to develop and support other areas of work as required.
• Undertake any other reasonable additional duties as required by MNMUK.

 Qualifications, skills and experience  

Essential 

• Experience of overseeing the design and delivery of innovative high-impact advocacy and/or campaigns which have influenced governments, parliamentarians and the media to bring about change in policy, practice or funding.
• Superb communication skills and demonstrable experience of effective oral and written communications with a range of diverse audiences, e.g., staging advocacy events, formal submissions, presentations, media briefings and engaging correspondence with key individuals.
• Strong research and analytical skills and an ability to get up to speed quickly on new issues.
• Experience of working in or around UK Parliament and Whitehall and an excellent understanding of UK political parties, key institutions and processes, including parliamentary groups, committees and government departments relevant to the role.
• Experience of leading a team and working across disciplines to lead co-ordinated campaigns, particularly on digital communications, press and policy.
• A willingness and ability to travel overseas occasionally as required.

Desirable 

• Experience of working in international development and on global health issues.
• Experience of working in coalition of a variety of stakeholders.
• Experience of working with UK government and influencers to project UK influence abroad
• Experience of identifying and recruiting new cross-sector champions and cultivating high level influencer engagement including long-term relationship management.

Key Qualities

• A “can do” attitude and team player with ability to think quickly, proactively and strategically.
• A willingness and ability to travel within the UK and overseas occasionally as required.
• We are seeking individuals who are committed to fostering a workplace culture that embraces fairness, kindness and respect towards their colleagues.
• High awareness of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues and practice.

MNMUK recognises the value of a team in which people from diverse backgrounds can introduce fresh ideas and contribute to delivering our mission to make Malaria No More. We welcome applications from candidates, regardless of their race, gender, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

Staff Benefits Include:

• 10% employer pension contributions.
• 28 days’ annual leave plus public holiday days in the postholders country of residence.
• Private medical insurance may be available for non-UK residents depending on the postholders country of residence.
• Subsidised gym membership
• Fully flexible working opportunities
• Interest-free staff season ticket loan and bicycle loan schemes.
• Continuing personal development opportunities.
• Professional training & qualifications subsidy.

Application and Interview Process

To apply, please send your CV and a covering statement detailing how you fit the role and why you want to work for us. Please also indicate your current salary expectations in your covering statement. We value transparency and aim to offer competitive renumeration packages based on experience, relevant qualifications and market standards.

Closing Date: 6th January 2024 – Please note that this vacancy may close early if we receive a sufficient number of applications. Therefore, we encourage interested candidates to apply promptly.

There will be a two interview process conducted via Microsoft Teams.

This job description and person specification is a statement of requirements at the time of writing and is not contractual or exhaustive. It should not be seen as precluding future changes after appointment to this role and it may be amended over time in consultation with your line-manager and the Director.