Partnership and Advocacy Specialist

Temporaire, Temps plein · Syria

Your mission

Objective of the Role

The Partnership and Advocacy Specialist will lead the implementation and monitoring of War Child’s partnership framework, ensuring that localisation commitments are operationalised and measured across all Syria programmes.

The role focuses on building equitable, transparent, and accountable relationships with local partners, promoting partner-led design and decision-making, and facilitating joint advocacy, funding, and visibility initiatives. In addition, the role will strengthen joint media presence and narrative coherence.

The Specialist will serve as the focal point for partnership management and advocacy coordination in Syria, ensuring that War Child’s localisation matrix is applied, measured, and reported at the country level.

The role works closely with the Regional Advisors to align Syria’s advocacy, communication and partnerships priorities with War Child’s regional and global agendas.

Position within the Organisation

The Partnership and Advocacy Specialist is part of the Programme Quality & Development Department and reports to the Head of Program Quality & Development.

The role will have the following key relations:

Internal: HPQD, Grant team, Area and Programme Managers, MEAL Team, Regional Advocacy Advisor, Regional Comms Coordinator, Technical Coordinators in the three hubs (Jordan and North Syria)
External: Implementing Partners, local NGOs & INGO’s, community networks, coordination mechanisms, and relevant ministries.

Result Areas

1. Partnership Management and Relationship Quality

Facilitate the development, renewal, and tracking of MoUs with local/national organisations, ensuring that each includes mutual accountability and transparency clauses.
Ensure regular partnership review meetings, joint monitoring visits, and collaborative evaluations with local partners.
Track capacity-strengthening initiatives, ensuring partner-prioritised needs are addressed through technical support, training, and learning exchanges.
Organise and document partners learning and consultation sessions with implementing partners and report effectively the findings of it.
Produce partners facts sheets and provide input in the organisation annual reports and stories of change.
Coordinate and participate in the localization working group at Head office level and help in ensuring the standards/process/indicators to be reflected at Country office level.

2. Governance and Local Power-Sharing

Facilitate and document partner participation in institutional mechanisms, such as partners’ forums, advisory groups, steering committees, and annual planning processes.
Coordinate joint recruitments and shared selection panels where relevant to enhance local representation in War Child’s governance and staffing.
Track and report on local partner representation in War Child’s decision-making bodies, ensuring progress toward the 50% target of local participation.
Facilitate coordination mechanisms that enhance local actor leadership in working groups, networks, and sector coordination platforms.
Track and report on local partner influence in agenda-setting, working group creation, and joint advocacy outcomes.

3. Funding and Financial Empowerment

Support and document co-design of project proposals, annual plans, and budgets with local partners from inception.
Facilitate joint project exit/handover plans co-signed with partners, embedding sustainability and ownership from the start.
Collect partner feedback and satisfaction data on their participation in War Child’s strategic and operational planning.
Track and report the proportion of total annual funding and grants directly awarded to local partners, including core/flexible funding allocations.
Monitor and document the inclusion of institutional development components and budget lines for partner strengthening in project proposals and budgets.

4. Advocacy, Visibility, and Credit Sharing

Lead on joint advocacy initiatives and coordinate joint visibility with partners and donors, ensuring local actors are co-credited in external communications and public outputs.
Track and report on the quality and proportion of advocacy initiatives and communication outputs that are co-authored, co-branded, or co-owned with local partners
Support documentation of joint policy briefs, research papers, or evidence-based advocacy initiatives where local/national partners are authors or contributors.
Maintain a joint advocacy log in coordination with the Communications and Advocacy Leads.
Support the development and execution of advocacy initiatives, ensuring that policy-level perspectives and contextual insights are regularly communicated to the Regional Advocacy Advisor.
Support implementing partners to co-develop press content, and advocacy briefs that reflect local leadership and War Child’s localisation agenda.
Contribute to the design of joint influencing strategies that connect local and national priorities to regional and global policy opportunities.

5. Communications & Media

Support the coordination of communications and media engagement from partners to ensure coherent messaging, joint visibility, and alignment with War Child’s advocacy priorities and communication guidelines.
Support partners in developing and implementing joint communication plans and media materials, ensuring that local voices and achievements are effectively represented across national and international platforms.
Facilitate partner capacity-building on media visibility, storytelling, and ethical communication, promoting shared ownership and equitable credit in all public outputs.
Oversee the collection and quality of communication materials (stories, visuals, press releases) from partners and ensure timely contribution to War Child’s regional and global channels through the Regional Comms Coordinator.
In coordination with the Grants Coordinator, track and report on the visibility and credit-sharing indicators across partner-produced communication outputs, including meeting grants’ comms/visibility requirements and guidelines, ensuring proper attribution and compliance.
Encourage and guide partners, in coordination with Advocacy and Comms leads, to target the most prominent contextual issues their communities are facing through their communication materials, with consideration of any relevant sensitivities.

Your profile

Knowledge and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, Development Studies, International Relations, or related field.
Minimum 5 years of experience in partnership coordination, localisation, or advocacy within INGOs or UN agencies.
Proven experience in managing local partnerships, capacity strengthening and advocacy.
Strong understanding of localisation agenda, CHS, and equitable partnership frameworks.
Strong coordination and organisation skills, in addition to partnership facilitation and relationship building.
Experience facilitating multi-stakeholder coordination, workshops, and advocacy initiatives.
Excellent analytical, communication, and reporting skills in Arabic and English.

Skills and Competencies

Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on critical thinking and defining clear pathways for success.
Highly developed networking skills and ability to form productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Familiarity with MEAL and localisation monitoring systems.
Demonstrated experience in advocacy and external representation.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills including the ability to give and receive feedback.
Strong cultural awareness and ability to collaborate effectively with diverse backgrounds and cultures.
Ability to travel and work within challenging environments, this includes all the hub areas we are serving (Jordan, North Syria, etc.).
Flexibility and adaptability to respond to changing needs, including the willingness to adjust work practices and hours in emergencies, with the possibility of short notice travels

What we offer

Location: The position will be based in Syria-Damascus with field visits.
Professional Development: Opportunities for capacity building and growth, both within the role and through War Child’s broader network.
Meaningful Impact: The chance to make a tangible difference in the lives of children and families affected by conflict, contributing to long-term, sustainable change.
Equal Opportunities: War Child is an inclusive employer committed to diversity and inclusion, respecting all individuals regardless of age, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or physical ability.
Workplace Culture: War Child is dedicated to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace that prioritizes safety and fairness for all individuals. We strictly prohibit any form of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying within our organization

Why You Should Apply

Make a Real Impact: Your work will directly contribute to providing quality education to children who need it most, creating lasting change in their lives.
Career Growth: Join a dynamic organization that values your professional development and offers opportunities for learning, growth, and innovation.
Collaborative and Mission-Driven: Work alongside passionate colleagues and partners united in a mission to protect children and help them thrive despite adversity.

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit their applications by December 23, 2025.
We are reviewing submissions on a rolling basis, so early applications are strongly recommended.

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About us

The War Child Alliance is an international non-governmental organization committed to providing psychosocial support, child protection, youth empowerment programming and quality education to the children affected by armed conflict. We implement evidence-based interventions to empower key stakeholders—including governments, educators, caregivers, and communities—to foster children’s wellbeing, education, and self-determination. We work with global teams with team members being based in different locations. War Child is currently operates in: Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Colombia, DR Congo, Germany, Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, South Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine (soon to be registered), and Yemen. We also have offices in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Learn more about War Child and our programmes https://www.warchild.net/

Safeguarding and Integrity
Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm. All (prospective) employees will be expected to be compliant with and sign up to our Child Safeguarding policy, our Code of Conduct and PSEA: Adults at Risk Policy. You can find the Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk policy here: Integrity & Safeguarding - Home

Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) and Belonging (DEIB)
We value diversity and inclusion and are committed to ensuring that all our people and job applicants are treated fairly, irrespective of where, what or whom they were born, or of other characteristics. We want to offer a safe and inclusive workplace where all our people, especially those who are currently marginalised or underrepresented, can be themselves at work. You can read our Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) and Belonging (DEIB) policy on our website, and if you have any questions about our commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) and Belonging (DEIB) do get in touch: DEIB.team@warchild.net

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