The purpose of the Initiative to Strengthen Local Administrations (ISLA) Program is to strengthen the sub-national government system in Afghanistan to enable the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) to improve provincial governance in the areas of fiscal and development planning, representation of citizens, and enhanced delivery of public services. USAID ISLA will strengthen subnational systems in the areas of planning, operations, communication, representation, and citizen engagement. Improvements in these areas, along with the passage of legal frameworks for sub-national governance by GIRoA will improve the government’s ability to prioritize service delivery and develop central plans and budgets that represent provincial interests. This will lead to services that more closely respond to all citizens’ needs in health, education, security, justice, and urban services. As all citizens benefit from public services, their perception of government legitimacy will increase. The core problems to be addressed are better integration of provincial priorities into the national plan and budget, and improving the flows of information. The program will work within the existing system to improve its functionality. This will be done by fostering a combination of top-down and bottom-up consultative processes between central and provincial levels to formulate plans and budgets that align with local community priorities, national developmental priorities, and available resources. USAID ISLA will work in 16 target provinces in all four major regions of the country.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Sr. Public Engagement and Advocacy Advisor will mainly support Components C (Inclusive Advocacy), and D (Public Engagement) of the USAID ISLA Project. Under Component C, the project will improve the ability of provincial actors to represent citizen interests in planning and service delivery, and to advocate to their central-level counterparts for the inclusion of provincial development priorities in national plans and budgets. Under Component D, USAID ISLA will improve the ability of provincial authorities to reach out to citizens and inform them of government decisions, actions, and general information while soliciting feedback to understand citizen priorities and needs.
The Advisor will build capacity and systems for advocacy of GIRoA counterparts at the national and provincial levels to ensure that the specific development needs of the provinces are met and appropriate resources are allocated to support them. The Advisor will also strengthen engagement, communications, and coordination between the Ministry of Economy (MoEc), the Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG) and provincial stakeholders – Provincial Councils (PCs), civil society organizations (CSOs), community groups and representatives of the private sector – to understand local development and governance priorities and citizen needs. In addition to these technical responsibilities, the Sr. Public Engagement and Advocacy Advisor will support the communications and reporting functions of the project, to ensure that progress is accurately documented and project accomplishments and lessons learned are captured and shared with USAID and the project’s local stakeholders.
Illustrative Tasks and Activities
*Provide technical inputs to the development of a roll-out process for provincial and inter-ministerial advocacy plans, guidelines, and templates. This will include the development of a strategy for the engagement of different provincial and national actors and the preparation of presentations and other communication materials on the advocacy plans.
*Map existing advocacy systems and mechanisms and identify current information flows and linkages between and among provincial and national government entities in the subnational governance arena. Identify and support implementation of improvements in the systems and strengthen the public engagement and advocacy capabilities of provincial and national government entities.
*Support the development of provincial advocacy plans, guidelines, and templates, which reflects strong communication mechanisms between the provincial and national levels. The advocacy plan, guidelines and template will clarify the role of different provincial actors; establish mechanisms for provincial and national offices to share information and advocate for provincial priorities to line ministries and the Ministry of Finance (MoF); identify indicators to monitor results; and articulate the dissemination process and implementation plan.
*Support the development of inter-ministerial advocacy mechanisms and plans that strengthen horizontal advocacy across national level entities that support provincial governance, focusing on IDLG, MoEc and MoF and engagement with sectoral line ministries.
*Support the facilitation of forums on provincial needs, bringing together selected members of PCs and Provincial Governor’s Offices (PGOs), and central government officials to discuss provincial service delivery needs, including those of marginalized or vulnerable populations. This includes women’s and youth specific forums and the development of tools and approaches for the convening of these forums which can be sustained by provincial governmental entities.
*Strengthen the abilities of provincial government counterparts to include community interests, priorities and needs in the development planning process. Support Provincial Councils (PCs) and PGOs in their efforts to assess community needs and to inform communities about decisions at the central level, strengthening relations between sub-national government entities and the community through mechanisms such as Town Hall Meetings.
*In collaboration with the Senior Institution Building Advisor, support the development of provincial monitoring and evaluation systems that allow IDLG and MoEc to monitor development progress at the provincial level and respond to citizen priorities. This will include systems for citizen feedback (ex. citizen scorecards).
*Support ISLA’s communications and reporting needs, including the preparation of reports, regular progress reports and other project communications (press releases, best practices, success stories), to ensure that progress is accurately documented and project accomplishments and lessons learned are captured and shared with USAID and the project’s stakeholders.
*Contribute to the development of project workplans and reports as required.
*Provide coaching, mentoring, and training support to relevant members of the project technical team and embedded advisors to strengthen skills in public engagement, communications, and advocacy.
*Coordinate and support project short term technical assistance providers, subcontractors, and consultants in the areas of provincial monitoring and evaluation, public engagement and advocacy.
*Collate relevant Monitoring & Evaluation data to inform project reporting (for stakeholders, GIRoA, and USAID) as needed.
*Play key support role to the overall ISLA project implementation.
*Coordinate closely with GIRoA counterparts, including IDLG, MoEc, and MoF focal persons and leadership.
*Advise and participate in technical working groups, the Project Management Committee, and the Project Steering Committee meetings as assigned.
Reporting
The Sr. Public Engagement and Advocacy Advisor will report to the Chief of Party and work closely with the Sr. Institution Building Advisor, the Inter-governmental Advocacy Specialist, the Public Awareness & Outreach Specialist and the teams of USAID ISLA embedded advisors. The Advisor will supervise the activities of the communications sub-contractor engaged by Tetra Tech ARD to support Component D of the project.
Qualifications
*Master’s degree in Communications, International Development, Public Policy, Public Administration, Public Relations, Sociology, Journalism, or related field.
*At least 8 years of relevant technical assistance or other relevant work experience in developing countries on donor-funded development projects in the areas of advocacy, public awareness and outreach, communications and reporting.
*Experience working in Afghanistan or similar post-conflict environments and understanding of the subnational governance system of Afghanistan is a plus.
*Prior experience on USAID-funded projects is a strong advantage.
*Excellent oral and written English language skills.
*The ability and resilience to produce high quality written work to tight deadlines without close supervision and under often difficult and stressful working conditions.
*Experience implementing capacity development programs, including on-the-job coaching and mentoring.
*Proven organization, management and communications skills in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity and gender.