OXFAM looking for 'REGIONAL POLICY AND RESEARCH ADVISOR, SOUTH ASIA'

Background

Oxfam was founded in 1995 and is a vibrant global movement of passionate, dedicated people fighting poverty together. People power drives everything they do. From saving lives and developing projects that put poor people in charge of their lives and livelihoods, to campaigning for change that lasts. They respond to an average of 30 emergency situations each year. That’s Oxfam in action. Today it is a confederation of 13 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries - including the UK- to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Its mission is a just world without poverty and its goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives.

Oxfam Purpose: To work with others to overcome poverty, distress and suffering

Oxfam’s work is based on the belief that everyone has:

• the right to life and security
• the right to a sustainable livelihood
• the right to basic social services
• the right to be heard
• the right to equity

There are thirteen Oxfam organizations based in: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Quebec, Spain and the United States. New Oxfam’s have been created in India, Mexico and Japan. A small Oxfam International secretariat is based in Oxford, UK, and the secretariat runs advocacy offices in Washington DC, New York, Brussels and Geneva.

OXFAM GB Regional Centre in South Asia is supporting Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and Pakistan. The programme priorities for South Asia are Economic

Empowerment, Resilience in Crisis, Women’s leadership and Effective State Governance.

Reason for hire

OXFAM GB is seeking to hire a Regional Policy and Research Advisor-South Asia to support its programme in the region by undertaking and managing policy work and high quality research and analysis on key poverty and development trends in the region, which will contribute to maximising the impact of OXFAM GB’s work at local, national, regional and global levels in relation to Oxfam’s vision for South Asia.

Dimensions of this role:

• Decision-making is both highly strategic and operational, with judgement based on highly complex problem-solving experience and on a range of diverse internal and external factors
• Problems encountered are liable to be highly diverse and complex, requiring comprehensive analysis and interpretation of information from a wide variety of sources and capacity to communicate to a wide range of audiences
• Draws from programme and external information sources to provide high quality research and in-depth policy analysis on poverty and inequality in South Asia.
• Development of long-term research strategies to achieve significant impact on Oxfam’s programme and policy work.
• Communicates and coordinates widely within Oxfam, across countries and Oxfam International affiliates, and partners and allies (including major alliances).
• Impact and influence is major, lot of influence within Oxfam and in the wider development sector in the region. The post plays a strategic role in shaping strategy and direction of Oxfam’s work in South Asia.
• Achieves goals by influencing internal/external agenda/policies through using high quality research work.
• Expert knowledge on Policy analysis and research methodology and provides specialist advice and guidance to country teams.

• Representation of Oxfam in meetings with networks, alliances, institutional/government officials on wide range of research topics.
• Plans and manages resources, consultants and partnerships with key research institutions.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• To develop policy positions for the South Asia region on key poverty and inequality issues and produce policy briefing papers, policy position statements and public communication materials which meets the highest standards.
• To lead and deliver three South Asia researches every year, in support of Oxfam’s key regional priorities
• To develop , deliver and manage a research strategy that supports the regional change strategy and national change strategies as well as wider organizational programme , campaigning and policy priorities
• To provide support to country programmes in the region to develop and deliver effective policy and research papers of very high standard as per the agreed annual research priorities. Also help built capacities of the programme teams in research and policy analysis skills and methodologies.
• To engage in high level lobbying and represent Oxfam in South Asia at critical policy and research forums when appropriate.
• To monitor major external economic, poverty, social development and vulnerability trends in the South Asia region, and provide regular updates and written briefings on relevant issues to programme staff and senior management in order to support programme and policy advocacy work
• To establish and maintain relationships with key policy think tanks, academic and research institutions in the region and draw external expertise or develop partnership for Oxfam’s policy and research work.
• To monitor influential research produced by others (e.g. ADB, World Bank, UN) relevant to Oxfam’s interest and provide timely written critiques and responses
• To work and collaborate effectively with other key staff in the South Asia region, notably the campaigns and policy team and work with regional change leads.

• To serve as the primary focal point with the Oxford-based Policy and research team in order to maximise synergies between regional research priorities and global capacity.
• Direct Budget Management Responsibility: Research budget and small grants for commissioned research

Candidate Profile and Qualification:

Education:

· A post-graduate degree with minimum 6-8 years of experience of being associated with high quality research and development policy work. M Phil/PhD desirable.

Must Haves:

• Proven track record of producing high quality research and briefing papers on development, humanitarian and poverty issues, with thorough understanding of research methodologies and skills and an ability to train and transfer skills to others.
• Proven experience in policy analysis and production of policy briefing papers based on evidence and research.
• Experience in lobbying and playing key representational roles in influencing decisions to drive agendas forward.
• A broad-based understanding of the major economic, social development, gender, humanitarian and poverty issues in the South Asia region.
• Experience in managing other researchers and research projects (including managing commissioned researchers), ensuring high standards of delivery.
• Outstanding written and verbal communications skills, with an ability to simplify complex concepts both verbally and orally in order to influence others
• Proven ability to network and establish alliances with key stakeholders from relevant academic and applied research and policy think tanks.

Desirable

• A sound grasp of macro-economics and economic analysis as they relate to poverty and development along with understanding of and proven commitment to gender and diversity issues is desirable.
• Strong inter-personal skills

Travel: Travel is a significant part of this role

Staff reporting to this post: Interns/ Researchers/ Consultants as per requirement

Compensation Details

The starting salary for the position is commensurate with current compensation, qualification and experience.

Last date for application is 14th March 2011.

Interested candidates can send in their CVs with a cover note and three references to rpra.oxfamgb@gmail.com with the subject line indicating Regional Policy and Research Advisor, South Asia or contact us at: +91 22 43493333. Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Third Sector Partners, a leading CxO and board search firm in the Not for Profit sector, has been retained by OXFAM GB to hire this position.

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.