Advocacy Senior Manager

Advocacy Senior Manager

Posting Description

This position is to be hired where Habitat for Humanity International can legally hire and the applicant can legally work within the LAC Region, and on a local contract in the country of hiring.

Position description

The Senior Advocacy Manager is responsible for providing senior technical support, coordination, and operational leadership for the development and implementation of Habitat for Humanity's advocacy priorities, with a primary focus on strengthening national and local advocacy capacities of National Offices (NOs).

Under the strategic guidance of the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy (DRGPP), the role supports the rollout of the regional advocacy strategy, ensuring alignment with global policy directions and national advocacy agendas. The position support the NOs in their engagements with public authorities primarily at local and national levels, and contributes to regional and sub-regional advocacy processes by delegation, supporting coherence, learning, and collective positioning.

Reporting Lines and Matrix Accountability

The Senior Advocacy Manager reports directly to the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy (line management) and operates within a matrix management structure, maintaining functional accountability and regular coordination with relevant HFHI Global Advocacy, Programmatic, MEAL, Communications, and ResourceDevelopment teams, as applicable.

The position is responsible for ensuring timely and quality reporting, information sharing, and coordination across line and matrix management structures, in line with agreed governance, planning, and reporting processes.

Essential Duties

Advocacy Support to National Organizations: Policy Research, Learning, Knowledge Management, Capacity.

• Support National Offices and coalitions to identify and analyze policy trends and advocacy opportunities in the short, medium, and long term, as well as political, social, demographic, economic, and institutional dynamics and their impact on housing and urban sectors, generating ideas, models, and innovative policy proposals to influence governments and public institutions.
• Support the development and strengthening of national advocacy strategies, including operational plans, tools, guidance, and methodologies, to enable effective advocacy implementation at local and national levels.
• Conduct advocacy capacity assessments with National Offices and jointly define time-bound action plans to strengthen advocacy systems, roles, and practices.
• Monitor and track the implementation of advocacy priorities across National Offices, identifying gaps, risks, and opportunities and providing adaptive technical support as needed.
• Facilitate the engagement of National Offices and multi-stakeholders (governments, universities, research centers, international agencies, multilaterals, and the private sector) in policy assessments, applied research, monitoring, knowledge management, and advocacy capacity-building processes.
• Provide technical support to National Offices to comply with Global Advocacy Standards, Principles, and Standards of Excellence, particularly those related to government relations, evidence-based advocacy, and housing and urban policy engagement.
• Equip National Offices and partners with methods, processes, guidelines, and best practices on evidence-based advocacy, government relations, housing and urban policies, and cross cutting themes such as gender, climate change, and financial inclusion.
• Support National Offices in disseminating and communicating findings, evidence, and policy implications derived from assessments and research, in coordination with Strategic Alliances and Communications teams, using mechanisms such as webinars, learning labs, online forums, communities of practice, and digital platforms.
• Strengthen the regional advocacy network through structured learning spaces, peer-support mechanisms, joint initiatives, and the systematic exchange of good practices among National Offices.

Coordination and Advocacy Positioning in LAC: In alignment with the Regional Advocacy Strategy:

• Contribute technical inputs to regional advocacy positioning, including support to influence, negotiation processes, and implementation strategies related to international and regional frameworks (e.g. New Urban Agenda, SDGs, Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework), in coordination with the Global Advocacy Team, ensuring that LAC local, sub-regional, and regional contexts and challenges are adequately reflected.
• Identify and facilitate regional and sub-regional advocacy positioning opportunities, including strategic advocacy moments, platforms, and convenings that strengthen HFH’s visibility and policy influence in LAC.
• Support the development, strengthening, and maintenance of strategic relationships with network coalitions, government and public agencies, decision-makers, officials, and key stakeholders, to influence policies, strategies, programs, and projects that reduce barriers and generate incentives for inclusive housing solutions, ensuring positive impact for the most vulnerable populations, in alignment with Global and Regional Advocacy (GRA) priorities.
• Provide technical support to the implementation of regional advocacy strategy, through the development of advocacy products, messages, and knowledge assets of regional or sub regional relevance that reinforce HFH’s positioning.
• Support the organization and/or coordination of HFH-led advocacy events at regional or sub regional level, in alignment with defined positioning priorities and strategic objectives.

Technical contributions to knowledge products produced for Global, Regional and Nacional Advocacy efforts

• Regional policy action–research and learning agenda: Contribute to the development and operationalization of a regional policy action–research and learning agenda, including co creating, validating, and regularly updating the agenda with HFHI global and regional areas, National Offices, and key stakeholders.
• Metrics and reporting: Lead the collection of advocacy metrics from National Offices, providing technical support to validate data at Area Office level, and coordinating the consolidation and communication of quarterly advocacy results to GRA and HFHI. This includes gathering supporting evidence and narrative reports.
• Global Advocacy Campaigns: Ensure alignment between regional and national advocacy efforts with HFHI’s global advocacy priorities and campaigns. Serve as the technical focal point and primary liaison at Area Office level for campaign-related communication and implementation. Support strong coordination with the Global Advocacy Team to translate global campaign objectives, messages, and tools into national-level action, including active engagement with global campaign challenge grants and other technical assistance mechanisms to strengthen National Office participation.
• Research agenda and evidence generation: Contribute to defining advocacy research priorities by identifying regionally relevant topics that strengthen, inform, and leverage national advocacy agendas and conduct research for advocacy.
• Learning and evidence for advocacy: Contribute to alignment with MEAL and relevant teams to support the systematization of programmatic experiences and evidence, ensuring their effective use in advocacy narratives, policy proposals, and scaling opportunities.

Project Management and Fundraising
In alignment with regional strategic priorities

• Contribute to the design and implementation of feedback-loop mechanisms, in coordination with Programmatic and MEAL teams, to capture evidence, results, and learning from programs and projects, and ensure their effective use in advocacy strategies and policy influence.
• Support National Offices in project design, proposal development, and implementation, engaging subject-matter experts (SMEs) as needed and ensuring collaboration throughout the project cycle, including thematic areas such as disaster response and risk reduction, land, WASH, finance, housing market systems, urban programs, technology solutions, and MEAL.
• Support and facilitate the recruitment of key project staff, in coordination with relevant teams, to ensure adequate technical and operational capacity for project implementation.
• Advise, coordinate, or lead selected advocacy-related projects, ensuring timely, effective delivery of results and full compliance with donor requirements, particularly in countries or contexts without a National Office presence.
• Support the identification and development of funding opportunities in close collaboration with Resource Development and FOI teams, for evidence-based policy, advocacy, and government relations programs and campaigns.

Support the Integration of the Advocacy as an Integrated Core Function

• Support the systematic integration of advocacy into the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of programs, ensuring that programs articulate a clear pathway to policy influence from the outset.
• Work closely with Programmatic, MEAL, Communications, and Resource Development teams to embed advocacy considerations, objectives, and indicators across project cycles and institutional processes.
• Contribute to the common understanding of advocacy process indicators, supporting their recognition and use within global monitoring and reporting systems.
• Support National Offices, the Area Office and HQ in identifying, articulating, and mobilizing dedicated and flexible funding for advocacy and policy influence activities, aligned with national agendas, regional and global priorities.

Cross Functional Capabilities
Employees in multiple divisions with different skillsets work together to achieve Habitat for Humanity International’s mission and common strategic goals.

Key aspects of cross-functional responsibilities in a global non-profit include: Strategic planning, program design and implementation, communication and branding, monitoring and evaluation, and compliance and risk management.

Minimum Requirements
Education

• Master’s degree in, Political Science, Economics, Law, Architecture, Sociology, Sustainable Develoment, Ethonography, International Relations, Social Science and others related with specialization in Public Policy, Advocacy, Urban Management, Political Ecology, Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change and other related areas.

Years of Related Experience

• At least 10 years of experience in senior leadership, policy-oriented applied research and strategic roles within civil society organizations and the public sector, with strong and demonstrated expertise in public policy, advocacy, research and government relations related to adequate housing, inclusive housing market systems, resilient and climate change, sustainable urban planning and development, good urban governance, environment, basic services, and related areas such as land and tenure security, housing finance, disaster risk reduction, social inclusions, and inclusive approaches (gender, race, age etc)

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Fully bilingual English - Spanish.
• Advocacy knowledge and experience in countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Excellent spoken and written communications with public sector actors.
• Excellent political and contextual analysis skills.
• Experience in applied research methods for public policy advocacy.
• Knowledge and experience in the housing sector and its intersectionality with Climate Change, Resilience, Environment.
• Ability to integrate equity and inclusion approaches (gender, race and age) across research design, analysis, and advocacy strategies.

Work Setting

• Remote home office and attending to the office when needed.
• Willing to make site visits to projects in the field internationally
• Travel Expectations: 40%

Active support of HFHI Values:

• Humility - We are part of something bigger than ourselvses
• Courage - We do what's right, even when it is difficult or unpopular
• Accountability - We take personal responsibility for Habitat's mission

Safeguarding
HFHI requires that all employees take seriously their ethical responsibilities to safeguarding our intended
beneficiaries, their communities, and all those with whom we work. Managers at all levels have responsibilities
to support and develop systems that create and maintain an environment that prevents harassment, sexual
exploitation and abuse, safeguards the rights of beneficiaries and community members (especially children), and
promotes the implementation of Habitat for Humanity’s code of conduct

About

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. The purpose and goal of Habitat for Humanity International is to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses in partnership with families in need. HFHI has an Administrative Headquarters based in Atlanta, Georgia, an Operational Headquarters based in Americus, Georgia and Area Office bases of operations in Manila, Philippines for our Asia and the Pacific work, San Jose, Costa Rica for our Latin American and the Caribbean work, and Bratislava, Slovakia, for our Europe, the Middle East and Africa work.

HFHI is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to employ and assign the best qualified personnel for all our positions in a manner that does not unlawfully discriminate against any person because of race, color, religion, gender, marital status, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, veteran/reserve national guard status, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.

Function

Government Relations

Auto req ID

10893BR

Position Category

Full-time - Salaried

Position Type

International Employment

Geographic Location

Latin America & the Caribbean

Location

San Jose, Costa Rica

Position Number

2488

Required Travel

40%