Director Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships

**Role: Director Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships

Reports to: Country Director

Location: Nairobi, Kenya.**
Are you a mission driven change maker passionate about making a real difference through community health system strengthening? Do you thrive on building strategic partnerships and influencing key decisions? Living Goods is seeking a highly collaborative strategic thinker who is government savvy, to advance our mission of saving lives.

About Living Goods
We're on a mission to ensure no woman or child dies from easily preventable diseases. To bring high-quality healthcare door to door, we've partnered with African governments to ensure that community health workers (CHWs) have the tools, support, and knowledge they need to save lives. We focus on ensuring CHWs are treated as essential health workers who should be digitized, equipped, supervised, and compensated—so they can make the greatest impact—and harness community-level data to transform health systems. In 2023 we supported over 12,000 CHWs, impacting more than 6 million people across Kenya, Uganda, and Burkina Faso.

The Opportunity
The Director, Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships is a key member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), working closely with the Country Director to develop, implement, and evaluate the organization's policy, advocacy, and partnership strategies for Kenya. The role involves acting as a highly visible external representative, engaging with government officials, development partners (donors), and other stakeholders to advance Living Goods' priorities and enhance its visibility and influence. The Director is responsible for managing and supervising all advocacy and government relations in Kenya and will lead a cross-functional team focused on advocacy, community health systems strengthening, health financing and resource mobilization The Director will also work closely with the Global Business Development, Advocacy, and Communications teams across Kenya, Uganda, Burkina Faso and the United States to optimize strategic and operational synergies.

Roles And Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Country Director and cross-functional teams to develop and execute the Living Goods Kenya policy, advocacy and partnerships strategy to advance community health system strengthening through the integration of a professionalized, high-quality community health workforce.
• Lead & coordinate policy development and influencing efforts at local and national levels to advance the adoption of sustainable, high-impact community health strategies that incorporate a professionalized community health workforce.
• Develop and deploy strategic communications and compelling advocacy messages to advance Living Goods' advocacy priorities, leveraging the organization's evidence and learnings.
• Lead the country health financing function to mobilize resources for community health programming by supporting the costing, budgeting, and operationalization of community health investments by government, ensuring alignment with Kenya's health priorities and LG's model.
• Drive domestic resource mobilization efforts by engaging with key government ministries and partners to influence policy and budget decisions, strengthen integration of community health into national and county health financing frameworks, and secure sustainable public funding for community health programming.
• Provide oversight and management of strategic partnerships with stakeholders, including government agencies, donors, and health implementing partners, to influence stakeholder priorities and advance LG's advocacy and resource mobilization objectives.
• Serve as a strategic external representative of LG, including in high-level meetings and forums, promoting and effectively communicating our approach to enhance thought leadership and position the organization as a trusted partner to government and priority stakeholders.
• Contribute to the shaping of donor pitches and proposals and ensuring cohesive messaging across the organization.
• Ensure quick, responsive, and high-quality support and information are provided to LG's key external and internal stakeholders, maintaining clear and effective communication channels.
• Foster close collaborative partnerships with all relevant departments within LG, optimizing synergies and promoting strong partnerships between the Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships Department and other departments.
• Coordinate with in country and global business development colleagues on the implementation of donor engagement plans, including direct participation in meetings with donors and partners, and contributing to strategic preparation materials.
• Lead and provide guidance to the Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships team, enhancing their motivation, creativity, and productivity, while also managing team performance and overseeing the utilization of leave and other resources.
• Lead the planning, budgeting, and implementation of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships activities in accordance with donor policies and LG's core values, ensuring that activities are delivered within budget and that accurate and timely financial accountability is maintained.

Education And Experience

• Master's degree in public health or related field from a recognized university
• Bachelor's degree in medical, Public Health or related field
• At least 10 years of experience working in government, advocacy and/or public affairs aimed at influencing policy change in Kenya (national or sub-national), preferably related to health.
• Experience in high-level advocacy engagements, influencing or contributing to national policies and strategies and funding
• Proven track record of securing strategic partnerships and funding for health and/or development programs.
• Experience in strategic communications, including media engagement
• Strong experience working with various donors, including World Bank, Global Fund, Gavi, DFID/FCDO, UN Agencies (UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA), and philanthropic foundations.
• Existing relationships and connections within the Kenyan health sector (desirable)
• Experience developing and managing efforts to influence policymakers, institutional funders, and other external stakeholders

Skills And Competencies

• Strong experience in leading advocacy in Kenya
• Deep understanding of the global health ecosystem; including policy, and legal frameworks, and MOH strategy, guidelines relating to Primary Health Care and community health
• Experience and success in health financing – understanding of country financing landscape: including domestic financing mechanisms – SHIF/SHA. FIF, Primary Healthcare fund, Chronic Illnesses Fund, National & County budget as well as disbursement processes as related Community Health
• Demonstrable experience in policy development and implementation at national level and understanding of health service delivery.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills with high levels of integrity – diplomatic and engaging.
• Ability to build commitment through collaboration, consultation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Excellent communication and advocacy skills, including public speaking and writing
• Sound understanding of health trends related to: RMNCAH, health workforce development, climate, gender programming and digital health.

What We Offer You At Living Goods
Competitive Salary Package with Annual Review
: We offer a competitive salary package with annual reviews to ensure that our employees are fairly compensated for their contributions.

Comprehensive Retirement Benefits
: Living Goods provides pension schemes to help you plan for and secure your future, ensuring financial stability in your retirement years.

Private Medical Cover
: You have the option to opt-in to a Private Medical Insurance scheme, providing thorough medical coverage and confidence in your health and well-being.

Life Assurance
: We provide life assurance to give you peace of mind and protect your loved ones in case of the unexpected.

Parental Leave
: Living Goods offers competitive parental leave schemes, ensuring you can spend quality time with your new bundle of joy. We offer 4 months of fully paid maternity leave and 4 weeks of paternity leave.

Annual Leave
: Living Goods team members are eligible for 25 working days of paid annual leave.

Education Support
: We support your continuous learning and development with education support to help you advance in your career.

Healthy Snacks and Fruits
: Fruits are offered daily in the office to promote a healthy lifestyle and boost productivity.

Flexible Working Arrangements
: Living Goods is a hybrid organization, offering flexibility for you to work where you need to be most productive.

Additional Perks
: In addition to the above benefits, you will find a range of secondary perks depending on your location, to help you thrive at Living Goods.

If your experience, skills and background match with this role, your values align with ours and you believe in our mission, we want to hear from you

Living Goods is an equal - opportunity employer and will consider every qualified applicant for employment. Living Goods does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.
Our current job openings are displayed on our website, where you can search for open positions and apply directly. Living Goods does not offer any positions without an interview and never asks candidates for money. If you are asked for money, we strongly recommend that you do not respond and do not send money or personal information. If offered a role at Living Goods, we'll request consent to complete a background check, which is part of our hiring process.