SWA CSO Engagement Officer

SWA CSO Coordinator (Sanitation and Water for All Civil society organizations)

Contract type: Permanent, Full time, 35 hours per week

Location: London, UK

UK Hybrid Working: A minimum of 40% of working time is spent face to face, either in London office, or as a result of external engagement or travel for WaterAid. WaterAid is located at Canary Wharf, London and this will be your location and contract base.  

Salary: £43,668 -£45,851 per year with excellent benefits

About WaterAid and Sanitation and Water for All

Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is a global partnership of nearly 50 country governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), external support agencies, private sector, academia and utilities and regulators working together to catalyse political leadership, improve accountability and effective use of scarce resources. Partners work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation. Civil society plays an important role in this partnership. The CSO constituency is the largest constituency within SWA gathering more than 190 partners.

About the Team

Over 703 million people around the world don’t have safe water to drink and wash with, and 1.5 billion people don’t have a toilet. This is causing huge health problems and holding back development. This position involves working with two of the organisations at the forefront of tackling this global crisis and enabling people around the world to influence their governments to take action. This is a great opportunity to work with civil society organisations around the world to connect with the global Sanitation and Water for All partnership to both increase political prioritisation for water, sanitation and hygiene, build and strengthen multistakeholder platforms and improve systems as well as increase investments for the sector.

About the Role

The SWA CSO Constituency Manager will coordinate the advocacy support provided to CSO partners of SWA at national and regional level and the general communications provided to CSOs to engage effectively with the partnership.  The post holder will manage important projects in the SWA workplan, and strategic relationships within the partnership. The successful candidate will be an influencer, with capacity to engage in negotiations with partners and provide specialist advice and guidance both internally in the Secretariat, the SWA leadership and externally to partners.

• Coordinate the Civil Society Constituency to assist in carrying out the annual workplan in line with SWA strategic objectives and Results Framework
• Lead on in-country support to SWA Civil Society partners, networks, and INGO country chapters in 2024-25 priority countries on Heads of State Initiatives, including advocacy strategies and commitments building process
• Support internal and external communications to CSO partners and identify needs for support, including documenting impact, tailored press releases, advocacy letters, and digital support. Additionally, support preliminary research in priority countries to identify entry points for advocacy including for countries undergoing elections
• Oversee monitoring, evaluation, narrative, and financial reporting for SWA CSO Catalytic grants
• Support SWA’s Governance team to facilitate the engagement of Civil Society members, conduct due diligence on new partner applications, onboard new SWA CSO partners, and conduct strategic outreach to potential new CSO partners
• Work closely with the Country and Partner Engagement lead to organize Global partners' quarterly meetings and follow-up
• Prepare and finalize the narrative report submitted to UNICEF from WaterAid

To be successful, you’ll need: 

• Experience of both coordinating and working within global, regional and national CSO networks and coalitions preferably in developing countries
• Proven experience in advocacy and influencing, preferably with the civil society organisations, networks and International NGOs
• Demonstrable experience in leading successful campaigning and policy analysis within the development sector
• Experience in budget management and/or in project/account/relationship management. 
• Ability to apply organisational understanding to the context of the position
• Strong communication skills
• Proven experience at influencing and negotiating internally and externally
• Experience of using a range of capacity building approaches, methods and tools, including, designing and delivering training around advocacy, campaigning and policy analysis.
• Experience and expertise in internal and external communication: in writing blogs, impact stories, and monitoring impact of advocacy
• Knowledge of sustainable development goals, and water sanitation and hygiene
• Ability to work autonomously with minimal supervision
• Ability to travel internationally- circa 15 days (2 weeks) per year
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage complex and sensitive organisational relationships. 
• Fluency in English is required, and ability to communicate effectively in both verbal and written in another UN language is required.
• Proven ability in effective negotiations and enhanced diplomacy skills to effectively build and manage cross cultural stakeholder relationships
• Understanding of and ability to work within a variety of political, legal and cultural constraints to advocacy and campaigning at the national level.
• While the position functionally is part of the SWA Secretariat, it is line-managed within WaterAid. The candidate would be required to commit to WaterAid’s values and have a working style that reflects these values
• Educated to bachelor’s degree in development studies or related field with post qualification experience

View full job description here

Closing Date: Applications will close at 12:00pm UK Time on Friday 21st March. Interview shall start w/c 7 April 2025.

How to Apply: Click ‘Apply’ to complete the following pre-screening questions and upload your CV and an essential cover letter:

1. Do you have experience of coordinating and working within global, regional and national Civil Society Organisation (CSO) networks and coalitions preferably in developing countries ?
2. Do you have experience in advocacy and influencing, preferably with the civil society organisations, networks and International NGOs ?

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application? At WaterAid, we strongly advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well.

 Pre-employment screening: To apply for this post, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the respective country. All pre-employment checks will be carried out according to the applicable laws in the respective countries to comply with our Safer Recruitment policy. All our UK-based vacancies require a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Our Benefits:

• 36 days' holiday (including 8 Bank Holidays)
• Option to buy an extra 5 days annual leave
• We offer a generous pension plan with employer contribution of up to 10%
• Wide range of flexible and agile-working arrangement
• Season Ticket Loan
• Free annual eye tests
• Pay as You Give charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced Maternity and Adoption/Surrogacy pay, Shared Parental Leave and Paternity Leave.
•  Sabbaticals
• Volunteer Day

Our Commitment:

Our People Promise:

We will work with passion and focus to ensure safe and sustainable water, toilets and hygiene are available to everyone, everywhere. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have.  We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to put the wellbeing of our people first, to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.     

Equal opportunities:

We are an equal opportunity, disability-confident employer and are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions and ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, national or social origin, health status, and economic or social situation.

Safeguarding:

We are also committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously. As a safeguarding measure, WaterAid carries out background checks on all potential employees. This is done following the conclusion of recruitment and prior to assuming full employment.