Policy Support Officer

Reporting to: Director of Policy, Learning and Advisory Services (PLA)

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Type of position: L3

Application closing: 29 June 2023

Background

Interpeace is an international organization for peacebuilding. With over 25 years of experience, it has implemented a broad range of peacebuilding programmes in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.  Interpeace tailors its approach to each society and ensures that its work is locally designed and driven. Through local partners and its own local teams, it jointly develops peacebuilding programmes based on extensive consultation and research. Interpeace helps establish processes of change that promote sustainable peace, social cohesion, and resilience. The organization’s work is designed to connect and promote understanding between local communities, civil society, governments, and the international community.

Interpeace also assists the international community – especially the United Nations – to play a more effective role in peacebuilding, based on Interpeace’s expertise in field-based work at grassroots level. Interpeace achieves this primarily by contributing innovative thought leadership and fresh insights to contemporary peacebuilding policy. It also assists the international community through ‘peace responsiveness’ work, in which Interpeace provides advice and practical support to other international organizations (especially those in the security, development, and humanitarian aid sectors), enabling them to adapt their work systemically to simultaneously address conflict dynamics and strengthen peace dynamics.

Interpeace is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has offices around the world. For more information about Interpeace, please visit www.interpeace.org

Position within the Organization

Interpeace seeks to recruit a Policy Support Officer in the Policy, Learning and Advisory Services (PLA) team to support various global policy initiatives related to peacebuilding.

Under the supervision of the Director of the PLA unit, the Policy Support Officer will play an important connecting role across the organization, engaging different policy initiatives together and with Interpeace field-based programmes.

Purpose and General Overview

The purpose of the role is to support the Director of Policy, Learning and Advisory Services on the delivery of the various policy initiatives related to strengthening international peacebuilding practice. The Policy Support Officer will provide substantive research, administrative, project management and stakeholder engagement support on a broad range of topic areas related to international peacebuilding policy and programmatic practice. It is generalist role that will require broad domain knowledge of international peacebuilding policy trends, understanding of the key actors in the international development, humanitarian, and peace sectors, including the UN, and policies and approaches of donor governments.

The Policy Support Officer will contribute to concept notes, proposals and develop MOUs and other contractual documents to advance institutional partnerships and consultant-based work.

They will assist in coordination of team planning sessions, progress meetings and conduct internal reporting at weekly and monthly cross-organizational exchanges.

Duties and responsibilities

Support to Policy, Learning and Advisory Services Unit

• Conducts background research for internal and external audiences on a diverse range of policy and programmatic issue areas related to peacebuilding.
• Supports the Director of Policy, Learning and Advisory Services develop policy position papers for donors, international multilateral policy processes and for regional security bodies.
• Writes and develops short content for different audiences, external, internal, government, partners and for social media.
• Provides administrative support, including supporting development of contractual documents, partner agreements and memorandums of understanding.
• Works across the unit to support and connect other major policy teams and to help support the connection of policy with programmes.

Administration and Logistics

• Organizes logistical preparatory work for workshops, consultations, and field trips of Policy colleague
• Supports coordination of PLA team inputs to the Global Management Team, board, advisory council, and general staff meetings.
• Maintains and updates relevant Teams channels.
• Monitors the payment schedules and coordinates the issuance of payments to consultants engaged on policy.
• Coordinates procurement processes, travel authorizations, and payments in collaboration with the Operations tea

Qualifications:

Education

• A degree in international relations, political science, development, public administration, management, or related field.

Experience

• Professional experience in policy research and/or administrative support roles with some experience in international organizations or international NGOs being an advantage

Competencies

• Excellent skills in organizing and coordinating in complex multi-stakeholder and multi-cultural environments.
• High degree of self-organization and adaptability.
• Excellent ability to work in a multicultural environment successfully and to demonstrate gender- responsive and non-discriminatory behavior and attitudes.
• Excellent ability to interact with people respectfully and with tact.
• Excellent ability to deal with confidential information and/or issues using discretion and good judgment.
• Fluent in English (oral and written)

• Interpeace Competencies

o Collaboration and Weaving

o Communication

o Drive for results

o Adaptability and Continuous Learning

o Respect for Diversity

Assets/desired

–     Excellent research skills with demonstrable experience working on policy-oriented research documents related to international development, humanitarian or peacebuilding fields.

–     Working or advanced knowledge of French.

–     Excellent communication, analytical, and writing skills. Demonstrable teamwork experience in fast paced environment.

How to Apply

Qualified candidates are invited to submit their application no later than 29 June 2023, via the following link: Policy Support Officer

Interpeace values diversity among its staff and aims to achieve gender equality both through gender parity at all levels of the organisation and promoting a gender dimension in all its work. We welcome applications from women and men, and those with disabilities.