Belgium: Policy Officer, Climate & Natural Resources

Mar 7, 2022 | Search for Common Ground
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Search for Common Ground is an international non profit organisation with operations in 30 conflict-affected countries across the globe, and headquarters in the USA and in Belgium. Our Belgian entity is an international AISBL with 30 staff based in our Brussels office and 1,000 colleagues across the globe, 95% of whom are locals from the places where we implement our peacebuilding work. As per our 2018-2028 strategy, Search for Common Ground is entering its expansion phase and is looking at increasingly influencing policy-makers in Belgium, Europe and across the world to make peacebuilding a credible option. 

The Policy Officer will engage policymakers, private sector and development actors to support sustainable business practices, peacebuilding and conflict-sensitive approaches through evidence-based policy advocacy. The Policy Officer will focus on their work the links between climate, the natural resource sector, and conflict. 

The Policy Officer will be an integral part of the Global Policy and Outreach team. The team focuses on building the policy case for the peacebuilding field. It does this by working collaboratively with Search's teams and partners around the world and leveraging their analysis, data, and expertise to inform the policies of emerging and established actors relevant to Search’s work. It provides operational and locally-rooted policy analysis and recommendations that encourage policymakers to support and use peacebuilding more by advocating for more supportive institutional norms and structures, more and healthier funding to implementers, and more policies that encourage peacebuilding. 

With staff in Washington, Brussels and regional offices, the Global Policy and Outreach team supports, develops and executes global policy and outreach campaigns and strategies, external representation, producing written content, maintaining relationships with allies and policymakers, and monitoring policy and outreach results.

Key internal relationships for the Policy Officer include the Global Program Implementation Team, relevant country and regional teams, the Institutional Learning Team, and Communications. The Policy Officer will work in partnership with our partner International Peace Information Service (IPIS).

The position reports to the Senior Manager, European Affairs based in Brussels 

Responsibilities

  • Proposes annual policy strategies for specific policy engagements.
  • Executes representation efforts in line with policy strategies, including drafting policy content and representing Search at working-level external meetings.
  • Coordinates team knowledge and information management and sharing.
  • Collaborates closely with relevant field-based colleagues and technical experts.
  • Builds and maintains working-level relationships with policymakers and peers.
  • Develops specific policy strategies with supervision, analyzes successes and failures of past strategies.
  • Regularly collaborates with field-based colleagues and technical experts within the organization to support their writing and translate their analyses into written products, as well as to support horizontal learning.
  • Drafts complete written policy products and conducts substantive edits on documents, focusing on how they fit with strategies and Search’s approach.
  • Represents Search at working-level briefings and tracks briefings and outcomes.
  • Occasionally produces joint op-eds and social media content.
  • Captures output and outcome level results of policy and outreach efforts, analyzes trends, suggests adaptations.
  • Assists in developing tools and resources and in providing advocacy and outreach capacity building training internally.
  • Leads recruitment and management of relevant interns and fellows.
  • May have a matrixed role with other Search teams on specific campaigns.
  • Responds to questions and outreach-relevant requests in a timely and customer-service oriented fashion.
  • Supports the development and execution of organizational initiatives and strategies, including participating in committees and discussions.
  • Other duties that are broadly in line with the above key contributions as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, International Relations, Conflict Studies, Social Sciences, Communications or related area 
  • 6 years of relevant work experience (or Master’s Degree with 4 years of relevant experience) in the climate change, natural resources, peacebuilding, or NGO sector.
  • Excellent writing, editing, and verbal communications skills in English and French.  
  • Prior work experience of policy influencing on sustainable business practices, climate change, natural resource management, or peacebuilding. 

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Prior experience working in the nexus of climate, natural resources, and conflict. 
  • Prior experience working on influencing sustainable business practices.
  • Existing contacts and network in the climate, natural resources, and conflict policy space in Belgium, at EU-level, or internationally.
  • Prior experience working abroad in the development cooperation or peacebuilding sector. 
  • Writing, editing, and verbal communications skills in Russian, Chinese, Dutch or another language.

Competency Behavior Indicators (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

    • Initiates brainstorming or problem-solving meetings. With time in job, develops skills for analyzing and communicating program successes and failures; reports lessons learned to the team and other members.
    • Represents Search at local and international events and meetings for professional organizations, vendors, partners, and funders. Develops skills to independently initiate and maintain relations with vendors, partners, and funders. Articulates Search program/project goals and objectives within Search and to external audiences.
    • Demonstrates appreciation for diversity of thought. Builds cross-functional relationships with other functional departments.
    • Demonstrates ability to be adaptable and willing to confront and change own ideas and preconceptions with the resiliency and flexibility to make changes based on hearing a diversity of thoughts.
    • Drafts team documents, briefing materials, and presentations. Articulates program/project objectives and how they fit into a team’s goals and/or Search’s mission and adapts to the communications setting.
    • Applies standards, identifies areas for standardization, and coordinates across functions from a multicultural perspective that reflects consideration of other cultures, other viewpoints, and other ways of doing things.
    • Takes into account the environmental landscape, assesses one's own and others' viewpoints in their environment, and proposes solutions from an ethical perspective.
    • Recognizes the options available for solving problems, conducts analyses, and calculates metrics and other technical tools to support informed decision making.
    • Conducts Quality Control of team documents, briefing materials, presentations, and systems data. Carefully reviews and checks the accuracy of information in work reports, management information systems, or with other individuals and groups. Checks the accuracy of one’s own and others’ work. Proactively informs management of potential risks and concerns; suggests resolutions.
    • Independently prioritizes time to reach deadlines and reaches end results of assignments with ability to accomplish multiple steps with limited to no supervision.

Type and Nature of Contacts

    • Routinely coordinates with colleagues and consultants in Brussels and in other Search for Common Ground countries of operations and resolves problem situations with tact.
    • Represents Search and meets other organizations, including donors, vendors, peers and partners.
    • Interacts with country offices and regional staff.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

Usual office environment conditions in Brussels (where we follow Belgium government’s Covid recommendations); ability to travel to Search countries of operations or for advocacy opportunities 3 to 4 times per year.

Supervisory and Budget Responsibility

The position currently won’t supervise any staff. The person may, over time,  supervise one or more staff members, including interns, fellows or associates. The position will have authority over some policy activity budgets.

Contract Duration

This position is a one-year contract (“contrat à durée déterminée”, CDD) under Belgium labour law,with possibility of extension to an indefinite contract (“contrat à durée indéterminée”, CDI), upon satisfaction from both sides. 

Foreseen Start Date 

Preferably 1 May 2022. 

Application process

The deadline for applications is 22 March 2022. Submit your application through our Application System Lever.