International Alert is seeking a Head of Policy and Practice – Peace Economies to lead its work on the economic drivers of conflict and peace.

This is an exciting opportunity for a specialist in the economics of peace to join our Global Peacebuilding Unit and lead Alert’s groundbreaking work in this area. We’re looking for someone who can provide strategic, conceptual and hands-on policy and programmatic leadership on our business and peace programmes, influencing the policies and interventions of governments, international organisations, NGOs and businesses to be conflict-sensitive and conducive to peace.

The role has a particular focus on the private sector and investors, developing relationships with actors in these areas, understanding the role of conflict prevention and peacebuilding at a programmatic and policy level, and influencing relevant policy and legislation. You’ll lead on contract management of Alert’s portfolio providing conflict sensitivity support and context analysis to a range of investment partners.

You will have strong experience in both policy and advocacy on peace economies as well as hands on experience of delivering programming in this area. You’ll be a strategic thinker with the ability to build excellent relationships and you’ll relish the challenge of delivering a new strategy for Alert’s Peace Economies work, to complement our new organizational strategy.

You’ll enjoy engaging with our country teams, supporting them with peace economies programming, facilitating learning across the organization and ensuring Alert’s work on the ground and with local partners is reflected in policy spaces at the highest level. And you’ll have sound budget management and fundraising experience, with the ability to build a team and pipeline of work to support our strategic objectives.

​Role duties and responsibilities:

1. Provides strategic leadership on peace economies programming in Alert

• Convenes country and regional teams to develop a 3-year strategy for Peace Economies, to further Alert’s thought leadership in this field; and advancing policy engagement with governments, civil society, business leaders, investors and others, to influence the positive impact of their activities and policies on peace and stability.
• Leads our global programmes on peace economies, providing project management, conducting research, training, and direct engagement with actors targeted in the scope of the programmes.
• Develops peace enhancing models of investment and economic activities
• Stays current on economic trends and developments relevant to fragile and conflict affected states – including political economy analysis methodologies sharing and exchanging these with colleagues internally and externally to deepen understanding on relevant topics
• Maps a path to financially grow Alert’s work in this domain, and develops proposals and raises funds for new projects, working closely with colleagues across the organisation
• Works closely with teams in the Global peacebuilding Unit to deliver multi thematic approaches to peace positive investment.

2. Provides support to, and gathers evidence of peacebuilding impact in peace economies practice area from, Alert’s country and regional programmes

• Provides technical support to country and regional programmes on economy and conflict/peace issues
• Promotes cross team collaboration linking to Alert’s other priority thematic areas and Alert country teams
• Coordinates with regional and country programmes to gather lessons on what works, developing relevant guidance or policy recommendations

3. Leads, supports and engages in research, policy and advocacy activities

• Leads our global advocacy efforts on integrating conflict sensitive business practices into international standards and policies on corporate social and environmental responsibility, human rights due diligence, and investors sustainability frameworks
• Leads our engagements with investors and other private sector actorsfocused on conflict-sensitive business practices, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights
• Produces high quality policy and communication products for national and international policy makers and practitioners including: policy reports, briefing papers, discussion documents and articles

4. Manages staff and financial resources for effective programme delivery

• Manages and supervises staff and consultants in the peace economies team
• Manages budgets in compliance with Alert and donor requirements
• Ensures that all projects have clear work plans for effective implementation
• Maintains good relations with donors and relevant partner organisations in the UK and overseas
• Ensures the timely preparation of external and internal reports as required
• Ensures financial sustainability of the team by effective resource planning and budget management

5. Develops and maintains networks and relationships with key policy audiences

• Builds and maintains networks and collaborative relationships with relevant partners including national and international institutions (e.g. other INGOs, academia, business networks, UN agencies, IFIs, companies, bi-lateral donors, OECD)
• Keeps abreast of sectoral policy discussions and prioritises where and when Alert engages to maximise influence and profile
• Represents Alert in various policy for adapting programmatic and policy messages to relevant audiences.

Please note that the above are just some of the role requirements. For the full role requirements, please click here to view the job description.