Advocacy & Communications Lead

The Advocacy & Communications Lead will drive IRC Pakistan’s policy advocacy and strategic partnerships strategy to bridge humanitarian and development interventions. The role involves developing advocacy strategies, producing evidence-based content, managing external partnerships, leading the communications department, and ensuring alignment of advocacy with program priorities.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement IRC Pakistan’s advocacy strategy, identifying priority policy opportunities, mapping key stakeholders, and forging strategic partnerships.
• Collaborate with IRC advocacy and policy teams in the U.S., UK, Europe, and other regions to align local priorities with global policy direction.
• Monitor the humanitarian, development, and political context in Pakistan; provide strategic analysis and timely policy recommendations to senior leadership.
• Translate operational data, research, and field evidence into policy positions, briefs, and advocacy messaging.
• Produce high-quality, evidence-based content: policy and analysis papers, briefing notes, key messages, reports, articles, blog posts, and presentations.
• Work with program teams to ensure advocacy is grounded in field realities and program data.
• Serve as IRC’s representative in national and interagency advocacy forums, working groups, and policy coalitions.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with governmental bodies, civil society, research institutions, and other like-minded organizations.
• Lead joint advocacy initiatives, learning partnerships, and collaborative engagement to amplify IRC’s policy voice.
• Lead the communications department in Pakistan, including supervising the Senior Communications Manager, ensuring alignment between communications outputs and advocacy goals.
• Develop and oversee a national communications plan to raise IRC’s profile, ensuring messaging is consistent, strategic, and aligned with advocacy objectives.
• Coordinate with global and regional communications teams to maintain coherence in messaging and brand visibility.
• Manage, mentor, and develop the advocacy and communications team, fostering a high-performing, cohesive, and motivated department.
• Build internal capacity through training, coaching, and workshops so all relevant staff understand and contribute to advocacy objectives.
• Lead departmental planning, budgeting, and resource allocation to ensure efficient and strategic use of funds for advocacy, research, and communications.
• Develop and implement a results framework and monitoring plan for advocacy and communications initiatives.
• Work with M&E colleagues to collect data, monitor progress, and report on outcomes.
• Promote a learning culture: organize learning reviews, incorporate lessons into advocacy strategy, and adapt based on evolving context.

Requirements

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Public Policy, International Development, Communications, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• 8–10+ years of professional experience in advocacy, communications, or policy roles, preferably in humanitarian or development settings.
• Proven experience in leading teams and managing departments.
• Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and lead advocacy and communication strategies and contextualized approaches.
• Excellent writing, research, analysis, and strategic thinking skills.
• Experience building partnerships with governments, INGOs, think tanks, and international bodies.
• Strong skills in media relations, digital communications, and content creation.
• Budget management experience and strong project planning capabilities.
• High-level political, cultural, and contextual awareness; ability to navigate complex environments.
• Excellent English communication skills (verbal and written); Urdu and/or other local language skills are an advantage.

Skills

• Advocacy Strategies
• Communications Strategies
• Policy Advocacy
• Team Leadership
• Department Management
• Media Relations
• Digital Communications
• Content Creation
• Partnership Building
• Budget Management
• Project Planning
• Research and Analysis
• Strategic Thinking
• Political Awareness
• Cultural Awareness
• Contextual Analysis
• English Communication Skills

Languages

English, Urdu