Government Relations Officer

Employer: Village Enterprise

Industry: Nonprofit/International Development/Social Entrepreneurship

Job Title: Ethiopia Government Relations Officer

Position Type: Full time

Reports to: Ethiopia Country Director

Location: Ethiopia – Addis Ababa with frequent travel to Melkadida, Somali Region.

Duration: 1 year

Deadline: 30 October 2026

Job Description

Organization Description:

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action.

By empowering women, refugees, and youth to launch small businesses and savings groups, our cost-effective model provides dignified and sustainable pathways for individuals to lift themselves and their families out of extreme poverty for good.

To date, Village Enterprise has trained 396,872 first-time entrepreneurs, 80% of whom are women, and supported the launch of 120,609 businesses and 9,309 Business Savings Groups (BSGs). These efforts have positively impacted 2,478,065 lives across Africa.

With operations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, and partnerships in other sub– Saharan African countries, Village Enterprise continues to expand its reach.

As we scale our impact, our aim remains ambitious yet achievable: to lift 20 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035.

Project Overview:

The Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems (DREAMS) project—implemented by Village Enterprise in partnership with Mercy Corps and IDInsight, with funding from the IKEA Foundation and co financing from the Hilton Foundation, Jongen Charitable Trust, and others—supports refugee and host households in Ethiopia’s Somali Region to transition from aid dependency to sustainable livelihoods. DREAMS combines Village Enterprise’s proven poverty graduation approach with Mercy Corps’ market systems development (MSD) approach to strengthen self-reliance, social cohesion, and climate resilience.

The program supports enterprise creation, access to finance, and integration of private-sector and government systems in one of Ethiopia’s most fragile contexts. Village Enterprise is now implementing DREAMS II building on the strong foundations established in Dollo Ado (Hilaweyn) and Bokolmayo (Melkadida, Kobe, and surrounding kebeles) to consolidate and scale poverty graduation and market systems interventions. The program will complete the journey for remaining and control households through targeted, subsidized market-linked graduation support while simultaneously strengthening private-sector, financial, and policy systems to sustain impact beyond aid. Across three objectives, DREAMS II will launch new businesses, link existing enterprises to deeper market opportunities, and embed the model within government frameworks to ensure long-term resilience and scale.

Position Overview:

The Government Relations Officer will lead government relations and partner engagement to enhance the leadership and visibility of Village Enterprise through the DREAMS programme to influence adoption, replication or integration of the DREAMS model by relevant actors namely; regional government, national government, humanitarian, and development partners. They will serve as the focal person technically leading stakeholder engagement and policy discourse to disseminate learning from the implementation of the DREAMS model and advocate the adoption and replication of the model by partners and within government frameworks. They will utilize the existing coordination platform as an entry point for stakeholder engagement and policy discourse.

Responsibilities

Your primary job duties and responsibilities shall include, but are not limited to:

Map relevant regional and national government, humanitarian and development partners relevant to Village Enterprise for potential learning, dialogue and exchange.
Develop a fit-for-purpose policy and advocacy agenda for the DREAMS programme, and Village Enterprise Ethiopia at the regional, national and global level.
Collaborate with Global Director Strategy, Policy and Advocacy and the Ethiopia Country Director to implement the Ethiopia Policy and Advocacy Strategy, and the DREAMS advocacy agenda.
Support the design and implementation of joint programmes with government partners at regional and national levels.
Organise learning and dialogue forums in collaboration with the DREAMS Project Manager, Ethiopia Country Director and the Global Director, Strategy, Policy and Advocacy.
Undertake research to develop persuasive presentations, policy briefs, talking points and toolkits to be utilized in the learning and dialogue engagements.
Support the development and conversion of dialogue engagements from discussion to practice through targeted exchange and follow up with relevant policy and decision makers.
Identify, develop and cultivate stakeholder relationships to enable successful engagement and deliberation of DREAMS model inspired policy dialogue.
Identify opportunities to co-design appropriate instruments to integrate DREAMS-informed policies, guidelines and programmes by both government and non-state actors.
Support the identification and hosting of learning visits for key stakeholders in collaboration with the DREAMS Project Manager.
Lead policy and advocacy efforts toward the adoption, replication, and funding of DREAMS-informed models with development and government partners through the production of policy briefs, influencing policy dialogue and stakeholder engagement.
Collaborate with the Director Marketing and Communications to identify opportunities for thought leadership to inform the national and global discourse on poverty graduation and market systems development.
Collaborate with the DREAMS Project Manager, Global Director Strategy, Policy and Advocacy and the Ethiopia Country Director to develop monitoring and evaluation tools and report progress.
Prepare regular progress reports of the policy and advocacy engagements through the coordination platform.
Any other duties may be assigned.

Key Performance Indicators

Functionality: Number of coordination meetings utilized to present DREAMS inspired learning and policy proposals.
Visibility and Engagement: Number and quality of thought leadership and learning events hosted through the Community of Practice evidenced by increased appetite by government and stakeholders to adopt or integrate the DREAMS approach into policies and programmes.
Relationship building: Number of strengthened collaborative partnerships with government and development partners to co-design DREAMS-informed policies and programmes.
Measurement: Fit-for-purpose Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework to support the delivery of the Community of Practice and stakeholder engagement.

Living Our Values:

Ubuntu: We serve people living in extreme poverty with respect, empathy, and dignity regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, or education level, and value our common humanity.
Passion: We believe passionately in our mission and the ability of people living in extreme poverty to improve their lives.
Integrity: We operate with the highest levels of integrity and trustworthiness.
Innovation: We value innovation as a means to reduce poverty and treat new ideas, new technologies, and new partners as opportunities to grow our impact.
Sustainability: We are committed to ensuring that our businesses and our organization are sustainable in the long term.

Requirements

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Business, Development Studies, Project Management, or related courses.
A minimum of five (5) years’ experience working in the development sector, with experience in undertaking policy advocacy.
Demonstrated experience in developing concept notes, policy briefs and funding proposals.
Previous experience in relationship management, especially government and development partners.
Exceptional writing skills, with the capacity to translate technical documents into simplified content for stakeholder engagement.
Proficient language skills both in English, and Amharic language would be preferred.
Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office and relevant google applications.

Village Enterprise is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Village Enterprise provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Village Enterprise does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by law

Safeguarding Statement:

Village Enterprise is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

We expect all employees, volunteers, Visitors, associates (consultants, service providers and suppliers) and partners to uphold this commitment and adhere to our safeguarding policies and code of conduct. VE has zero tolerance for any form of abuse, exploitation, or harassment.

Safeguarding Toll-free line is 8495.

All appointments are subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks, which may include reference checks with previous employers, verification of qualifications, and criminal record or background screening where required by law.

How to Apply

Interested candidates who meet the required qualifications coupled with a passion for changing lives of the extreme poor are invited to submit their applications and resume (PDF). Your cover letter should explain why your experience and background make you the ideal candidate for this position and should be no more than one page.

Submit applications until 30 October 2026

Benefits