Youth Engagement and Advocacy Specialist

• TENURE : 12-month consultancy contract, with potential extension based on performance and funding
• LOCATION: Remote, India
• ORGANIZATION WEBSITE: https://adolescent-girls-plan.org/

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE: AGIP Youth Engagement and Advocacy Specialist 

Situated within the AGIP Secretariat, the Youth Engagement and Advocacy Specialist works across AGIP's members and Girl Advisors, and with multiple external partners and stakeholders, including young advocates and governments.

The post holder is responsible for:

1. leading on strategic adolescent girl and youth engagement and safeguarding processes and activities, and helping members to embed best practice. This includes managing the Adolescent Girls Advisory Committee (AGAC).
2. leading AGIP's advocacy portfolio. This will include driving forwards the Accountability Champions Platform and coordinating events at global convenings.

The post-holder will also support Secretariat activities to strengthen coalition delivery and impact as needed.

The post-holder is also responsible for delivering a AGIP's strategic goal for advocacy:

By the end of 2027, AGIP has successfully influenced key decision-makers and advocacy spaces to recognise, include, and invest in the unique needs of adolescent girls. AGIP has played a leading role in holding governments and the sector to account for their girl-centred commitments.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Working closely with the AGIP Secretariat and AGIP's members, the post-holder will:

• Advance AGIP's girl and youth engagement and safeguarding strategy, processes, and activities:
• Implement AGIP's girl and youth engagement and safeguarding approach to the highest standards and principles, ensuring AGIP's practices remains at the forefront of advancing best practice.
• Develop a suite of tools, guidance, resources, and external thought-leadership pieces in support of AGIP's safeguarding and meaningful engagement principles that cater to a broad range of stakeholders, especially adolescent girls themselves.
• Lead the Adolescent Girls Advisory Committee, ensuring that adolescent girls and youth are at the centre of AGIP's governance and decision-making processes.
• Manage the AGIP Girl Advocacy Fund to ensure that the financial support is being channelled in a timely fashion through members to young advocates for their engagement at key convenings. Act as the focal point for safeguarding, girl and youth centred design, and activism internally and externally.
• Lead on the development, dissemination, and implementation of AGIP's safeguarding protocols, including the annual safeguarding review, and ensure that staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies.
• For any virtual or in-person participation opportunities, coordinate any relevant processes regarding safe and meaningful engagement, including, but not limited to, preparing and managing a comprehensive risk assessment, briefing calls, preparatory materials and timely follow-up.
• Provide overall technical advice on safeguarding and meaningful girl and youth engagement, to the Secretariat and members,convening coalition meetings and workshops, where required.
• Maximise visibility of AGIP's girl and youth engagement and safeguarding work at key global platforms, such as, but not limited to, conferences, networking events and donor engagements.

Drive AGIP's advocacy agenda:

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with advocacy experts/representatives from across AGIP's coalition membership and keep up to date with members' advocacy strategies and activities
• Drive the development and implementation of the Accountability Champions Platform leading taskforce meetings andsupporting the AGIP Programme Manager with stakeholder engagement of high-level representatives.
• Coordinate the creation of any related research or knowledge products between members to further the girl-centred accountability agenda, and the launch of the same.
• Proactively advance AGIP's advocacy agenda through other and ongoing activities aligned with the new strategy, for instance engagement with the Girls Deliver working group.
• Collaborate with the Communications and Membership Officer to identify high-potential advocacy opportunities and prepare for key advocacy events in coordination with members and external partners, and create any external advocacy products surrounding them, for instance advocacy briefs.
• Undertake horizon scanning to identify relevant partners, youth-led and girl-led organisations, networks, and coalitions with whom the AGIP should connect on national, regional, and global level.

Provide strategic support to key Secretariat projects and activities:

• Support the AGIP Programme Manager and Secretariat with internal and external stakeholder engagement and coordination and identification of potential partners, networks and members.
• Support the AGIP Programme Manager with secretariat duties and processes as needed, including but not limited to preparation for Quarterly Board meetings.
• Network and represent AGIP in external networks and forums, where relevant, including UN and other global policy and advocacy spaces.

KNOWLEDGE

• Extensive knowledge of girl and youth engagement best practice, including youth-friendly methodologies and participatory approaches to co-creation, and inclusive governance practices
• Technical expertise in safeguarding adolescent girls and youth within global policy spaces and process and across organisational culture.
• Knowledge of key advocacy themes in girls' rights space, ideally with solid understanding of global commitments to adolescent girls and accountability mechanisms.
• Knowledge of current feminist issues and trends in international development and the girls' rights and agency space, ideally including relevant coalitions.
• Understanding of community based & research organisations is an advantage.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Proven experience engaging in an empowering way with adolescent girl and youth advocates, girl- and youth-led organisations.
• Strong experience of implementing safeguarding and risk management practices.
• Proven advocacy skills and experience, including developing and driving key messages and influencing key stakeholders
• Experience designing and delivering engaging and dynamic virtual and in-person spaces, workshops, and events.
• Professional, engaging, and authentic stakeholder engagement skills, working across diverse groups, cultures and languages.
• Strong organisational and project management skills with close attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to produce and adapt messages for a wide range of audiences.
• Experience working with or for coalitions or networks is a strong advantage.

BEHAVIOURS

• A passionate girls' rights advocate, able to model AGIP's values and behaviours with external partners
• Conscientious and professional approach to all work
• A curious and strategic mind
• Inclusive collaborator, committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and pro-active and energetic team-player
• Ability to connect and build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
• Proactive and empathetic communicator.
• Capacity to be flexible and able to support with ad-hoc requests
• Commitment to feminist leadership principles and well-being in the workplace.