Child Participation Advisor

Child Participation Advisor

We’re looking for a Child Participation Advisor with experience to join an important charity helping vulnerable children across the world.

Position: Child Participation Advisor

Location: Milton Keynes/Hybrid

Hours: Part-time, 2.5 days per week

Contract: Fixed term for 2 years

Salary: £21,961 per annum (FTE £42,750) + good range of benefits

Closing date: 7th March 2024

About the role:

Do you want to work with young changemakers and lead in identifying opportunities to amplify their voice in strategic decision-making, policy advocacy and engagement with our supporters and donors?

We have an exciting new opportunity to join our team as a Child Participation Advisor to promote Child Participation and spearhead the development and strengthening of the organisation’s Youth Advocacy Network (YAN). The YAN is composed of young leaders and advocates aged 21 years old and below from various backgrounds and countries, including the UK.

The post holder will play a critical role in the following:

• Lead the development and strengthening of the YAN enabling it to be a successful team.

• Manage the internal and external engagements of the members ensuring all activities adhere to Child Participation and safeguarding best practices.
• Support the YAN in the development and implementation of their annual plans and priorities.
• Look after the well-being of the members, including ensuring they receive ongoing mentoring and coaching.
• Support the young people in networking and collaborating with other young people and young people-led organisations.
• Manage the monthly cross-organisational Child Participation coordination meetings.
• Liaise and coordinate with national (country) office participation and safeguarding focal points and teams to ensure young people are supported.
• Support the delivery of Child Participation best practice training to staff and promote uptake of best practice resources for staff.
• Contribute to briefings and reports which will enable stakeholders to understand and respond to the voices of the young people.

About you:

We are seeking a highly motivated, dynamic, and passionate individual who can support the personal and leadership development of young people and enable them to speak for and on behalf of their peers. The candidate will possess experience in working with young people with lived experiences of children’s issues and be committed to diversity, equality, and inclusion, as well as have knowledge of child rights and the application of Child Participation principles and best practices, including safeguarding. The candidate will have good interpersonal and teamwork skills and enjoy collaborating with others.

Essential Criteria:

• A bachelor’s degree in a related field (e.g. children’s rights, development studies, international relations)
• Knowledge or lived experience on children and young people issues (particularly as relating to low-or middle-income countries) and children’s rights (UN-CRC).
• Understanding or experience of children and young people e.g. children’s clubs, young people’s board (within in-person or hybrid settings)
• Knowledge of children and young people’s participation principles and best practices, including safeguarding standards.
• Knowledge of common platforms for young people engagement e.g. MS Teams/zoom, social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.
• Knowledge of basic computer applications e.g. MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel etc.
• Passion and skills to work with children and young people as equal partners and support their development and leadership.
• Experience working among and with the most vulnerable children, and excluded/marginalised groups from different countries, cultures, and religious contexts, including championing their participation as rights holders and agents of change.
• Good interpersonal and teamwork skills and experience of working collaboratively with others.
• Dynamic facilitation skills that inspire and energise young people to give their best.

About the organisation:

The organisation is an international children’s charity working with children, their communities, and with supporters and partners, in almost 100 countries.

Through long-term development projects, emergency responses and advocacy they’ve helped bring lasting change to millions of children, over more than 60 years. As a Christian organisation, everything they do is motivated by their faith as they strive to reflect God’s unconditional love.

As a child-focused organisation, they are committed to the safeguarding of children, therefore any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of applicable background checks, including a criminal records check.

The organisation is a registered organisation operating the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS) and they shall check with your previous employers about your behaviour and conduct. They will be requesting you to complete a form known as a Statement of Conduct. For more information see: The Misconduct Disclosure Scheme

Please note the organisation can only consider applicants who presently have the right to work in the UK and all candidates must be personally committed to the Christian faith and be able to respect, uphold and work within our client’s Christian mission, values, culture, and faith statements. This individual will represent and speak on behalf of a Christian charity and as such the Occupational Requirement for an active Christian faith is justified under the Equality Act 2010 Schedule 9, Part 1, clause 3.

You may also have experience in areas such as: Child Participation Advisor, Participation Engagement lead, Community Engagement lead, Participation and Community Engagement lead, Programme Development Manager, Child and Youth Program Manager, Youth Development Worker, Youth Worker, Child and Youth Development, Youth Support Worker, Mental Health Youth Manager, Educational Youth Worker, Support Manager Children and Young People, Youth Support Manager, Residential Youth Worker, Child Care Worker, Youth Worker, Holiday Club, After School Club, Youth Club.

PLEASE NOTE: This role is being advertised by NFP People on behalf of the organisation.