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SalaryResults UK Job Description: Parliamentary Advocacy Coordinator (Education)
Key terms and conditions
Salary: £27,770
Contract type: 1 year
Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week
Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays. Staff additionally get a day off on their birthday and our office is closed between Christmas and New Year.
Pension: Employee contributions to pension are matched 1:1 by Results up to a maximum of 5% of gross salary.
Benefits: Cycle scheme, interest free travel card loan and Employee Access Programme
Line Manager: Senior Policy & Parliamentary Advocacy Officer (Education)
Location: Results UK works hybridly with most staff coming into the office 2 days a week but other working patterns are possible. Our office is in Millbank Tower, London, SW1P 4QP.
Starting date: This role is available from 1st July 2024.
About Results UK
Results’ mission is to work with others to create the public and political will to end poverty, by enabling people to exercise their personal and political power for change.
Internationally, we work with Results organisations in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan, and in education we work with partners through the Global Campaign for Education, the Foundational Learning Hub, and the Privatisation in Education and Human Rights Consortium. Results UK believes the building blocks of the end of poverty can be most simply articulated as “health, education, economic opportunities, and citizen voice”. These are the things that all people, wherever they live, need and have a right to.
Across all our issues, our aims are to mobilise resources, change policy, and create the public and political will that will bring about change.
About the International Parliamentary Network for Education
The International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) helps mobilise the political leadership necessary to accelerate quality education for all.
The Network consists of parliamentarians from around the world who are committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 - Quality Education - through increasing the funding, access and equity of education globally.
At IPNEd, we support parliamentarians to work individually and in partnership with other members of parliament to accelerate the achievement of SDG 4..
The IPNEd Secretariat is hosted by Results UK.
The Secretariat acts independently and reports to the Network’s Global Executive Committee, all of whom are parliamentarians.
Role description
The Parliamentary Advocacy Coordinator (Education) will work with both organisations, providing crucial support to the Results UK Education and IPNEd Teams. We are looking for someone who will be proactive, efficient and flexible in supporting our parliamentary advocacy work both in the UK and globally. Having a can-do attitude that includes the more administrative aspects of the role is essential. This post will provide good opportunities for developing project management and advocacy skills; an understanding of key international development issues; and experience of working with Parliaments and parliamentarians in the UK and globally.
We are looking for candidates with an interest in and passion for international development and education to address poverty, inequality and oppression.
Key responsibilities
Supporting the work of the Results UK education and IPNEd teams
- Providing administrative support to the Results UK Education and IPNEd Teams and ensuring the smooth-running of internal processes that support the teams’ work, for example: contributing to the maintenance of the contact management systems and databases; supporting monitoring, learning and evaluation processes; tracking and communicating impact; engaging with external providers (e.g. report designers); managing procurement of translation services for events and meetings.
- Supporting political analysis for Results UK and IPNEd education teams to identify parliamentarians to work with as members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Global Education in the UK and the IPNEd global network.
- Assisting with advocacy strategy planning and implementation, for example: attending coalition meetings and identifying key opportunities to influence decision-makers.
- Assisting with organisation of virtual and in-person parliamentary events, including leading on logistical details and assisting in developing project plans and schedules.
- Project assistance and development, for example: assisting with briefings or delegation planning.
- Keeping up to date with current affairs that relate to Results UK and IPNEd’s work. In terms of Results UK, keeping up to date with UK politics and parliamentary affairs with a focus on global education. In terms of IPNEd, keeping up to date with international affairs relating to global education, with a focus on the role of parliamentarians in these issues. Identify parliamentary opportunities including parliamentary questions, debates and other advocacy opportunities.
Communications and media
- Support Results UK communications and contribute to activity and contribute content to Results UK’s website, blog and social media to help achieve our organisational objectives and strengthen our brand presence.
- Managing the APPG on Global Education Twitter Page and supporting APPG newsletters.
- Creating and sharing communications content for IPNEd including: social media content for Twitter and LinkedIn; contributing to the IPNEd website; sending out communications to the network and writing content for the monthly IPNEd newsletter.
Working across the whole of Results UK
- Working with the Grassroots and Communications Team to ensure maximum impact between the relationships our grassroots campaigners build with their local MPs, and the Education Team’s advocacy work.
- Representing Results UK and/or IPNEd as required at meetings with coalitions or partner organisations.
Person specification
Essential criteria
Skills and experience
- Experience of working with parliamentarians, public affairs, campaigning or advocacy work in either a paid or voluntary environment.
- Strong interpersonal skills, an ability to quickly strike a rapport with people from diverse backgrounds.
- Experience providing logistical/administrative support to organise and operate meetings and events.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent organisational skills with strong attention to detail.
- Computer literacy.
- Willingness and flexibility to work across a range of tasks and activities as needed by the Results UK Education and IPNED teams.
- Experience of using social media and producing communications materials in a professional context, either in a paid or voluntary environment.
- A willingness to pick up the phone, both to contact others and to be the first point of contact with callers.
Personal attributes
- Passion for politics, international development, and/or education.
- Self-starting, highly organised, and able to manage multiple tasks.
- Ability to respond flexibly to changing priorities, and to both set and work to deadlines.
- A good team worker who enjoys supporting other members of a team and working together for common objectives.
- Good written and spoken English.
- Willingness to work across the political spectrum as part of a politically neutral organisation and to engage enthusiastically with parliamentarians from all political parties.
- Confident and willing to initiate contact and discussion with parliamentarians and their supporting staff.
- Willingness and ability to travel outside the UK.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of the workings of the Parliaments, in particular the UK Parliaments and experience working in international development.
- Knowledge of the key issues facing education in a global context.
- Knowledge of Salesforce or other content management systems.
- Ability to speak a second UN language: French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Mandarin.
Personal attributes
- A self-starter, who is highly organised with strong attention to detail and comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy.
- A commitment to anti-oppression and challenging your own thinking and biases.
- An ability to respond flexibly to changing priorities, and to stick to deadlines.
- A team player who enjoys supporting other team members towards common objectives.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Willingness and ability to travel within and outside the UK, as required.
- An interest in working collaboratively with global partners and learning from their experiences as well as sharing your own.
Why work for Results and IPNEd
Like you, we're passionate about ending poverty. We’re a small, collaborative organisation that has a big impact. We just do advocacy - we don’t run programmes. The experience you gain with us sets you up for a career in international development. Below are a few of the benefits of joining us, in addition to the salary, pension and annual leave outlines at the top of this document.
Work-life balance
- We offer flexible working so you can manage work around your own needs.
- Hybrid working means you don’t have to be trapped in a long commute every day and don’t have to be London based.
- Staff members have their birthdays off as a bonus day of leave and we close the office between Christmas and new year so you don’t need to take leave.
- We subscribe to the Bupa employee advice line – free confidential access to financial and legal advisors as well as telephone and online counselling sessions.
- In addition we run training on mental health at work and have named mental health first aiders who can be contacted in confidence if you would like help finding support.
- All staff have the opportunity to join working groups outside of their work areas according to their interests and are encouraged to pursue professional development opportunities.
- Our staff wellbeing team explores how we can improve our staff wellbeing - most recently publishing a comprehensive guide - and reviews what we have done to date.
Anti-oppression
- We offer half a day’s anti-oppression learning leave each year
- As well as making reasonable adjustments, we support our staff in making applications to the Access to Work scheme to get additional equipment where needed.
- We offer disability leave for disabled colleagues to manage specific needs they may have without having to give up their holidays.
- We have a staff working group on anti-oppression which helps to develop our work on anti-oppression and identify gaps in our current work.
Partnerships
- Results UK hosts three other organisations, including IPNEd, working on specific aspects of global health and education, so you benefit from other perspectives and get an in-depth understanding of other work going on in the sector.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
At Results UK, we believe in equality, diversity and inclusion, and that these should be the norm. As well as this being an issue of equality and fairness, we recognise that diverse and inclusive organisations are some of the most productive and impactful.
As an organisation, we are aware of the under-representation of certain groups and communities in the international development sector that are often closest to the issues we work on. These include - but are certainly not limited to - people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, refugees, people with disabilities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
We want to change this and are committed to playing our part as an organisation. As a committed equal opportunities employer, we actively welcome applications from people of a wide range of backgrounds, skills and abilities, recognising the value that these different perspectives bring to our organisation.
How to apply
To apply for this job please submit a CV demonstrating your previous experience and answer the questions outlined below via our online application system.
Deadline for applications is midnight on Wednesday 26th July 2024.
Interviews will be held on Friday 28th June/Monday 1st July 2024 .
All candidates must have the right to live and work in the UK. If you are made an offer of employment, this will be subject to verifying that you are eligible to work in the UK before you start work.
Shortlisting questions
You will be asked to answer the following questions as part of the application process.
What motivates you about this role, and working on international development and global education in particular?
Working collaboratively is an essential part of this role. What do you think are the most important things for building and maintaining successful relationships with colleagues?
If you were briefing a member of parliament on a key issue in global education, how would you ensure your communication was clear and persuasive?
What does the term anti-oppression mean to you? Feel free to reflect on your personal experiences of anti-oppression if you would like to do so.
