Human Rights and Advocacy Officer – Family Leave Cover

The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

About Plan International Geneva

Our work at the United Nations is key to delivering our global ambition of transforming the lives of millions of girls and dismantling structures of inequality and discrimination. While we advance the rights of all children and young people in all their diversity, we focus particularly on girls and young women and the specific vulnerabilities they face.

Plan International’s UN Office in Geneva (Geneva Office hereafter) is one of the four Liaison Offices of Plan International, and works closely with the New York Liaison Office under the UN Team. The functions of the Geneva Office are:

Advocacy:

International advocacy: Our office works, in partnership with other NGOs, UN agencies, and children and young people themselves, to influence policy, law and practice to improve child rights globally by working with relevant UN bodies and mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council.

Country-specific advocacy: Our office also supports Plan International’s offices around the world, as well as children and young people, to use international human rights mechanisms, such as the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to improve the situation of child rights in their country.

Liaison: The Geneva Office serves as a point of liaison between the organisation and the UN in Geneva,

facilitating engagement of its offices in conferences and events.

Expertise: The Geneva Office also acts as a human rights expertise hub for Plan International, providing

the human rights and child rights lens for the organisations work.

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Human Rights and Advocacy Officer will have an active role in supporting Plan International’s efforts to strengthen girls’ rights in international policy, as well as its general human rights advocacy. The incumbent will be the office main focal point on UN Treaty Bodies and UPR engagement, as well as general human rights expertise.

The Human Rights and Advocacy Officer will report to the Head of Office, while working both internally with Plan International’s offices and teams, as well as with key external stakeholders, such as UN Agencies, Treaty Bodies, human rights experts, Permanent Missions, NGOs and, children and young people. In particular, they will:

• Provide technical and strategic support for Plan International’s country and thematic advocacy and for the engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, in particular the CRC, CEDAW and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR); support the engagement of children and young people in such processes;
• Actively and substantially contribute to the office’s human rights work and provide technical human rights advise to strengthen policy documents, briefs, and other initiatives;
• Support and coordinate Plan International’s participation in the Human Rights Council’s sessions and other relevant UN processes/meetings, including the organisation of side events, the preparation of statements and other background documents;
• Advise, support, and collaborate with Plan International staff on UN related activities and strategic advocacy;
• Lobby relevant Permanent Missions and Treaty Body Committees/experts;
• Conduct thematic advocacy and research on child rights and gender equality related issues;
• Develop advocacy, communications, and training materials on engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, including for children and young people;
• Conduct workshops and capacity strengthening activities, including for children and young people;
• Assist with identifying and pursuing strategic advocacy and partnership opportunities;
• Serve as a focal point for several partnerships and represent the Office in certain initiatives/meetings;
• Keep abreast of human rights and advocacy developments and trends;
• Regularly line manage two interns.
• Ensure that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
• Being a small office with few staff members, the Human Rights and Advocacy Officer will take part in carrying out various tasks to ensure the office runs smoothly, including some administrative tasks.

The Requirements

Knowledge and working experience

• Completion of a Master’s degree programme or equivalent experience, and experience in human rights, political science, gender studies, international law, international development or any other specific field relevant to Plan International’s work;
• Sound understanding of the UN system and its human rights mechanisms in particular, including how these can advance national level advocacy;
• Proven knowledge of human rights and specifically of gender equality;
• Knowledge of current political trends and events affecting children’s and girls’ rights;
• Previous experience with conducting advocacy; specific advocacy experience with Treaty Bodies/UPR and Member States would be valued;
• Previous experience working with national and international organisations and/or NGOs;
• Experience in conducting workshops and trainings.

Skills

• Excellent advocacy, networking, and interpersonal skills;
• Strong strategic thinker and ability to analyse and respond to political trends;
• Able to influence human rights norms and standards through strengthening language and strategic use of mechanisms;
• Ability to communicate complex issues in an accessible and simple manner;
• Strong and proven diplomatic skills, including with sensitive issues;
• Capacity-strengthening skills;
• Outstanding organisational and time management skills;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English. Knowledge of Spanish and/or French would be highly desirable;
• Ability to use initiative, prioritise competing workloads, and work independently;
• Desire and proven ability to work in a multifaceted, international and collaborative team environment;
• Skilled and confident user of Microsoft Office applications, video conferencing softwares and social media;
• Strong IT knowledge. Familiarity with training platforms such as Moodle, an asset.

Behaviours

• Interested in and committed to promoting diversity, gender equality and inclusion, inside and outside of Plan International.
• Able to navigate sensitive political discussions;
• Persuasive;
• Effective communicator in writing and orally;
• Good attention to detail;
• Self-starter, able to work without supervision;
• Positive, flexible, constructive and solution-oriented approach;
• Builds constructive relationships across and outside Plan International to support shared goals.
• Team-player committed to supporting team and team members to deliver.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Uses evidence from inside and outside the organisation to understand the root causes of issues, inform decisions and evaluate effectiveness.

Please follow this link for a full role profile; Human Rights and Advocacy Officer_Role Profile_Mat leave cover.docx and you can read more about Plan International at the UN here.

Location: Geneva Switzerland. Only candidates from Switzerland, from an EU/EFTA country or candidates already holding a valid Swiss working permit will be considered

Type of Role: Six month family leave cover contract

Reports to: UN Representative and Head of Office

Salary: CHF 80000 – CHF 82000 per annum

Please upload your CV (no more than two pages) and Cover Letter (no more than 600 words) by Wednesday 10th January at 11.59pm GMT. We will contact successful applicants by Friday 19th January regarding the next stage which will be a written test followed by interviews at the beginning of February. 

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.