Senior Advocacy Officer

Position description

Missing Children Europe is looking to recruit an experienced, versatile and dynamic Senior Advocacy Officer with a true passion for children’s rights to monitor policy developments and advocate for policy change in the field of missing children, including but not limited to children in migration, child sexual abuse and exploitation, counter-trafficking, children in alternative care and situations of homelessness and poverty, child alerts, parental abductions and hotlines for missing children.

Tasks:

The Senior Advocacy Officer is responsible, in collaboration with relevant thematic policy specialists (i.e., project officers) and under direction and supervision of the Secretary General, for the implementation of Missing Children Europe’s advocacy strategy and liaison with relevant EU and regional stakeholders and partners.

To this end, the Senior Advocacy Officer:

• Is responsible for and monitors the implementation of Missing Children Europe’s advocacy strategy, and keeps track of the impact of activities;
• Undertakes advocacy towards relevant stakeholders (e.g., European Union institutions and agencies, Council of Europe, United Nations agencies, etc.), to achieve concrete improvement in policies and practices for children (at risk of) going missing, by guaranteeing the support of policy makers, elected officials, intergovernmental bodies and agencies, funders, civil society organisations;
• Works closely with Missing Children Europe member organisations, to gather their input into MCE’s EU advocacy and to support and help design national advocacy initiatives;
• Co-develops relevant advocacy documents (e.g., reports, position papers, statements, newsletter items) and submissions to regional and international bodies in liaison with the Secretary General and thematic experts;
• Shares their expertise for input into consultations, position papers, and project proposals for fundraising;
• Advises team members on ways of networking and advocating with key stakeholders in their thematic areas of expertise;
• Builds networks and alliances, and develops joint work, with institutional, civil society and other strategic partners, as well as potential members;
• Ensures that relevant information is shared with the concerned staff and members;
• Supports the organisation of events through development of event objectives, programme elements, participant/guest lists;
• Provides support to the general advocacy and networking of Missing Children Europe by maintaining and a sharing a repository of target audience;
• Assists with the communication and dissemination of emerging policy issues to externals and members, in close contact with the Communications team and the thematic policy experts;
• Assists with the development of communications and awareness raising campaigns supporting the advocacy.

Duties and responsibilities also include co-coordination of CSO advocacy initiatives and action groups, and other relevant NGO platforms, and maintaining/developing collaboration with key stakeholders.

The Senior Advocacy Officer supports and advises the Secretary General in her duties of external representation in matters related to public policy, including participation in conferences and meetings.

Profile, skills and background:

• University degree in a relevant field required (law, political science, human rights, EU or international affairs, sociology, psychology, child development or any related field);
• At least 5 years of professional experience in advocacy at EU level are required – experience with CoE, UN or advocacy at national level an asset;
• Excellent understanding of children’s rights and child protection issues required, – specific experience in one or more of the relevant policy fields (e.g., child alerts, EU police cooperation social inclusion, homelessness, deinstitutionalization, child sexual abuse and counter-trafficking, migration, international family law) an asset;
• Excellent command of written and spoken English required – other languages, particularly French, an asset;
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Excellent political judgment and understanding of political dynamics and international institutional frameworks;
• Experience in developing and conducting advocacy initiatives aimed at the adoption of strong legislation and policies which effectively respond to needs of a group or a community;
• Experience of facilitating the participation of NGOs in policymaking processes an asset;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, in particular ability to build meaningful relationships with institutional and other partners;
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to develop evidence-based policy proposals;
• Ability to work quickly and efficiently as well as stress resilience;
• Excellent organizational and time management skills;
• Understanding of the NGO sector/EU umbrella organisations an asset;
• Comfortable working in cooperation with children and young experience experts;
• Capability to take initiative, to plan and work independently, while being a strong and dependable team player;
• Ability to work with people from different professional and cultural backgrounds. Willingness to learn from differences: equality and diversity are an added value rather than a challenge for you;
• Ability to work well with others in a small team;
• Ambitious, persistent, diplomatic, and with a good sense of humour;
• Displays personal integrity and an honest and ethical approach;
• Possesses a strong achievement/delivery focus – sets ambitious standards including accuracy and attention to detail.

Application instructions

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