Consultancy Title: High Level Communications and Advocacy Programme Lead.

Consultancy fee: $ 8,332 USD for 4 months (subject to extension depending on funding availability)

Reports to: Executive Director.

Location: Fully Remote, based/living anywhere.

Background: Youth RISE is launching a call for applications to recruit a Core Team Consultant to lead our High Level Communications and Advocacy Programme. Even though this consultancy is only for four months, there is the possibility for a longer contract extension if there is sufficient funding and if expectations are met both ways.

Essential Criteria:

  • To be 34 years of age or less at the moment of applying for the position. As Youth RISE is a youth-led organization, all staff and core consultancies age out at 36 years of age;
  • A good understanding of Youth RISE’s work;
  • Experience working in an online setting;
  • Solution-focused and able to identify gaps in efficiency or effectiveness 
  • A focus on the continuous improvement of the programme and its impact;
  • Demonstrated project management experience and ability to juggle multiple projects/responsibilities at once;
  • Extensive knowledge and experience working or volunteering in drug policy advocacy;
  • Extensive knowledge of the various intersectional needs of young people who use drugs and other inadequately served populations;
  • Experience in drug policy-related and/or human rights-related high-level (at national, regional and international levels) advocacy settings;
  • A basic but solid understanding of how intergovernmental organisations like the UN work, and how civil society organisations can engage with them;
  • Non-judgmental attitude towards stigmatised and marginalised populations;
  • High level of cultural competence, knowledge and understanding;
  • Domain of diplomatic skills for conducting advocacy work with different stakeholders
  • Good command of the English language;
  • Experience uploading and editing content on WordPress;
  • Experience producing social media content, from designing it on Canva to editing others’ work;
  • Experience in writing and editing texts for public speaking interventions, policy briefs, research and press releases;
  • Demonstrated skills working both independently and as part of a team.

Preferred criteria:

  • Lived/Living experience as a young person who uses drugs and/or lived experience of impacts caused by punitive drug policies;
  • Great experience using Canva and/or willingness to learn;
  • Good experience using Slack and Google Drive for work purposes.

Tasks:

Working in collaboration with the Core Consultancy Team member and IWG members for the following tasks:

  • Lead strategic advocacy implementation by guiding the Youth RISE Advocacy Agenda, proactively identifying high-impact opportunities, producing and/or overseeing the development of organizational position papers, statements, and inputs for national, regional, and UN decision-making bodies (including CND and other UN fora).
  • Manage high-level advocacy execution by strategizing with the Executive Director, supporting speech writing for Core Consultancy Team and IWG members, and coordinating advocacy efforts across all levels to amplify the voices of young people who use drugs (YPWUD).
  • Drive stakeholder engagement by mapping and cultivating relationships with influential local, regional, and international decision-makers, forging strategic connections that elevate YPWUD perspectives in policy discussions.
  • Oversee communications alignment by providing strategic input on the social media calendar, at times producing website and social media content and ensuring all external outputs (website content, blogs, videos) align with and amplify key advocacy priorities.
  • Support research dissemination by assisting with review and writing of research outputs to ensure policy relevance and maximum impact.
  • Fulfill organizational compliance and coordination by completing all monitoring, reporting, and documentation requirements according to Youth RISE internal protocols, including monthly reports, event representation, maintaining the Google Drive project folder, attending supervision and weekly team meetings, and actively contributing to Core Consultancy Team operations.
  • Support financial sustainability by participating in fundraising activities as needed.

Please send a CV and Cover Letter to info@youthrise.org by Friday August 7th to apply to this position. Letters of recommendation are not required, but two professional references must be included in the CV. Please include Programme Lead (High Level Communications and Advocacy) in the subject field.