Democratic Participation and Youth Representation Advisor

Can you support a federation wide initiative to build institutional resilience and capacity for ActionAid Country Offices to mitigate and withstand shrinking civic space? Do you have contextual knowledge about barriers to young people’s democratic participation, organizing and engagement? Can you support regional and global advocacy initiatives to ensure young peoples’ participation and influence in decision-making spaces? Then join our efforts to create an enabling environment for young people to engage in political affairs and have a seat at the table as our new Democratic Participation and Youth Representation Advisor.

ActionAid Denmark works to unite people in the struggle against social injustice, exclusion, poverty and inequality. As part of the international ActionAid Federation ActionAid Denmark is deeply engaged in the international work on protecting and expanding civic and democratic space to the benefit of young people and civil society in emerging democracies.

This work is situated in international programme work on participatory democracy and youth representation as well as work on strengthening ActionAid’s institutional resilience in the context of shrinking civic and political space in the environments that ActionAid operates in.

As an Advisor, you will

• Support the technical team of the Institutional Resilience Delegation, in particular ActionAid Uganda who is lead, and you will contribute to capacity building of ActionAid Country Offices experiencing shrinking civic space through:

1. supporting the piloting of new and innovative funding and rapid response mechanisms to mitigate and withstand shrinking political space;
2. assisting to deepen documentation of institutional experiences in navigating political space for shared learning and influencing global processes;
3. supporting in building an ActionAid Federation-wide mechanism to better predict threats, build capacity to withstand the adverse effects and proactively respond to the narrowing political space;
4. help facilitating drawing learnings as part of an effort to strengthen the Federation’s resilience as an institution;
5. guide planning and resilience assessment through unity of purpose, proactive response and risk responsive planning strategies.

• Work on capacity building in relation to regional and global advocacy initiatives, including convenings and to ensure youth participation and involvement in regional and global decision-making spaces;
• Provide technical support and advise to ActionAid staff and partners in ActionAid countries affected by shrinking civic space in order for them to continuously increase their capacity and resilience to withstand shrinking civic space;
• Support to ensure that regional and global interventions are based on knowledge and experiences deriving from the national and local work of the Federation as well as from the partners.

The job requires that you have

• Minimum 5 years work experience in the areas of democracy, human rights, governance, women and youth participation international development perspective, or similar, preferably with a strong youth focus.
• Experience working on programme and policy advocacy initiatives including on electoral accountability, inclusive democracy, expanding and protecting civic and democratic space.
• Understanding of security issues for civil society organisations and human rights activists, including internet/digital threats.
• Experience setting up systems for and/or working with institutional resilience/rapid response mechanisms for human rights defenders.
• Experience in working with civil society organisations and human rights activists on different intervention levels, preferably including social movements.
• Comprehensive understanding of rights-based approaches to civic participation and democratic space
• Experience in working with partners in different intervention levels, preferably including social movements.
• A strong commitment to develop, promote and practice ActionAid International’s vision, mission, values, and strategy
• Track record in providing thought leadership in program/project coordination with multiple stakeholders in a multi country context.
• Proven experience in designing social justice interventions.

Desired skills for the job include

• Excellent research skills and experience on participatory research on governance issues, human rights, legal analysis of local and national governance systems vs. international standards, and familiarity with public opinion research is an asset.
• Excellent analytical skills to quickly grasp and synthesize inputs from a range of disciplines related to governance, human rights and development; and to prioritize key messages and conclusions.
• Excellent and proven English writing skills, for research reports, policy briefings, and media/communication materials.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Communicates effectively with and relates to people of different ages, cultures and able to see issues from other perspectives.
• Strong relationship building skills, with an exceptional ability to build relations in a multi partnership set up, as well as with external actors – including cultivating productive relationships with government bodies, individuals and institutions.
• Maintain good public relations with key partners and stakeholders during the implementation process.
• Proven knowledge on issues relating to civil and political rights.
• Demonstrated abilities and contributions to policy and guideline formulation, organizational capacity development and advisory support, preferably in an INGO sector.
• Ability to foster capacity development and innovative learning.
• Proficiency in institutional and individual security.

It is a prerequisite that you understand the role as an advisor to support and build the capacity of others through coaching, mentoring, advising and advancing the youth agenda through developing and introducing good practices. Moreover, you are expected to respect and genuinely value the role of others.

We offer you

A 2-year contract with possibility of extension under the People4Change programme funded by Danida through ActionAid Denmark. A base in Kampala with ActionAid Uganda, with regular travels to other countries in and beyond the ActionAid Federation. An opportunity to play a central role in strengthening young people’s meaningful democratic participation.

The salary is 3,170 Euros monthly, including an obligatory pension scheme with 10% employer + 3% employee contribution. On top of this is a comprehensive allowance package including relocation, housing and school allowances. A broad, professional network of passionate, national and international colleagues.

Applications

Please send your CV and cover letter explaining your motivation to work with ActionAid in this position.

If you have specific questions about the position please contact Dorte Tietze, Senior Programme Manager, International Programme and Policy at ActionAid Denmark, at [email protected]

Application deadline: 17 October 2019 at midnight CEST

First round of Interviews will tentatively be held between the 28th of October and the 2nd of November

Start date: earliest possible, probably December or January depending on work permit processes.