Advocacy Specialist, P-4, Temporary Position, Rome, Italy, 364 days, Private Fund Raising and Partnerships, #00138623

Under the overall guidance and direction of the Chief of Child Rights Advocacy, the Advocacy Specialist will be responsible for supporting the National Committees in the design, implementation and monitoring of foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. The position will:1. Support foundational advocacy by National Committees, specifically CRE and child and youth participation;2. Provide support to National Committees on Platform Initiatives, either directly or through supervising dedicated consultancies when available;3. Identify and pursue opportunities for synergies among foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. UNICEFworks in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling. UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package. Visitour websiteto learn more about what we do at UNICEF. For every child,the right to a Future UNICEF is the agency of the United Nations mandated to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF strives to establish children’s rights as international standards of behaviour towards children. The National Committees for UNICEF operate in 32 high income countries as independent civil society organizations that work in partnership with UNICEF to advance children's rights and support UNICEF's mission. Their functions include advocating for increased action by governments and other decision makers to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights nationally and globally. The National Committee Relations Section (NCR), within UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP) division, is responsible for managing UNICEF’s strategic partnership with the National Committees. Within the NCR section, the Child Rights Advocacy Unit serves as the primary entry point for support to National Committees in their child rights advocacy activities both domestically and globally. The Unit works in close collaboration with all other relevant divisions and offices to ensure that UNICEF delivers on its commitment to provide access to relevant research, evidence, and information in support of National Committee child rights advocacy strategies as mutually agreed in the Joint Strategic Plans (JSPs). For the purposes of this position, "Foundational advocacy" comprises the work of National Committees around Child Rights Education (CRE) and Child and Youth Participation. CRE refers to “teaching and learning about the provisions and principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the ‘child rights approach’– in order to empower both adults and children to take action to advocate for and apply these at the family, school, community, national and global levels.” ‘Child Participation’ refers to the direct involvement in advocacy or decision-making of children under the age of 18, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). ‘Youth engagement’ refers to young adults aged 18 years and above. CYP refers broadly to both. Platform initiatives are strategic interventions that demonstrate the value of a child rights approach and provide a "platform" for foundational advocacy, including CRE and child participation. The platform initiatives covered by this assignment are:- Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI);- Child Rights Schools Initiative (CRSI); and- Baby-Friendly Hospitals Imitative (BFHI). How can you make a difference? Under the overall guidance and direction of the Chief of Child Rights Advocacy, the Advocacy Specialist will be responsible for supporting the National Committees in the design, implementation and monitoring of foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. The position will: 1. Support foundational advocacy by National Committees, specifically CRE and child and youth participation; 2. Provide support to National Committees on Platform Initiatives, either directly or through supervising dedicated consultancies when available; 3. Identify and pursue opportunities for synergies among foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. MAIN TASKS 1. Support to National Committees on foundational advocacy: a. Support National Committees in designing, implementing and monitoring Child Rights Education, child participation and youth engagement initiatives.b. Facilitate the regular interaction of the National Committees through the maintenance of the existing CRE Network and CPYE Working Group, including the organization of regular webinars for mutual information sharing and exchange of rights-based practices.c. Facilitate the interaction of the National Committees with the key relevant teams in UNICEF headquarters.d. Proactively share the key global developments in CRE and child and youth participation with National Committees (i.e. policy guidance, new initiatives, strategic documents, etc.), and lead the adaptation required to make them relevant to the National Committee context. Ensure that National Committees are aware of these developments and understand the implications for their work.e. Promote constant alignment of the work of National Committees with the child rights approach and global UNICEF guidance and frameworks. Identify potential areas of misalignment and address them in a constructive manner with the National Committees. 2. Support to National Committees on platform initiatives: a. Coordinate the CFCI, CRSI, and BFHI platform initiatives and promote synergies among them with foundational advocacy.b. Maintain and support the consultancies overseeing CFCI and BFHI (when applicable), including oversight of workplans, deliverables, coordination and follow-up.c. Provide direct support to National Committees on CRSI planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting.d. Facilitate peer learning and the exchange of tools, evidence and good practices across platform initiatives. 3. Monitoring and reporting: a. Provide guidance and support to National Committees on monitoring and reporting of foundational advocacy and platform initiatives through the JSP and their own national tools and mechanisms.b. Work with the Unit’s Knowledge Management Specialist in promoting the direct use of the Knowledge Exchange Platform and other collaborative tools by National Committees to facilitate the horizontal exchange of experiences, and proactively explore additional means of knowledge exchange. 4. Child safeguarding and risk management: a. In collaboration with the Child Safeguarding Specialist in the Governance team, support the National Committees to ensure that the best interests of every child are always adequately considered and protected and that the risks associated with child rights advocacy are adequately managed.b. Support National Committees to properly register and monitor any identified risks and risk management strategies as part of the JSP process and contribute to PFP’s risk register accordingly. 5. Ad-hoc initiatives: a. Support UNICEF in liaising with National Committees for the organization of specific initiatives and events involving foundational advocacy and platform initiatives. If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:ToR - Advocacy Specialist_P4_00138623.pdf To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… Minimum requirements: - Ed