Youth Advocacy Expert: National Youth Policy

About the project

We are seeking a short term expert to provide technical assistance to the Lebanese Ministry of Youth & Sports and the Youth Forum, along with other relevant stakeholders in government and civil society. The focus of this project is to provide support in improving the effectiveness in the roles that these organisations can play, in order to promote the priorities of National Youth Policy. It also aims to ensure that there is an improvement in co-ordination, accountability and scrutiny mechanisms for youth policy. 

Role description 

The tasks associated with this activity will work towards developing an advocacy strategy that aims to enhance the understanding of youth development issues in relation to key priorities outlined in the National Youth Policy. The strategy will be accompanied by a realistic plan and monitoring and evaluation measures to enable organisations to carry out advocacy work and to monitor the effectiveness of their staff in advocacy. The task will also involve designing advocacy training to enable youth actors to develop the soft and hard skills required for advocacy and to plan their own advocacy approach.

In close coordination with the Team Leader and the Communication Key Expert, the expert will carry out the following tasks: 

1. Carry out a baseline analysis to ascertain the current ways in which advocacy is defined and conducted within the youth sphere and through stakeholders. The analysis will include identifying the crucial stakeholders, examining the levels of involvement and interest in the National Youth Policy and identify relevant non-formal youth civil society organisations.  
2. Conduct an action planning workshop to determine the priority areas from the National Youth Policy that we will be working on with different stakeholders. 
3. Design an advocacy strategy, along with monitoring and evaluation measures and tools for advocacy in relation to youth policy priorities.
4. Develop a shared work plan that will identify the capacity building programme that can be carried out in terms of advocacy and outreach.
5. Design a capacity building tool/training course to enable people’s engagement in policy making processes including skills on:

a. research 

b. advocacy and communication 

c. gaining consensus and building alliances 

d. planning interventions 

e. leading or taking part in policy initiatives 

f. monitoring how these policy initiatives work in practice 

g. holding people to account. 

All deliverables are to be submitted to the Team Leader as agreed per contract and as a condition for completion of the assignment.

The assignment is expected to take place in the period running from March to mid-May 2017 and the consultant shall be paid on a daily rate commensurate to experience and salary history. 

Qualifications and experience required

Essential 

• A Master’s degree in social sciences, law, public policy, public affairs or any relevant major related to the assignment 

• A minimum of eight years of general professional experience working on relevant Youth Policy issues, institutional development, and working with government institutions (ministries and public institutions) 

• A minimum of five years of experience in supporting capacity development, training and learning in advocacy and campaigning, in particular in relation to public policy areas such as youth 

• A minimum of five years of experience in stakeholder mapping, advocacy, policy, strategic management and needs assessment 

• Excellent analytical and reporting skills 

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills

• Fluency in Arabic and English both in writing and speaking 

• Proven experience in using different media forms, including digital as well as formal advocacy. 

Desirable 

• Experience in partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) or European member states or other international contexts.

Interested candidates are kindly requested to send their CV tailored to the above requirements along with a cover letter highlighting their

1. area of expertise in advocacy
2. communication and facilitation skills
3. average daily rate 

to job.vacancy@lb.britishcouncil.org with the subject line: “Advocacy Expert: National Youth Policy”. 

Please note we can only respond to shortlisted applicants and only within five working days of the application deadline.