Director, Governance & Policy - Volunteer in London

The Director of BGPS will report to the Chair of International Relations and will be responsible for supporting the IYF Senior Management in diverse aspects related to policy issues, advocacy, research, analysis and capacity development in areas related to governance & policy support.

Mission Statement
To voluntarily represent, positively promote, and uphold the mission of “Empowering youth for a better world” in various programs and opportunities throughout the IYF interventions across member countries.

What are we looking for?
Governance and policy or policymaking experience within an NGO, nonprofit, INGO or IGO (such as the United Nations or European Union), government, charity, civil service, diplomatic, international development (such as USAID), or youth empowerment or similar organization is essential for this role. Experience working on youth policy or youth-related policy projects is highly advantageous.

What will you be doing?

The Fédération Internationale de la Jeunesse, in English the International Youth Federation (IYF), is an international non-profit youth organization network governed by the present Statutes and the Swiss Civil Code. It is politically neutral and non-denominational, aiming to empower youth worldwide. The IYF is a global youth network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to empower young people across the world. IYF works in over 50 countries and territories, helping to achieve youth empowerment and improve the status of youth.

The Bureau of Governance & Policy Support (BGPS) has the responsibility for researching and analysing all relevant youth policies and guidance to support the results of the IYF’s strategic interventions. BGPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Teams; advocates for the IYF corporate messages; and represents the IYF at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and cooperation initiatives.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Governance Support
  • Provides substantive technical support to governmental bodies on youth issues and establishing a worldwide network of youth focal points at the government’s entities, including Ministries of Youth and parliament committees on youth;
  • Prepares reports, publications, analytical documents, briefing notes and proposals for IYF officials;
  • Conceives, plans and manages governmental and expert group meetings, seminars, workshops and other events; researches, compiles, and summarises information and data on policies, programmes/projects and proposes designs and supervises research;
  • Prepares first drafts of sectorial, country, regional or international components of analytical studies on governance, public administration and development management in support of sustainable development;
  • Develops and maintains relations with counterpart and senior officials in Member States, other regional, global organizations and international and regional governance, academia and research institutions and ensures a response to requests for advice and/or assistance on governance, youth issues and policies;
  • Plans and backstops the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of capacity building projects for youth-related governmental bodies;
  • Represents the IYF and makes presentations on their behalf, related to the Organization’s work and concerns of its Member States, at international, regional or national meetings;
  • Undertakes administrative duties and other tasks as assigned by the Secretary General and the Chair to deliver the programme of work of the Bureau.
• Advocacy/Advancing Policy-Oriented Agenda
  • Maintains a functioning network of contacts with a variety of stakeholders to promote a better understanding of the IYF’s mandate and to support advocacy efforts;
  • Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration;
  • Participates in the formulation of project proposals and ensures substantive rigor in the design and application of proven successful approaches and drafts proposals accordingly.
• Building Strategic Partnerships
  • Maintains an established network of contacts for general information regarding partnership-related issues and promoting new approaches;
  • Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
  • Analyses information/databases on potential and actual donors promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing;
  • Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things.