Child and Youth Participation Officer

Luni, 13 Ianuarie 2025

Lumos Moldova is hiring an Child and Youth Participation Officer

Purpose of job:

Under the leadership and with strategic oversight from the Country Director of Lumos Moldova and working closely with the Head of CYP from Global team, the Child and Youth Participation Officer is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing participation activities to achieve Lumos’ overall objectives, and for promoting and facilitating the meaningful participation of children and youth in the organization’s programs, policies and decision-making processes, with the aim of shaping real and significant changes in ensuring their rights to participate and express their views.

This position aims to empower children and youth, increasing their knowledge to promote their rights and engagement in matters that affect their lives while fostering a safe, child-friendly and inclusive environment. In this regard, the Officer works with various national and international partners. The CYP Officer will play an important role in promoting and advocating for the implementation of the Lumos Moldova Program.

This position will last until 31 August 2025 with the possibility to be extended, based on a successful employment period and subject to funds availability.

Key responsibilities:

Drawing up the annual implementation plan for CYP activities in accordance with the Program's objectives and key activities.
Coordinate Lumos Moldova participation activities ensuring that care-experienced children and young people’s views are heard and acted upon by decision-makers and inform the development of Lumos’s strategies and practices.
Developing and producing concepts and training materials for implementing Child and youth participation activities.
Carry out trainings and advocacy activities for children, youth, partners with the purpose to achieve Lumos’ objectives and mission.
Strive for meaningful and high-quality engagement of children, youth and caregivers in learning, participation and advocacy processes.
Ensure participation is a key element within the existing projects Lumos is implementing in the Republic of Moldova. Organize events and ensure wide dissemination of information about these activities through available channels.
Create, consolidate and coordinate the activity of Lumos Youth Advisory Board at the country level.
Support the active involvement of children and youth in relevant activities and events, related to the implementation of the childcare and protection system reforms in the Republic of Moldova, enhancing their self-advocacy capacities, as well as promoting children/youth messages and advocating for their rights.
Support child and youth participation initiatives, ensuring compliance with Lumos policies and standards, as well as global best practices for child and youth engagement.
Lead the delivery of engaging and participatory workshops and other 1:1 and group activities with children, young people and parents, using principles of co-production to design and create new outputs which advance our policy, campaigns and communication priorities.
Prepare and deliver training programs to key stakeholders and partners on engaging children and young people in care reform matters.
Work closely with the country team, service providers and caregivers to ensure all children and young people can effectively and safely share their experiences and expertise with us and decision-makers from the care system.
Build trusting relationships with children, young people and parents so they feel comfortable and always supported, addressing the power dynamics which impact on the experiences and effectiveness of this work.
Develop strong relationships and work collaboratively with relevant stakeholders in the sector to support the involvement of a wider community of care- experienced children and young people, including the ones with disabilities.
Enhance the service providers, caregivers, public authorities and young people’s knowledge and practice in effective and innovative participation approaches.
Contribute to monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the impact of our participation work and outcomes for participants.
Work with the country team, Head of CYP and Advocacy Team to prepare children to participate in national and international advocacy events.
Develop participatory inclusive methodologies with children and young people.
Ensure that all children and young people are fully prepared to enable meaningful participation activities in a safe and supported environment.
Monitor the implementation of planned activities to achieve expected results in a timely manner, in accordance with established milestones and timelines, producing analyses and reports.

Person Specifications

Essential education:

· University degree in psychology, social work, psycho-pedagogy, child and youth participation and any other related social science disciplines.

Essential experience:

Working with children and young people (particularly the ones with lived experience, from vulnerable backgrounds, including the ones with disabilities). This should be at least three years’ experience in participation, youth work, education or other relevant setting.
Planning and delivering face to face and online workshops and other participation activities to engage groups of children, young people and parents in developing advocacy and awareness raising outputs.

Essential personal attributes:

Commitment to improving their lives and on finding opportunities for people with lived experience, including the ones with disabilities.
Able to establish rapports quickly and to build respect and trust with a range of audiences, especially with children and young people Lumos works with.
High level of emotional intelligence, and ability to be nonjudgemental and neutral when working in the organization.
Good self-motivation, initiative and ability to work
Commitment to principles of equity, diversity and

Essential skills:

Able to communicate naturally and empathetically, especially with people with lived experience.
Excellent written and verbal communication
Able to develop strong working relationships with key stakeholders across local authorities, service providers, caregivers and community settings.
Good IT literacy, particularly Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and Excel.
Strong time management and record-keeping
Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of Russian will be an asset.

Essential knowledge:

Understanding of the childcare and child protection systems and local public authority
The candidate must demonstrate a strong understanding of policies, legislation and guidance on children’s rights, as outlined in the national and international frameworks.
Understanding of the emotional, psychological and practical issues often faced by people with lived experience, including the ones with disabilities.
Understanding of the principles of practices of youth participation, including mechanisms for involving young people in decision-making and sharing their expertise with others.
The candidate should demonstrate working knowledge on child protection, safeguarding, data protection, PSEA in the work with children, young people and adults.

Values

Act in accordance with Lumos’ values:

Collaboration
Excellence
Respect
Care
Passionate

Safeguarding Statements

Lumos recognises that the rights of safety and security are aligned with its core mission of ending institutionalisation. Effective and robust safeguarding sit at the heart of our mission and values, and accordingly, Lumos is committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children and vulnerable adults in all its work. We expect all staff, associates and volunteers to share this commitment. Lumos will carefully screen all applicants, and any offers of employment are subject to appropriate employment and background checks, as well as suitable references from previous employers.

Lumos is committed to ensuring the safety and protection of children and adults at risk in all our work. All staff and associates must:

Carry out all duties with an awareness and understanding of the Safeguarding requirements within the area of responsibility.
Ensure work complies with all safeguarding policies and procedures that apply to the role.
Ensure the that their behaviours and actions support the safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk as appropriate.

EDI Statement

Lumos is wholly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and against all forms of discrimination.

We are committed to creating and sustaining a positive working environment that encourages, supports and gives a voice to all, so that we can best support the children we serve. We must ensure that all staff are equally valued, included, empowered and respected across the organisation and in everything we do.

Lumos is fundamentally built on diverse, multi-national and multi-cultural teams. This is something we cherish as a key strength and an integral part of our identity. Our organisation values and celebrates the diversity, culture and experience of each member of staff, provides equality of care and support to everyone.

We pledge to listen carefully, to educate ourselves continually, to promote open dialogue, and to seek out and deal with discrimination and prejudice wherever it occurs in Lumos.

Interested candidates are welcome to apply by sending their CV with Cover letters to the email moldova.recruitment@wearelumos.org mentioning in the subject line the title of the position “Child and Youth Participation Officer”. Deadline: 30 January 2025