CARE is one of the world's leading international humanitarian and development organizations, committed to helping people in poor communities improve their lives and alleviate poverty. Founded in 1945, CARE is working over 100 countries to fight global poverty and marginalization. CARE has been active in Bangladesh since 1949 and is one of the largest programs in CARE confederation. CARE works to help people achieve social and economic well-being, while being among the best in their fields. Women and girls are at the core of all CARE programs because they represent half of the marginalized group and it is not possible to overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. CARE Bangladesh works to implement programs with long-term impacts that result in sustainable changes for the extreme poor and marginalized communities.

CARE Bangladesh, a non-profit international development organization is implementing the USAID Bijoyee Activity , a five-year’s project with a consortium of youth-led and youth serving organizations funded by the USAID. It aims to empower youth not in education, employment, or training (NEET) particularly young women and socially marginalized young people, by equipping them with market-oriented soft and life skills, resources and social capital for green and gainful employment and greater social and environmental impact.  Strengthening youth ecosystem, organizational development support to national and grassroots youth organizations, incubation and start-up support to young entrepreneurs, youth inclusive policies and planning are some examples of key interventions of the USAID Bijoyee Activity to be implemented in urban/ per-urban areas in five hubs encompassing seventeen districts. Department of Youth Development (DYD) and relevant govt. and private sectors are the strategic partners of this project.

CARE Bangladesh is inviting young Bangladeshi professionals to apply for the position of Policy and Advocacy Specialist for the USAID Bijoyee Activity. This position will be based at Project Management Unit (PMU) in Dhaka and will report to Senior Team Leader. S/he will be responsible for mapping youth specific and youth relevant policies, programming and strategies of GOB and analyzing  the policy options and gaps, conducting and facilitating policy research and engaging with project partners, strategic allies to influence the policy actors on project-specific policy asks. Besides, s/he will be closely working with  members of the PMU and CARE Mentors’ Pool to facilitate the policy works and advocacy campaigns of the project.

II. Responsibilities and Tasks:                                                                                        

% of time

Responsibility #1: Policy Analysis and Planning

20%

• Conduct political economy analysis to identify challenges of young people not in education, employment or training and youth from diverse socio-economic-ethnic backgrounds.
• Identify policy / advocacy issues from policy mapping, consultations and scoping exercise of the Bijoyee Activity with  support from CARE’s  Mentors Pool and members of the PMU.
• Plan and execute the advocacy strategies in association with youth partners to facilitate policy formulation, review and implementation in relations to grassroots youth demand with particular focus on youth NEET and EET.

Responsibility #2: Policy advocacy

25%

• Facilitate youth partners of the Bijoyee Activity in developing strategic partnerships and coalitions with relevant organizations to advance the advocacy efforts at local and national levels.
• Establish close relationship with parliamentarians, Department of Youth Development, relevant other government departments and autonomous bodies (public youth system) at national and sub-national levels to influence the actors around youth focused policy and public services.
• Facilitate partners in organizing policy conclave, workshops and seminars to advocate for youth focused policies and services.

Responsibility #3: Capacity Building and Training

20%

• Provide knowledge and mentoring support to youth-led and youth serving partners with the support from CARE’s Mentors Pool on policy analysis, advocacy strategies and campaigning techniques.
• Provide technical backstopping to youth-led and youth serving partners during planning and execution of policy campaigns and advocacy.
• Develop and deliver training programs and workshops to enhance the understanding of stakeholders on human trafficking-related policies and their effective implementation.

Responsibility #4: Research and Documentation

20%

• Prepare reports, policy briefs, and other documentation incorporating the research findings and policy recommendations to relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare ToR for policy analysis/ studies to be conducted by external/ internal researchers and consultants, and facilitate them ensuring quality outcome of the exercises.
• Track progress around policy interventions in line with the policy ask and advocacy strategy.

Responsibility #5: Networking and Collaboration

15%

• Collaborate with international development partners, government, NGOs/ CSOs, and private foundations working on youth skills, employability, inclusion and empowerment.
• Represent the organization in relevant forum, working groups, and committees of practices to facilitate policy discourse and joint plan of action.

Adhere to and support CARE Bangladesh’s Safety and Security policy and systems

As part of this role, the job holder will be expected to adhere to and support CARE Bangladesh’s Safety and Security policy and systems as part of their day-to-day duties, and comply, at all times, to safety & security protocols and directives, including reporting. Staff must maintain situational and self – awareness and be aware of the safety – security related consequences of their actions upon themselves, their team and the organization as a whole.

Safeguarding

CARE is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct and expects staff to promote the welfare of children, young people and adults at all times.  CARE expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our Code of Conduct.  We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate this commitment are recruited to work with us.

Policy and Advocacy Specialist will be directly reporting to Senior Team Leader.

IV.          Working Condition:  

This position is based in Dhaka with occasional field visits (up to 15%).

• At least 5 years of experience with 3 years at mid to senior level in the areas of policy advocacy.
• Master’s in Governance/ Public Policy/ Development Studies/ or other relevant discipline.
• In-depth understanding on Bangladesh’s governance and policy climate, social and economic context of young population not in employment, education or training (NEET), youth specific and youth relevant policy and legal frameworks and strategies.
• Skills around policy analysis, power analysis, accountability tools such as e-score card, social audit,  opinion survey.
• Demonstrated track record of working with government high officials at national and local levels, parliamentarians, ministers and national and local civil society networks and alliances.
• Strong skills on writing policy paper in English along with oral and written communication, interpersonal, presentation and negotiation skills
• CARE core competencies as noted below