Mental Health Advocacy Advisor

SOS Children's Villages, founded in 1949, is the world's largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it.

Child neglect, abuse and abandonment is everywhere. Families are at risk of separation. Locally led, we work in more than 130 countries and territories to strengthen families who are under pressure so they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person's best interests, we provide quality care according to their unique needs.

Together with partners, donors, communities, children, young people and families, we enable children to grow up with the bonds they need to develop and become their strongest selves. We speak up for each child's rights and advocate for change so all children can grow up in a supportive environment.

Location: Vienna, Innsbruck or Brussels

Duration: Part-time, limited until the end of 2024

Mission

This position will be responsible for the dissemination and advocacy activities of the project WELL-U, funded by the European Commission in response to the Ukrainian emergency. The incumbent of the position will be responsible for creating a community of practice, developing and implementing the communication plan following the activities of the other project’s partners, and will be active in sharing material and exchanging best practices of the project.

The final goal of this position is to give visibility to the project activities and to create knowledge and disseminate information regarding the psychosocial support methodologies implemented in Italy, Romania, Greece, and Hungary. The successful candidate will play a key role in building dissemination and advocacy tools that can support the project throughout its mandate and after.

Tasks & Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the Community of Practice (CoP, a network with external partners) and its activities. Plan and participate in working group activities.
• Lead and coordinate the dissemination and advocacy actions on behalf of the Consortium.
• Support the dissemination of best practices and share materials on the CoP website.
• Organize and facilitate webinars to share best practices and lessons learned, to connect practitioners and promote further expansion of proposed interventions to increase the impact on displaced people of Ukraine.
• Coordinate the setup of thematic working groups focused on the proposed interventions/tools.
• Develop advocacy and digital information materials.
• Participate on the drafting of policy notes.

Requirements

Essential

• A Bachelor or Master’s university degree in relevant discipline
• 3 years of previous work experience in the field of advocacy
• Very good communications skills
• Strong skills in networking/engagement
• Very good presentation skills
• Previous experience in Data Collection
• Strong organizing and planning skills
• Good facilitation and training skills
• High professional working level in both written and spoken English (Ukrainian would be an asset)
• Work permit in the country you are applying for (and willingness to relocate, if necessary)

Desirable

• MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychological Support) knowledge and experience
• Graphic design skills
• Previous experience on EC funded projects
• Previous experience in project management

We offer

• A diverse range of interesting tasks in a leading INGO multicultural working environment
• As a responsible employer we provide a range of training schemes and encourage educational enhancement
• A salary that will be commensurate with experience and qualifications

What We Stand For

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a caring and protective environment, which promotes its core values, and prevents and addresses child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation, be it within or outside of our organization, and always respond to any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our sphere of influence according to its nature. Efforts ensure that mechanisms are in place to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response. They range from human resource development actions such as training and counselling to measures such as suspension, dismissal, and legal action.

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our staff, the children and young people and the communities that we work for. The organization prohibits harassment, exploitation and abuses by or of any employee, supervisor, manager, child, young people, community, contractor, applicant, or other individual with whom SOS Children’s Villages employees come into contact by virtue of their work. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our prevention and protection against Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse policy.

In addition, SOS Children’s Villages apply a zero tolerance concerning any fraud situation. The organization does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.

Successful candidates will have to submit a criminal record certificate, current within the last three years. In accordance with the organisation’s child protection policy, these positions will be subject to criminal record checks.

If you are interested in this position, please submit your detailed application in English by the 14th of June, 2023 at https://careers-sos-kd.icims.com

Due to the high level of responses, SOS Children Villages can only respond to shortlisted candidates.