UN Advocacy Assistant

Responsible to: Head of UN Advocacy

Key relationships: UN Advocacy Officers, Finance Team, Projects Team, Law and Policy Team, Thematic Teams, Regional Offices and Regional Teams, Communications Team, Campaigner, and external partners

Salary: £32,962 per annum FTE (£23,073 for 3.5 days per week)

Contract: Fixed-term (1 year), possibility of an extension subject to funding

Location: London

Working hours: Part time – 3.5 days per week.

ABOUT THE ROLE The UN Advocacy Team works to coordinate and provide expert input to UN processes on two fronts. Firstly, we seek to influence international human rights standards, engaging to strengthen UN resolutions relating to freedom of expression. Secondly, we work with UN mechanisms to both advance those standards and ensure States are held accountable to them. Our theory of change relies upon informing both aspects of our advocacy with ARTICLE 19’s extensive regional expertise and experience, requiring extensive coordination with ARTICLE 19 regional offices and programmes.

The post-holder is essential to and responsible for supporting the UN Advocacy team in delivering its activities, with a focus on the day-to-day administrative and logistical support, under the supervision of the Head of UN. The post-holder will plan and deliver the logistics for advocacy missions and related project activities. This will include leading on making travel, visa and accommodation arrangements for ARTICLE 19 staff and external partners participating in UN team advocacy missions and events, managing UN accreditation processes, assisting with scheduling, and supporting outreach to external stakeholders including foreign embassies, UN bodies and other relevant entities as required, ensuring the smooth and effective operation of advocacy missions and events.

The post-holder will play a key role in providing day-to-day administrative support to the UN Advocacy team, such as processing and tracking team expenditure against large and complex budgets; developing and maintaining team file management systems, and contact databases; uploading materials onto the website and coordinating the delivery of communications products; supporting coordination with other teams; and supporting the development of internal and external financial and narrative reports in line with donor requirements. The post-holder will support the planning, coordination and delivery of the UN team’s advocacy work, including by assisting with the proof-reading and editing of a wide range of advocacy outputs for a variety of audiences and, where the completion of other responsibilities permits, contributing to the research and drafting of such outputs. The post-holder will be based in London and managed by the Head of UN. The post-holder will need to be a self-starter, able to carry out tasks independently, and with limited supervision, demonstrating initiative and sound judgment. The role demands the ability to effectively manage and prioritize multiple competing work-streams and deadlines, within a fast-paced team, and global, multi-lingual, and culturally diverse organisation.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Under the supervision of the Head of UN, the role will have the following key responsibilities:

Communications and Advocacy • Support the UN Team in UN advocacy activities, in particular at Geneva-based UN mechanisms • Proof read, edit, and format UN advocacy submissions and communications outputs. • Assist the coordination and delivery of UN advocacy submissions and briefings, including in relation to OHCHR and Special Procedure expert reports, Universal Periodic Review submissions, and Treaty Body submissions, through preparing templates, and gathering information and data as required. • Support the monitoring of key developments at the UN, including by reviewing and reporting on official statements, events and debates at the UN, feeding information back to the relevant teams, as required. • Supporting the production and translation of publications, in coordination with the communications team and external suppliers; • Supporting ARTICLE 19 external communications, including updating the website.

Administrative support to project management and implementation • Supporting the team in project management of specific projects, keeping track of and monitoring progress against key project commitments and requirements; • Developing and maintaining up-to-date financial records for the tracking of project expenditure, and assisting with monitoring expenditure against project budgets, to ensure expenditure along budget lines; • Processing invoices, including expense claims, ensuring compliance with relevant policies, and liaising with finance for tracking payments, and communicating with payees; • Supporting the development of timely financial and narrative donor reports, ensuring compliance with internal and external guidelines for project reporting and deadlines; • Assisting with production of timely and compliant internal narrative reporting, as well as monitoring and evaluation processes; • Responding to administrative and project management related enquiries from other teams within ARTICLE 19, in particular the Finance and Project teams, and other budget-holders within the organisation; • Supporting coordination and information exchange between the UN Advocacy team and ARTICLE 19 regional offices, and programmatic teams; • Ensuring the organized storage, maintenance, updating, and archiving of UN Advocacy Team files in a cloud-based system.

Planning and logistics for advocacy missions and events • Ensuring the smooth, timely and effective delivery of all UN Team advocacy missions and events (including conferences, expert meetings, workshops, trainings, and other UN events, in particular around the Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review, and General Assembly), including: o Planning, coordinating and executing logistics of international advocacy missions, including invitations, flights, accommodation, visa applications, expenses, catering, creation and dissemination of logistics packs, and preparation and dissemination of meeting/event materials; o Managing ARTICLE 19 UN accreditations for staff, as well as accreditations for all partners attending UN meetings and events; o Assisting with the coordination and outreach to Member States and UN entities as required, including by scheduling meetings for ARTICLE 19 staff and partners. o Where necessary, attending advocacy missions to assist with the smooth operation of events. o Developing and maintaining an contacts database using the CRM; o Updating internal ARTICLE 19 planning and coordination tools and calendars (“the wiki”).

Other • Participate in regular bilateral meetings and phone calls with line manager and team meetings; • Actively engage in UN Advocacy Team discussions on project delivery, including planning, coordination, and strategy; • Represent the UN Advocacy Team at internal ARTICLE 19 meetings, as required; • Undertake other duties commensurate with the role as may reasonably be assigned by the Head of UN.

PERSON SPECIFICATION Education and Experience ● Educated to degree standard or equivalent; ● Experience in the mechanics of civil society engagement with the UN, in particular in Geneva and New York; ● Knowledge of donor requirements for project financial and narrative reporting, as well as methods and processes for maintaining project documentation, and tracking financial expenditure; ● Knowledge of international human rights law and an interest in international human rights advocacy and effective civil society engagement in UN mechanisms.

Experience ● Demonstrable experience of project-based administration within a non-governmental organisation; ● Experience of contributing to financial and narrative reporting processes, and to compiling donor narrative and financial reports; ● Experience in working with complex budgets and with maintaining up-to-date records of, and tracking, project expenditure against project budgets. ● Experience of organising logistics for events, such as trainings, workshops, advocacy missions and conferences essential; experience of organizing events and large advocacy missions to the UN or other intergovernmental organisations, highly desirable. ● Experience of contributing to the drafting, proof-reading and editing of detailed legal and/or factual documents for a variety of external audiences, ideally in the context of international human rights work and/or UN advocacy; ● Experience of working in a high-paced, geographically dispersed/remote team, and prioritizing among multiple competing tasks and tight deadlines; ● Experience of working with individuals or groups who have suffered human rights violations or abuses, in particular communities facing discrimination or marginalization, desirable.

Skills and abilities ● Excellent administrative skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail; ● Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; ● Confident in using project management and financial systems, including Excel, to work with budgets and financial documentation to ensure effective budgetary oversight, and strong ability to read and process financial documents; ● Highly organised, with a strong ability to plan, multi-task, prioritise, and complete activities under time pressure and competing deadlines; ● Ability to conduct research to a specific brief, checking facts using a variety of sources, and with a keen eye for detail; ● Ability to proofread documents, including legal documents, in English to a high standard; ● Good interpersonal skills and experience working and communicating with colleagues and partners in different locations; ● Ability to understand the importance of effectively executing administrative and logistical tasks to the strategic objectives of the UN advocacy team and the organization as a whole; ● Self-motivation, proactive demeanor, and the ability to work with minimal supervision

Other requirements ● Must already have the right to work in the UK; ● Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and commitment to equal opportunities and non-discrimination; ● Ability to speak at least one other official ARTICLE 19 language (French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish); ● Willingness and availability for travel on advocacy missions, as required.