Senior Data, Evidence and Policy Officer

INTRODUCTION TO GIRLS NOT BRIDES
Girls Not Brides is the only global organisation uniquely focused on creating and sustaining a worldwide movement to end child marriage and ensuring that this movement leads to tangible change for the girls at risk or affected by the practice. We are a network of over 1,600 civil society organisations in over 100 countries working in partnership to end child early and forced marriages and unions (CEFMU).

Our vision is a world without child marriage where girls and women enjoy equal status with boys and men and are able to achieve their full potential in all aspects of their lives. Our vision challenges deeply embedded social norms that harm the lives of girls, women and their communities.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROLE
The Senior Data, Evidence and Policy Officer role sits within the Learning and Partnership Development team. This team works to support and strengthen collective action across our membership, ensuring that CEFMU programming and advocacy is effective, and evidence based, by making the latest research, data and evidence accessible and by providing learning opportunities to members and National/State Partnerships and coalitions.  The team also identifies and supports opportunities to scale up efforts to end CEFMU through greater sectoral engagement with a focus on education, humanitarian and health sector responses. In addition, the team manages Girls Not Brides’ Knowledge Hub which is a go to place for the latest data, evidence and learning on CEFMU and its dissemination with members, partners, policy makers and others key stakeholders.

The main purpose of this role is to ensure the membership. and the Girls Not Brides secretariat have access to, and share an understanding of, the latest data and evidence related to CEFMU to inform Girls Not Brides’ influencing and movement building work, and uptake of evidence and learning by members to inform their advocacy and programming. More broadly, the post contributes to gather, synthetize and disseminate the evidence-based knowledge to continue positioning the urgency of ending CEFMU and mobilizing and influencing key stakeholders at national, regional and global level to accelerate change.

 

Job location

London, Nairobi, Mexico City or Delhi.

The successful candidate must specify the country for which they are applying (United Kingdom, Kenya, Mexico or India) and must have the right to work in that specific country.

Working as a global team, all Girls Not Brides staff are expected to sometimes work outside normal working hours (e.g early morning or early evening) to accommodate collaboration across different time zones.

 

Accountable to

Head of Learning and Partnerships Development

 

Salary range

Market competitive based on a detailed survey by the Birches Group of comparable NGO salaries in selected location.

 

Contract

Two years fixed term contract for other locations, with potential for renewal.

 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Develop synthesis of, and build consensus on, what works and what is needed to end CEFMU and ensure uptake of evidence by members and National/State Partnerships and coalitions and other key stakeholders

·       Develop and advise on the development of evidence-based Girls Not Brides Secretariat positions and key messages for the partnership on solutions to end CEFMU, including both policy and programmatic and influencing approaches.

·       Develop and update thematic briefs and other materials about CEFMU to support influencing, movement building and communications work.

·       Build learning and understanding of how actions can be integrated across sectors (education, SRHR, humanitarian, etc.), including piloting and leading internal learning from new initiatives to strengthen links across sectors, and working with the Policy & Advocacy team to support stronger engagement across sectors.

·       Develop and advise on the development of evidence based key messages about solutions to end CEFMU for the Secretariat to use in its influencing and movement building work.

·       Support the uptake of research and evidence by Girls Not Brides members by contributing to the development and delivery of learning tools and opportunities for members and National/State Partnerships and coalitions.

 

Support the review and sharing of CEFMU data and trends both internally (staff) and externally (membership and other stakeholders)

·       Conduct desk research and collate materials about global and country level trends in CEFMU in terms of prevalence, absolute numbers, as well as key statistics on the links between CEFMU and other issues, etc.

·       Ensure secretariat materials are up to date with latest statistics, data and evidence on CEFMU.

·       Advise secretariat staff on the use of statistics on trends, and help staff with data interpretation. Prepare and/or sign off on data included in external materials and messaging, sometimes at short notice.

·       Lead on sharing data and regional and country level trends on CEFMU with members, National/State Partnerships and coalitions and other relevant stakeholders.

 

Support evidence review, interpretation, and design

·       Advise on the trajectory of CEFMU research and implications for Girls Not Brides’ strategy and decision making; foster internal discussions on the state of the evidence.

·       Responsible for review of any new research that the secretariat has questions about or needs to provide a public response to.

·       Provide advice on interpretation and implications of research and to inform Girls Not Brides’ messaging and influencing

·       Responsible for inputting into external research design processes (e.g. survey/ study designs) and shaping research commissioned by the Secretariat and/or National/State Partnerships and coalitions.

·       Responsible for review of research in other relevant languages.

 

Support the dissemination of learning, data and evidence on CEFMU through Girls Not Brides’ Knowledge Hub

·       Contribute to the ongoing development of Girls Not Brides’ living repository of tools, resources, research, information on CEFMU.

·       Contribute to the dissemination of key learning and information, widely and effectively, to all audiences in a timely manner (e.g., newsletter, webinars, etc).

 

Work with Regional Teams to support National/State Partnerships and coalitions with context analysis, research and evidence review to inform their collective action

·       Carry out research, context analysis and/or evidence reviews in support of Girls Not Brides’ National/State Partnership and coalitions work.

·       Advise Girls Not Brides National/State Partnerships and coalitions on research design where relevant.

·       Contribute to members’ capacity building on research, data and evidence, as needed

·       Contribute to translate learning and knowledge into impactful influencing initiatives and programmes to end CEFMU at global, regional and national level.

·       Support National/State Partnerships and coalitions to integrate existing learning and evidence in their influencing initiatives and programmes.

·       Support Girls Not Brides’ regional teams with regional evidence review and context analysis.

 

Actively contribute to the broader work of the Learning and Partnership Development team

·       Support the Learning and Partnership Development team with the development of briefs, resources and other learning materials, if/as requested.

·       Contribute to specific workstreams of the Child Marriage Action to Research Network and similar collaborative initiatives at regional level.

·       Represent Girls Not Brides at relevant events and meetings.

 

Wider Organisational Responsibilities

·       Commit to the mission and vision of Girls Not Brides, putting these at the forefront of all planning, work and actions.

·       Uphold the core values of Girls Not Brides in all areas of work and interactions with colleagues, members, partners and other stakeholders.

·       Line manage roles and consultants as necessary, delegating responsibilities and tasks as appropriate.

·       Comply with Girls Not Brides policies and processes, with particular note for safeguarding, diversity and inclusion, the code of conduct and data protection.

·       Prepare and deliver reports for the Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees, as necessary.

·       Ensure that internal databases and monitoring information are kept fully up-to-date.

·       Commit to ongoing personal development and learning.

·       Fulfil any other reasonable requests for the advancement of Girls Not Brides.

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential experience

·       Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area (such as public policy, development studies, public health, demography and population studies, social sciences) or proven experience in a related field.

·       Significant experience in a similar research-based role.

·       Experience of ethical research involving direct work with children or young people.

·       Policy and/or programme experience of working on addressing harmful practices, including CEFMU or FGM.

 

Essential skills and knowledge

·       A good understanding of the global research and evidence landscape on CEFMU.

·       A sound understanding of demographics and population data, and strong ability to analyse, understand and interpret the same.

·       A good understanding of approaches to improve the lives of adolescent girls and promote gender equality.

·       Excellent ability to analyse and synthesise complex information and turn it into accessible materials.

·       Excellent written and spoken English.

·       Proficiency in one or more of the following languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Hindi.

·       Proficiency in the latest versions of the full MS Office suite.

 

Essential values and attributes

·       Strong commitment to the aims and values of Girls Not Brides.

 

Desirable

·       Experience of working in multi stakeholder partnerships.

·       Experience in developing online learning tools and resources (e-learning).

·       Experience of working in the international not-for-profit sector.

 

Safeguarding

Girls Not Brides is committed to safeguarding all children, young people and adults at risk with whom our staff and representatives work and interface. Any employment with Girls Not Brides may be subject to the satisfactory completion of a background check and a criminal records check which can include but is not limited to: an overseas police record check, a Disclosure and Barring Service Check (for those based in the UK) or an International Criminal Record Check (if applicable).

 

How to apply

Girls Not Brides is an equal opportunities employer. We embrace diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion in a serious way. We are committed to building a staff body that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

The closing date for this role is 18:00 GMT on Friday 14 January 2023.

To apply, please follow the link here and click on the ‘Apply now’ button on the job page and submit your CV and a brief cover letter clearly demonstrating how you meet the criteria.