Job title: Head of Child Rights
Reporting to: CEO
Start date: 3 June 2019 (or sooner)
Location: The position is remote/home-based and therefore the location is flexible, but a preference will be given to Geneva or London based applicants. The applicant must already have permission to work in the country of their location.
Contract: Full-time (possibility of 0.8 FTE if needed), 12 months, renewable subject to funding, with a three-month probationary period.
Pay: Circa £55,000-65,000 per annum depending on experience. This post will have a contract or consultancy agreement subject to UK or Swiss law.

BACKGROUND

The Centre for Sport and Human Rights (The Centre) is a new independent organisation dedicated to realising a world of sport that fully respects human rights.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, The Centre brings together, through its Advisory Council, an unprecedented alliance of intergovernmental organisations, governments, sports bodies, athletes, hosts, sponsors, broadcasters, civil society representatives, trade unions, employers and their associations, and national human rights institutions. The Centre's functions include sharing knowledge, building capacity, and strengthening the accountability of all actors through collective action and promotion of the Sporting Chance Principles. Through its work the Centre aims to support the prevention of human rights harms occurring within, through, or around sport; supporting access to effective remedy where harms have occurred, and; promoting a positive human rights legacy for sport and sporting events. In fulfilling this mandate, the Centre is committed to being independent, principles-based, inclusive, diverse, collaborative, accessible, and trusted.

Millions of children and young people take part in sporting activities every day across the world. For some children this is purely for recreation and fun. Others may participate in sport for development programmes or engage in programmes diverting young people from anti-social and criminal behaviour. For some young people sport may be their chosen future career, either as talented athletes, as coaches, or as officials. Children have the right to participate in sport in a safe and enjoyable environment. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

The Centre is seeking a senior child rights expert to develop and manage its strategy and capacity on the realisation of children’s rights in and around sport – in other words, child/young athletes as well as children impacted by sporting events. The risks to children are manifold and the array of responsible actors is diverse. The Head of Child Rights is an exciting new role and will be an ambassador within the Centre, ensuring that there is a robust and strategy-led child rights function and a child rights ethos integrated across all activities. The Head of Child Rights will require distinguished expertise across the full spectrum of child rights risks as well as the distinct but complementary duties and responsibilities of state-based and non-state actors to prevent and remedy their impacts on children, all while ensuring child participation and meaningful engagement are foundational elements.

The post will require a large amount of autonomous working and some international travel. Candidates based in Geneva or London are preferred, but the Centre is flexible about the location and will consider the needs of the successful candidate.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

These will include, but are not limited to:

Management:

• Development and delivery of the Centre’s Child Rights strategy, including:
o Defining the Centre’s Child Rights function in accordance with Centre’s strategic plan and theory of change
o Defining child rights priorities within the Centre
o Developing an advocacy strategy to promote the integration child rights in the world of sport as well as specifically in the planning, delivery, and legacy of sporting events
o Developing key metrics to gauge impact of strategy and projects within it
o Budgeting, planning, and executional oversight
o Engagement with child rights stakeholders and experts
• Coordination of internal governance processes for the child rights function, including:
o Reviewing all Centre activities and integrating child rights into them, including metrics for impact
o Developing the internal architecture for a child rights advisory panel(s), including member composition, terms of reference, leading regular meetings, and overseeing follow up/completion of set objectives
o Developing Centre safeguarding policies/systems
o Regular reporting back to key internal stakeholders and grantors/funders
• Ensure robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are in place to assess the impact of all child rights activities
• Upon determining the need for and sequencing of additional capacity within the Centre team, line manage additional child rights staff and/or external advisors to deliver objectives within the Centre’s Child Rights strategy and budget – for example, research, events management, advisory panel coordination, and other operational implementation.

Expertise and Research:

• Apply expertise in human rights and child rights, child participation, and rights-based due diligence – with particular reference to application across the world of sport of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• Determine the need for and oversee the delivery of a thorough gap analysis on the most salient child rights risks and gaps in comprehensive prevention and remedy approaches in sport, ensuring appropriate and effect research methods (qualitative and quantitative) and geographic/cultural representativeness.
• Determine the need for and oversee the delivery of any research and tools on salient child rights issues and effective prevention/remedy approaches.
• Engage authoritatively with sports bodies, host organising committees, and other actors to share knowledge, build capacity, and increase accountability on child rights issues, in line with the Centre’s strategy.

Events and Outreach:

• As determined by the Centre Child Rights strategy, oversee the development, delivery, and review of child rights focused events by/involving The Centre.
• Ensure dedicated profile at the Centre’s annual Sporting Chance Forum for child rights issues, including in terms of agenda design, speaker selection, and financial/other support for those affected/their representatives to participate.
• Ensure safeguarding risk assessments and measures are undertaken for all children and young people engaged in the Centre’s work or at Centre events, and work with the relevant professionals, to ensure their needs are met.

Collaboration and Communication:

• Work closely and effectively with key Centre colleagues across geographies throughout the duration of the project.
• Work closely and effectively with key external stakeholders to build positive relationships.
• Build The Centre’s position as a leader in the field of sport and children’s rights.
• Collaborate with the Centre’s Head of Communications on the development and delivery of a communications strategy on child rights.
• Manage the reporting process to ensure the delivery of timely reports to key internal and external stakeholders, including to the project funders.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

Expertise:
Essential
• Authoritative knowledge of children’s rights, including in the context of business and sport, with an emphasis on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• Expertise on the unique needs and vulnerabilities of children, including effective approaches to direct child participation in organisational decision making and activities.

Desirable
• Expertise of other applicable standards by children rights bodies.
• Expertise of the specific context of mega-sporting events
• Postgraduate qualification in children’s rights

Experience:
Essential
• Minimum five years experience managing large and complex multinational project objectives within timeframes, including financial management and M&E/project assessments.
• Experience of applying child safeguarding measures to organisational activities and events
• Experience engaging with a range of internal and external stakeholders ranging from large inter-governmental organisations to small civil society groups and a variety of diverse backgrounds.
• Experience of direct line management as well as managing ad hoc consultancies.
• Experience and expertise in developing and delivering effective training / capacity building.
• Experience of working with and managing a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds.

Desirable
• Experience of line management in a remote working setting

Communications:
Essential
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Strong personal skills in communicating with children and young people, as well as with relevant professionals and other adults involved in their lives or care. This includes the ability to provide sensitive and empathetic responses along with accurate and succinct information.
• Experience in developing and implementing effective advocacy strategies.

Desirable
• Experience in representation, public speaking and media engagement
• Additional language skills, in particular French.

Personal Skills:
Essential
• Excellent critical thinking and assessment skills, including the ability to investigate and analyse a situation quickly and make appropriate action plans based on complex information from a variety of sources.
• Ability to effectively influence and persuade, as well as a willingness to collaborate, negotiate, and seek compromise where appropriate
• A strong work and team ethic
• Proven ability to be proactive, self-motivating and happy to work in an unsupervised environment on a daily basis and within a virtual team, including a strong ability to independently plan, organise, and prioritise workloads and meet deadlines.
• Willingness to undertake some international travel.

APPLICATION PROCESS

1. Deadline for applications: Thursday 4th April 2019 at 5pm UK time.

2. 1st round interviews: 11th April 2019, by Skype or Zoom video. Candidates should ensure their availability for this day.

Candidates will be asked to complete a timed one-hour written assessment before the video interview (exact timings will be scheduled upon invitation to interview).

Shortlisted candidates will be notified by email and invited to an interview by 6th April 2019. Only successful candidates will be notified.

3. 2nd round interviews:18th April 2019, by Skype or Zoom video. Candidates should ensure their availability for this day.

4. Expected start date: 3rd June 2019 (or sooner)

This offer of this role is subject to a criminal records check (or provision of 'Certificates of Good Character').

Please email your CV and a covering letter (2 pages max) with the details of two referees to Kia Kyhl at recruitment@sporthumanrights.org. Please include where you saw the vacancy advertised and confirm you already have permission to work in the country of your location. The job offer will be subject to at least 2 satisfactory references will be sought for the successful candidate.

Job Email id: recruitment(at)sporthumanrights.org