Child Rights and Child Participation Officer (Ukraine Nationals Only)

Position description

Save the Children International is a leading global humanitarian organization that has been protecting children's rights worldwide for over 100 years. We operate in more than 100 countries, responding to emergencies, implementing innovative development programs, and advocating for children's rights on a global scale.

Our work in Ukraine began in 2014. Since then, we have significantly expanded our presence, providing support to children and families affected by war. Our key areas of focus include education, child protection, food security, social support, and advocacy to drive lasting change in children's lives.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Child Rights and Child Participation Officer will support the integration and practical implementation of child rights principles and meaningful child participation across the Country Office’s advocacy and campaigning activities and initiatives. This role strengthens children’s ability to influence decisions affecting their lives, ensures their views are systematically included in program design and evaluation, and contributes to national and local initiatives that advance child rights. The Officer will play a central role in building staff and partner capacity on child rights, safeguarding, and participation standards, ensuring that all engagement with children is ethical, safe, and aligned with organizational and international best practices.

The Officer will work closely with programme, MEAL, advocacy, communication and safeguarding teams to ensure child rights and participation frameworks are effectively applied in planning, implementation, monitoring, and learning processes. The role supports the development of tools, guidance, and training to enhance staff and partner capacity in engaging children, including mechanisms for consulting children, facilitating child-led initiatives, and ensuring their voices inform organisational strategies. The position also engages with national and local authorities, child-led groups, youth networks, and civil society organisations to advance child rights and promote meaningful participation within policy and community settings.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Child Rights Integration

• Support the integration of child rights principles into advocacy activities and strategies, and campaigning initiatives on matters related to child rights and other areas affecting children’s lives.
• Assist in the development of tools and guidance to ensure the team applies child rights standards consistently.
• Monitor national and local developments affecting children’s rights and support analysis for advocacy and policy work.
• Ensure child rights and participation principles are effectively integrated into project design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes.
• Contribute to child rights reporting processes, including internal reviews, donor reports, shadow reporting, and contributions to national child rights mechanisms.
• Engage with government authorities, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to promote child rights and institutionalise meaningful child participation in policies and community structures.

Advocacy and Influence

• Support the process of implementation of Save the Children’s Advocacy Strategies for Ukraine, offering substantive contributions and coordination support to planned research and advocacy products.
• Support the development of advocacy and policy products, ensuring alignment with global humanitarian policy positions.
• Support the drafting and production of advocacy products for use at country, regional, and international levels, including briefings, talking points, and reports, ensuring they are evidence-based, regularly updated, and of high quality.
• Collaborate with advocacy and communication teams to promote child-led and child-informed advocacy and campaigning initiatives.
• Abide by Save the Children’s ethical research standards in all research activities, prioritising the safety and well-being of all research participants, and ensuring partner compliance.

Project Management & Implementation

• Support the planning and implementation of child rights and child participation projects, ensuring alignment with programme and advocacy priorities.
• Assist in developing and tracking workplans, timelines, and deliverables, ensuring activities are completed on time and to quality standards.
• Coordinate project activities with internal teams, partners, and stakeholders to ensure effective and coherent implementation.
• Ensure integration of child rights, safeguarding, and meaningful child participation across all project stages.
• Support project monitoring, documentation, and reporting, including tracking progress, risks, and lessons learned.

Child Participation & Child-Friendly Approaches

• Ensure all child participation activities undergo safeguarding risk assessments, with mitigation measures in place and adhered to.
• Ensure safe, inclusive, and age-appropriate methodologies are used when engaging children and young people.
• Support the development of child-friendly reports, briefs, and communication materials to ensure children can understand and engage with key issues.

General

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
• To perform such other responsibilities as agreed with your line management.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making informed decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, transparent, and consistent; promotes a culture of integrity, accountability, and trust across teams and partners.
• Demonstrates the highest ethical standards, ensuring advocacy is principled, evidence-based, impartial, and aligned with safeguarding and do-no-harm commitments.

Qualifications

Education

• University degree in Social Sciences, Human Rights, International Development, Child Rights, Public Policy, Education, Psychology, Law, or a related field.
• Additional academic coursework or training in child rights, child safeguarding, participation methodologies, humanitarian policy, advocacy, or MEAL is an advantage.

Qualifications

• Good understanding of international child rights frameworks, including the UNCRC, its optional protocols, and other global and regional child protection standards, as well as relevant national policies, and the ability to apply them in programme and advocacy contexts.
• Solid knowledge of meaningful child participation standards and child safeguarding principles.
• Strong analytical, research, and writing abilities, with the capacity to produce high-quality advocacy and policy products.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills, including ability to engage children using inclusive, safe, and age-appropriate methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across teams, partners, and external stakeholders.
• Ability to conduct safeguarding risk assessments and ensure safe participation environments.
• Strong organisational and coordination skills, with the ability to work under pressure, manage competing priorities, and meet deadlines consistently.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Ukrainian.

Experience (Required)

• 2–3 years of professional experience in child rights, child protection, participation, advocacy, policy, project implementation, or related fields.
• Support or implement child-led or child-informed initiatives, consultations, or participatory processes.
• Contributing to advocacy materials, policy briefs, research reports, or other evidence-based documentation.
• Providing capacity building, training, or technical support to staff, partners, or community actors.
• Applying safeguarding and ethical standards in work involving children and vulnerable groups.
• Collaboration with government authorities, civil society organisations, or networks working on children’s rights.
• Familiarity with contributing to shadow reports or national child rights reporting mechanisms.

Experience (Desirable)

• Experience working directly with child-led groups, youth networks, or conducting participatory research with children.
• Prior work in humanitarian or conflict-affected settings.
• Knowledge of gender equality, disability inclusion, and intersectional approaches in child participation.

Application instructions

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