Advocacy & Movement Building Lead

Youth Network for Community and Sustainable Development, as the leading advocacy group of all youth bodies working to end all forms of harmful traditional practices in Nigeria, is a movement catalyzing social change by engaging young people and amplifying their voices to speak for human rights, through targeted advocacy to key players, capacity building and development, communications and media engagements, partnerships and program implementation.

We also work on other sexual and reproductive health and rights issues, governance and environment.

Over the years, we have been catalyzing and galvanizing efforts of young people ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), through effective programming that transforms social norms that underpin FGM and reproductive health and rights.

Location: Abuja (FCT)
Employment Type: Full-time
Industry: Non-profit Organizations

Role Overview

• The ideal candidate must be politically aware, deeply aligned with feminist and rights-based approaches, and capable of independently driving strategic initiatives with minimal supervision.
• This is a senior role responsible for positioning YNCSD as a credible and influential voice across SRHR, feminist, gender justice, GBV, and youth advocacy ecosystems in Nigeria and beyond.
• The successful candidate will shape organisational narratives, build strategic relationships, influence policy conversations, and translate community realities into systems-level action.
• YNCSD is seeking an experienced and strategic SRHR Advocacy & Movement Building Lead to drive the organisation's advocacy, external engagement, coalition-building, and movement development efforts.

Key Responsibilities
Advocacy Strategy & Institutional Positioning:

• Identify advocacy opportunities across SRHR, GBV, gender justice, youth rights, and humanitarian ecosystems
• Monitor policy, legislative, and social developments relevant to women, girls, adolescents, and marginalised populations
• Lead the development and execution of YNCSD's advocacy and movement-building strategy
• Support organisational participation in national, regional, and global advocacy platforms
• Develop advocacy briefs, policy notes, position papers, campaign messaging, and strategic engagement material

Movement Building & Ecosystem Engagement:

• Support community-led advocacy and grassroots mobilisation effort
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with feminist movements, SRHR networks, civil society society coalitions, INGOs, media actors, donors, government stakeholders, and technical working groups
• Represent YNCSD at conferences, policy dialogues, coalition forums, and external engagements
• Identify opportunities for coalition participation, joint advocacy, and strategic campaigns.

SRHR &; Gender Justice Advocacy

• Lead advocacy efforts advancing bodily autonomy, reproductive justice, SRHR access, gender equality, adolescent health, and survivor-centred approaches
• Contribute to evidence-based, rights-centred policy and public discourse.
• Engage within sensitive and politically complex advocacy spaces with strong judgment and values alignment

Knowledge & Thought Leadership

• Strengthen YNCSD's voice and visibility across advocacy and development ecosystems.
• Develop knowledge products, research translations, publications, and thought leadership content
• Identify opportunities for media visibility, speaking engagements, and institutional recognition

Communications & Narrative Alignment:

• Oversee advocacy campaigns, storytelling, digital engagement, and public communications in close collaboration with the Communications Officer.
• Provide strategic direction to the Communications function to align advocacy priorities with organizational messaging

Internal Coordination:

• Contribute to organisational strategy, partnership development, and proposal development where relevant.
• Work with Programs, MEL, Safeguarding, and Leadership teams to align advocacy with organisational evidence and priorities

Qualifications & Experience
Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies, Public Policy, International Development, Law, Political Science, Communications, Social Sciences, or related field
• Master’s degree in related fields is an added advantage.

Experience:

• Demonstrated experience representing organisations in public-facing, policy, or advocacy spaces
• Strong understanding of Nigeria’s gender, civic, development, humanitarian, and policy landscape
• Experience leading advocacy campaigns, ecosystem engagement, or coalition-based initiatives is strongly preferred.
• 3 - 5 years of relevant experience in SRHR advocacy, feminist organising, movement building, coalition engagement, or policy advocacy

Key Competencies
Strategic Leadership:

• Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with strong ownership
• Sound political and stakeholder navigation skills.
• Systems-thinking and ability to independently identify and move initiatives forward

Advocacy & Ecosystem Knowledge:

• Ability to engage across grassroots, policy, donor, and media environments.
• Familiarity with movement-building, coalition engagement, and rights-based programming approaches
• Strong understanding of SRHR, GBV, feminist advocacy, humanitarian protection, and gender justice ecosystems

Communication & Representation:

• Strong interpersonal and partnership-building capabilities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, facilitation, and public speaking skills
• Ability to craft compelling advocacy narratives and policy messaging

Values & Alignment
YNCSD is a feminist, rights-based organisation. We are seeking candidates who:

• Are comfortable engaging within pro-choice and reproductive justice spaces
• Understand intersectional approaches to gender equality and social justice
• Can connect grassroots realities to systems-level change and are energised by institution-building.
• Believe in bodily autonomy and equitable access to SRHR information and services
• Demonstrate strong alignment with feminist and survivor-centred approaches

Our Organisational Principles
At YNCSD, we are building a high-impact, mission-driven team guided by the following principles:

• Clear Communication & Collaboration: We communicate intentionally, seek context actively, and work in agile, mission-focused teams.
• Impact Over Activity: We focus on meaningful outcomes, not just completing tasks or running activities.
• Strategic Alignment: Every decision and activity must contribute to our strategic priorities and long-term impact goals.
• Ownership & Initiative: We value autonomy, proactive problem-solving, and people who take full ownership of their work.
• High Performance Culture: We reject mediocrity, embrace continuous learning, give direct feedback, and stay solution-oriented even in challenging situations.
• Efficiency & Accountability: We value focused execution, responsible use of resources, and purposeful work over unnecessary bureaucracy.

Why Join YNCSD

• This is an opportunity to shape a growing organisation working at the intersection of gender justice, SRHR, humanitarian response, youth leadership, and community-driven social change.

YNCSD offers:

• Significant autonomy and ownership within the role
• Comprehensive medical insurance coverage
• Professional development and learning support
• A collaborative, mission-driven culture with opportunities for high-impact advocacy work.
• Hybrid and flexible work environment

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV / Resume, Cover Letter, Writing sample or advocacy-related work sample to: [email protected] using the job title as the subject of the mail.

Note: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.