JOIN US AS A YOUTH ADVOCATE!
Are you:
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An individual who thinks all young people have the right to make decisions about their sexual, reproductive, and love lives?
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Someone who believes young people should meaningfully and inclusively participate in decision-making that affects their own lives?
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An ambitious person who is proactive and who can work in teams as well as independently?
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A curious person who is interested in learning more about youth issues, sexual and reproductive rights, and working within a dynamic, youth-led non-profit organization (NGO)?
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Between 16 and 27 years old?
Then CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality is looking for you! We are looking for new Youth Advocates (4-6 hours per week) to join our team in March 2025.
OPPORTUNITES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Youth Advocate you will work with other young people on all kinds of different projects and tasks, advocating for the improvement of young people's SRHR and participation in the Netherlands and abroad.
Every Youth Advocate is part of one of the following Long-Term Working Groups:
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Advocate Guidance Group is responsible for monitoring advocates’ well-being, connection and participation. They organize teambuilding activities, monitor the budget for advocates, initiate new recruitment rounds and identify needs for capacity building.
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External Communication Group works together with staff members for social media channels, branding, public relations (PR), photography, campaigns and advocacy-related communications.
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National Advocacy Group works together with staff members from the Internal Advocacy Team to coordinate national level advocacy and further the implementation of the national level advocacy strategy. Fluency in Dutch is required if you want to join this team.
As an advocate, you are also encouraged to start up your own projects and explore your own interests and qualities. You can develop yourself as a trainer, blog writing, campaigning, organizing activities for your fellow advocates, etc. Advocates also support the staff of CHOICE with different projects.
WHAT DO WE OFFER?
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Training and guidance on key concepts of CHOICE’s work, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Meaningful and Inclusive Youth Participation, youth leadership, and international advocacy!
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Insights into the inner workings of a development sector NGO.
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Lots of opportunities to learn and exchange knowledge with other Youth Advocates, the staff team, and the Board. CHOICE promotes the ‘learning by doing’ principle.
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Experiences! Be part of a professional NGO. Train or be trained and improve your leadership skills. Advocate for young people’s SRHR internationally and in the Netherlands.
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A network of other young advocates from all over the world. Fun!
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Travel costs for all CHOICE activities (including meetings) are reimbursed and we offer professional supervision in the preparation of all activities.
WHAT DO WE EXPECT?
It is important that you are interested in the topic of SRHR. Aside from enthusiasm, we would like you to bring:
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Deep interest to feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, anti-racism, contraception and abortion access, ending gender-based violence, and the rights of people living with HIV. Further, CHOICE also values human rights-based approaches, sex-positivity, inclusivity, meaningful youth participation being an ally and being an advocate for change.
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Flexibility! We ask you to spend on average 4 to 6 hours per week on CHOICE. Based on the advocates’ experience, sometimes this is 12 hours per week for two weeks and 1-2 hours per week for another week. Advocates work remotely as well as in-person with their working group but are expected to attend general meetings (GMs) held every six weeks at the office in Amsterdam. You will also be expected to attend weekly in-person trainings when you start, as a part of your onboarding.
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Input! Even if you are new to the organization, we value your opinion and ideas. Therefore, we appreciate your input on the way the organization works. With diverse backgrounds, every CHOICEr can put their own expertise on the table.
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Long-term commitment! The knowledge and skills you obtain at CHOICE are extremely valuable and good for organizational sustainability. Therefore, we expect a commitment of at least a year, but preferably longer.
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Skills we’d love to hear about in your application include (but are not limited to) communications, organization, and teamwork. Experience in advocacy is a nice-to-have but not a must.
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Excellent written and verbal English language skills. Command of the Dutch language is also desirable, but not essential. Knowledge of other languages relevant to the field of SRHR (such as French or Arabic) is also desirable.
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We expect you to live in the Netherlands and be able to attend Amsterdam based meetings when it is permitted and safe.
REACTIONS:
As a youth-led organization committed to meaningful and inclusive youth participation, applicants should be between 16 and 27 years old and living in the Netherlands. CHOICE actively advocates for and upholds intersectional feminist values, so we especially encourage applications from men, non-binary and LGBTQ+ individuals, BIPOC, and candidates with a disability, as they remain underrepresented in the field.
Your application (in English) should be sent by the 19th of February 2025 at 18:00 by email to YA.vacancies@choiceforyouth.org and write “YA Application” as object. You can send us your CV/motivation letter/any other format you might prefer. If you have any questions regarding the vacancy, please feel free to ask. If your application is a match, we will invite you for an interview which will be held online on the week of the 24th of February. The starting date for the youth advocate position will be March.
You can find further information about CHOICE at https://www.choiceforyouth.org.
We are looking forward to reading your application!
All young people worldwide should be able to explore, experience and express their sexualities in healthy, pleasurable and safe ways.