A CALL FOR APPLICATION: Outreach, Advocacy, Liaison and Communications Officer | ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations For Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Position Title: Outreach, Advocacy, Liaison and Communications Officer | ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Contract Type:Consultancy

Duration: 14 months

Eligibility and Geographic Scope : Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (with occasional travel to target countries)

Reports To: Project Manager – ALIGN at The Youth Café

Mode of Engagement: Hybrid/online

Project: ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Collaborates With: Consortium partners (Action Against Hunger, ENN, The Youth Café), CSOs, YLOs, national stakeholders, and media partners

About the Project

ALIGN is an initiative funded by the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) and administered by the World Bank. The project aims to improve adolescent health and nutrition outcomes by empowering local civil society organisations (CSOs) and youth-led organisations (YLOs) to adapt, scale, and integrate proven, community-driven innovations into national health systems across up to 12 African countries.

The project is implemented by a two-member consortium. Action Against Hunger USA (ACF USA) serves as Prime Recipient and leads overall programme management and fiduciary responsibility. The Youth Café (TYC) is the youth-focused implementing partner responsible for youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, community of practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy. The Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) serves as the technical knowledge and research partner. Together, the consortium bridges the gap between local civil society innovation and national-level systems change in adolescent health and nutrition.

Project Components

Component 1: Strengthening CSO and YLO Capacities for Networking and Enabling Pathways to Scale

This component strengthens the organisational and technical capacity of CSOs and YLOs to co-design, expand, and integrate high-quality adolescent health and nutrition innovations into public systems.It delivers Technical Support Packages covering baseline capacity assessments, tailored technical assistance and mentorship in programme design and grant management, policy dialogue facilitation, and the establishment of youth engagement mechanisms such as youth councils and social listening channels. It establishes and manages a Cross-Country Community of Practice (CoP) that connects local innovators with technical experts, policymakers, and partners through peer learning platforms, stakeholder convenings, structured knowledge exchange, and the documentation and dissemination of lessons on scaling and health system integration.

Component 2: Supporting CSOs and YLOs to Effectively Engage Government Entities in Adolescent Health and Nutrition

This component provides sub-grants to eligible CSOs and YLOs across up to 12 countries to scale proven adolescent health and nutrition innovations. It covers all grant management and administration activities, including the development of an Operational Manual, formation of a technical selection committee, targeted country-level outreach to attract strong applicants, sub-grantee selection, and compliance and fiduciary management. It focuses on sub-project implementation by supporting CSOs to identify and scale promising interventions, conduct sensitisation workshops, execute awareness and communications campaigns, and carry out periodic adaptive sub-project reviews.

Component 3: Generating Evidence and Influencing Policy

This component builds a robust evidence base and uses it to drive policy change and sustainable scale. It covers operational research and M&E: conducting mixed-method studies on performance and cost-effectiveness, strengthening CSO and YLO monitoring systems, and piloting adolescent feedback mechanisms such as SMS polling and social listening.It covers knowledge management and advocacy: documenting successful co-design models, producing policy briefs and academic papers, and engaging with national and global decision-making forums to advocate for policy integration and financing.

The Youth Café's Role in ALIGN

As a consortium partner, The Youth Café leads youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, Community of Practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy across the project. TYC is specifically responsible for ensuring that adolescent voices and youth-led innovations are at the centre of the project's policy influence and systems integration work. TYC's ALIGN team is based in Nairobi with responsibility for country-level coordination across all target countries.

Staff recruited under ALIGN will operate within TYC's administrative and programmatic structure, in close coordination with ACF USA and ENN. All positions are governed by TYC's human resources policies, the World Bank's Environmental and Social Framework requirements, and the safeguarding and labour standards set out in the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP). Each staff member assigned to ALIGN is expected to support TYC's designated Environmental and Social Focal Point and to uphold TYC's and ACF USA's safeguarding, anti-discrimination, and gender equality policies throughout implementation.

Note to Applicants

The position for which you are applying is part of The Youth Café's ALIGN project team. This background document is a standard introduction provided with all ALIGN Terms of Reference and should be read together with the specific position description that follows. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate in their application how their experience relates to the project's three-component structure and to TYC's specific implementation responsibilities as described above.

Key Responsibilities

  1. Communications Strategy and Content Development

  • Develop and implement ALIGN's Communications and Visibility Strategy by July 2026, aligned with TYC's institutional communications approach, ACF USA's branding requirements, and the GFF x CIVIC Platform's shared narrative guidelines by ensuring ALIGN is consistently presented as part of a cohesive global initiative rather than a standalone project.

  • Produce a regular cadence of high-quality communications outputs across all channels: press releases, newsletters, project update briefs, digital content, infographics, photo stories, and video testimony materials that highlight ALIGN activities, sub-grantee achievements, and youth-led innovations across the 12 partner countries.

  • Manage TYC's ALIGN-related social media presence, maintaining youth-centred messaging that amplifies adolescent voices, showcases community innovations, and engages a broad audience of policymakers, donors, civil society actors, and youth advocates.

  • Develop and maintain a content calendar aligned with ALIGN's annual workplan — ensuring communications outputs are produced in advance of key project milestones, CoP events, policy forums, and donor reporting cycles.

  • Coordinate with in-country Technical Experts to gather field-level stories, photos, quotes, and data that bring the project's impact to life in communications materials, ensuring country-level content flows consistently to Nairobi for packaging and dissemination.

  • Ensure all ALIGN communications outputs are archived in an accessible, structured format consistent with TYC's document management standards and available for website content updates, quality control reviews, and donor reporting.

2. Advocacy and Policy Engagement

  • Coordinate and support ALIGN's advocacy campaigns targeting national and global adolescent health and nutrition policy audiences by developing campaign strategies, messaging frameworks, and dissemination plans that align with knowledge management and advocacy activities.

  • Support the production, formatting, and dissemination of knowledge products: policy briefs, practice notes, academic paper summaries, and advocacy event materials by working with the Project Manager, Technical Experts, and ENN to translate research and operational evidence into accessible formats for policymakers and non-specialist audiences.

  • Develop targeted advocacy communications for Component 2 Work Stream 2.2 activities: produce awareness-raising materials and key messaging for sensitisation workshops targeting municipalities and civil society groups on adolescent reproductive health and nutrition financing, and support CSO sub-grantees in executing their own communications campaigns.

  • Engage strategically with global and regional decision-making forums, including the     World Bank Youth Innovation Forum, Civil Society Policy Forum, and Committee on World Food Security, by preparing talking points, presentation materials, and written submissions to support TYC and consortium representatives attending these platforms.

  • Monitor the adolescent health and nutrition policy landscape across ALIGN's 12 target countries and at the global level, identifying advocacy entry points and flagging emerging opportunities or risks to the Project Manager on a quarterly basis.

3. Liaison, Stakeholder Relations and CoP Support

  • Serve as the primary communications liaison between TYC and the ACF USA and ENN consortium partners, ensuring consistent messaging, coordinated content approval processes, and unified external representation across all consortium communications channels.

  • Coordinate TYC's communications support for Community of Practice activities: manage external communications for CoP webinars, thematic sprints, lab-storms, and workshops, including event promotion, participant communications, post-event write-ups, and dissemination of CoP knowledge products through digital platforms.

  •  Facilitate structured communications support for CoP stakeholder matchmaking and partnership brokerage activities, ensuring that successful partnerships and innovations catalysed through the CoP are documented and amplified externally.

  •   Represent ALIGN in external forums, media engagements, and networks as required, maintaining consistent alignment with the project's agreed communications narrative and branding standards.

  •  Support Component 2 sub-grantee communications capacity: provide guidance, templates, and light-touch coaching to CSO and YLO sub-grantees to help them produce quality communications outputs aligned with ALIGN's shared narrative, including materials for their sensitisation workshops and community awareness campaigns.

4. Knowledge Management and Documentation

  •  Lead the documentation of ALIGN success stories, case studies, and lessons-learned materials across all three components and all 12 target countries — working with Technical Experts and sub-grantees to gather, write, and package content for use across communications channels and knowledge products.

  •  Support the dissemination of ALIGN evidence outputs to national and global audiences: manage the distribution of policy briefs and practice notes to targeted mailing lists, donor networks, and digital platforms; coordinate media outreach for major ALIGN publications; and ensure findings are submitted for consideration in relevant conferences and journals.

  •  Maintain ALIGN's knowledge archive through a structured, searchable repository of all communications outputs, knowledge products, media coverage, policy engagement records, and stakeholder engagement documentation by  ensuring it is up to date and accessible to the full project team at all times.

  • Produce a quarterly Communications and Advocacy Report summarising outputs delivered, reach achieved, policy engagements conducted, and lessons for the communications strategy, for submission to the Project Manager within 15 days of each quarter end.

 Deliverables

  • Communications and advocacy strategy by July 2026

  • Quarterly communications and advocacy reports

  • Press releases, newsletters, and digital content published regularly

  • Documentation of policy dialogues and stakeholder engagement activities

  • Success stories, case studies and lessons-learned documents

  • End-of-project communications and advocacy report by May 2028

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

  • Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Development Studies, or a related field.

  • Minimum 3 years of experience in communications, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement within international development or global health projects.

  • Proven experience developing and implementing communications strategies for multi-country, multi-partner programmes.

  • Strong track record producing high-quality written content  ,including press releases, newsletters, policy briefs summaries, social media content, case studies, and success stories for diverse audiences.

  • Experience managing social media platforms and executing digital advocacy campaigns with demonstrated reach and engagement.

  • Demonstrated ability to manage multi-stakeholder liaison responsibilities and maintain consistent messaging across a consortium structure.

  • Proven experience supporting policy advocacy and engagement with senior government, donor, and civil society audiences.

  • Applicants must hold a valid work permit or be legally authorised to work in their country of residence at the time of application. The Youth Café will not sponsor or facilitate work permits for this assignment.

  • Excellent written and spoken English with outstanding editing and proofreading skills.

Desirable

  • Familiarity with GFF, World Bank, or equivalent multilateral donor communications requirements and branding guidelines, including experience working within a shared multi-partner communications platform.

  • Experience supporting Community of Practice or peer learning platform communications in a development or health context.

  • Knowledge of adolescent health and nutrition issues, RMNCAH+N policy frameworks, or CSO/YLO advocacy landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Proficiency in French (strongly advantageous given the Francophone countries in the project scope including Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, and Mali).

  • Experience with multimedia content production including photography, short-form video, or graphic design.

  • Familiarity with content management systems, email marketing platforms, and social media scheduling tools.

 Duration and Compensation

Duration: 14 months

Compensation: Competitive salary aligned with donor budget provisions

Payment Schedule: Monthly, upon submission of deliverables and timesheets

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit:

  • A cover letter of not more than one page setting out your suitability for the role and confirming availability from 1 July 2026.

  • An updated CV of not more than four pages.

  • One writing sample - one policy or advocacy brief and one communications piece (social media thread, newsletter, or press release) that you have authored. These may be previously published or produced for a former employer.

  • Contact details for two professional referees (referees will not be contacted without prior notification to the candidate).

Email applications to: human.resource@theyouthcafe.com   

cc:admin.compliance@theyouthcafe.com

Subject Line: Outreach, Advocacy, Liaison and Communications Officer– ALIGN Project

Deadline for submission: 15th June 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Equal Opportunity

The Youth Café is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion and strongly encourages applications from women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.