Elevate Children Funders Group (ECFG) seeks a consultant to support the finalization & implementation of our youth engagement strategy, which will support the meaningful, consistent engagement of young people in ECFG’s work.
Rolling review, applications due by 16 February 2024.
Overview of Consultancy
Elevate Children Funders Group has developed a long-term youth engagement strategy and is seeking a consultant(s) to support the finalization & implementation of our strategy, which will support the meaningful, consistent engagement of young people in ECFG’s work.
Application deadline: Rolling review, with applications due by 16 February 2024.
Compensation: Compensation will be finalized and agreed upon between the ECFG Secretariat and consultant, dependent upon agreed services. ECFG has allocated approximately $8,000 for this work (negotiable).
About ECFG
Elevate Children Funders Group is the leading global network of funders focused exclusively on the wellbeing and rights of children and youth. We focus on the most marginalized and vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence. We support children and youth by building a community of funders, and creating spaces for:
- Greater learning and effectiveness in how we use our individual resources
- More collaboration and alignment across our strategies
- Joint action for new resources and support for our field
Established in 2011, ECFG now counts 23 members, including many of the leading global funders and philanthropic advisors funding the wellbeing and rights of children and youth. ECFG works on the premise that we are “better together.” We believe our potential impact as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts and that together we can drive greater sustainable change than as individual foundations working alone.
Background
Over the past several years, ECFG has undertaken a number of research and resource development projects that have incorporated the participation of children and young people. We have involved them on research advisory committees, sponsored them to attend conferences, and worked with them directly on webinars. For each project, we have worked with consultants to ensure the team has the necessary skills, knowledge, and insights to enable genuine participation of and safeguarding for young people. However, these have all been one-off interactions and we have not been able to develop longer-term, more mutually beneficial and meaningful relationships with the young people engaged. This is in contradiction to the best practice we have outlined in our own Funders’ Toolkit.
Our Strategic Plan's Theory of Change also recognizes that deep listening to children and youth by funders is necessary to create the change we want, yet many of our member organizations do not have youth advisory councils or other means to interact directly with children and youth. We do not currently have a way of elevating the voices of young people to funders on a consistent basis, outside of specific projects or reports. A core purpose of ECFG is to elevate child and youth issues within philanthropy. By creating a consistent space for youth voice within ECFG, we hope to raise the perspectives of young people on our members’ work and to the broader philanthropic community, thereby increasing the effectiveness of interventions for children and youth.
Purpose
Ultimately, we seek to create a way to formally and consistently engage the voices and representation of children and young people within ECFG and the philanthropic field at large. In the coming months, we hope to design a structure through which youth voices can be consistently engaged and elevated in ECFG’s work. We believe that this will be achieved through an ongoing relationship that moves beyond tokenistic involvement in one-off projects to support young people as a critical part of making change in philanthropy, while elevating their voices to our members and the broader philanthropic community.
ECFG has the unique advantage of being part of a network of funders, partners, and young people who have experience and expertise designing, implementing, and participating in youth engagement strategies. From May-November of last year, we engaged in a consultation process with a range of these actors about best practices and lessons they’ve learned from doing this kind of work. We then consolidated findings from that consultation process and developed an initial strategy proposal that was presented for feedback from our Steering Committee. Now, as we prepare to finalize the strategy and begin the co-design and recruitment phase, we seek support from a consultant to work with the Program and Communications Manager, who is leading this work within the Secretariat, to bring the proposal to life in a meaningful way, with young people at the center.
Deliverables
The deliverables will be finalized in partnership between the selected consultant(s) and the Program and Communications Manager. Deliverables may include, but are not limited to:
- Reviewing, offering feedback on, and assisting on the finalization of ECFG’s Youth Engagement Strategy
- Co-designing the application and onboarding process
- Working in partnership with the Program & Communications Manager and a wellness/wellbeing consultant to design meetings with the young people engaged, including team-building and capacity-building opportunities
- Attending regular meetings with the young people engaged & supporting their meaningful interactions with ECFG members
- Supporting youth participation in ECFG’s in-person AGM this June (additional travel budget and compensation to be determined separately if attendance is required)
Timeline
An estimated commitment of ~5 hours/month (TBD in partnership with the Secretariat) February-December 2024, with the potential to extend should project funding be renewed.
Budget
ECFG has allocated up to $8,000 for this work. Final contract budget to be negotiated.
Criteria
We are seeking applications from individuals who meet the following criteria:
- Experience and knowledge of best practice working with young people
- Experience designing youth engagement programming, including youth wellbeing and safeguarding
- Experience working in philanthropy is preferred
- Lived experience in the Global South, either current or past, is preferred
- Experience either coaching or working collaboratively on this type of project is preferred
ECFG seeks to engage diverse consultants that are representative of the communities our members serve globally, so we encourage consultants/teams that include young people (up to age 30), people from the Global South, and black, indigenous, and other people of color to apply.
To Apply
Interested parties should send their resume and an introductory email or cover letter to zoe.trout@elevatechildren.org outlining:
- Your qualifications for the project against the listed criteria;
- Your experience with similar projects, particularly with similar organizations; and
- Your fee structure and availability over the next ten months.
Please use the subject line, “Youth Engagement Support application” with your first and last name in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with a deadline of 16 February. Please reach out if you have additional questions when developing the application.
