Advocacy Support Officer

Function: Development, co-ordination and delivery of the organization’s advocacy work at local, and provincial levels to promote and implement family-based alternative care models through direct community mobilization, and technical casework support for alternative care demonstration programs, reintegration activities, and local government advocacy within one target municipality in Surkhet.
Operational Link:
 - Finance and Admin Team
 - Program Team
Period of Service: 3 years starting from 1st August, 2026 (annual extension on the basis of annual evaluation of performance)
Status: Officer level
Based in: Surkhet (field visits required)
Hierarchical link:
 - Program Leads
 - Program Director
 - Executive Director

Objective:

The Advocacy Support Officer will play a crucial, hands-on role in implementing the Alternative Care Demonstration model at the local municipality level (Panchapuri Municipality) in Surkhet. The primary objective is to execute community-level campaigns, coordinate foster care recruitment and family reintegration, manage casework and post-placement monitoring, and facilitate localized advocacy interventions. Grounded in the child protection principles of The Himalayan Innovative Society (THIS), the Officer acts as the primary link between the local government, community-level stakeholders, families, and the provincial team.

Responsibilities:

• (R1) Child Protection System Strengthening and Alternative Care Development
• (R2) Policy Advocacy, Community Engagement and Partnerships
• (R3) Capacity Building and Technical Support
• (R4) Reporting

(R1) Child Protection System Strengthening and Alternative Care Development

• Assist in strengthening provincial and local child protection systems.
• Promote family and community-based alternative care such as kinship care and foster care.
• Promote foster care through awareness campaigns.
• Identify, assess, and select potential foster families by following the standard process.
• Support local governments to officially recognize and list foster families.
• Place children in foster care and provide case management support.
• Provide psychosocial counselling to children in foster care and foster families.
• Provide family reintegration, care transition, and case management technical support to children's homes.

(R2) Policy Advocacy, Community Engagement and Partnerships

• Advocate with provincial and local governments in Karnali province for alternative care development and community gatekeeping mechanisms.
• Advocate for government resource allocation and partnerships for alternative care services.
• Promote evidence-based advocacy led by care-experienced people.
• Conduct community awareness on alternative care, family-based care, child rights, child protection, and the rights of care-experienced people.
• Partner with local governments for community awareness initiatives.
• Form and mobilize Family Advocacy Groups to prevent child-family separation.
• Map and strengthen Community Champions as community watchdogs.
• Establish partnerships with government agencies (federal, provincial, district and local level), media, CSOs, development partners, networks and child club networks.
• Represent THIS at national, provincial, and local forums.

(R3) Capacity Building and Technical Support

• Play a bridging role between the organization and employees
• Follow procurement procedure for every procurement complying the government, organizational and donor’s frameworks
• Manage office supplies stock and place orders as per requirement with prior approval and within approved budget
• Organize a filing system for important and confidential organizational documents
• Respond to queries by employees and others based on organizational policies
• Coordinate and arrange logistics for events, maintain inventory register for local field equipment and foster care support within targeted municipality.
• Oversee logistics and other administrative tasks as required
• Contribute to the organization of meetings, conferences, events and actions.

(R4) Reporting

• Maintain confidential, highly organized and updates case files, assessment reports, monitoring and database for every child and families.
• Submit clear weekly updates. Monthly, quarterly and annual reports detailing programmatic progress, monitoring results and ethical case studies of change to the Province Lead and head office.
• Submit all financial and administrative reports related to advance and settlements to the Finance and Administration
• Submit report as per specified templates in compliance to the organizational and donor’s frameworks as well as the government’s policies.
• Ensure all necessary information and updates are reflected in the report.
• Report any urgent or relevant matters to the operational and hierarchical heads in time.

Working Days and Hours:

The post holder is required to work for 8 hours per day (including lunch time) from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday being office days, apart from field visits. There are times when THIS works beyond the hours of a normal work day and may require working overtime if necessary. Please refer to the Policies and Procedures Manual for further clarification.

Other preferences: Motorbike/scooter license holder
Basic Salary scale: As per organizational policies
Probationary period: 3 months

Required competences:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Social Work/Sociology/Psychology or a related social science discipline.
• At least 1 to 2 years of work experience in similar field, project implementation experience in child protection, community development, social work programs in Nepal
• Strong understanding of child rights, case management practices, community mobilization techniques.
• Familiarity with the assigned local municipality (Panchapuri Municipality) in Surkhet.
• Ability to communicate in local dialects
• Strong knowledge on the child protection polices of Nepal and international policies.
• Good communication skills in written and spoken Nepali and English
• Good knowledge of Basic computer package

Personal qualities required:

• Commitment to THIS and its funding partners’ values and principles
• Non-negotiable commitment to child safeguarding, gender equity, disability and social inclusion
• High empathy, active listening and strong interpersonal skills required to work closely with vulnerable children, foster families and communities
• High level of motivation with ability of managing field schedules independently.
• Willingness to travel extensively and work effectively alone in remote communities of Karnali Province.
• Integrity and commitment
• Loyalty and honesty

Preferred age group: Between 25 to 40