Child Rights Implementation Manager

Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) has a vision of Scotland becoming a place where all babies, children and young people can grow up in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. To achieve this, we work with our membership to take action to ensure that babies, children and young people growing up in Scotland have all their human rights respected, protected, and fulfilled, all the time. Our three strategic priorities reflect a holistic approach to achieving our mission, focusing on proactive measures, responsive actions, and building the strength of the children’s rights community to ensure the rights of every baby, child and young person in Scotland. Together is at the forefront of influencing policy, enhancing understanding, and ensuring the integration of children’s rights across all aspects of life in Scotland, making us a pivotal voice and authority on children’s rights.

Our values
• Courageous: We are independent, and we challenge when we need to. We always stand up for children’s human rights.
• Collaborative: We involve, engage, and consult our members, children and young people, parents and carers. We are representative, open, and transparent in all we do.
• Constructive: We do things in a respectful way. We support all those we work with and for to reach their full potential.
• Inclusive: We actively enable everyone to participate equally and with dignity, especially those babies, children and young people whose rights are most at risk.
• Creative: We bring fun and creativity to everything we do, embracing imaginative and innovative thinking.

Following successful incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots law, Together is working to ensure this new law becomes reality for children. The post-holder will play a crucial role in supporting Scotland to implement children’s rights, by supporting adults across Scotland to use law and policy in practical ways.

The Child Rights Implementation Manager leads the planning and delivery of Together’s capacity building work, with a particular focus on our Communities of Practice, and leads the growth of our membership. The postholder designs and drives the Community of Practice model and delivers both Communities of Practice, building the capacity of members and public bodies to embed a children’s human rights approach in their own practice.

The role requires the confidence to interpret children’s human rights law and policy to shape and drive capacity building activity like training, consultancy and Communities of Practice, drawing on the legal and policy team where deeper analysis is needed. This is also the route by which practice evidence reaches Together’s influencing work, through the analysis and learning summaries drawn from Together’s capacity building activity.

The postholder works to the Assistant Director, who sets the strategic direction for capacity building and consultancy, and works closely with the Senior Legal and Policy Manager and the Senior Legal and Policy Officer so that evidence and learning move in both directions between Together’s two teams.

Communities of Practice:

• Lead the #RightsOnTrack Community of Practice model: its design, standards and expansion.
• Lead the Community of Practice on equality, inclusion and children’s rights.
• Lead the Community of Practice on child poverty and children’s rights.
• Interpret children’s human rights law and policy to shape and drive the Communities of Practice and advise the Senior Legal and Policy Officer on what needs fuller analysis.
• Advise the Senior Legal and Policy Manager on where access to justice work is needed to support the Communities of Practice.
• Lead the analysis and learning summaries drawn from each Community of Practice and pass them to the legal and policy team for influencing.
• Lead member engagement for the #RightsOnTrack campaign.

Capacity building:

• Lead day to day planning, scheduling and delivery of Together’s capacity building programme.
• Lead member webinars and learning events.
• Lead the translation of law and policy into practical tools, standards and guidance.
• Lead the development of good practice case studies from the private, voluntary and independent sector, and Together’s support to that sector on implementation challenges.
• Represent Together on the Scottish Government working groups.
• Contribute to the capacity building strategy and annual plan.
• Lead the promotion of Together’s capacity building and Communities of Practice offer.
Consultancy:
• Lead consultancy delivery and scheduling.
• Contribute to consultancy strategy and client relationships, and to consultancy and training income generation.

Membership development:

• Lead membership growth, outreach and retention delivered by the Membership and Engagement Officer.
• Contribute to Together’s membership strategy.
• Direct the member events programme, including member information sessions, Get to Know Together and Membership May.
• Develop and contribute to Together’s lived experience partnerships with its members.
Working across Together:
• Supply member evidence to the annual State of Children’s Rights report.
• Update the Implementation Strategy Group on the Communities of Practice and on implementation learning.
• Support the mapping of member evidence against children’s rights frameworks.
• Support internal quality assurance so that learning drives improvement across both teams.

Operational and team leadership:

• Provide line management and support including supervision, work planning and development.
• Lead project level monitoring and evaluation, and contribute to Together’s organisational objectives, impact and evaluation.
• Oversee project management and budgetary responsibilities for the Communities of Practice.

Additional duties:

• Support the development and submission of funding proposals, aligning with Together’s strategic priorities and organisational needs.
• Contribute to team cohesion through regular meetings, supporting the overall administration, efficiency and development of Together.
• Undertake additional tasks as required, adapting to the evolving needs of Together and our mission.

Essential:

• Passion for children’s rights and advocacy: Demonstrated commitment to advancing the rights of babies, children and young people, underpinned by a thorough understanding of the UNCRC and its implementation in law, policy and practice.
• Children’s rights expertise: In depth understanding of children’s human rights and UNCRC implementation in Scotland, at masters level or equivalent, with the confidence to interpret law and policy well enough to shape and drive a Community of Practice, drawing on the legal and policy team for deeper analysis.
• Turning frameworks into practice: Proven ability to translate legal and policy frameworks into practical tools, standards and guidance that professionals and public bodies can use.
• Designing and facilitating learning: Experience of designing and facilitating learning spaces for professional audiences, including communities of practice or comparable peer learning models.
• Programme delivery: Proven ability to deliver learning programmes, events and projects to time and to budget, with sound monitoring and evaluation.
• Relationship building: Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with members, public bodies and partners.
• Leadership and line management: Experience of line managing and developing others.

Desirable:

• Public sector practice: Experience of working with or within public bodies on how they put children’s rights into practice.
• Membership experience: Experience working within a membership-based organisation, including outreach and member development.
• Engagement with children and young people: Experience of engaging with babies, children and young people in a way that supports their participation and influences change.
• Income generation: Experience of generating income through training or consultancy.