Youth Advocacy Lead

The role

As Youth Advocacy Lead, you will develop and deliver GMYN’s new We Rise project, working alongside care-experienced and separated young people to transform housing and accommodation across Greater Manchester. 

This role is about more than delivering a project. It is an opportunity to help change not just young people's lives but how an organisation listens to them. We are looking for an advocate who believes young people already have the answers; they simply need adults and organisations willing to listen, share power and act. 

The role will combine direct work with young people, advocacy practice, organisational development and systems change. You will introduce and embed a self-advocacy approach across GMYN, supporting young people to understand their rights, build confidence and influence the decisions affecting their lives. 

Alongside this, you will support GMYN colleagues to develop the skills and confidence to make advocacy part of everyday practice; not something that only happens when things go wrong. Working across the organisation, you will help us move from supporting young people for them to achieving change with them. 

You will support young people to lead social action projects, distribute over grants through the We Rise Challenge Fund, influence regional housing reform, develop the creative projects and become the next generation of youth leaders across Greater Manchester. 

This is a real opportunity to build something from the beginning and help create an organisation where advocacy is not an activity – it is simply how we work. 

Key responsibilities 

• Lead the development and delivery of We Rise, ensuring young people are meaningfully involved learning is captured throughout the project.  

• Develop a self-advocacy approach across GMYN, supporting young people to understand their rights and influencing decisions affecting their lives.  

• Support young people to develop leadership, advocacy and social action skills so they can shape the services, systems and decisions that affect their lives.  

• Design participation opportunities using rights-based approaches, ensuring young people are equal partners in shaping services and decisions.  

• Develop strong relationships across Greater Manchester to strengthen youth voice and advocacy for young people to influence change.  

• Model strong safeguarding practice to ensure young people are safe and supported. 

• Promote strengths-based and trauma-informed that ensure young people feel valued and heard.  

• Capture insight, outcomes and learning to evidence impact and improve future practice.  

• Manage project plans, budgets, reporting, and partnerships to ensure successful project delivery. 

• Support GMYN to embed advocacy approaches and continuously improve how we work alongside young people. 

• Promote youth-led advocacy and represent GMYN with stakeholders across Greater Manchester. 

• Carrying out any other reasonable duties and responsibilities that contribute to the organisation's overall aims and objectives.  

Person specification 

• Experience delivering advocacy or rights-based support with young people, such as care-experienced and separated young people. 

• Understanding of advocacy approaches and how they differ from advice, counselling and key work. 

• Experience supporting young people to develop and lead social action projects. 

• Experience designing and delivering participation opportunities.  

• Co-producing services or projects with young people and people with lived experience. 

• Experience facilitating groups, workshops and activities that create safe, inclusive and empowering spaces for young people. 

• Experience developing practice through training and coaching professionals and/or embedding new approaches across organisations. 

• Understanding of trauma-informed approaches, strengths-based practice, and rights-based participation, including the Lundy Model. 

• Experience building and maintaining effective partnerships with young people, professionals, organisations and stakeholders. 

• Experience planning, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating projects, including capturing impact and learning. 

Please see attached pack for further information about GMYN and the role.