Programme Officer (Advocacy and Creative)

The Commonwealth Foundation is committed to bringing Commonwealth civil society and its citizens into the centre of discussion and decision-making around critical issues that affect their lives.  The Foundation’s advocacy and creative work is central to that mission. With a small team we seek to make an outsize contribution to change in relation to our areas of strategic focus of climate justice, health justice and freedom of expression.

The Programme Officer (PO) will be part of a five-person team, working under the direction of the Senior Programme Manager to advance the Foundation’s advocacy and creative work across and around our three thematic areas. The Programme Officer will play a leading role in integrating creativity into the Foundation’s advocacy work while making an important contribution to our flagship creative programmes. This role will design and deliver events, such as the Commonwealth People’s Forum and the Critical Conversations series, and support other advocacy initiatives.

The Programme Officer will also support our intergovernmental liaison and external outreach, maintaining effective relationships with the Commonwealth Secretariat and other key partners. They will also help shape and deliver the Programme’s creative output, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, while actively embedding creativity across our advocacy work.

Key responsibilities of the Programme Officer include:

• Contribute to the design, delivery, synthesis, monitoring and evaluation of our online and in-person advocacy events, working with the Creative Lead to ensure full integration of creativity into our work.
• As a member of the Core CPF Team, contribute to the planning and delivery of the Foundation’s flagship biennial event, the Commonwealth People’s Forum.
• Support the planning, delivery and evaluation of our engagement in other Commonwealth and global policy spaces.
• Assist in the development and implementation of cross-programme advocacy strategies, in collaboration with the other Foundation programmes, providing a platform for civil society to engage and influence Commonwealth institutions and Member States.
• Develop a capacity to provide back-up support for the delivery of the Foundation’s creative output, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
• Work collaboratively with the Foundation’s Communications team on outreach and delivery of the advocacy objectives and activities.

The Foundation is proud of our welcoming and accommodating working environment. We strive to be a great place to work.

We offer generous holidays (almost seven weeks a year excluding public holidays).

Fifteen percent of your salary is payable tax-free at stipulated periods in lieu of a formal superannuation scheme.

All Foundation staff are enrolled in our private health scheme, including dental cover.