Regional Advocacy Coordinator

Job Description

Job Title: Regional Advocacy Coordinator

Reporting To: Advocacy Director

Location: Remote – preferably for candidates based in the Francophone region
on the continent.

Contract Type: Full-time

Duration: 12 Months possibility for extension

Compensation: 25k - 30k (USD)

WHO WE ARE:

“Remaking the world with and for girls”

Purposeful is a movement-building hub for adolescent girls and young feminists.

We resource their resistance, accompany journeys of political education, build

solidarity between and across movements, amplify their voices, catalyse

collaborative philanthropy and support innovation in grassroots programming

with and for girls and young feminists.

Our work is both global and deeply local. In Sierra Leone, we bring our work

together into one integrated strategy, sparking a groundswell of girls and young

feminists who can access and imagine new possibilities for themselves and their

communities. We move money to their allies to influence change, from

communities to courtrooms. Across the world we support girls’ and young

feminists’ organising and activism through a girl-led participatory grant-making

process called the With and For Girls Fund. In times of crisis, we move money

rapidly to girls and young feminists organising on the frontlines via the Global

Resilience Fund.  No matter where we are, we work so that girls and young

feminists can access the resources, networks and platforms they need to

remake the world for themselves.

Purposeful is a proudly feminist organisation, with a strong intersectional power

analysis. We pursue strategies that prioritise the collective liberation of girls. We

are looking for team members who share our feminist ideals. We believe the

best work happens in dialogue, and we value collective decision-making. We

believe in celebrating success, amongst staff and partners alike. We are looking

for team members with a deep commitment to collaborative working, and who

bring a sense of joy and humour to what can be challenging work.

We pride ourselves on our diversity, the multiple languages we speak and

places we live. We are all parents or have other caring responsibilities. We

prioritise work-life balance, many of us have other projects and passions outside

of Purposeful. As a team we prioritise opportunities for learning, sharing, and

embedding different worldviews. We are looking for team members who thrive

in diverse and cross-cultural contexts, and who bring passion, creativity and a

thirst for learning to their work.

We are our partnerships. We are most proud of the shared vision we have built

with our partners - rooted in mutuality, trust, and collaboration. We are looking

for team members who will work tirelessly to rebalance power disparities in

funder-partner relationships, acting as responsible stewards of resources of and

for our movements.

CONTEXT OF THIS ROLE:

The Regional Advocacy Coordinator will play a key role in advancing
Purposeful’s feminist advocacy efforts across Africa, with a particular focus on
designing and piloting the Special Advocacy Grant, a small, opportunistic and
flexible fund that will resource survivor and activist-led storytelling, direct action,
healing, and narrative change; enabling survivors to define justice in their own
terms and activists to target specific policy wins, shifts in public discourse, and
transformation of power structures.  This role will also strengthen transnational
movement collaboration.

This role combines strategic coordination, grantmaking, and learning — helping
to connect regional advocacy priorities, movement-led resourcing, and feminist
political education. The person will work closely with the Advocacy Director, the
Resourcing Resistance (R&R) and Insight & Learning (I&L) teams, as well as
movement partners, to ensure that Purposeful’s advocacy work is grounded in
movement realities and responsive to emerging political trends in the region. The
Regional Advocacy Coordinator may also serve as a media spokesperson of
the organisation.

SCOPE OF WORK

1. Special Advocacy Grant (Pilot)

●  Lead the pilot of the Special Advocacy Grant (SAG) including a closed

call for proposals, selection process, accompaniment, reporting, learning
and evaluation

●  Design and administer clear criteria for the selection of potential grantees

for the pilot

●  Collaborate with the Communications team to develop materials to

introduce and launch the SAG

●  Coordinate and synthesize learning calls with Resourcing Resistance (RR)
partners to inform the design of the SAG and to map potential recipients
across the region

●  Develop and implement a theory of change (ToC) in collaboration with

the Insights & Learning team

●  Contribute to the impact and learning report at the close of the pilot,

documenting lessons for potential scale-up and fundraising.

2. Regional Advocacy and Movement Coordination

●  Maintain strong relationships and collaboration with key movement

partners that support Purposeful’s advocacy on FGM, access to safe
abortion, and ending violence against young women, girls, and
gender-diverse youths across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

●  Represent the organisation in national and regional coalitions in response
to ongoing threats to Purposeful’s advocacy agenda and contribute to
regional advocacy strategies.

●  Support Purposeful’s regional and global engagement at spaces such as

ECOWAS, AU, Regional CSW

●  Track and regularly report on the progression of regional litigation, policies,
campaigns and conventions related to FGM, access to safe abortion,
and ending violence against young women, girls, and gender-diverse
youths

●  Provide and regularly report on Sierra Leone’s policy positioning after

major regional or global engagements (e.g., post-SFC) - mapping reach,
tactics, and impact.

●  Lead joint advocacy initiatives that connect girls’, queer and feminist
movements across geographies, linking anti-rights trends to collective
resistance.

●  Facilitate learning exchanges, dialogues, and joint advocacy moments of

activists, survivor-leaders, and organisers from across the region.

●  Support and document emerging regional trends such as:

○  The rise of “family values” and anti-rights narratives.

○  Restrictive laws on SRHR, abortion, and LGBTQI+ rights.

○  Youth organising and resistance under growing authoritarianism.

○  Persistent FGM and harmful traditional practices.

●  Maintain an updated database of regional and global partners, including

NGOs, associations, student groups, influencers, parliamentarians,
ministers, and LGBTQI+ organisations.

3. Learning, Reflection, and Documentation

●  Facilitate team learning and reflection related to regional movements

and advocacy

●  Support learning spaces and contribute to publications, blogs, and

reflection pieces that connect advocacy action to policy influence and
feminist learning.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

●  At least three to five year’s experience working with philanthropic funds.

●  Strong grounding in African feminist organising, advocacy, and social

justice.

●  Proven experience coordinating grantmaking programmes or regional

advocacy initiatives.

●  Excellent writing, coordination, and communication skills in English and

French.

●  Ability to synthesise insights from movement partners and translate them

into actionable advocacy strategies.

●  Experience working in cross-cultural, multilingual, and multi-country teams.

●  Commitment to Purposeful’s values of feminist solidarity, collective power,

and transformative justice.

Other Duties As Assigned

●  Respond to information needs and requests of the Executive Team

members and staff as needed

●  Track and stay abreast of current affairs and rising anti-rights narratives

and movements across the continent.

Application Process:

Please send your CV and a covering letter to applications@wearepurposeful.org

Closing date: 30th Jan. 2026