Head of Advocacy and Evidencing

HelpAge International (www.helpage.org) is the secretariat to the HelpAge Global Network, which brings together a wide range of organisations and individuals working to promote the rights and meet the needs of older women and men, nationally and/or internationally.

Head of Advocacy and Evidencing

About the Job

• The Head of Advocacy & Evidencing provides strategic leadership and organisational accountability for HelpAge’s global advocacy, policy and research agendas, ensuring that external engagement is grounded in rigorous evidence, shaped by the lived experiences of older people, and aligned with organisational priorities.

Key areas for impact/influence and responsibilities

To deliver impact, the Head of Advocacy & Evidencing will:

• Lead the delivery and evolution of HelpAge’s global advocacy and research agenda, ensuring it reflects lived experience and drives progress on rights, inclusion, and equity for older people.

• Strengthen the capacities of network members and older people to lead and participate meaningfully in advocacy efforts, and ensure inclusive engagement in the design and implementation of influencing strategies.

• Cultivate strategic partnerships with policy, academic, and research institutions to co-produce high-quality, policy-relevant evidence and promote HelpAge’s thought leadership on rights, healthy ageing, humanitarian inclusion, and social protection.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Advocacy

• Lead and be accountable for the development, implementation and results of HelpAge’s global advocacy and evidencing strategy, aligned with HelpAge’s impact areas and co-created with network members.

• Monitor and respond to global, regional and national policy trends,advising colleagues and network members on opportunities for engagement and influence.

• Champion inclusive, partner-led advocacy approaches that centre the voices and leadership of older people and civil society actors.

• Collaborate with the Fundraising and Strategic Partnerships Director and supporting members to align donor advocacy efforts with organisational priorities and global influencing strategies.

• Advise the Executive Leadership Group and the Board on HelpAge’s advocacy positions and external positioning, and lead the preparation and quality of the related papers and briefings. Where appropriate, represent HelpAge’s positions externally alongside senior leaders.

• Lead and coordinate HelpAge’s influencing in priority global and regional policy and donor markets, including Europe, identifying opportunities to position ageing and the rights of older people within relevant policy, development and humanitarian agendas and, in collaboration with Fundraising, strengthen HelpAge’s positioning with institutional donors and partners.

• Be accountable for achieving the agreed Advocacy & Evidencing income target. Working in partnership with the Fundraising & Strategic Partnerships team, play a lead technical and relationship role in shaping fundable propositions, contributing to pipeline development, and donor cultivation and stewardship for advocacy and research.

• Ensure that advocacy, research and evidence-generation activities comply with HelpAge’s ethical, safeguarding, data protection and relevant organisational standards, and hold team members accountable for compliance within their areas of responsibility.

• Represent HelpAge at senior level in key global and regional coalitions, alliances and policy forums, proactively building strategic relationships with governments, multilateral and donor institutions, policy actors and other influential stakeholders to advance HelpAge’s advocacy priorities and strengthen its external positioning.

Evidence and Research

• Lead and be accountable for HelpAge’s global research and evidence agenda, ensuring that it is coherent, ethical, inclusive and aligned with organisational advocacy and programme priorities.

• Provide strategic oversight of HelpAge’s global portfolio of evidence generation, policy analysis and advocacy initiatives across key impact areas, ensuring coherence, quality and alignment with organisational strategy and drawing on the network as a central source of evidence and insight.

• Foster partnerships with academic institutions, think tanks, and research bodies to co-produce and validate robust, policy-influencing evidence.

• Ensure that research outputs are accessible, actionable, and designed for strategic influence at global and national levels.

Capacity Strengthening and Network Engagement

• Lead on advocacy capacity strengthening of HelpAge network members and older people through mentoring, training, and tailored support.

• Promote knowledge exchange and peer learning across the global network, ensuring inclusive participation in advocacy platforms and decision-making spaces.