Climate & Economic Empowerment Lead

About the Organisation

Plan International is an independent humanitarian and development organisation focused on children’s rights and equality for girls. Its work addresses the ways poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination limit children’s potential, with a strong emphasis on the barriers faced by girls. The organisation partners with children, young people, supporters, and local partners to create a fairer world and works to remove the root causes of inequality. Its programs support children from birth through adulthood and help them prepare for and respond to crises. With more than 85 years of experience and work in over 80 countries, the organisation continues to push for lasting change in policy and practice at local, national, and global levels.

Role Purpose

This leadership position is designed to advance a climate-resilient and more equitable future for girls and young people. The role will guide Plan International’s global Climate & Economic Empowerment agenda, connecting climate justice with stronger livelihoods for girls, youth, and marginalised communities. It is a senior global role positioned at the meeting point of climate change, gender equality, and youth economic empowerment, with responsibility for shaping an ambitious, evidence-led direction that recognises the unequal impact of climate change on vulnerable groups.

The role requires someone who can work across a complex international structure and help build integrated programming that is climate-resilient, inclusive, youth-led, gender-transformative, and grounded in community realities across both development and humanitarian settings.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the global direction, ambition, and strategic case for Climate & Economic Empowerment, ensuring it fits organisational priorities and program standards.
• Create and sustain a strong strategic story centred on climate resilience, community-based livelihoods, youth economic empowerment, and intersectional, gender-transformative practice, including attention to disability, migration, indigeneity, and poverty.
• Support resource mobilisation by strengthening donor engagement, partnerships, and access to climate finance.
• Offer technical and thought leadership across global climate and livelihoods platforms.
• Represent the organisation externally and contribute to sector discussions, partnership building, and influence work.
• Promote integrated programming that connects climate resilience with livelihoods, education, protection, and opportunities for young people.
• Turn evidence, research, and field learning into persuasive narratives, advocacy messages, and program design.
• Improve alignment between global, regional, and country teams within a matrix structure.
• Encourage knowledge exchange, innovation, and ongoing learning by elevating insights from climate-affected communities.

Requirements

• Deep knowledge of climate change, resilience, and economic empowerment.
• Experience working in fragile, resource-limited, or climate-affected environments.
• Strong understanding of gender-transformative and youth-led approaches, especially in climate-related work.
• Experience with climate funding mechanisms, partnerships, or major donors.
• Ability to convert evidence into strategy, advocacy, and funding proposals.
• Proven record in external representation, influencing, and partnership development.
• Comfortable operating within complex global matrix organisations and leading through influence.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to simplify complexity.

Additional Information

Type of role: Permanent. The post may be full-time or a maximum fixed-term contract, depending on the employing office’s standard terms and conditions.

Location: The role is flexible in any location where Plan International has an office able to employ on behalf of the Global Hub, provided the candidate already has the right to live and work there. The preferred base is in one of the organisation’s offices in the Asia Pacific region.

Eligible locations include: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Closing date: 12th July.

Equality, Safeguarding, and Recruitment Checks

Plan International places equality, diversity, and inclusion at the centre of its work and aims to reflect the communities it serves. The organisation provides equal opportunity regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. It promotes an inclusive culture that supports racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights, and inclusion.

Safeguarding children and young people is a core organisational responsibility. Pre-employment screening will be carried out in line with the Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. The organisation also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and may request information from previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, or related investigations when the candidate left employment. Applicants confirm their understanding of these recruitment procedures by applying. The organisation will never ask candidates to make payments in response to unsolicited emails.