Liaison Officers | Volunteering

Liaison Officer on Environmental Law 

The aim of the Environmental Law Liaison Officer is to help YEE’s work on environmental law and litigation topics and the work on the Aarhus Convention. This person would work closely with the Volunteers Coordinator, the Project Lead and the Project Assistant on environmental law on the Legal Seeds 3 project; and with other Liaison Officers when legal topics are involved, such as with the Oceans and Biodiversity portfolios. The Env. Law Liaison Officer will also work with others on targeted campaigns (e.g. #restorenature) and advocacy initiatives at international and EU level.

A lot of the work would be linked to making environmental law accessible for young people through writing; familiarising with the Aarhus Convention processes and strengthening YEE position there; helping creating partnerships with youth and non youth organisations active in environmental law matters and learning the basics of fundraising. Finally, the volunteer will explore opportunities to promote knowledge and join or launch advocacy campaigns related to the achievement of more stringent legal targets and actions envisaged by the EU Green Deal.

The main topics covered by the environmental law portfolio include the EU Green Deal and its implementation (National Energy & Climate Plans and the FF55); climate litigation; the Aarhus Convention; the Nature Restoration Law and the Right to a Healthy Environment. However, your ideas and interests are of course welcome!

The main tasks will include: 

• Help our members to engage with our work on environmental law, through liaising and working on our relationship with Member Organisations and partner organisations;
• Help work with the Project Lead and Project Assistant on Environmental Law on content creation, such as articles and webinars;
• Support YEE work on the Aarhus Convention processes;
• Contribute to the general YEE advocacy strategy, such as through participating on behalf of YEE to legal campaigns and external events

Liaison Officer on Ocean Conservation

In the context of the Ocean Conservation portfolio, the Liaison Officer will engage with and consolidate relationships with ocean-related international advocacy campaigns, such as within the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC). They will be able to engage in the dissemination of knowledge to a wide audience, while also getting involved in international collaboration and promotion of youth participation in the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Instrument adopted under the UNCLOS framework. They can, in this context and in the context of other potential issues and international processes, seek active collaboration with existing partners like GYBN and NYBN Oceans group. Exploring involvement in other ocean- and water-related processes and issues is of course a possibility and is open to the Liaison Officer’s expertise, interest, and capacity.

The Liaison Officer will regularly communicate with other portfolios, and especially the Biodiversity, Environmental Governance, and Climate Crisis portfolios, fostering collaborative campaigns and initiatives where thematic priorities intersect. Examples of this are the BBNJ Treaty process, as well as the international negotiations towards the adoption of a legally-binding Plastics Treaty under the auspices of UNEP, addressing the Ocean-Climate nexus under the UNFCCC COP process.

At the EU level, the Liaison Officer will represent YEE as supporting organisation to Surfrider Foundation Europe’s Blue-Up 2024 campaign for EU Parliamentary elections. The volunteer will explore opportunities to promote knowledge and join or launch advocacy campaigns related to the achievement of ocean-related targets and actions envisaged by the EU Green Deal – ranging from the Common Fisheries Policy to the EU Biodiversity Strategy. The LO will also support the implementation of the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy project.

The main tasks will include:

• Contribute to the YEE advocacy strategy, by participating in campaigns, liaising with partners, and representing YEE in external events;
• Create ocean-related content and blog articles to be published by YEE;
• Represent the YEE network in the Youth4Ocean Forum and EU4Ocean Platform, especially by taking active part in the youth-led initiatives carried out by the Youth4Ocean Forum community;
• The LO will also contribute to the implementation of the EU4Ocean Coalition for Ocean Literacy project in accordance with the Oceans Project Lead, supporting the planning of key events and tasks, helping in mapping and liaising with relevant youth networks, initiatives, and youth-led projects in Europe.

Liaison Officer on Sustainable Energy

The Liaison Officer on Sustainable Energy will help to create a stronger basis of Energy knowledge with YEE and to implement and carry out relevant advocacy initiatives and relations on the topic. They will work closely with the Volunteers Coordinator, the Project Lead and the Project Assistant on energy. A great part of the mandate will be to provide support and insights to the Ampower project, the project at YEE dedicated to energy and support the team’s effort to create a knowledge bank on energy transition and the energy crisis.

The Sustainable Energy Liaison Officer would also liaise with other youth and non-youth organisations working on energy-related topics, such as the European Youth Energy Network, the EEB, GCE and CAN-Europe and provide assistance with the teams involvement with UN working groups. The Energy Liaison Officer will also have the possibility to explore opportunities to promote knowledge and join or launch advocacy campaigns related to the increase of sustainable energy targets in the EU. Personal ideas and insights on how to develop the portfolio are more than welcome!

The main tasks will include: 

• Draft articles on several key points necessary to understand the complexity of energy transition and the ins and outs of the energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.
• Create a weekly news update on energy matters (Showcasing new interesting projects, new technologies relevant to the energy transition, updates on new national, European and International legislations, and other relevant news).
• Help our members to engage with our work on energy, through liaising and working on our relationship with Member Organisations and partner organisations;
• Contribute to the general YEE advocacy strategy, such as through participating on behalf of YEE to energy-related campaigns and external events.

Liaison Officer on Green Finance 

We are excited to say that we also opened a position for a Liaison Officer on Green Finance!

The role of the Liaison Officer 

The Green Finance Liaison will act as a key contact point between YEE and external stakeholders in regards to all matters pertaining to Green Finance. Additionally, during the first phase of the project the volunteer should search for existing projects or work on green finance carried out by other youth organisations with the purpose of increasing capacity on the project and building a coalition of youth organisations active on the topic.

The liaison officer’s main activity will be to provide desktop research to identify important financial actors involved in green finance, in order to monitor financial flows in relation to climate action and energy transitions, with a particular focus on tracking investment banks and their involvement in sustainable initiatives. In cooperation with the communications team, the Liaison Officer will provide regular updates which will be published on social media and on a dedicated page of YEE’s website.

In parallel, the Liaison Officer should keep track of the main policy discussions in the green finance sector and help YEE identify key stakeholders responsible for national, European and International level policy-making to identify where YEE can advocate for further youth involvement.

Finally, throughout the project, and based on the knowledge gathered, the Liaison Officer will create some educational content destined to be shared with YEE’s network as training material.

The main tasks will include

• In cooperation with the communications team, build a webpage on YEE’s website dedicated to green finance content;
• Identify meetings, networks and coalitions that currently allow for youth participation;
• List key stakeholders in international organisations, NGOs and actors of the private sector that are involved in key green investment processes for coalition building; and help YEE advocate for greater youth inclusion in the sector.
• Engage in desktop research on financial flows in regard to the climate and energy transition.
• Help in content creation for our social media, such as drafting short posts throughout the project destined to educate our young audience on green finance;