Policy & Campaigns Officer / Advocacy Lead

The policy and campaigns officer's distinct contribution is changing the conditions that create the need in the first place — moving law, policy, and public attitudes from unjust toward just. That is why the primary gradient is Justice: the defining act is contesting an unfair arrangement and building the case, the coalition, and the pressure to change it. Spread (a campaign only works if it reaches enough people and institutions), Explanation (turning complex evidence into an argument decision-makers and the public can grasp), and Connection (building the alliances that give a campaign weight) are the machinery underneath.

The daily texture divides into policy and campaigns. The policy side is analytical — reading legislation and evidence, responding to government consultations, producing briefings and position papers, and developing the charity's considered stance on an issue. The campaigns side is mobilising — building public support, running petitions and digital actions, working with the media, organising supporters to contact their representatives, and applying coordinated pressure at the right political moment. In many charities the same person or small team does both: they build the evidence base and then turn it into a movement. The work sits at the intersection of research, communication, and political strategy, and it requires the patience to work on changes that may take years and the alertness to act in the hours when a window opens.

The craft is turning a moral claim into a winnable case — grounded in evidence, carried by real stories, and aimed precisely at the people with the power to change things.

Most campaigns lose, or win slowly and partially, and the wins are rarely clean or attributable to one organisation. Policy change is a long game of coalitions, incremental amendments, and shifts in the public mood that no single campaigner can claim. Visible, immediate results are not among the things this work produces. What it produces is years of grinding, shared, uncertain progress, and occasionally a partial win that several organisations can claim at once.

There is also a real ethical tension at the centre of the work: campaigns are built on the stories of people who are suffering, and the sector has become far more careful about not exploiting or speaking over those people. The best advocacy now works to put power and voice in the hands of those with lived experience rather than using them as case studies — and getting that relationship right, rather than performing it, is a serious and ongoing discipline.

No mandatory qualification, though this is one of the more graduate-dominated corners of the sector. Degrees in politics, law, social policy, economics, or a subject relevant to the cause are common. Entry is often through a research or campaigns assistant role, a policy internship, or a parliamentary or party-political role that provides an understanding of how change actually happens. Evidence of engagement — student campaigning, activism, volunteering with an advocacy organisation — matters. In Portugal, equivalent policy and advocacy work sits within larger associations, foundations, and IPSS umbrella bodies, typically entered through a degree in ciência política, direito, or política social [NCVO 2025-26; from salary and job-posting data 2025-26].