Youth and Community Mobilization Officer – Youth Network For Sustainable Development (YNSD) Vacancy Announcement

Background

Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD) is a non-governmental, non-profit making indigenous organization that was founded in 2003 by four school clubs and fifteen youth associations. Currently, YNSD is an umbrella network of more than 160 youth organizations and associations operating at national level.YNSD strive for sustainable development through promoting partnership, networking and building the capacity of its member organizations.www.ynsdethiopia.org.et

Youth Network for Sustainable Development (YNSD) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation implements Community Service Project in Addis Ababa, Sodo and Wolo. This Project envisions “equal opportunity for young people to learn and prosper, access to dignified and fulfilling work and contribute to their country’s overall development.”  The Community Service as Pathway to Work (CSPW) initiative aims to contribute to this vision by engaging young people (18 to 34 years) in a structured program of community service, training and by providing linkages to a comprehensive local network of public, private, and civic sector agencies that provide work-related placements and resources. The project will make every opportunity available to engage differently-abled youth as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) which are directly impacted by the conflict and other vulnerable groups in the community. Multiple positions are announced below for hiring program team at Dessie and Sodo clusters who will be working at YNSD for the program implemented in the two clusters 

Job Summary

Youth Network for Sustainable Development/YNSD/ is looking for a Youth and community mobilization officer for all youth-related activities of the MasterCard foundation’s community service as a pathway to work/CSPW/ program. CSPW program aims to provide community service opportunities and job preparedness skills for young people focusing on women, vulnerable and those from conflict affected areas while significantly contributing to the overall health and well-being of the communities. The project will be active in 150 woredas (districts) and city administrations across 5 regions, 29 (19%) of which will be in post-conflict areas, coordinated through cluster offices.

The jobholder works closely with cluster Program Managers, local youth led and youth focused organizations and associations, YNSD technical Heads, and other key stakeholders to ensure the attainment of youth program goals and objectives.  This role has a focus on ensuring that the project activities are well coordinated, that team outputs are of a high standard and meet the demands of internal and external stakeholders, and are used to improve young people mainly women’s, vulnerable and those from conflict affected areas empowerment at large. S/he will assist the program area offices in the design, roll-out, and day-to-day management and implementation of youth and community mobilization and engagement activities.S/he will be responsible for the overall technical quality of the program, ensure the use of best practices in community service and youth mobilization, and oversee field-based staff to ensure effective implementation of the program and contribute to development and sharing of performance reports. S/he will work with the M&E unit to identify key barriers for youth and community mobilization across the sectors and collaboratively design strategies with youth and other stakeholders to help them overcome these barriers.

Under the supervision of the youth and community mobilization advisor, this position will work with (external stakeholders)

S/he will ensure interventions are inclusivity sensitive, align with positive youth development, and emphasize participatory and youth-led approaches and instate quality assurance and user feedback mechanisms for continuous learning and adapting of CSPW program.

Duties And Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership, guidance and strategic direction, and ensure appropriate support for the implementation of program activities to increase youth uptake of community service and job preparedness interventions.
• Conduct stakeholder mapping on organizations working in the program implementation area related to community services.
• Lead the identification of needs and barriers for the youth community services in each intervention cities and design a strategy.
• Work closely with partners to increase awareness of, demand for, and access to youth community services;
• Identify appropriate strategies to address demand generation and community mobilization bottlenecks that act as an obstacle to effective community service.
• Ensure the needs of young people identified and met accordingly through appropriate program channels.
• Facilitate the identification needs; develop tools, guides and approaches, and capacity strengthening plans to enhance the capacity of both program staff, youth and youth serving organizations, and government stakeholders on institutionalizing youth community service and to facilitate knowledge transfer.
• Document and maintain an inventory of successful tools and approaches for demand generation and community mobilization/engagements.
• Work with the program Team to design, implement a plan to track data/results related to community service and community mobilization/engagement.
• Ensure that the IEC/BCC material developed considering young people’s social, economic and emotional skills, enabling them to make positive choices, manage change and navigate risk.
• Ensure effective partnership with all Stakeholders and proactively engage in organizing forums with partners to ensure ownership of other organization.
• Facilitate trainings, review and experiences sharing meetings to facilitate youth program implementation and improve performance.
• Review existing learning and best practices and articulate key barriers for youth access to community service and employment opportunities. Share evidences and best practices, what works well about youth empowerment for other program team.
• Identify model youth community service locations, organize experience sharing and facilitate learning;
• In collaboration with program team, contribute to the development of work-plans and annual implementation plans that are consistent with the activity goals and objectives;
• Organizes and reports feedback relating to the youth perception of the community service, youth unemployment and other services provided by the program to inform the management decision-making process.
• Provide timely response, feedback and support to senior program personnel’s and focal persons on technical and management matters relevant to program implementations ensuring they are advised of all developments and problems.
• Working closely with MEL, contribute for tracking and documentation of achievements and challenges including key learnings and best practices. Ensure compliance with M&E and donor requirements.
• Contribute to the development and timely submission of written reports, including partner reports and oral presentations on the project. Prepare periodic update reports on project successes, challenges facing the project, and progress toward meeting deliverables.
• Perform Other similar duties as assigned by immediate supervisor

Reports To:  Cluster manager

Number of Positions:  2 (one for Dessie and one for Sodo)

Location:  For Dessie and Sodo Cluster

Qualification requirements

• MPH/MBA/MSc or BSc/BA in public health, education, international development, social work, Development studies or other related field from a recognized university

Experience

• Three years for MPH/MBA/MSC and/orfive years for BSc/BA
• Experience in the delivery of youth-related programs and/or youth program development or any equivalent combination of experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is preferable.
• Substantial youth and community work experience;
• Skill in demand generation and community mobilization/engagement, strengthening service  delivery projects, training, performance and quality improvement, monitoring, and evaluation;
• Experience of donor-funded projects;
• Experience in capacity-building activities, preferably across a diverse group of individuals;
• Skills and attitude
• Committed to the protection of team members and clients, with a focus on vulnerable groups.
• Able to role-model inclusive and culturally sensitive attitudes and behaviors
• Strong commitment to young people and an understanding of the factors affecting their lives;
• The ability to provide reliable support to young people in times of need and act with integrity;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to establish good relationships with young people;
• Patience, tolerance, and flexibility;
• Formal communication skills for presentations and report writing
• Strong oral and written communication and presentations skills in Amharic, English, and the  local languages of the program implementation area ;
• Ability to treat young people’s concerns with respect, tact, and sensitivity,
• Excellent computer skills using MS Office 365 Suite of products including Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint;
• A great deal of resilience.
• Results orientated;
• Motivated to develop professionally;
• Willingness and ability to travel (30% to 40% of the time) to program implementation sites;
• Fully committed to YNSD’s goal and mission;
• Committed to excellence.