Youth Engagement Advisor – Jinja – Restless Development

About US:
Restless Development is an international non-profit organization which is embarking on becoming the global banner carrier for youth-led development; demonstrating at the grassroots and policy levels that young people can and must play a lead role in development. Over the past five years, Restless Development has more than tripled the size of its budgets and programmes, and has been repeatedly cited as a model of best practice in youth-led development by the World Bank, DFID, UNICEF and others.

About DYNAMIC Programme:
Working in consortia with GOAL, Mercy Corps, VSO, the MasterCard Foundation Driving Youth-led New Agribusiness and Microenterprise (DYNAMIC) programme will strengthen systems and facilitate the creation of sustainable economic opportunities for disadvantaged Ugandan youth. DYNAMIC’s overall goal is to increase the number of young people who are in secure employment or self employment and to promote effective and efficient agricultural market systems for youth. Through a market-driven and holistic approach, DYNAMIC will engage an array of public and private sector actors to increase access to goods, services, markets, information and productive and social assets to increase productivity of Ugandan agribusinesses and non-farm enterprises. DYNAMIC will reach 125,000 out-of-school youth aged 15 – 24 living in peri-urban and rural areas within eight districts of northern Uganda over five years. Through an innovative, market facilitation approach, DYNAMIC will promote long-term efficiency in existing agricultural systems. Youth already engaged in on-farm activities will move from subsistence to more productive and profitable farming. DYNAMIC will increase the employability of Ugandan youth by facilitating access to demand driven technical skills, knowledge and market information that directly respond to business opportunities in the agricultural sector. In parallel, DYNAMIC will link agribusinesses and microenterprises to market opportunities and diverse stakeholders, and ensure they can utilize appropriate (formal and informal) financial services. DYNAMIC’s design recognizes that youth are a diverse age group requiring tailored interventions to fit their stage in life and transition into the workforce. In particular, DYNAMIC will ensure that participating youth, particularly young women, are engaging in appropriate, safe, and productive economic opportunities.

Job Summary: The Youth Engagement Advisor will ensure youth involvement in implementation and provide technical advice on youth engagement across all elements of the DYNAMIC program. S/he will undertake research and provide technical design and implementation strategies to link youth to informal and formal life skills training. The youth Advisor will work directly with the eight Youth Engagement Officers in each district to provide technical support to the two different peer education models. The Youth Engagement Advisor will also work directly with private sector businesses to facilitate youth entry into employment opportunities.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Programme Management:
· Ensure meaningful youth involvement and provide technical advice on youth engagement across the DYNAMIC programme
· Ensure peer educators are properly recruited, training and supported to work with and mentor other youth across the Programme
· Carry out youth-led market research to inform program design, implementation and advocacy.
· Work with other consortia members to identify the private sector actors and promote the benefits of engaging youth as clients, suppliers and employees, and effective methods of doing this.
· Ensure establishment of relationship and linkages of Peer educators to the private sector actors to identify and develop opportunities to engage youth effectively in their businesses.
· Identify opportunities for young people to access information and support linkages to government grants and programmes
· Support the DYNAMIC evaluation and learning component that will add to the body of knowledge on viable models to support access to secure employment and self-employment for youth in Uganda
· Ensure achievements and best practices in youth engagement are documented and shared for programme learning and improvement
· Ensure all the relevant activity funds are spent in accordance with donor guidelines.
2. Team management:
· Provide direct and ongoing supervision and managerial support to Youth Engagement Officers and peer educators.
· Build the capacity of the PMU and consortia partners staff’s in youth friendly market facilitative approach to agricultural system development with youth.
· Manage the recruitment and training of programme staff to ensure staff have the capacity to successfully implement activities. Ensure staff performance and disciplinary measures are managed in line with consortium policies and procedure.
3. Representation:
· Work closely with the Country Director to represent Restless Development and ensure a good relationship with other DYNAMIC consortia members
· Support compliance with current agreement with GOAL and the donor
· Ensure the representation of DYNAMIC and youth representatives at the National Youth Working Group
· Significantly contribute to the development of donor reports and PR materials to support the profile and visibility of the DYNAMIC programme
· Support the establishment and maintenance of relationships with target communities, and local government.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
· The applicant must hold a Master’s Degree in Development studies or other relevant field
· A minimum of five years’ experience designing and delivering youth engagement programmes in Agribusiness and Microenterprise
· Broad knowledge and understanding of contemporary development issues particularly those related to economic opportunities for youth
· Significant experience in providing technical assistance on youth engagement to government and nongovernment actors
· Sound knowledge of personal development issues related to youth
· Excellent organizational, written and verbal communication skills
· Prior experience working in a consortia type of programmes
· Significant experience with Monitoring and Evaluation systems and research, including participatory research approaches
· Strong computer literacy with full knowledge of office applications

How to Apply:
All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to send a completed application, form, download here and send it to: ugandajobs@restlessdevelopment.org, stating the vacancy job title Uganda – Youth Engagement Advisor.

Deadline: Monday 12th October 2015 by 5pm (East Africa Time)

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