Project Officer, Youth Engagement

About the Role

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Project Officer, Youth Engagement to support the operations of the Youth Engagement Projects in our Pakistan office. This role will be based in Islamabad, Pakistan and is offered on a 2 years’ fixed term contract subject to the availability of funding.

The Youth Engagement Project will systemically engage young people in national food policy, through targeted national influencing campaigns and developing young people’s capacity to participate in policy spaces. Linking local and global efforts, globally we will continue to support the Act4Food movement to stimulate a movement of young people interested in food and engaged in reimagining food systems.

Reporting to the Head of Policy & Advocacy, the Project Officer will work closely with the Pakistan Head of Policy and Advocacy and Global Theme Lead to implement and monitor the Youth Voices project in Pakistan and ensuring project activities are implemented within approved plans, budget, and quality standards.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Providing strategic support to country team in the design, planning and implementation of the new NFP youth project as per the GAIN Project Management Guidelines (PMG). Collaborating with the GAIN colleagues, consultants and partners on the design and planning of project scope, activities, work plans, Theories of Change and results framework
• Enabling adaptation and roll out of the Youth Leadership in Food Systems Programme in Pakistan
• Driving internal and external awareness of GAIN’s food systems for youth work (including dissemination of project activities and findings, communications assets, working papers and other publications on GAIN’s work) as required, represent GAIN at government and donor meetings, technical groups and seminars / conferences
• Maintaining strong partnerships with the Government of Pakistan, civil society, INGOs, government entities, private sector and other organizations and support efforts to establish a youth nutrition network.
• Conducting regular field monitoring visits of the activities conducted under the project by partners. Following up with partners to ensure timely submission of reports and prepare timely monitoring reports with findings and recommendations
• Sourcing, collating and compiling data and information to identify emerging issues, track and report on project progress against established milestones and deliverables
• Preparing and maintaining project documentation and PRISM for reporting, monitoring and evaluation purposes to ensure accessibility of quality information and contribute to the achievement of project outcomes
• Overseeing all administrative aspects of the procurement process including budgeting, procurement supporting with the drafting of agreements and contracts and logistical arrangements within ethical and procurement standards and guidelines

About You

The ideal candidate will have demonstrable experience in youth programming in Pakistan providing coordination support, policy engagement or project management. You will have good understanding of nutrition and food systems concepts in programmes and policy as well as current food systems trends and youth priorities.

You will have confidence in managing the implementation of programme activities, including working directly with low-income youth and familiar with meaningful youth engagement, human-centered design and social and behaviour change communications approaches.

The postholder will also have experience working with officials from the Government of Pakistan, civil society organisations including youth organisations and school networks and with demonstrated success in working in multi-sectoral programmes and multi-cultural settings.

You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and willing to work in multicultural and cross-functional environments. In addition to this, you will be fluent in written and spoken English and Urdu, candidates with working knowledge of other languages would be an asset. You should be highly flexible and be able and willing to travel internationally regularly.

A Bachelors’ degree in Youth Studies, Community Development, Economics, Nutrition, Sociology, Development or related field. You will be computer literate in Microsoft office and possess proven experience in managing and delivering projects on time / on budget, using project management. processes and tools including risk management, benefits management, financial management and quality assurance project management.

About our Offer

The starting salary on offer for this role is from PKR 1,732,836 – PKR 1,986,420 per annum (gross salary), depending on experience.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance.

We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Our Working Culture and Environment

We provide a flexible working environment that includes a combination of home and office working opportunities through our global hybrid working policy. This encourages our staff to have a healthy work-life balance and increases staff motivation, enriches employee wellbeing, and improves performance and productivity.

All of our positions are based in one or more of GAIN’s designated offices as stated on our job advertisements. Successful candidates will be based in one of GAIN’s country offices and must have the existing right to live and work within a reasonably commutable distance of the relevant city / cities in which the role is advertised. Please note, that GAIN does not sponsor working visas and relocations.

GAIN reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment for candidates who are considered to ineligible under the above conditions during or after the recruitment process.

Applicants must be currently based and have the existing right to live and work in the Islamabad, Pakistan region to be eligible to apply for this position.

This advert closes on 5th March 2024. Early applications are encouraged. GAIN reserves the right to close this advert early should we receive suitable candidates ahead of the closing date.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is committed to equality of opportunity and creating an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. We are keen to reflect the diversity of our society at every level within our organisation and therefore welcome applications from talented and committed people from all backgrounds, representing the diverse societies we operate in.