Technical Advisor II, Youth Livelihoods

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Background

As part of its agency strategy Vision 2030, CRS has made youth one of its five priority goals to ensure that young people, ages 15 to 29, have access to the needed support and services to build their skills and secure sustainable livelihoods. CRS’ focus on youth requires us to expand our youth livelihoods programming and invest in initiatives that focus on scale, thereby providing young people with sustainable livelihoods and addressing the barriers they face. It further compels us to apply a systems lens, which requires understanding the ecosystem and working in close collaboration with the actors, including young people, who are part of these systems. By taking this approach, our efforts will ultimately contribute to changing practices and policies that affect young people, and in particular Opportunity Youth – young people who are out of school, unemployed, or working in informal jobs and who come from socio-economically marginalized backgrounds – and permanently change the systems that serve them.

Job Summary

The Technical Adviser II for Youth Livelihoods will provide technical advice, guidance, and support on a wide range of program design and implementation issues with a focus on larger projects in the area of youth livelihoods in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices. S/he will engage with CRS’ regional and Country Program (CP) staff to advance the delivery of high-quality livelihood programming targeting young people, in particular those from lower socio-economic levels. The Technical Adviser II for Youth Livelihoods’ technical knowledge, advice and guidance will contribute to the effectiveness, adaptiveness and innovation of CRS’ youth livelihoods programming across the globe.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in youth livelihoods programming, including related to scale, that effectively engage partners, donors and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
• Provide technical solutions to regional and CP teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply program design and implementation standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and M&E, thereby ensuring high-quality implementation.
• Contribute to regional and CP efforts to pre-position CRS for growth opportunities in youth livelihoods programming, including related to scale. Lead or contribute to the development of the technical design for large and/or complex proposals, which includes scale projects, including defining appropriate monitoring systems and indicators. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.
• Contribute to capacity strengthening initiatives in youth livelihoods programming for staff and partner by supporting the development of learning and training strategies, agendas/curricula, guides and tools; conducting trainings and workshops; and mentoring and coaching CP staff. This may include effectively managing consultants contracted to support capacity strengthening efforts.
• Contribute to knowledge management and learning through collecting and analyzing program data, evaluating strategic projects, assisting with measuring program impact, capturing and sharing lessons learned and best practices, and research and internal reports.
• Contribute to internal and external communications efforts through writing and/or editing communication resources, such as case studies, brochures, briefs and peer-reviewed articles or reports. Support the implementation of the Youth Communications strategy.
• Establish and maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions. Participate in forums in the area of youth livelihoods to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in International Development or related social science required.
• Minimum of five years relevant international working experience in an advisory or management role with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of three years working for programming interventions in youth livelihoods in multiple regions as a technical advisor and/or program manager of a youth livelihoods project and/or scale initiative with a livelihood component.
• Previous experience providing technical assistance and developing successful proposals for external donor funding is required.
• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts of positive youth development, systems thinking and youth livelihoods, including youth workforce development and youth entrepreneurship. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience in business development, project design and proposal development in youth livelihoods programming, including technical writing.
• Experience managing processes to collaboratively produce deliverables under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality.
• Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training, applying adult learning principles and practices.
• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Required Languages: French required; Spanish and/or Arabic desired.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 25% of time.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings.
• Knowledge of systems change and scaling approaches a plus.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgments and offer innovative solutions; strong strategic thinking capacity.
• Exceptional writing skills with expert command of English grammar; familiarity with AP Stylebook and Chicago Manual of Style preferred.
• Strong presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, detail-oriented and results-oriented.
• Flexibility and adaptability.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Key Working Relationships:

Internal:

Members of the PIQA Youth/SCP6 Team; Deputy Regional Directors; Regional Technical Advisors; Country Representatives; Heads of Program and Operations; CP youth programming staff and business development teams; Chiefs of Party; Public donor liaisons and business development and foundations/corporation staff; General Knowledge and Information Management (GKIM) staff; Charitable Giving and Marketing and Communications (MarCom) staff; other Strategic Change Platforms staff, and; Microfinance, Private Sector Engagement/Impact Investing, ICT4D, Agriculture and Livelihoods, and Orphans and Vulnerable Children teams.

External:

Partner staff, volunteers, and program participants; staff of peer youth-focused organizations, PVOs and INGOs; youth networks, including Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN); InterAction; USG, foundations, and multilateral donors.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.