Youth Empowerment Specialist

Background

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UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

In South Sudan, youth are most prone to abuse within the political landscape where the practice of recruiting young people to join armed gangs that terrorize the population and engage in criminal activities is common. Criminal activities where the presence of the youth is often required include cattle rustling, armed robbery and other acts in conflict with the law. It is common knowledge that some of the youth gangsters get corrupted and coerced to ‘normalize the abnormal’ by unscrupulous political elements as part of an ‘acceptable’ way of life in South Sudan.

The 2020 Labour Market Study in South Sudan documented that the major impediments to the development of the youth and in the face of youth engagement in the labour market are the barriers to education and skills building, lack of adequate policy, legal and regulatory framework for youth employment, and insufficient labour demand. More often than not, when policies and regulatory frameworks are drafted, they also take an abnormally long period to finalize.

On the supply side, skills mismatch has been cited as the main cause of unemployability, highlighting the need to match delivery of skills through training to the demands of the labour market. The slow pace drive in efforts targeted at youth development and empowerment is exacerbated by negative cultural practices that reinforce exclusion and access to opportunities, knowledge, education, skills development, and economic activities. These need to be uprooted through a multi-pronged strategy involving civic education campaigns and other national platforms targeted at changing societal habits and behavior.

It has been shown in South Sudan and in other post-conflict countries that destitution, lack of skills and economic opportunities among youth are major triggers of conflict, as they make youth easy targets for recruitment by armed groups and gangs. Efforts at capacity building, skilling and empowering youths are foundational to sustain peace, stability and sustainable development.

The Stabilization, Recovery, and Resilience (StaRR) Unit is the unit in the UNDP CO responsible for the provision of technical assistance, programmatic guidance, development management support, and thought leadership to facilitate the transition from humanitarian and crises to recovery, resilience and development. The StaRR Unit adopts a portfolio approach in programming, establishing the complementarity and development of programmes and projects to enhance the achievement of relevant Country Programme Document (CPD) targets and focusing it on three major areas/portfolios, namely, Youth and Women Employment and Empowerment; Environment, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management; and Trade Promotion.

One of the strategic priority interventions in the UNDP Country Programme Document {2022-2024) is the National Youth Service (NYS) project. The NYS Project intends to (a) Inculcate a disciplined work ethic among the youth of South Sudan and a sense of patriotic loyal service; (b) Develop a collective sense of common identity, cultural diversity, and support to mobilization towards these objectives through shared experiences and relevant training; and (c) Develop skills and talent, provide young people with a valuable work experience and the opportunity to cultivate hard and soft skills that enhance their employability and capacity to create self-employment.

In view of the above, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) South Sudan is seeking to engage a Youth Empowerment Specialist to be based in the UNDP Country Office in Juba, South Sudan to coordinate and support the implementation of the National Youth Service Project, the Framework for the National Youth Empowerment Initiative, and operationalization of the Youth Connect Chapter for South Sudan. Under the direct supervision of the Chief Programme Advisor and matrix reporting arrangement to the Team Leader, STARR unit, the Programme Coordinator will work in close collaboration with the various programmes and projects in the STARR unit, country office programme colleagues and partners.

Scope of Work

The Youth Empowerment Specialist will be responsible for the day-to-day coordination, data collection, and analysis of the disaster risk management and the national coordination and operations centre. He/she is expected to support the RRC in the implementation of the durable solutions and DRM activities, in accordance with prescribed rules and procedures and has the responsibility for the coordination of the project components and activities, ensuring the synergies between the respective activities. The Durable Solutions and DRM Specialist`s primary responsibility is to ensure that the durable solutions and the national coordination and operations centre is fully operational, to the required standard of quality and within the specified constraints of time and cost, participates in the implementation of additional durable solutions activities when requested, as well as provide other assistance to national partners as requested.

Duties And Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Project Management and Delivery
• Technical Assistance
• Partnerships and Communication
• Monitoring and reporting
• Project Development and Resource Mobilization
• Project Management and Delivery
• Lead the coordination of programme/project activities in close collaboration with other programme and projects teams in the StaRR unit;
• Lead the preparation of annual workplans, establish priorities, timelines, targets and standards for monitoring results;
• Coordinate the implementation of project activities, on both organizational and substantive matters– ensuring that budgeting, planning, and general monitoring of the projects are done per the Project and Annual work plan;
• Initiate and follow up the procurement processes under the UNDP procedures and assure timely involvement of experts, organization of training, etc;
• Prepare draft briefs, talking points, and relevant materials. Coordinate various components of the programme/projects providing overall guidance and innovative solutions, constantly seeking to improve service lifecycle;
• Work in close collaboration with other teams in the office, as well as, other UN agencies, Government officials, multilateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society in ensuring successful programme implementation;
• Provide advice relating to the strategic direction of project implementation and design of project activities;
• Manage and monitor the utilization of resources, in consultation with the Team Leader and the Chief Programme Advisor, for achieving results in line with project outputs;
• Follow project budgets to ensure appropriate spending in accordance with donor requirements and agency policies. Keep track of spending and ensure all financial supporting documents are in place for the milestones;
• Assist with implementation of audit requirements.
• Technical Assistance
• Provide intellectual and substantive technical support to Ministries and implementing partners to ensure that progress is made towards the achievement of project objectives and on the advancement of youth empowerment in the country;
• Provide quality policy advice services to the Government and partners and facilitate knowledge building and management;
• Analyze the socio-economic and political situation, and trends in the country and its impact on the project and on resilience building, youth and women empowerment, security, etc.
• Partnerships and Communication
• Engage with relevant international partners with mandates on youth empowerment with the objective of addressing the youth bulge;
• Assist in fostering an environment to enhance partnerships to ensure activities are designed to strengthen the engagement of the youth;
• Provide support to strengthen, conceptualize and integrate youth empowerment into the work of UNDP and other relevant stakeholders;
• Ensure inclusive engagement of stakeholders, including returnees, IDPs, host communities, etc;
• Support Communication staff in developing a communication plan to support the durable solutions strategy, including roll out in the media;
• Support the development and implementation of communication strategies;
• Support the development of case stories on durable solutions and DRM.
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Prepare and conduct regular monitoring of programme implementation;
• Ensure the timely preparation and submission of regular progress and financial reports for submission to CO management, AfDB and stakeholders;
• Support and/or conduct studies and researches and channel lessons learned and good practices in programme implementation strategies and activities;
• Regularly report on progress, best practices, lessons learned, success stories, beneficiaries’