Location:

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Salary:

negotiable / YEAR
Job type:

VOLUNTEER
Posted:

2 months ago
Category:

Project Management, Youth and Adolescence
Deadline:

08/03/2024

JOB DESCRIPTION

assignment(s)

Open recruitment (advertised)

Advertisement end date:08/03/2024

General

Description of assignment title

Adolescent Engagement Officer

Assignment country

Guinea-Bissau

Expected start date

08/04/2024

Sustainable Development Goal

10. Reduced inequalities

Volunteer category

International UN Volunteer Specialist

Host entity

UNICEF Guinea-Bissau

Type

Onsite

Duration

12 months (with possibility of extension)

Number of assignments

Duty stations

Bissau

Details

Mission and objectives

Update UNICEF works in the world’s toughest places to reach the most disadvantaged children and adolescents – and to protect the rights of every child, everywhere. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we do whatever it takes to help children survive, thrive and fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines, we support child health and nutrition, safe water and sanitation, quality education and skill building, HIV prevention and treatment for mothers and babies, and the protection of children and adolescents from violence and exploitation. Before, during and after humanitarian emergencies, UNICEF is on the ground, bringing lifesaving help and hope to children and families. Non-political and impartial, we are never neutral when it comes to defending children’s rights and safeguarding their lives and futures. And we never give up.

Context

UNICEF defines adolescent and youth participation and engagement as: “The rights-based inclusion of adolescents and youth in areas that affect their lives and their communities, including dialogue, decisions, mechanisms, processes, events, campaigns, actions and programmes – across all stages, from identification, analysis and design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.” The fact that the children’s and adolescents’ rights are at the heart of UNICEF’s mandate, combined with this momentum around young people’s issues, has led to adolescent and youth engagement being central to UNICEF’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. The UNICEF Guinea-Bissau adolescent and youth development and participation strategy is fully aligned with both existing UNICEF guidance, such as the 2022-2025 Gender Action Plan (GAP), the Adolescent Girls Programme Strategy, and UNICEF Guidance on Consultation with Young People (2022), as well as current programming in the UNICEF Guinea-Bissau Country Office (GBCO). In the current 2022-2026 country programme cycle, UNICEF mainly works with youth in four areas: 1. Promoting adolescent girls’ health and nutrition, including the prevention, care, and treatment of HIV and AIDS, and access to quality menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) information and services. 2. Advancing adolescent girls’ right to quality education and to relevant learning and skills, including through skills building, to help adolescent girls transition to a world of safe, satisfying, and equitable work. 3. Protecting every adolescent girl from violence, exploitation, and abuse at school, in homes, and in their communities, and preventing harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage and early unions. 4. Promoting adolescent girls’ advocacy for the rights of children, including engagement and mobilization on issues that directly affect children and adolescents. In line with the UNICEF 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, which aims to realize the rights of all children, including adolescents (and especially the most excluded), UNICEF Guinea-Bissau is recruiting an International UNV to support the implementation of the office Adolescent and Youth Development and Participation Strategy for the 2024-2026 period. Effective adolescent and youth development and participation requires both working for and with adolescents and youth. Therefore, to help better coordinate and integrate activities with/for adolescents and youth in all programme interventions, the Adolescent and Youth Engagement Officer will work on implementing and monitoring effective and engaging initiatives regarding these two axes, under the leadership of the Chief Education who is the Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Focal Point, and in consultation with the Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Officer.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Chief Education acting as ADAP Focal Point and in close collaboration with the SBC Officer, the international UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1) Support to programme development and planning • Contribute to the implementation of the GBCO Adolescent and Youth Strategy, with a strong focus on adolescent girls and gender. This includes the support to establish cross-sectoral adolescent development and participation programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results-based planning through research and analysis to set clear goals and priorities for adolescents and young people. Provide technical support to the Access to Learning, Child Protection, Health, WASH, and Social Inclusion programmes to ensure that adolescent programming is internally aligned and adheres to UNICEF guidance and global best practices related to adolescent development and participation, and a “girl-intentional” approach is applied to GBCO’s work with adolescents and youth. • Provide technical assistance to the cross-sectoral support sections of Social Behaviour Change and Communications (SBCC), External Communications, and Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PME) to ensure that these functions systematically support adolescent development and participation. • Provide technical, logistical, and administrative support to the GBCO to engage adolescents and youth more effectively in UNICEF programming processes (e.g. workplan development, programme implementation, annual review, mid-term reviews, and contribution to country programme documents) • Prepare technical reports and inputs for programme preparation and documentation, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and relevancy of information. 2) Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results • Provide technical leadership to generate knowledge on the situation of adolescents, support sector-specific analysis of data on adolescents and improve utilization of sex and age disaggregated data within UNICEF monitoring and evaluation tools and among partners. • Facilitate and collate the achievement of results for adolescents across the country programme. • Identify and integrate opportunities and strategies and courses of action to enhance the delivery of services and achievement of objectives on adolescent development and participation within the country programme. • Establish regular internal and external coordination and communication mechanisms (such as monthly or quarterly meetings) to monitor the implementation of the GBCO Adolescents and Youth Strategy and discuss issues and bottlenecks related to adolescent development and participation. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference to capture and institutionalize lessons learned. • Plan, monitor and report on the use of adolescent development and participation programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocation/goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management/stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution. • Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with internal and external stakeholders to assess how programmes integrate adolescent development and participation and report on required action/interventions. • Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys and exchange information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support, take appropriate action to resolve issues and refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks, and potential problems for timely action to achieve results. 3) Advisory services and technical support • Participate in cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination on key programmatic results on adolescents and gender, ensuring coherence, maximization of synergies and efficiency in utilization of resources and delivery of results. • Participate in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based reports and inputs on adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting. • Provide technical advice to internal sectoral staff and external partners on approaches to enhance adolescents’ participation into the policy, programming and humanitarian interventions, applying a gender lens where appropriate. 4) Advocacy, networking, and partnership building • Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture and other government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build the capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on adolescent development and participation activities across programmes. • Establish and strengthen coordination, partnership-building, and proposal development on adolescent and youth development and participation issues with UN agencies in Guinea-Bissau, particularly UNFPA and UNDP, to create synergies and strengthen the alignment of policies and programmes. • Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances and support resource mobilization to ensure the adolescent development and participation programmes are adequately resourced and supported. • Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes. • Support the SBCC team to mobilize networks of adolescents and young people to advocate for their rights. 5) Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building • Explore digital and offline options and develop concept notes and proposals to increase adolescent and youth participation and engagement, including but not limited to the deployment of U-Report in Guinea-Bissau. • Promote, document, and disseminate critical thinking, innovative approaches and good practices on adolescent development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services. • Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce, and implement best and cutting-edge practices on adolescent development-related issues and gender equality. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale-up.

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 – 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

5 years of experience in Adolescent development and participation, community development, or other relevant experience working in sectors such as education, health and nutrition, child protection, and WASH programmes at national and/or international level; experience with monitoring and evaluation is an asset. – At least three years of professional work experience in the field mentioned above is required for a master’s degree holders in relevant areas. – Experience in supporting the development and implementation of youth engagement strategies, with specific, measurable and time-bound objectives and performance indicators. – Demonstrated experience in supporting and/or managing projects to completion, including developing and implementing clear processes. – Experience in working with civil society organizations or NGOs operating at the community level is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organizations. – Demonstrated experience in designing content for youth audiences and/or community moderation of youth-focused platforms. – Knowledge of child safeguarding and ethics of working with children and youth. – Good oral and written communication skills; good technical report writing skills. – Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development. – Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel. – Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment. – Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines. – Sound security awareness; – Have affinity with or interest in adolescent and youth development and participation, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.

Area(s) of expertise

Community development, Development programmes, Education

Driving license

–

Languages

Portuguese, Level: Fluent, Required English, Level: Fluent, Required French, Level: Fair, Desirable

Required education level

Bachelor degree or equivalent in Communications, Marketing, Journalism, International Relations, Public Relations, Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Education, or International Development.

Competencies and values

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organizing • Professionalism • Self-management • Teamwork based on the UNICEF values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

The position will be based in the capital, Bissau. Living conditions in Bissau are comfortable; however, residents must make concessions due to the tropical climate and under-developed infrastructure, including health facilities and schools. Bissau is a relatively safe place to live in, with violent crime incidents very rare. However, single females should exert vigilance if moving alone during the dark and it is best advised to move in groups. The biggest hazards relate to traffic accidents, hence utmost care should be exerted when in traffic, especially when riding a motorbike. There is fair a range of housing options in Bissau located within easy reach of the UNICEF office. Houses or apartments are usually of normal standards. All basic commodities can be bought in Bissau and its immediate vicinity. The UNV Office in Bissau will assist the UNV in finding adequate accommodation. House shares with 2-3 people are most common but single apartments are also available.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Reasonable accommodation

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.

This job has expired.