Regional Youth Care and Empowerment Advisor International Office Region West & Central Africa (f/m) 312 views4 applications

SOS Children’s Villages International is the umbrella organisation for the global federation of SOS Children’s Villages. As a non-governmental social development organisation we support children without parental care and families in difficult living conditions through services in care, education, health and emergency relief, and we advocate for the rights of children and young people, in alliance with a great diversity of partners. We work in 135 countries and territories, reaching over one million children, young people, families and caregivers each year. To support us with this important responsibility we are now looking for a committed.

Regional Youth Care and Empowerment Advisor International Office Region West & Central Africa (f/m)

Location: Dakar – Senegal

Mission of the position

As a member of the Programme Development department, the Youth Care and Empowerment Advisor Provides technical leadership and advice for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth care and empowerment strategies, processes, projects and activities in WCAF region and Member Associations (Mas). He/She also provides support to MAs teams so that high-quality activities are implemented in a timely manner. He/She leads on developing proposals for youth care, empowerment and employability programming and projects. He/She ensures the coordination of all youth care and empowerment activities in WCAF region through proactive communication with MAs and organizing regular information exchange between MAs. And He/She actively contributes to federation-wide programme policy and standards development regarding youth care, empowerment and employability topics, ensuring regional contextual elements are integrated.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Ensure development of clear regional strategies on youth care, empowerment and employability
• Coordinate, support and ensure the consistency of MA strategic and annual planning on youth care, empowerment and employability
• Provides information, advice and expertise in the field of work, in line with the priorities identified
• Finds information on important activities and events of the civil society, international organizations, NGOs and suggest to the Regional PD Director and the appropriate participation.
• Liaises with partners, recommend, organize and prepare meetings with key potential partner organizations as agreed with the Regional PD Director
• Leads the development of tools, systems and structures to support on youth care, empowerment and employability work
• Interprets the organisation’s policy frameworks and actively participate in the development of the work on youth care, empowerment and employability
• Tracks and records the work within the MAs in this field of work, through reviewing progress reports & statistics, other monitoring & evaluation reports, and regular contact with relevant staff and country/programme visits
• Advises national focal persons on the development of required resources (tools, systems & structures), through relevant regional forums and processes
• Drives regional planning processes in this area of work, facilitates relevant sessions of regional forums. Ensure that appropriate targets, objectives and actions are set
• Gather relevant information, from inside and outside the organisation, to support the development of these areas of work. This includes information regarding OVCs, child rights-based approaches, youth participation and alternative care settings.

Requirements

• Master or Bachelor degree in Social Work, Human Rights, Child Protection or relevant field
• Extensive experience, progressively responsible, working in youth programming in development and humanitarian contexts, preferably in the Central and West Africa Region
• Extensive experience in relevant topics such as youth development, youth care, youth participation, youth employability, gender and, sexual & reproductive health and rights.
• Familiarity with key international standards for humanitarian work (e.g. Child Protection Minimum Standards, SPHERE, HAP Principles, etc.) and international documents related to children rights (e.g. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children).
• Competencies in monitoring and evaluation, results-based management, and gender.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English and French; language skills in Portuguese, or Spanish an advantage.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels, taking into account cultural and language difficulties.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in.
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Commitment to SOS Children’s Villages values, including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Protection policy.

We offer

• Diverse, creative and challenging opportunities in an international working environment
• Possibility to make significant contribution towards the development of Member Associations in the Region
• Competitive compensation package and excellent development opportunities In accordance with the organisation’s child protection policy, all employment is subject to applicable background checks, including criminal record checks

  What We Stand For:

  SOS Children’s Villages is committed to creating and maintaining a caring and protective environment, which promotes its core values, and prevents and addresses child abuse and exploitation. We strongly condemn all forms of child abuse and exploitation, be it within or outside of our organization, and always respond to any case of proven, alleged or attempted abuse within our sphere of influence according to its nature. Eff orts ensure that mechanisms are in place to raise awareness, aid prevention, encourage reporting and ease response. They range from human resource development actions such as training and counselling to measures such as suspension, dismissal, and legal action.