Youth Advisor with ActionAid in Zambia

ActionAid Zambia (AAZ) seeks an experienced Youth Advisor, who is able to provide efficient capacity development to both national staff at the ActionAid office and its partner organisations.
AAZ places mobilisation and capacity development of youth at its centre and supports youth platforms to enable young people to influence their own development through strengthening their advocacy, campaigns and leadership skills. Work on youth cuts across all AAZ’s program areas: education, governance, women’s rights and agriculture

AAZ is championing the establishment of the Global Platform Zambia (GPZ) for Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique with support from ActionAid Denmark (AADK) to create space for innovation and alternative thinking. The GPZ will also function as a facilitator for social and political empowerment by inspiring youth to address the rising inequality between rich and poor, urban and rural, men and women in our countries. It will guide and unite our work with youth locally, nationally and at regional level. The Youth Advisor shall support the GPZ, together with the AA office, Activista and other partners to create a synergy in youth programming.
The advisor shall also work with Activista Zambia. Activista is ActionAid International’s global youth network involving more than 250 ActionAid partners and thousands of volunteers in more than 25 countries of which Zambia is a part.
The Advisor will support, connect and develop the capacity of youth and youth organizations working with AAZ. One of the projects to be supported is the Queen Young Leaders Program Firestarter initiative which is supporting organisations in Zambia through a reactive and open small grants scheme. The scheme targets youth organisations and initiatives aimed at enabling youth to mobilise, participate, engage and be represented in decision making processes at local and national levels and become change agents in their communities. The project will also develop the programmatic and institutional capacity of youth-driven organisations through a holistic approach to strengthen their sustainability and impact.
Key result areas
The capacity focus of this placement is aimed at supporting capacity building of the Youth team in AAZ as well as Activista, the Global Platforms and the Firestarter Initiative. The Advisor’s support will help to ensure that:

1. The youth sector in Zambia is better coordinated, shares good practices and promotes peer to peer learning.
2. Youth-led organisations in Zambia have strengthened organisational and programmatic capacity.
3. Young people are actively engaged, represented and empowered to participate in decision making roles particularly in development structures that affect their lives.
4. Young people’s concerns are increasingly being recognized and acted upon by decision makers.
5. International – Build capacity of youth focal people/Activista Coordinators in the region (SA, Moz, Zim, Zambia and Malawi) to develop their Activista networks.
6. AAZ can successfully apply for large youth grants at a local and international level.
7. Contribute to the international youth work through development of youth led research into youth inequality linked to unemployment and feminist leadership to support international campaigning and AA new strategy development process.

Required qualifications

• 5 years of post-graduate work experience working with youth.
• Respect for the diversity of youth – youth is heterogeneous with introvert and extrovert characteristics.
• Be able to enhance on youth movements at district, national, regional and international levels on issues that affect them and ensure their sustainability.
• Be knowledgeable of the Human Rights Based Approach to Programming.
• A Master’s Degree or similar in any social sciences, development studies or similar qualification
• Experience of working with youth programmes (ideally in at least one of the areas of youth in design, in implementation and/or in M&E).
• Be excellent at campaigns and advocacy with proven experience of managing and implementing successful campaigns with youth and other special interest groups.
• Profound research, advocacy & lobby skills with knowledge on the use of ICTS, Social media for mobilization and advocacy.
• A person closer to the youth demographic is preferred.

Application procedure and deadline
Forward a letter of motivation and an updated CV (totalling no more than 4 pages) by email to advisor1@ms.dk with a subject line *Ref: Zambia Youth Advisor. The application package should not exceed 2 MBs.
Deadline for application submission is: 21^st August, 2016
Contract start is subject to approval of work and residence permit, which can be a lengthy process. Therefore, the expected start date is 1^st November or 1^st December 2016. The assignment is for 24 months, with the possibility for renewal.
Estimated recruitment process

• 25^th August: Shortlisted candidates are contacted
• 29^th August to 2^nd September: Skype interviews with shortlisted candidates
• 15^th to 16^th September: Second round Skype interviews with two final candidates

Due to the large number of applications received for these positions, it is not possible to provide feedback for all applications. Therefore, only shortlisted candidates will be notified at each stage of the recruitment process. If you have not received any reply to your application by 25^th August, then should consider yourself unsuccessful for this position.
More information
A comprehensive job description is available for download at: www.actionaid.org The job description includes thorough information about the job content, basic salary, and background for the placement. All interested candidates are strongly recommended to go through the detailed job description before applying. For more information on the People4Change program, please visit the ActionAid Denmark website: www.ms.dk For information on ActionAid Zambia, please visit: www.actionaid.org/Zambia
The Youth Advisor is placed through ActionAid Denmark’s People4Change program; a people-to-people programme providing development support to ActionAid Country Programs and their partner organisations. As People4Change is a cross-national program, aiming at building tolerance, respect and expertise across cultures and borders, this position is not available for permanent residents of Zambia. If you are a permanent resident of Zambia and find this job interesting, please note that similar Advisor placements in other countries are regularly advertised at: www.actionaid.org

For practical questions related the advertised position, please contact: Hellen Mwale, ActionAid Zambia: Hellen.Mwale@actionaid.org 

 How to apply:
Application procedure and deadline
Forward a letter of motivation and an updated CV (totalling no more than 4 pages) by email to advisor1@ms.dk with a subject line *Ref: Zambia Youth Advisor. The application package should not exceed 2 MBs