Youth Engagement Officer and Advocacy Coordinator at Plan International

Role Purpose

• The purpose of this role is to strengthen youth as actors of governance and development as well as fostering youth inclusion and empowerment in Mafa LGA, Borno State.

Dimensions of the Role:

• Communicates within Plan International Nigeria, partners, youth platforms and related government institutions.
• The post holder will initiate and coordinate the potential role youth can play in the conflict affected region of the Lake Chad Basin.
• The coordinator will focus on the adopted rights - based approach by emphasizing the interplay between youth and the communities they live in as rights holders and government institutions as duty bearers.
• He / she is responsible for assessment, response analysis, design, capacity building. The post holder will also contribute towards the capacity building of Plan Internationals implementing partners.

Accountabilities
In collaboration with the Livelihood Specialist, Policy and Influencing Manager and the Field Team:

• Coordinate the implementation of EU Youth project.
• Initiate and implement work of rebuilding social structures in communities that have been disrupted by humanitarian crisis
• Implement peacebuilding initiatives and social cohesion among the youth in a meaningful way
• Capitalize on the foundation of the existing youth coalition forum: to strengthen the organization(s), representation, decision making power, evidence based advocacy, peacebuilding, conflict resolution and community led development initiatives
• Coordinate capacity building of relevant youth platforms and implementing partners, including relevant state officials in rights-based approach.
• Ensure the voices of the vulnerable youth especially girls, IDPs, minorities and the physically challenge are represented and amplified
•  Support youth to speak at and engage with high level political events and as they advise on the direction and content of Youth Engagement and development events and activities
• Engage the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and National Youth Council to drive the youth empowerment agenda forward
• Manage the youth-led creation of digital resources and ability to contract professional digital media companies to support creation of resources
• Manage the monitoring of workshops, training, volunteering and Young Leaders progression
• Bring new ideas and approaches to our Youth Engagement work
• Identify relevant national youth platforms and youth organising opportunities and support youth in the project locations to link up with same
• Work closely with the external evaluators of the programme
• Report monitoring and findings to all relevant stakeholders on a regular basis
• Communicate risks, issues and concerns relating to the programme’s activities and finances immediately to the line manager
• Ensure key data from assessments could be used as a baseline for program evaluation.  If additional baseline data is required to evaluate children’s learning outcomes, then work with appropriate colleagues to collect this additional information.
• Ensure that issues of gender, protection, DRR, and conflict sensitivity are factored into the program design.
• Provide regular updates to Livelihood Specialist and the Policy and Influencing Manager, humanitarian unit and the rest of the CO on progress, priorities and constraints - verbally and in writing on an agreed frequency.
• Represent Plan International to clusters, governmental and non-governmental groups as needed and agreed with the Team Leader.
• Support the implementation of, and represent Plan International in any relevant cluster.
• Brief updates and reports on sectoral activities/strategies to donors and other stakeholders.
• Perform any other project related duties as specified by the Livelihood Specialist

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge
Essential:

• University degree or equivalent in Political Science, Business Management, Sociology, Psychology, or related fields with MA / MSc in relevant fields or development studies are added advantage
• Minimum of 4 years relevant working experience youth engagement/Livelihood
• Experience working in emergency settings
• Good knowledge and understanding of DO NO HARM principles and established international child protection standards (especially UNCRC)
• Experience with participatory approaches to education, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, or other related areas.
• Experience working with IDPs, refugees and other vulnerable populations (ideal)
• Experience in Youth Engagement programme
• Previous experience directly providing services to children at risk and victims of abuse, exploitation and violence

Skills & Knowledge:

• Creates a strong sense of purpose and commitment within own part of operations and with stakeholders
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity
• Provides good and adequate administrative and logistical support to enable programmes to meet meets it’s agreed financial and program outcomes.
• Actively seeks for support in addressing difficulties in execution of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and Organizational development.
• Sound judgement and decision-making in complex situations
• Strong emotional intelligence including self-awareness.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others