Principal Youth Employment Officer at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/178
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50091919

The Complex

• The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The complex objectives are:
  • To develop, policy and strategy
  • Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions
  • Develop new financing instruments
  • The VP will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department

• The Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department leads the Bank’s support to Africa’s economic transformation by:
  • Developing and promoting the adoption of relevant policies and strategies
  • Providing deep multi-sector expertise to the regional hubs by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide technical advice on complex transactions (Communities of Practice)
  • Developing new financing instruments
  • Fostering strategic partnerships to leverage resources into the human and social development sector.
• The Jobs for Youth in Africa team spearheads the Bank wide Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy implementation coordination. It works in close collaboration with the two divisions of the Department i.e.  the Education, Human Capital and Employment Division  and the Public Health, Security and Nutrition Division  as well as other relevant Bank departments.

The Position

• The Principal Youth Employment Officer will be part of the team responsible for the day to day management of the implementation of the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy.
• She/he will focus on the following:
  • Ecosystem for youth employment: foster coalitions at country and regional level to encourage an ecosystem approach to advance the youth employment agenda, coordinating closely internally with the regional hubs, across sector and externally linking with relevant actors from different spheres including governments, corporate actors, international organizations and civil society to generate and share learning about what works, and to leverage this shared understanding through increased investments in proven solutions for Africa. 
  • Knowledge and Research: advancing economic and sector work on education and labour market policies and employment interactions analysis in African countries drawing from their successes, failures and points of difference, lessons and best practices to promote knowledge, engage stakeholder debates and to underpin dialogue with countries.
  • Informality, Gender and Fragility: promoting special emphasis and building knowledge/evidence based action toward positive youth development in post conflict states, increasing access for poor and vulnerable youth in workforce development.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the general supervision of the Coordinator Jobs for Youth in Africa and in close collaboration with the Director Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development,  the Principal Youth Employment Officer shall carry out the following duties and responsibilities:

• Inform and design the “Jobs for Youth in Africa “flagship program taking into consideration youth migration and refugees issues for jobs creation.
• Advise the “Jobs for Youth in Africa “ Coordinator and the jobs task team in the formulation, implementation and review of existing employment and labor market policies, operations, and information systems.
• Monitor and evaluate overall employment related developments in Africa, with particular focus on employment policies, labor market information and analysis, employment-intensive growth, job creation, youth employment and employment in the informal economy, as well as labour migration.
• Support the design, preparation, implementation and evaluation of the Bank’s projects with a youth employment component.
• Carry out analyses of the links between unemployment and youth migration issues, and propose operations to tackle the roots of the migration crisis.
• Carry out analyses and evaluations of employment problems in specific segments and activities of the labour market, in rural and urban areas and advise on the design, monitoring and evaluation of sectoral policies and operations.
• Conceptualize, plan, coordinate and conduct research on youth employment, youth entrepreneurship and migration issues. Contribute in multi-disciplinary team work investigations.
• Carry out other technical tasks and coordination as required by the “Jobs for Youth in Africa “Coordinator or the Director of the Department.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience

• Hold at least a Master's degree or its equivalent in Economics, Business Administration, Finance, Social Sciences, or related field. A specialization in labour economics or labour market issues is a plus.
• Have a minimum of six (6) years relevant experience in jobs for youth, migration and entrepreneurship, preferably in an international organization, government agency, think tank or other policy environment.
• Strong knowledge of the issues around youth unemployment and related migration crisis in Africa, jobs creation, labour market policies, policy reforms and economic policy issues, private sector related constraints in job creation with at least seven years focusing on Africa.
• Demonstrated experience in dealing with gender and civil society priorities in jobs creation agenda
• Ability to design and synthesize strategies for program development; evaluate and monitor technical cooperation activities and projects.
• Proven experience in managing projects and demonstrated experience in managing complex projects with evidence on clear outcomes.
• Ability to build partnerships with a broad range of clients and deliver results that meet the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the Bank
• Ability to manage multiple, simultaneous and shifting demands/ priorities under tight deadlines and coordinate the work of others
• Demonstrated leadership effectiveness and supervisory ability to achieve defined objectives in international multicultural contexts 
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint); knowledge of SAP is desirable.