ActionAid Zambia (AAZ) is part of the ActionAid Global (AAG) Federation, sharing common values and aims to drive social change towards a just, equitable and sustainable world. AAZ works with marginalized and excluded women and young people, their organizations and movements to address the structural causes of social injustice, gender inequality and poverty.

ActionAid Zambia has a vacancy for an experienced and suitably qualified person to fill the position of YOUTH ADVISOR Lusaka.

JOB PURPOSE

The job holder will be an integral part of the Youth Team within AAZ and will be based at the Global Platform Zambia. Global Platform Zambia is part of the global network of youth training hubs for empowerment and activism. The AAZ Global platform is a regional hub for Southern Africa; reaching out to youth from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, with its base in Lusaka, Zambia. Its aim is to facilitate capacity development of young women and men on issues concerning them particularly related to governance, climate change and gender.

The Youth Advisor must be passionate about youth work, youth activism policy and advocacy and working with movements. The job holder should be youthful with good understanding of dynamics in the youth sector across the globe and nationally. S/he should be able to work with youths of different social, political, academic, cultural, religious, ethnic backgrounds with a deep understanding of governance and political landscape at local, regional an international.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Capacity building, Youth activists, Networks and Organisation

§  Providing mentorship support to the Youth Team, Youth activists, Youth network and organizations aspiring to address issues of social change.

§  Providing support to youth organisations on Youth Mobilization and Organizational development to ensure they are more effectively being able to make change happen

§  Leading the development and implementation of a plan for AAZ GP and Partners to more purposefully and strategically contribute to local, national and regional Youth movements (Activista, Students movement and other existing and emerging youth movements such as the Fight Inequality Alliance and various linked groups and individual youth activists) to end extreme poverty and its related injustices and inequalities;

§  Capacity building of partners to build a structured way in which the mobilized people can act collectively on the issues they identify locally and act as a portal through which partners can learn more about movement building, engage with others in the various student, women’s, youth and other emerging movements, create a variety of ways that partners can take action both globally and in their communities including other platforms such as social media and other digital platforms

§  Support the creation of special initiatives/campaigns based on AAZ /GP and partner programmes;

§  Coordinate learning across ActionAid on working with and as part of social

2. Social movements, Activism

§  Global Platform supports, connects and amplifies the advocacy and activism work of young people. The Youth Advisor will support the youth team and programmes team to work with youth movements and build their capacity.

§  Providing technical support and thought leadership on how to mobilize and work with social movements

§  Keep up to date with activism from across the globe and share it with the young people and the Global Platform with the view to inspire youth activism, civic and political participation of young people.

§  Inspire action in others through your own experience and commitment to activism

§  Identify and build alliances and coalitions among youth led and women led Community Based organisations and local, regional and international Civil Society Organisations working on civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights

§  Facilitate capacity building and providing technical backstopping to strengthen social movements

§  Convene regular meetings to build progressive movements

§  Support development of advocacy plans, initiatives and toolkits for the different movements

§  Coordinate learning across social movements at national. Regional and international level

§  Support movement building across coalitions and alliances to strategize around their collective participation on civil and democratic processes to collectively demand for electoral reforms and improved GRPS through policy and legislation reforms;

3. Youth Policy engagement

§  Supporting the youth team to have research around youth participation in governance

§  Provide technical support on key youth policies; globally and nationally and support advocacy engagement from policy gaps.

§  Supporting the Youth Team and Youth Activists to effectively engage in strategic national, regional and global advocacy work.

§  Keep up to date on current Governance issues at national, regional and global level and provide linkages with Youth work

§  Be a resource to Country programs with youth Governance policy issues

4. Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and learning (MEAL)

The Youth Team are committed to delivering real life impact in young people’s lives and therefore the Youth Advisor will support the Training Quality Coordinator in ensuring effective monitoring, evaluations, analysis and learning of the work they are involved in. This will mean:

Actively participate in activities designed to support the development of a learning organization;

Actively participate in all MEAL process;

1. Build capacity to Document and share stories of change

2. Design programmes aimed at following up with former participation

§  Research new pedagogical trends;

§  Provide feedback to fellow trainers and support their professional growth;

§  Work with the Training Quality Coordinator

5. Organizational Support

To build capacity of the Global Platform team to ensure programming runs effectively and that all team members are effectively contributing to youth development work and the GP.

a. Attending and actively participating in weekly team meetings

b. Supporting in developing annual objectives and workplan

c. Working closely with the Programmes Manager / GP Manager in management and leadership role.

d. Attending quarterly team building and reflection workshops

e. Attend monthly individual meetings with supervisor

f. Following all organizational policies specifically financial, gender and child protection.

Qualifications

§  Any degree discipline is acceptable for entry into the profession.

§  5+ years’ experience and proven track record of youth engagement and movement building;

§  Deep demonstrable understanding of Governance issues at national, regional and international;

§  Experience of participating in large advocacy involving more than one country

§  Excellent communication, presentation, and writing skills in English are essential

§  Demonstrable experience in working effectively to support social movements to achieve policy change.

§  Strong analytical skills and good political judgement, participatory training methods and action research

§  Experience of Governance policy work and working in movements and campaigns

§  Experience of working with young people as equal partners

§  Social and political campaign experience and policy analysis

PERSONAL PROFILE

§  Integrity and professionalism: Personal initiative and ability to take ownership; willing to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently.

§  Accountability: mature and responsible; ability to operate in compliance with organizational rules and regulations

§  Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity and gender.

§  Genuine commitment towards the human rights-based approach principles which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards the organization’s core values.

§  Passionate about youth-led activism, fflexible and aapproachable;

§  Effective organizational skills, strong collaboration and influencing skills

§  Ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision in a fast paced and youthful environment

§  Visionary and strategic thinker with strong interpersonal skills

§  Ability to analyse and understand political context with deep understanding of social change and its drivers

Application: To apply, please send a cover letter stating the position you are applying for and Curriculum Vitae highlighting how you match the criteria in the Job Description to the following email address; careers.zambia@actionaid.org.

The Closing date for receipt of applications is 13th February 2019 at 17:00 hours.

ActionAid is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EoE), however; qualified women are encouraged to apply. Please Note: While we value all applications, we can only respond to short listed candidates.

Action Aid’s Website:  www.actionaid.org/zambia