Consultancy - Creative Expert at Palladium International

CFYE Overview:

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a 7-year and €134 million programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that aims to create a prosperous future for 230,000 young women and men in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa and Horn of Africa regions. The Fund will be supporting initiatives in 12 focus countries that will offer youth, in particular young women, opportunities for work that is demand-driven and productive, offering a stable income and safe working conditions, and that is contributing to their personal development and social protection.
The portfolio of projects is selected from business cases that were proposed by private sector, civil society and knowledge institutions. Each business case has outlined scalable solutions for creating more and better jobs and income generating opportunities for youth. Solutions in particular focus on an integrated approach that addresses the shortcomings on the demand side (jobs) and supply side (skills) and bridging the mismatch between these two in the labour market.

Assignment Overview:

In Kenya, one of the sectors that we are working with is the creative sector with three implementing partners implementing various projects targeting creatives. The IPs include United States International University (USIU), Swahili Pot Foundation and Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) in partnership with Twiva. While we have witnessed great results, over the last one year, the creative sector has several challenges that has necessitated CFYE to think of onboarding an experienced expert in the Kenyan creative sector ecosystem. Some of the challenges that the IPs are facing include but are not limited to partnerships, data collection and impact measurement which have affecting the achievement of the set job outcomes and other deliverables.
The purpose of this assignment will be to work closely with the 3 IPs to review the current challenges they are facing and develop interventions that will address the challenges.  This support will be instrumental in structuring a framework of how the IPs can continue to implement the projects successfully.

Specific Activities & Deliverables:

Evaluating the program functions of the three IPs including but not limited to:

• Project design- this will include review on the efficiency and effectiveness the process of planning a project's objectives, structure, tasks, and deliverables and deciding on the definition of done.
• Review of the three CFYE job pathways (Create, Match and Improve) and its strategic fit in achieving the job outcomes within the projects
• Partnerships- Review the current partnership strategy with the goal of reviewing and improving it and providing the relevant linkages   
• Strategic support to the IPs including institutional support to the IPs where that is required.
• Monitoring evaluation, learning (MEL) and how IPs can effectively collect data that is required by CFYE.

Deliverables:

• Provide a workplan per IP of how the assignment will be rolled out and support offered.
• Hold strategic coaching sessions with IPs program staff or leadership team that will focus on potential solutions to challenges faced
• Final business diagnostic report that will among other things summarize the findings and providing a roadmap for continuous implementation beyond the consultancy period.

Level of Effort:

Up to level of effort (LOE) of 30 days over a period of 4 months (February 2024-May 2024)

Required Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in communication, Multimedia Arts, Graphic Design, or any other related field.
• Demonstrated experience in senior management roles in a creative organization.
• Demonstrated experience in offering business advisory and business diagnostics to creative sector companies in Kenya.
• Must be willing to physically conduct the assessment at the IPs premises.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to effectively and efficiently perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities while meeting timelines.