Youth Program Assistant at African Wildlife Foundation

The Youth Program Assistant will support the implementation of AWF’s Youth Engagement Strategy, reporting to the Senior Manager, Youth Leadership Program. The AWF Youth Engagement Strategy has 3 work areas of work, namely:

• Curating and implementing bespoke leadership programs such as the Charles R. Wall Leadership Program
• Unlocking opportunities for youth (i.e. Facilitating an opportunity sharing platform & supporting youth-led enterprises, internships)
• Strengthen the institutional capacity of youth networks and support their efforts to influence policies on biodiversity and sustainable development

The Youth Program Assistant will be responsible for supporting the Pan-African, country level and landscape level implementation of the youth engagement strategy including through partnerships, documentation, procurement and other administrative functions of the program. The candidate will also be responsible for ensuring effective coordination with external and internal actors/stakeholders and quality assurance of AWF’s Youth portfolio. S/he will be responsible for contributing to program design and development; technical support to interventions; measurement, research and documentation; representation and partnership development, proposal and resource development; and training, mentoring and organizational learning for implementing youth program partners. This position will be based in the AWF Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya 

Responsibilities

Program Development

• Support youth engagement activities and ensure that they are consistent with the youth engagement frameworks, in line with AWF values and strategic plan and in compliance with AWF procedures and quality standards.
• Support selection and awarding of youth fellowships and other opportunities.
• Support mapping, assessment, coordination, establishment and capacity development of youth led conservation focused civil society organizations to ensure vibrant youth networks are established and engaged.
• Support the collaboration and co-creation of initiatives between with the youth program and other teams to ensure the Youth agenda is embedded in AWF’s programming.

Budget Management and Resource Mobilization 

• Support the identification of partnerships that can support AWF’s Youth Program.
• Support the development of proposals to fund the Youth Program in collaboration with Program Design, Field Programs and other relevant teams.

Partnership and Network Building

• Support in building internal and external partnerships/synergies that can support AWF’s Youth Program
• Support the coordination with country focal persons to ensure capacities of youth program relevant stakeholders are built and engaged in advancing conservation.
• Support the coordination with procurement team to deliver procurement of all youth program related services and products
• Support the coordination with strategic communications and marketing team to ensure youth activities are effectively elevated to both internal and external audiences
• Lead the AWF Youth Leadership Newsletter, Mighty network platform and other platforms dedicated to network building 

Measuring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• Research and file youth engagement activities that have been planned for the next 6 months and document the relevance of AWF participation in the events.
• Support the coordination with the Knowledge management department to ensure that the tools to develop appropriate institutional metrics and indicators as necessary to track the Youth Program progress are rolled out.
• Support the coordination with communications and the Knowledge management department so that the most significant change stories are documented, filed and disseminated successfully.
• Support the coordination with Knowledge management to ensure regular reporting on Youth Program Strategy and Activities

Administrative Support

• Provide high quality support to the department, including scheduling of appointments, monitor documents for signature/approval; monitor and follow up on issues and priorities; handle incoming correspondence and internal and external queries; draft and handle routine correspondence.
• Coordinate the identified youth participating in AWF events in terms of logistical support: visa processing, transfers and bookings.
• Set up and record all meetings with the external partners.
• Collect photos and or videos taken during youth events and uploading them on box for public use with correct tags and captions.
• Perform ad hoc duties and other duties assigned by the Senior Manager.

Requirements and skills

• A degree in Office administration, Public relations, Communications or any related field.
• At least two years working experience in a related field.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English
• Experience of, and commitment to, working through systems of community participation and accountability.
• Computer skills including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet & Social media.
• Strong administrative, organizational and time management skills.
• Understanding of the conservation context and youth engagement in Africa.
• Proficiency in technical and report writing.
• Ability to collate and analyze a wide range of information to draw out key strategic messages and findings.
• Aptitude in presentation and public speaking.
• Ability to plan and organize events.
• Ability to cultivate and build strong constructive working relationships within AWF and with other key constituents externally.
• Ability and willingness to travel to remote locations as may be needed.