Vacancies at Amref Kenya

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Youth-Led Policy Advocacy and Social Accountability Through a Digital Movement

• Provide technical leadership to the Youth Power Hub (YPH) youth-led organizations in the implementation of advocacy and social accountability efforts for the ICPD+25 commitments at country level, and promote the use of the digital tracking tool (Youth Power Tracker).
• Position the Youth Power Hub (YPH) as the go-to platform for digital youth-led social accountability on various sexual and reproductive health priorities, including ICPD+25.
• Coordinate effective youth engagement on advocacy activities for the East Africa Community SRHR Bill.
• Work closely with other Y-ACT staff and consultants, to review and deliver training on social accountability through digital platforms, and any support for the trainings at grassroots level by the youth-led organizations.
• Oversee the uptake of the digital course dubbed ‘POWER UP!’ beyond the scope of YPH youth power champions.

Stakeholder Management and Team Coordination

• Coordinate the partnership between Y-ACT, AfriYAN, and UNFPA Eastern and Southern Africa region as the key program stakeholders.
• Provide guidance to the YPH secretariat and lead the weekly virtual meetings, and coordinate the monthly partnership virtual meetings.
• Ensure the implementation of all work plan activities and the attainment of program targets through effective mobilization and engagement of Youth Power Champions across the 23 countries.

Digital Engagement and Knowledge Management

• Lead digital knowledge sharing events including webinars and peer learning sessions for Youth Power Hub.
• Work with Y-ACT’s Communications team and provide thought leadership in identification of digital solutions and growth strategies for the Youth Power Hub.
• Work with Y-ACT’s Communications team to develop and implement a detailed guide for multimedia content to increase YPH reach, including, editorial content (stories, advocacy images, campaigns, infographics) etc.
• Work closely with Y-ACT’s webmaster to ensure effectiveness of the Youth Power Tracker and identification of any technical issues that may require to be resolved.

Operations and Reporting

• Monitor and review Youth Power Hub annual budget and operational plans to support the program.
• Lead in the development and dissemination of Youth Power Hub quarterly project reports.
• Work with Y-ACT’s grants and organizational development team to support the Youth Power champions/organizations develop and implement quality work-plans and budgets for the sub-grants.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, Public Policy, Social or Political Science, Project Management, or related studies.
• Master’s degree in relevant field is an added advantage.

Experience

• At least three (3) years’ experience in coordinating advocacy initiatives focusing on sexual and reproductive health, online digital engagement and meaningful youth engagement in health priorities.
• Experience deploying partner mobilization and external communications for multi-country teams.
• Knowledge of Africa’s policy landscape and advocacy processes (including legal aspects) relating to youth health priorities.
• Experience working with coalitions /youth led organizations in Africa.
• Experience in conducting trainings or learning sessions (both in person and virtual) for diverse, multi-country teams.

Skills

• Ability to conduct advocacy activities on regional and international platforms.
• High organizational and time-management skills.
• Team coordination and stakeholder management for high-performance.
• Be hands-on on both coordination and operational tasks
• Strategic planning, with ability to prioritize and multi-task.
• Ability to exercise confidentiality, tact and discretion when dealing with diverse groups of people.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written).
• Written and verbal communications skills in French is desirable.

Competences

• Passionate about youth in all their diversity.
• Easy to collaborate with, flexible, positive and energetic attitude
• Ability to work with and report to multiple partners across different time-zones.
• Being an ‘outside the box’ thinker, creative and not afraid to fail.

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JOB PURPOSE

The Programme Director will provide overall strategic leadership and coordination of Y-ACT’s advocacy and capacity strengthening programmes in Africa, manage relations with partners and donors, manage an average annual budget of US $2M, and an average team of 15 staff, and 2 senior staff. The Programme Director will work with a Regional Youth Steering Committee and will oversee and ensure the management and accountability of technical staff and consultants as needed.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Overall Programme Leadership

• Provide leadership and oversight for Y-ACT’s initiatives, while upholding its values of a youth-led, youth-driven approach to its operations.
• Represent Y-ACT as needed by participating in technical advisory groups, steering committees, conferences, and other forums.
• Lead and oversee the role of a Youth Steering Committee (external young experts in youth advocacy) actively engaging and consulting the members and other youth in project-related planning, priorities, and activities.
• Provide strategic guidance and strong leadership and ensure technically sound decision-making processes in coordination with the regional programme leads and technical leads

Youth Advocacy Leadership

• Provide leadership and expertise on youth policy advocacy, social accountability and empowerment in Africa.
• Drive the identification and pursuit of opportunities to apply existing and high-impact approaches to enhance the region's youth advocacy and policy influence.
• Provide leadership to the implementation of meaningful youth engagement in Y-ACT’s work, while ensuring that youth across Y-ACT’s network are meaningfully engaged in the design, implementation and monitoring of Y-ACT’s products and initiatives.

Financial Management

• Monitor and review the annual budget and operational plans to support the program.
• Take full responsibility for the delegated budget and financial decision-making, ensuring integrity, and efficiency, and effective utilization of Y-ACT’s resources.
• Ensure compliance with donor and institutional reporting, tracking, monitoring and documentation.
• Liaise with the Director of Finance - Amref USA and the Senior Programme Accountant – ICD, to ensure adherence to the budget and financial commitments for efficient and effective implementation

Team Leadership

• Lead a team of 20 staff and consultants, and motivate the team for high-performance.
• Provide overall technical assistance, mentorship and support to team members in all aspects of the programme.
• Overall accountability of Y-ACT staff and consultants in implementation of Y-ACT’s initiatives

Networking, Partnerships and Relationship Building

• Establish, maintain, and strengthen partnerships with stakeholders in Africa and across the globe on empowerment of the youth, and to effectively grow Y-ACT’s portfolio.
• Represent Y-ACT’s interests at national, regional and global convening and stakeholder engagement forums
• Serve as the main point of contact with all partners and donors and maintain regular communication.

Coordination of Periodic Planning and Reporting Processes to the Donor

• Lead the coordination, input, review and submission of donor reports.
• Provide leadership to the implementation of tracking systems for programme and institutional management and oversight

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, International Development, Social Studies, Public Policy or another relevant field. Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• Strong and passionate commitment to and knowledge of youth and adolescents’ policy and programmatic priorities in Africa.
• Results-based programme management for (I)NGOs and donor-funded initiatives of similar scope.
• Team leadership and management of teams for high-performance.

Experience

• At least six (6) years’ experience, including three (3) years of leadership experience in results-based a programming for donor-funded programmes of similar scope.
• Experience implementing/leading successful youth and adolescents’ advocacy initiatives in the region (Africa).
• Experience in senior management/leadership roles will be an added advantage.

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PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Regional Coordination and Partnership Management

• Identify and manage strategic partnerships with key regional bodies to achieve advocacy and youth programming objectives.
• Convene and Coordinate partner meetings and proactively share updates and relevant information in team meetings
• Enhance Y-ACT's technical leadership as a recognized regional voice on youth programming among donors, government counterparts, and partner organizations
• Work with other members of the Senior Management team on project strategy and operations related to policy advocacy for the project.
• Attend and participate in strategy meetings and reviews on policy advocacy

Technical Leadership and Project Management

• Provide insights and recommendations for strategic direction in terms of digital advocacy and campaigns, advocacy curriculum advancement, social accountability, policy advocacy strategy development on youth initiatives.
• Identify knowledge and evidence-generating gaps and collaborate with partners on developing policy guidance to influence policy formation

Financial Management

• Monitor and review the annual budget and operational plans to support the program.
• Ensure compliance with donor and institutional reporting, tracking, monitoring and documentation.
• Implement activities in accordance with established rules and regulations to ensure the project achieves satisfactory financial and operational audit results.

Project Planning and Team Leadership

• Ensure timely and effective implementation of all project interventions as well as the successful achievement of project outcomes, outputs and intended impacts
• Work with the project director to Develop and submit timely reports to the relevant stakeholders.
• Provide leadership to the implementation of tracking systems for program, human resource and financial processes.
• Ensure ongoing coaching and mentoring of project staff in order to ensure that they are able to perform and achieve the desired results

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Social Studies, Public Policy or relevant field.Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• Strong and passionate commitment to and knowledge of youth policy and programmatic priorities in Africa.
• Results-based programme management for (I)NGOs and donor-funded initiatives of similar scope.
• Knowledge in tobacco control policies will be an added advantage.
• Team leadership and management of teams for high-performance.

Experience

• At least five (5) years hands-on project experience in NGO sector, management, and coordination of partners will be an added advantage.
• Experience implementing/leading successful youth and adolescents’ advocacy initiatives in the region (Africa).
• Experience in policy formulation process.

Competences and Skills

• Passionate about youth in all their diversity.
• Proven experience effectively leading and mentoring teams for high performance.
• Demonstrated experience fostering and strengthening relationships and partnerships with targeted stakeholders.
• Ability to exercise confidentiality, integrity, tact and discretion when dealing with diverse groups of people and processes.
• Good negotiation skills, patience, diplomacy and tact
• Excellent written and verbal communication, negotiation and networking skills
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task.
• Demonstrated excellent decision making and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work and report to multiple partners.
• Ability to work under minimal supervision