Project Officer at Volunteer Service Overseas

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Project Officer will build and strengthen our youth engagement work by supporting the Youth Task Force Teams in 6 counties (Makueni, Nandi, Kajiado, Siaya, Taita Taveta and Makueni) in order to promote inclusive policy and practice for participation, youth rights and youth friendly services in livelihoods, health and education.

SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A Bachelor's degree preferably in social sciences or development studies Working with Young People
• At least 5 years of proven experience of working in and with youth in programmes
• Demonstrated experience in providing support to youth from a wide range of backgrounds.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the application of social accountability tools and processes such as, but not limited to, community scorecards, participatory budgeting and social audits etc.
• Understanding of rights based approaches and the centrality of this to social accountability work
• Knowledge and experience of participatory approaches to youth programme development, implementation and evaluation
• Experience in developing and using monitoring and evaluation tools and participatory methodologies
• Previous experience in advocacy and policy development, youth participation and engagement in decision making and development at national and community levels
• Possession of strong written and communication skills needed for writing reports, publicity materials and corresponding with a wide-range of community members.
• Able to develop clear and realistic plans to deliver agreed objectives within deadlines, involving key individuals in the planning process.
• Experience and skills in managing budgets and undertaking accounting procedures.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Project development and implementation

1. Take lead in the development of a tailored leadership and mentorship programme to build the capacity of community youth taskforce teams in six counties.
2. Organize trainings and activities for community youth taskforce teams to build their capacity on advocacy, social accountability, policy and Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Together with the youth engagement volunteer provide guidance and support youth taskforce teams/Community Led Monitoring (CLM) groups in establishing their youth networks and platforms for inclusive participation.
4. Develop youth friendly resources to support and enhance youth participation in social accountability and advocacy activities.
5. Identify avenues and opportunities to strengthen youth voice and engagement in county and national platforms to influence formulation & implementation of policy as well as monitoring service delivery.
6. Develop strategies for VSO Kenya to engage youth in programme design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
7. Build the capacity of partners and project staff on youth engagement and CLM approaches
8. Together with the youth taskforce teams identify strategies that will lead to active collaboration between youth and various stakeholders; including the government, private sector, civil society organizations and faith based organizations to improve participation and engagement in development and monitoring of policies, programmes and services meant for youth.

Monitoring & Evaluation and Reporting

1. Develop project impact tools to assess the impact of VSO Kenya’s youth engagement and social accountability work
2. Identify participatory approaches that allow for continuously engagement of young people in reviewing and evaluating VSO Kenya’ youth and social accountability programmes
3. Compilation of evidenced based reports, collation of lesson-learning and good practice

Relationship management and partnership working

1. Participate in country sector specific forums and county/regional levels as will be appropriate.
2. Manage partners’ expectations in terms of the support that VSO Kenya can provide, enhance accountability & transparency mechanisms.
3. Ensure that all project partners and stakeholders are kept regularly informed about the progress of the in-country programmes
4. Develop and strengthen relationship with local and national government to enhance youth participation in governance.
5. Strengthen VSO Kenya’s relationship with youth led organizations and youth leaders.

Budgeting and Financial Management

1. Participate in financial planning and phasing, administer and monitor expenditures against budgets and maintain budget tracking records for projects.
2. Track, in liaison with Project Accountant, project implementation expenditure levels and manage work plans and budgets & project audit recommendations.
3. Managing the budget reporting and requests ,

Any other duties assigned to the staff by line manager or supervisors