Project Coordinator at Aga Khan Foundation

Global Opportunity Youth Initiative (GOYI):

The GOYI aims to catalyze youth economic opportunity at scale by strengthening cross-sector, community-based approaches to address youth unemployment. Led by AKF, the GOYI will work to improve youth employment outcomes in Mombasa by partnering with community leaders to identify the systems, policies, and incentives most needed to improve long-term youth employment outcomes and accelerate high-priority solutions through global grant funding and linkages to impact financing.

A flagship pathway of the GOYI is the Youth Hub Network (YHN). AKF, through its engagement with young people in coastal Kenya, identified the need for a network of place-based spaces providing a wide range of functions and services to support meaningful systems change as a top priority. The YHN has been designed as a potential response to young people’s challenges on the Coast.

Overview of the Role:

This role will be based in Mombasa and the incumbent will be reporting to the AKF, EA Coast Region Area Manager and will play a critical role in the development of youth economic opportunities in Mombasa, Kenya. The Coordinator will achieve this by prioritizing data driven decision-making approaches; building a collaborative infrastructure consisting of key stakeholders within the county; youth inclusion in solutions co-design; and mapping of youth hubs and existing interventions that could be leveraged for systemic change.

The Coordinator will work in close coordination with the GOYI global team and local youth ecosystem stakeholders including government, civil society, private sector, academia, and young people. The Coordinator will be responsible for ensuring the initiatives advance by keeping all parties organized, engaged, and moving forward.

Essential Functions:

The following are the key duties of this position. These are not to be construed as exclusive or all-inclusive. Other duties will develop as the initiative evolves.

Collaborative Building:

• Assemble and manage a cross-sector collaborative focused on expanding youth economic opportunity at the Coast;
• Ensure regular communication occurs between collaborative members, initiative partners, funders, and global GOYI team members;
• Continuously champion goals and maintain relationships with partners, stakeholders, and community members to advance the success of the collaborative;
• Coordinate local youth convenings;

• Develop communications materials as the initiative evolves, potentially including summary documents, brochures, digital media, and web and social media content.Research and Co-design:

• Help identify and coordinate research, policy, data, and other needs on behalf of the initiatives;

• Identify, curate, and assess viable solutions for the YHN and other pathways originating from the GOYI approach;

• Coordinate successful collaborative design and planning efforts culminating in the creation of a long-term GOYI plan and goal framework;

• Draft grant applications, as needed, or oversee work of grant writer.
• Operations and Project Management:
• Monitor and track results of funded initiatives through data collection, aggregation, and analysis. Ensure all partners are aware of targets and indicators;
• Under the guidance of AKF leadership, establish and maintain initiative budgets, timelines, reporting, and other systems to track and monitor initiative progress;
• In accordance with AKF policies and procedures, oversee administration of grant funds (working with third party fiscal agent) including making recommendations, and drafting scope of work and contracts for sub-grantees for governance approval.

Relationship Management:

• Ability to lead the charge for youth voice in the county;
• Manage diverse stakeholders including senior government actors, senior private sector, etc.

Candidate Profile:

• Bachelor’s degree or a Diploma with a minimum of five years equivalent experience in Education, Youth Affairs, Social Work, Human Services, Early Childhood Development, or a related field (preference for related experience in Kenya and/or Mombasa context);
• Five years of progressively responsible experience with demonstrated talent for forming and leading partnerships between diverse stakeholders working towards a common goal;
• Comfortable with public speaking and public presentations;
• Ability to travel regularly to local communities for meetings, trainings, and workshops;
• Understanding of community mobilization, project management, strategic planning, data gathering and analysis, communications, and/or organizational/systems dynamics.

Technical Skills:

• Document and presentation development; proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other valuable presentation platforms. The role involves creating a variety of engaging reports, presentations, proposals, and communication materials;
• Comfort utilizing databases and handling large volumes of data;
• Ability to examine and analyze data, research, and facts to uncover and understand cause-effect relationships, and use information as a basis for problem solving, decision making, and prioritization;
• Event, logistics, and project management involving coordination of diverse project needs and stakeholders.

Other Skills:

• Ability to collaborate and contribute to a close knit, supportive team environment, and work with people and organizations of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures;
• Efficient, high-capacity self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced work environment;
• Outstanding interpersonal skills. Ability to quickly establish trust and rapport with professional and community stakeholders; comfortable addressing politically sensitive and policy questions with tact and poise.