Technical Expert – Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship
Role overview
VSO is looking for an experienced and technically strong specialist in Youth Employment and entrepreneurship programming, to help lead the implementation of our Resilient Livelihoods strategy, with its assets and capabilities core and our “volunteering for development” approach, and around which VSO is seeking to build a unique identity in livelihoods programming.
This is an exciting and challenging new role. You will provide technical leadership to a globally dispersed team of staff and volunteers to identify, test and document new and promising practices across VSO’s Youth Employment and entrepreneurship programmes, mainly in Tanzania but also in Cambodia and other countries in Africa and Asia. The overall purpose of the role is to support improvement in the quality and impact of VSO’s Resilient programmes globally. This will enable VSO to document, replicate and expand effective approaches, with the aim of helping more of the world’s poor and marginalised people to achieve their livelihood aspirations.
You must be willing and able to work effectively, creatively and pro-actively in a networked, collaborative environment with colleagues based in different countries and from different professional disciplines, including front line programme delivery, funding and business pursuit, people resourcing, MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) and finance and grant management.
Skills, qualifications and experience
Essential:
• Master’s in Development studies, Agriculture or other relevant qualification, or equivalent experience.
• Extensive experience and knowledge of programming, Youth Employment and entrepreneurship including vocational and agricultural related skills training; enterprise development; market-led approaches.
• Proven experience of securing external funding and grants, including proposal development. Evidence of understanding the challenges of donor and contract management and the implications for programme management.
• Proven experience in financial management, including building a budget, monitoring and managing expenditure. Experience of having compiled financial reports.
• Excellent understanding and demonstrated experience of project cycle management, organisational assessment, planning and M&E tools and processes.
• Experience of compiling donor reports.
• Leadership and people management skills; including handling complex situations to an effective conclusion; experience of developing, coaching and managing high performing teams.
• Self-motivated, ability to use own initiative, flexibility.
• Strong representation and negotiation skills; ability to negotiate and maintain relations with external stakeholders.
• Oral and written fluency in English, with ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences.
•
• Able to adapt to new and demanding situations, with experience of living and working in developing countries.
• Able to travel, including work away from the home base for up to 30% of time, both within the country and occasionally internationally with some weekend and evening work.
• Excellent coordination and planning skills with experience of working under pressure. Time management skills.
Desirable:
• Practical experience gained within a volunteering NGO context and of managing a volunteer programme.
• Evidence of ability to provide effective support to international and national volunteers.
• Experience and knowledge of the country and region.
•
• Experience of working in a matrix organization with multiple reporting lines across different locations.
VSO is looking for an experienced and technically strong specialist in Youth Employment and entrepreneurship programming, to help lead the implementation of our Resilient Livelihoods strategy, with its assets and capabilities core and our “volunteering for development” approach, and around which VSO is seeking to build a unique identity in livelihoods programming.
This is an exciting and challenging new role. You will provide technical leadership to a globally dispersed team of staff and volunteers to identify, test and document new and promising practices across VSO’s Youth Employment and entrepreneurship programmes, mainly in Tanzania but also in Cambodia and other countries in Africa and Asia. The overall purpose of the role is to support improvement in the quality and impact of VSO’s Resilient programmes globally. This will enable VSO to document, replicate and expand effective approaches, with the aim of helping more of the world’s poor and marginalised people to achieve their livelihood aspirations.
You must be willing and able to work effectively, creatively and pro-actively in a networked, collaborative environment with colleagues based in different countries and from different professional disciplines, including front line programme delivery, funding and business pursuit, people resourcing, MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) and finance and grant management.
Skills, qualifications and experience
Essential:
• Master’s in Development studies, Agriculture or other relevant qualification, or equivalent experience.
• Extensive experience and knowledge of programming, Youth Employment and entrepreneurship including vocational and agricultural related skills training; enterprise development; market-led approaches.
• Proven experience of securing external funding and grants, including proposal development. Evidence of understanding the challenges of donor and contract management and the implications for programme management.
• Proven experience in financial management, including building a budget, monitoring and managing expenditure. Experience of having compiled financial reports.
• Excellent understanding and demonstrated experience of project cycle management, organisational assessment, planning and M&E tools and processes.
• Experience of compiling donor reports.
• Leadership and people management skills; including handling complex situations to an effective conclusion; experience of developing, coaching and managing high performing teams.
• Self-motivated, ability to use own initiative, flexibility.
• Strong representation and negotiation skills; ability to negotiate and maintain relations with external stakeholders.
• Oral and written fluency in English, with ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of audiences.
•
• Able to adapt to new and demanding situations, with experience of living and working in developing countries.
• Able to travel, including work away from the home base for up to 30% of time, both within the country and occasionally internationally with some weekend and evening work.
• Excellent coordination and planning skills with experience of working under pressure. Time management skills.
Desirable:
• Practical experience gained within a volunteering NGO context and of managing a volunteer programme.
• Evidence of ability to provide effective support to international and national volunteers.
• Experience and knowledge of the country and region.
•
• Experience of working in a matrix organization with multiple reporting lines across different locations.
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