For every child, opportunity.

Generation Unlimited (GenU) is a global partnership that aims to ensure that every young person aged 10-24 will be in some form of school, learning, training or employment by 2030. The India version of GenU has been named YuWaah. It signifies catalytic partnerships to unleash the potential of adolescents and young people. Since its launch in November 2019, YuWaah has built alliances with a range of stakeholders such as the Government, civil society, UN and other international organizations, the corporate sector and, of course, young people themselves. It has provided a platform for exchange of ideas, dissemination of existing employment, skilling and learning initiatives, youth engagement and amplification of youth aspirations, choices and unmet needs.

This position requires consistent and persistent effort over long time to achieve the desired results in terms of enabling employment opportunities for young people. Since the results of the problem as deeply rooted as unemployment in the country can only be fructified in the long term, it will require the incumbent to be engaged in scalable models and strategic partnerships. To achieve the scalability to ‘100 million young people connected with employment opportunities by 2030’ (Generation Unlimited’s Goal), the incumbent needs to be able to forge and maintain partnerships at the highest level with government as well as corporates. At the same time, the incumbent will be expected to learn diplomatic communication and negotiation skills to establish and maintain trusted partnerships for achievement of objectives and develop working relationship with them.

Technical guidance and support

• Support co-creation and validation of solutions with existing stakeholders and potential solution providers.
• Identify new partners and stakeholders in employment ecosystem that align with YuWaah’s strategy and support them with partnership opportunities
• In cooperation with key stakeholders (YuWaah Secretariat, UNICEF ICO teams, government, private, CSO partners and young people) and in accordance with YuWaah Theory of Change, develop strategy and implementation plans
• Prepare annual workplan and budget for thematic area “Economic Opportunities for young people” and track fund needs and utilization
• Provide technical guidance for identifying key partnerships opportunities for “Aspirational economic opportunities for young people”
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic materials for YuWaah advocacy purposes
• Support YuWaah India partners in perspective-building on “Aspirational economic opportunities for young people”
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy
• Operationalization of the taskforce, including support to the finalization of membership and distribution of roles and responsibilities
• Monitor key partnerships to access progress, identify bottlenecks, problem solve and co-create new ideas and initiatives
• Provide oversight to enablement of economic opportunities through YuWaah digital aggregator platform and YuWaah skills platform
• Plan and contribute to scaling up of pilots for economic opportunities that were initiated in the first year with support from partners
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes and to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.

Partnerships and Networking

• Support development of programmatic and strategic relationships with existing and potential partners including the state government, private sector, NGOs/CSOs, industry aggregators, young people, other partners to optimize their contribution to YuWaah and to reinforce cooperation to achieve sustainable and broad results on YuWaah programmes.
• Support enhancing relationships with existing and potential contributors for catalytic funding and with non-traditional partners, including on innovative financing modalities and leverage financing
• Coordinate information exchange and synergies between flagship initiatives of hyper local job connects, apprenticeships, youth entrepreneurship within YuWaah partners
• Actively monitor key partnerships through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant team members for timely resolution.
• Prepare regular/mandated reports for management and YuWaah partners to keep them informed of partnership progress.
• Organize large scale consultations by convening various public and private partners together on a forum to inform policy recommendations and bring the voices of young people to the centre

Innovation

• Apply/introduce innovative approaches to enhance opportunities of hyper local job connects, apprenticeships, youth entrepreneurship for young people, for the delivery of concrete and sustainable results
• Research and suggest on best international practices to be explored for possible adaption in India
• Plan and conduct joint research studies with government and private partners to understand future employment ecosystem in the country and support stakeholders with informed decision making
• Draft policy papers with support from partners and major players in the ecosystem and align with relevant ministries for advocacy
• In alignment with YuWaah’s core principles, engage closely with young people and YPAT network to imbibe youth centrality in all the work related to economic opportunities
• In alignment with UNICEF and YuWaah’s core principles, build strategy and engage closely with partners to include marginalized youths and enable opportunities for them

Advocacy & Communications and Knowledge Management

• Support in drafting of public advocacy materials, human interest stories, social media material as applicable.
• Support development of lessons learned, review of successful and unsuccessful experiences and share observations/findings so that best practices benefit YuWaah’s implementation and strategy

EDUCATION

• An Advanced University degree in social science or relevant field
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and / or international levels in programme/project planning and implementation, with a particular emphasis on livelihood enhancement, employment connects, entrepreneurship promotion.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• A minimum of 05 years of experience in designing, planning, organising, and conducting mixed method evaluations and also conducting robust monitoring.
• Strong experience in managing research and evaluations (developing a plan/terms of reference and schedule, assigning tasks, ensuring milestones are met on a timely basis, ensuring project costs are within and approved budget, and ensuring that objectives are adequately addressed) is mandatory
• Proven experience in setting up monitoring processes is mandatory
• Developing country work and/or field experience is an asset
• Proven experience in coordinating to develop and manage a MIS system is preferred
• Demonstrated ability to produce high quality evaluation reports; a solid publication record in peer-reviewed journals is strongly preferred. A writing sample exclusively authored by the candidate to be included in the application.
• Experience in education, skills/employment adolescent/youth development and engagement is preferred
• Experience with working with UN agencies, international donors and similar organisations is preferred

LANGUAGES

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or another Indian local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:  

• This vacancy announcement (VA) is open to all (internal and external candidates).
• This VA is open for Indian nationals.
• This position is based in New Delhi (India).
• Selected applicant will have a 364 days Temporary Appointment contract.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.
• UNICEF does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process including application, interview, meeting, traveling, processing, training etc. UNICEF is a non-smoking working environment.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.
• UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited / recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/.
• UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

For more information about UNICEF India, please refer to the link below: https://www.unicef.org/india/