Adi Yuva Fellow

Volunteering

Overview

Join the Adi Yuva Fellowship to empower tribal youth for sustainable development.

You have:

• Must be a member of a recognized Scheduled Tribe.
• Demonstrated interest in socio-economic development of youth in tribal communities, understanding of tribal issues.
• Demonstrated willingness to learn about thematics relevant to the assignment.
• Knowledge of programme implementation and management.
• Prior experience of working on projects related to youth empowerment or tribal development or public health would be an asset.
• Resourcefulness, efficient in taking initiative, maturity of judgment, and tact.
• Good interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel to project sites as needed.

Contract

This is a UNV Community Volunteer contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV Community Volunteer contracts.

The 2025 Voluntary National Review (VNR) consultations, led by NITI Aayog and supported by the UN in India, prioritized 13 “Leave No One Behind” (LNOB) groups, including Scheduled Tribes and Adivasis, highlighting the urgent need to build capacities, ensure access, and foster meaningful representation for youth from tribal communities. The consultations identified critical gaps in skills, leadership opportunities, and systemic support for youth from tribal communities, emphasising the need for targeted career pathways and inclusive development strategies.

UNFPA works in partnership with tribal departments at both national and state levels to advance the health, rights, and wellbeing of tribal populations, with a strong focus on adolescents, women, and youth. UNFPA supports life skills education, sexual and reproductive health awareness, and gender equality initiatives among youth from tribal communities through community-based and school based programmes.

In alignment with the UN Youth Strategy (Phase 2: 2025-2030) which places youth at the center of global transformation and SDG acceleration, the United Nations in India is launching a structured, first-of-its-kind initiative: the Adi Yuva Fellowship. This innovative programme will bring together the expertise of UN agencies to mentor and train youth from tribal communities to sharpen their knowledge and skills to enhance employment opportunities in the development sector , and also to create a more inclusive environment within the UN System in India.

Young people recruited through the Adi Yuva Fellowship will have access to learning and professional development opportunities, including a suite of online learning programmes fostering their professional growth and contributing to inclusivity. Fellows will receive a paid 12-month assignment and valuable work experience, enabling them to build competencies for future leadership roles. By combining structured learning with practical work experience, the Fellowship not only accelerates the professional growth of young people but also creates a pipeline of diverse and capable talent ready to drive sustainable development and social impact.

The Adi Yuva Fellows, located in impactful roles across ministries/departments and UN development programmes, will assist in the health and well-being programme management including planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation. He/she will be responsible for the effective programme support and management on access to age appropriate, gender sensitive and socially inclusive information and services and linkages with other programme areas.

Under the direct supervision of the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and in coordination with the Adolescent and Youth unit - UNFPA Country Office, the UNV will perform the following tasks:

• Assist in providing technical support for the implementation of innovative and effective strategies for advancing adolescent and youth centric policies and programming; • Support in strengthening of EMRS and Aashram Schools to offer quality education and life skills for tribal adolescents. • Assist in promoting and advocating for programmes that focus on availability and access to Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR) services, life skills education, youth leadership and empowerment, with special focus on young people from tribal groups; • Data collections, analysis and report preparation for various tribal programs and schemes such as EMRS and Aashram schools aimed towards empowerment of young people • Assist in analyzing bottlenecks at national and state levels to the delivery of information and services and suggest approaches to address needs and challenges of tribal adolescents and young people that are inclusive and innovative; • Provide support in identifying innovative youth leadership interventions specifically on youth from tribal communities and adapt them to indian context for implementation by the ministry; • Assist in providing technical support to key stakeholders including capacity building, feedback and regular review for effective programme delivery. • Participate in the development and updating of guidelines, communication and training materials, briefing notes, and any other programme related documents as required; • Support ad-hoc administrative and operational tasks.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities; • Contribute articles/ write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/ websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

• Accountability • Adaptability and Flexibility • Building Trust • Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Communication • Empowering Others • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Knowledge Sharing • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity • Self-Management • Technological Awareness • Working in Teams.

• Demonstrated interest in socio-economic development of youth in tribal communities, with understanding of tribal issues and challenges at the state and national levels. • Demonstrated willingness to learn about thematics relevant to the assignment, such as tribal development, life skills education, public health, youth empowerment, communication, programme management, or related fields. • Knowledge of programme implementation and management; • Prior experience of working on projects related to youth empowerment or tribal development or public health would be an asset. • Resourcefulness, efficient in taking initiative, maturity of judgment, tact; • Previous experience as a volunteer (i.e. research, internship, etc.) would be highly regarded. • Sound understanding of youth related issues would be an asset. • Self-motivation and ability to adapt professionally in a challenging environment. • Good interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of stakeholders; • Willingness to travel to project sites and other areas as needed.

NOTE: Must be a member of a recognized Scheduled Tribe. Preference will be given to youth with intersecting vulnerabilities (gender, income, disabilities, etc.

New Delhi and the surrounding National Capital Region is a large and bustling metropolis of some 14 million people undergoing rapid changes. The capital city is an administrative, cultural and commercial center with modern amenities and well connected by air. It is a safe place with large expatriate community drawn from embassies, UN agencies, MNCs and foreign businesses. It has short moderate winter and long hot summer.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. This position is based in New Delhi. The UN Volunteer will be stationed at the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in New Delhi. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan. National UN Volunteers are expected to be culturally sensitive and adjust to the prevailing culture and traditions.

The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.

For information specific to your assignment, please see below: • Monthly Voluntary Living Allowance (VLA): INR 25,984.60 • Entry lump sum (one-time payment): USD 50 (equivalent in INR) • Insurance: Comprehensive coverage for health, life and malicious acts for the UN Volunteer only. • Annual leave: 2.5 days per month • Learning: Access to UNV's learning and career development resources

You can check full entitlements at https://app.unv.org/calculator.

UN Volunteers will provide, together with the offer of assignment, a copy of the Conditions of Service, including Code of conduct, to the successful candidate. The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos.

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Potential interview questions

Added 8 months ago - Updated 7 months ago - Source: unv.org