Adolescents and Youth Development Assistant

Volunteering Teaching & Training

Overview

Support youth development and engagement activities for refugee children.

You have:

• 1 year demonstrated experience in community engagement or relevant experience, such as volunteering.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively.
• Proficient digital skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.).
• Familiarity with UNICEF youth development and participation interventions (e.g. U-Report, UPSHIFT) is an asset.
• Young people aged 20-32 are eligible to apply.
• Refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, and migrants are encouraged to apply.
• Self-motivation and ability to adapt to challenging environments.

Contract

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

The UNICEF Education and Adolescents Development and Participation programme, including early learning, has been working closely with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and 12 municipalities to strengthen the capacity of the national education system to respond to the education needs of refugee children. Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, access to multiple learning pathways to refugee children and adolescents was promoted in Poland through the establishment of more than 60 safe learning (Education and Development Hubs) and 56 Play and Learning spaces (Spynkas) through investments in local capacity in coordination with local government and CSO partnerships. This has led children and adolescents to learn and thrive in safe environments, support their learning, readiness for school, Polish language acquisition, overall development, mental health and psychosocial support.

Furthermore, UNICEF provided Ukrainian and Polish adolescents and youth access to skilling opportunities, including UPSHIFT, and extracurricular activities to foster social cohesion and inclusiveness..

In 2024 and 2025, UNICEF Education programme, in close partnership with the MoE, local governments and CSOs, will continue its transition from service delivery to technical assistance, evidence generation and policy discussion. UNICEF is strategically positioned to provide demand-driven support to advance systems reforms and ongoing national plans in relation to the inclusive education agenda, digital transformation, skills development, multiple learning pathways and ECEC for the advancement of the commitments to the pending recommendations on the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the Core Commitments for Children.

The Adolescents and Youth Development Assistant will be supporting the implementation of UPSHIFT programme, U-Report Europe chat-bot and youth engagement activities with a special focus on youth councils/volunteering.

In 2023 UNICEF Refugee Response Office in Warsaw, Poland tested UPSHIFT in partnership with the NGO Junior Achievement. In 2024 the implementation of UPSHIFT programme was supported by several municipalities (Warsaw, Wroclaw, Katowice, Lodz) to ensure its piloting in formal education as well as by CSO partner Pro Futuro focusing on interventions for out-of-school or at-risk adolescents.

U-Report Europe was launched on June 1, 2022 as UNICEF’s digital youth engagement platform to connect young refugees to crucial information about their host countries and enable them to voice their opinions and concerns. Presently, around 4,500 people have registered on U-Report Europe, with Poland hosting the largest community of U-Reporters on the platform. The U-Report Europe vision in Poland is to engage young people and understand their needs, concerns, and aspiration and to ensure that their voices are heard, and their perspectives are considered when developing programs and policies that affect their lives.

Under the direct supervision of Chief of Education, the Adolescents and Youth Development Assistant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Contribute to the implementation of youth development and engagement activities through partnerships with municipalities as well as current and future CSO partners. All municipal work plans contain offline and online activities focused on young people.

2. Support in monitoring and reporting on the use of adolescent development and participation programme resources (financial, administrative and other resources), verifying compliance with approved allocation/objectives, organisational policies, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, accountability and integrity standards.

3. Work closely and collaboratively with UNICEF colleagues (i.e. Child Protection, Social and Behavior Change, Communication) and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues related to adolescent development and participation; provide solutions, and recommendations.

4. Assist in creating and disseminating youth-friendly content in Ukrainian and Polish languages for U-Report Europe. At least 1 flow and 1 poll a month (Poland specific or global/regional) will be launched to engage young people to share their views on different topics.

5. Participate in achieving positive impact and change through listening to U-Report voices and using the data collected. The results of each poll sent will be analyzed and disseminated through UNICEF internal channels (e.g. to other Sections) and partner networks (e.g. Education Sector Working Group, municipalities and CSOs) to ensure that the feedback from young people is acted upon and is used to adjust and/or scale up programme response. Moreover, the poll results and respective action will be shared with U-Reporters to ensure the feedback loop is regularly closed. The wider public will also have access to the poll results through visual dashboards available at https://europe.ureport.in/opinions/.

6. Support the Education Section in ad-hoc administrative and operational tasks

☒ Accountability ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning ☒ Creativity ☒ Self-Management ☒ Technological Awareness ☒ Working in Teams

community engagement or at least 1 year demonstrated experience as a volunteer or any other relevant experience. • Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations. • Self-motivation and ability to adapt professionally in a challenging environment and work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel • Proficient digital skills to deliver the assignment, including proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, among others), email, and internet. • Familiarity with UNICEF youth development and participation interventions (e.g. U-Report, UPSHIFT) will be considered as an asset. • Applicants are requested to submit a motivation statement, describing why they're a good fit for the assignment by detailing any challenges they've faced due to migration or displacement that affected their access to education or employment. They should also mention any relevant volunteer experience and their interest in this UNICEF position.

*** Eligibility criteria include: *** • Young people aged 20-32. • Refugees, asylum seekers, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and migrants • In their motivation statement, applicants can demonstrate they face learning to earning barriers. • Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Republic of Poland (short form: Poland) is situated in Central Europe with a population of nearly 38.5 million people. The country is bordered by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia (the Kaliningrad exclave). Its northern border (440 km long) runs along the Baltic Sea coast. Poland’s capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw. The official language is Polish. Poland’s currency is the złoty (PLN).

The Polish climate is moderate continental, with relatively cold winters (from December to March) and hot summers which extend from June to August.

Poland has very low security concerns. The general security situation in Poland can be described as stable. Poland has no indigenous terrorism, and no known terrorist organizations have been identified operating inside Poland.

Allowances: • Entry lump sum: USD 400 • Relocation costs: USD 200 at beginning and end of assignment if duty station is outside of commuting distance (as determined by UNV) • Volunteer living allowance: PLN 5913.5 • Exit allowance (paid on successful completion of the assignment): PLN 615.98* for each month served, paid on completion of contract subject to exchange rate changes and can vary slightly every month.

• Insurance Comprehensive coverage for health, life and malicious acts for the UN Volunteer and health insurance coverage for up to 3 eligible dependents. Coverage for UN Volunteers begins from the Commencement of Service and normally ceases one month after the last day of the UN Volunteer Contract date. • Life Insurance: UN Volunteers are covered by life insurance for the duration of the UN Volunteer assignment.

Leave entitlements: • Annual leave:  UN Volunteers accrue an entitlement to 2.5 days of Annual Leave per completed month of the UN Volunteer assignment. Unused accrued Annual Leave up to a maximum of 30 days is carried over in case of a contract extension within the same UN Volunteer assignment. • Learning leave: Subject to supervisor approval and exigencies of service, UN Volunteers may request up to ten working days of Learning Leave per consecutive 12 months of the UN Volunteer assignment, starting with the Commencement of Service date, provided the Learning Leave is used within the contract period • Certified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers are entitled to up to 30 days of certified sick leave based on a 12-month cycle. This amount is reset every 12-month cycle. • Uncertified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers receive seven days of uncertified sick leave working days in a calendar year. This amount will be reset at the established interval period.

The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unv.org