Young Innovator Fellow

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.

UNFPA Young Innovators Fellowship Programme 2022

Enabling young people to realise their full social, economic and human potential is a key aspect of UNFPA’s mandate. Our Fellows are innovative young people from around the world who have demonstrated commitment to development issues within their communities. The Young Innovators Fellowship programme brings young people into UNFPA with a dedicated focus on both providing a youth perspective and driving innovation. This exciting opportunity sees fellows undergo leadership training and support innovation efforts in UNFPA Regional or Country Offices in a capacity relevant to their experience. Our goal is to provide fellows with the tools, skill sets, international experience and exposure to innovation to empower them to realise their career goals, thus building national capacity. Fellows in turn provide innovative insights and ideas that will enable us to be better aligned with development issues in their community.

The UNFPA Young Innovator Fellow will contribute to UNFPA’s innovation priorities in a number of ways, including: strengthening the innovation architecture; supporting the scale-up of innovations; forming partnerships; strengthening financing for innovation; and expanding the communities and culture for innovation.

Under the direct supervision of the Communication Associate, overall guidance of the Head of Office and in close collaboration with UNFPA staff, the Fellow will undertake the following tasks:

● Review and become familiar with the country programme of UNFPA Kyrgyzstan, particularly the components related to adolescents and youth and recent innovative approaches developed and promoted by the country office and suggest innovative and youth- focused strategies to facilitate their implementation;
● Support the promotion of the RBM mobile application developed by UNFPA Kyrgyzstan; ● Explore opportunities for partnerships and cooperation with the UNDP innovation hub in Bishkek; ● Support data visualisation activities in the area of population dynamics, evidenced-based documents (publication on women and men, youth statistics, Youth Wellbeing Index, Active ageing strategy etc.), comprehensive sexuality education; ● Assist in drafting and editing human interest stories, social media content, maintaining the UNFPA website for Kyrgyzstan up to date and other advocacy/information materials; ● Help to organise and generate public support for special events, including World Population Day, International Youth Day, World Contraception Day, 16-days campaign against GBV and International Volunteer Day, to promote country programme goals; ● Provide innovative ideas and support the "Bilesinbi.kg" platform on raising awareness about RH, HIV and gender equality with a focus on adolescents and youth; ● Support youth participation to promote SRH, GBV, HIV, mental health, volunteering and youth participation in humanitarian settings.

Results/Expected Outputs:

● Co-creating innovative approaches related to adolescents/youth and suggest innovative and youth focused strategies. Working with the UNFPA-Kyrgyzstan’s partners (Government and Civil Society Organizations), including other UN Agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, in seeking to empower girls (and boys where possible), including those in humanitarian settings, through improved access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). ● Fostering youth participation in promoting SRH, GBV, HIV, mental health, volunteering and youth participation through innovative solutions including through humanitarian preparedness and risk reduction. ● Institutionalising a Culture of Innovation: Promoting a culture of innovation by supporting young people in the UNFPA Kyrgyzstan programme, youth-led networks, SDG ambassadors, in an effort to strengthen their capacities to drive innovation and empower young people to be curious and innovative. ● A brief summary report documenting results, lessons learned, and recommendations for the future.

The assignment will include mission travel to New York, once for a capstone to conclude the fellowship.

Accountability Adaptability and Flexibility Building Trust Client Orientation Commitment and Motivation Commitment to Continuous Learning Communication Creativity Empowering Others Ethics and Values Integrity Planning and Organizing Professionalism Respect for Diversity Self-Management Technological Awareness Vision Working in Teams

or demonstrated interest working with digital technologies or online platforms for programmatic areas (e.g., education, health, social development) ● demonstrated interest and dedication to development issues in areas of UNFPA’s mandate through either volunteer experience, work experience, or youth network affiliations. Preferably, up to 3 years of experiences are welcomed. ● Demonstrated, or clear idea of, delivery of UNFPA’s mandate in an innovative way ● Ability to identify and propose innovative solutions to problems ● Prior experience engaging with different stakeholders or entities, such as with the private sector, social enterprises, academia, the media, a plus ● Open to candidates aged between 18 years to 26 years old ● Special consideration will be given to indigenous people, persons with disabilities and LGBTQI candidates

The Kyrgyz Republic is a land-locked, lower-middle-income country, with a rank of 122nd out of 189 countries in terms of human development. The total population is estimated at 6.1 million, with two thirds living in rural areas and young people under 30 years constituting 30 percent of the population. Despite significant progress in reducing extreme poverty (SDG 1.1), one quarter of the population lives below the national poverty line (SDG1.2). Bishkek is a relatively safe city, although normal precautions are recommended especially late at night and in poorly lit areas. The climate is continental, with cold winters, often frosty, and warm and sunny summers, sometimes very hot at low altitudes, but cooler in the mountains. Pollution in winter remains a serious problem in Bishkek. English is not widely spoken, with Kyrgyz and Russian being the common languages.