Youth Engagement Officer

Contract

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

UNICEF Angola promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child and young person. Together with our partners, we focus our efforts on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children and youth. In Angola, UNICEF is the leading voice and advocate for rights of children and young people.

In Angola, 64 per cent of the total population (in 2018) was below the age of 24. Angola has one of the highest fertility rates in Southern Africa, estimated at 6.2 children per woman. This contributes to rapid population growth that substantially challenges state capacity for proportionate public investment allocations and poverty reduction.

One of the main pillars of the 2020–2023 country programme of cooperation between the Government of the Angola and UNICEF is the adolescent and youth rights agenda, including young people’s participation in issues that matter to them.

For this, UNICEF has launched a platform called U-report in several countries. This is a technology-based platform for young people to be able to express their opinions on key issues that affect their lives. In Angola, UNICEF and UNFPA supported the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MINJUD) and the Ministry of Communication and Technology to launch this initiative in December 2021, under the branding of ‘SMS-Jovem’. Since its launch, SMS-Jovem (U-report) has garnered over 92,000 youth of Angola under this umbrella. UNICEF in Angola has been using innovative technology for engaging with youth and help their advocacy to influence decision makers and to generate public discourse. This assignment will focus on using SMS-Jovem (U-report) platform to help achieve the goals.

To make sure that the initiative continues to grow into a powerful tool for participation and advocacy, UNICEF Angola wishes to hire Youth Engagement Officer to design, coordinate, implement and manage all activities related to SMS-Jovem (U-report). The assignment will require skills to manage this platform including designing, coordinating and implementing activities related to SMS Jovem (U-report).

Under the direct supervision of Chief of Communication, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: • Support in developing and implementing plans for implementing SMS-Jovem (U-report) in Angola, as per organization’s rules and guidance. • Collaborate with colleagues from UNICEF and other organizations to develop polling questions for SMS-Jovem (U-report). • Work closely with ICT colleagues to ensure that any technical issues is resolved for running SMS-Jovem (U-report) polls. • Continuously oversee the response of youth to polling questions. • Support analysis of the SMS-Jovem (U-report) poll results. • Coordinate meetings with U-reporters to present findings to them and help them present the findings to decision makers. • Organize meetings with decision makers for U-reporters to present at. • Write report for all polls to be published in newspapers, website. • Develop messages related to poll results for social media platforms. • Undertake activities to popularize the SMS-Jovem (U-report) platform among youth in Angola, to ensure more and more youth join the initiative. • Work with UNICEF colleagues to develop sustainability plans. • Ensure data practices as per UNICEF’s guidelines

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• 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; • Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; • 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.

Results/Expected Outputs: • Technical support is provided for management of the SMS Jovem (U-Report) platforms, ensuring coordination with key stakeholders, data analysis and reporting. • Promotional plan is developed and implemented to expand the number of young people enrolled in the platform. • Advocacy initiatives are developed and implemented based on youth voices collected through U-report, in collaboration with UNICEF team. • Sustainable plan is developed for SMS Jovem (U-Report).

Core Values: • Care • Respect • Integrity • Trust • Accountability

Core Competencies • Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness • Works Collaboratively with others • Builds and Maintains Partnerships • Innovates and Embraces Change • Thinks and Acts Strategically • Drives to achieve impactful results • Manages ambiguity and complexity

project management or implementing project independently. • Skills on planning, designing implementation plans, executing plans and reporting. • Strong competency of collaboration with multiple partners. • Skills to write articles/reports. • Skills to present data • Experience of working with young people. • Knowledge of applications like MS Office, PowerPoint and other digital applications.

Language skills: Proficiency in Portuguese and fluency in English

Candidate would be offered to work from UNICEF premises in Luanda.