Youth Engagement Officer, NO-A, Cotonou, Benin

Contract

This is a NO-1 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-1 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, [insert tagline]

In recent years UNICEF has increased its focus on young people. The UNICEF Strategic Plan, 2022−2025 recognizes the whole spectrum of young people, including young adults or youth over 18, and includes in its Change Strategies “supporting young people and children as agents of change.” Taking its cue from the strategic plan, the Global Communication and Advocacy Strategy asserts the important role that young people can play in the successful realization of UNICEF’s mandate, and outlines the need to listen to, co-create and collaborate with young people and create meaningful engagement opportunities for them to make a difference.

In Benin, youth represent more than half of the population. Being important drivers of change, children and young people are essential partners and contributors to both the development and implementation of UNICEF’s Country Programme 2024-2026. With a new and ambitious programme, UNICEF intends to be deliberate and committed in fully involving children and young people in creating the solutions to accelerate the realization and respect of their rights and driving change forward, including through U-Report.

How can you make a difference?

This role will strengthen the capacity of the Benin Country Office to develop, implement and monitor effective and engaging advocacy campaigns and programmes involving young people. Under the supervision of the Communication, Advocacy and Youth Engagement Specialist, the Youth Engagement Officer provides professional technical assistance and support for the design, planning and implementation, management and evaluation of youth engagement programme and project activities. The role will be responsible for supporting the development and implementation of youth advocacy campaign strategies and programmes; identifying partnership opportunities; developing and disseminating campaign content; monitoring and reporting on campaign results; advising on ways to grow UNICEF’s advocacy and youth engagement; and providing creative engagement opportunities and reaching new audiences

through partnerships. UNICEF Benin launched U-Report in 2021. To date, there are more than 135,000 U-Reporters. The Youth Engagement Officer will also be responsible for expanding and promoting U-Report and ensuring the platform is well integrated into programmatic interventions and results.

This staff member will drive the development of effective, integrated strategies for youth engagement in advocacy, campaigning and programmatic interventions. They will work collaboratively with colleagues across teams, as well as with external partners, to create meaningful opportunities for young people to take action in support of children’s rights through UNICEF’s campaigns and priority initiatives. The staff member will provide technical supervision to national UNVs working on youth engagement, including those positioned in UNICEF Benin field offices.

Duties include:

1. Youth Engagement strategy development and implementation:

• Participate in the development and implementation of robust youth engagement strategies, with SMART outcomes, compelling calls to action, and a clear theory of change. Analyze political, economic and cultural trends, conduct audience analysis and market research as relevant and identify potential opportunities and challenges. Propose new approaches and innovative ideas as part of the strategy development process.

2. Youth Communication content development:

• Design and implement effective communication plans that will deliver the aims of key youth engagement strategies that will mobilize young people for the cause of children.

3. Youth Engagement Platform management:

• Provide technical guidance on content moderation, community management, content creation and M&E for youth focused digital platforms/communities.

4. U-Report country coordination:

• Coordination of local U-report programme implementation and design actions and polls, liaising with programme teams and country partners.

5. Youth Advocates:

• Lead implementation of a local Youth Advocates programme, including: identifying potential youth advocates; designing and implementing their workplans; developing communication plans; liaising with NYHQ; supporting youth advocates in preparation for events/media; documenting learnings and successes.

6. Safeguarding and participation:

• Ensure adherence to principles of child/youth participation and safeguarding in the development/implementation of all campaigns, communication products and platforms.

7. Youth Engagement M&E:

• Establish baselines against which results are regularly monitored. Liaise with monitoring specialists to identify campaign KPIs and set up tracking systems. Prepare campaign reports, including milestone reports, progress reports and final reports, and liaise with the relevant teams, divisions and partners for report content.

8. Project and budget management:

• Coordinate day-to-day delivery of key projects/ workstreams, reviewing work plans to ensure progress and delivery while addressing obstacles and bottlenecks. Ensure effectiveness and transparent use of budget and resources.

9. Youth Engagement capacity building & Knowledge Management:

• Contribute to building internal UNICEF capacities in youth engagement, through coaching, training and sharing of expertise.

10. Stakeholder engagement:

• Identify, build and maintain formal and informal partnerships and networks through proactive collaboration with strategic internal and external partners. Conduct mappings of key stakeholders on the campaign focus issues; identify the relevant stakeholders for potential partnership with UNICEF; prepare partnership materials and briefs and support partnership management and communication.

11. Others:

• Undertake other key responsibilities as required.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• University degree in Communications, Marketing, Journalism, International Relations, International Development, Sociology or another related field.
• At least one (1) year of progressively responsible and relevant professional work experience in advocacy, campaigning, programme implementation and communication focused on young people is required.
• Experience in leading the development and implementation of gender-sensitive youth engagement strategies, with specific, measurable and timebound objectives and performance indicators.
• Proven experience in deploying a range of advocacy and communication tactics for young people, vulnerable youth and girls in particular.

• Experience in building and maintaining a network of stakeholders, and in working with coalitions.

  Strong communicator with emphasis on being able to present complex ideas in succinct, engaging ways through campaign narratives and creative tactics.

• Experience in managing social media accounts and contributing to other forms of digital media.
• Excellent communication skills (writing, speaking) to write impactful articles, stories, reports.
• Demonstrated experience in design and management of projects, including budget management and monitoring and evaluation of results.
• Knowledge of children’s rights, public policy, international development and humanitarian issues.
• Knowledge of child safeguarding and ethics of working with children and youth.
• Experience working in a developing and emergency environment and designing and implementing youth programming in response to emergencies and to promote social cohesion.
• Experience coordinating, collaborating or implementing U-Report-related activities and programmes.
• Experience using Rapidpro and other related software/platforms for two-way communication mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience using data and statistics (surveys, polls, focus groups, etc) to inform policy and decision-makers.
• Experience in advocacy at the international level is an asset.
• Experience in training and facilitation is an asset.
• Experience in managing remote teams or coordinating groups, including groups of youth, will be considered an asset.
• Fluency in French and English is required. Knowledge of a 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…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

[add the 8th competency (Nurtures, leads and manages people) for supervisory role]

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, nationality, 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.

Remarks:

[Remove below text if not a child safeguarding elevated risk role]

[If applicable] This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is:a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert diversity profile] are encouraged to apply.

[If Applicable] Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.