Youth Rights Associate

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.

In 2021 , the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Education Above All (EAA), and Silatech initiated a project focused on the human rights of youth: 'Working with and for youth in vulnerable situations including conflict, violence, and insecurity'. This project is aimed at empowering and mobilizing young people to stand up for their human rights by developing and disseminating a toolkit on human rights knowledge, skills, and advocacy. The first phase of the project resulted in the development of the Youth Riqhts Advocacv Toolkit, which was launched in September 2023 as the YES: Youth Empowerment System. The Toolkit is currently available in English, Arabic, French, and Spanish. In February 2024, EAA and OHCHR signed an agreement for the continuation of the project, which is focused on building the capacities of young people, including those in vulnerable situations, based on the Youth Empowerment System in three countries, including Colombia, Palestine and South Africa, as well as through organizing a Youth Rights Academy in Geneva. This post is located in the OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa, based in Pretoria. The Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) covers Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition to the staff in Pretoria, OHCHR has Human Rights Advisors in Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe and has a project with staff based in Mozambique. The Regional Office provides technical support and guidance to Resident Coordinators (RCs), UN Country Teams (UNCTs), States, national human rights institutions, civil society and other stakeholders on early warning and prevention, enhancing participation and protecting civic space, strengthening rule of law, accountability and national human rights institutions, advancing equality and non-discrimination, addressing gender-based violence, integrating human rights in sustainable development and supporting States and other stakeholders to engage with and follow up to recommendations of human rights mechanisms. The objective of this I-year Youth UNV post is to support the rollout of the Youth Empowerment System in South Africa.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Regional Representative or designate and the Coordinator of the Child and Youth Rights Unit in Geneva, the UN Youth Volunteer will carry out the following tasks: • Support with organizing various capacity-building activities and events for youth at the local and community level; • Conduct field missions in order to liaise with youth groups in different regions/communities; • Promote the Youth Empowerment System among young people through information campaigns online and offline; • Engage with youth organizations, youth platforms, national and local youth councils, and student movements to raise awareness about the Youth Empowerment System; • Collect content (e.g., photos, videos, interviews) from the project implementation activities; • Support with research and collect information pertaining to human rights matters, including their youth dimensions, from a variety of data sources (e.g. communications, publications, the press) and through remote monitoring to keep abreast of relevant issues/events in the Southern Africa Region and provide up-to-date information; • Regularly support with preparing of plans and reports to provide updates on the project implementation and the achievement of the office's strategic priorities and results; • Participate in or contribute to other project events and activities as appropriate; • Conduct trend analysis of key issues of concern to youth in South Africa and the region; • Contribute to building capacities of youth in South Africa on human rights advocacy; • Contribute to raising awareness on human rights and the Youth Empowerment System in South Africa; • Contribute to strengthening ROSA's partnerships with a wide array of stakeholders, in particular, youth organizations and movements; • Contribute towards the development of advocacy materials and analysis on youth and human rights; • Demonstrate effective interaction with colleagues and other concerned parties internally and externally; • Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment; • Provide a final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed; • Perform other tasked required or assigned by the supervisor.

Professionalism; Planning and organization; Communication; Teamwork; Interpersonal Skills;

on human rights or youth issues required. • Experience in international organizations, such as the UN, or other regional or international intergovernmental/non-governmental organizations is an asset; • Project management experience strongly desirable; • Experience of working with youth including through youth platform, youth associations, youth councils strongly desirable.

The World Bank classifies South Africa as an upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa. Yet the country is currently ranked just 109th out of 191 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). South Africa is a developing country The country is diverse in all possible aspects, from language to religion, owing to the many, many ethnicities unified in this nation. In South Africa, you can find some of the most “westernized”, wealthy, and progressive facets of the African continent, but also some of its most dire problems. The Economy of South Africa is the third largest in Africa and the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy in Africa overall. South Africa re-mains a dual economy with one of the highest and most persistent inequality rates in the world, with a consumption expenditure Gini coefficient of 0.67 in 2018. High inequality is perpetuated by a legacy of exclusion and the nature of economic growth, which is not pro-poor and does not generate sufficient jobs. The South African economy was already in a weak position when it entered the pandemic after a decade of low growth, expanding only by an average 1% percent between 2012 and 2021, leading to a contraction of income per capita of 5.6% during this period. Longstanding structural constraints, such as electricity shortages, continue to be binding. South Africa experiences regular power outages known as “load-shedding.” According the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) Travel Advisory: for South Africa, security situation in South Africa demands constant vigilance. Health hazards are HIV - throughout the country; malaria - mainly in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal provinces.

UN Volunteers is entitled to the below benefits: • A Monthly Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): ZAR 16504.74 per month; • A once off entry lumpsum of $400 at the start of the assignment; • Medical insurance; Life cover, and annual leave; • Access to all learning platforms; • A once off exit lumpsum of ZAR 1719.25 for each month served at the end of the assignment.