UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Organizational context

South Sudan is endowed with vast natural resources and economic potential that has not translated into improved standards of living for the citizens. This is due to ongoing conflicts which have roots in political contestation for power and are both fueling and causing poverty, high unemployment, and the absence of economic opportunities for the predominantly youthful population. For young countries like South Sudan, the youth bulge poses a threat to the volatile peace and security situation especially if young people are not engaged and assisted to be economically productive members of society. By enabling them to meet their needs and that of their families and dependents, youths will not need to resort to criminality or violence.

With the influx of returnees due to the Sudan Crisis, the government is challenged to ensure that more South Sudanese are absorbed into the labor market. Reintegrating South Sudan’s 1.6 million internally displaced, 2.3 million refugees into the labor market is a major challenge that requires immediate interventions through the creation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development that will serve as avenues for youth to have jobs and income. Thus, improving the enabling environment to encourage the establishment and sustainability of youth entrepreneurship and start-ups is required.

One of the strategic priority interventions in the UNDP Country Programme Document {2022-2024) is the Youth Enterprise Development and Capacity Building (YEDCB) project. The YEDCB project aims to enhance employability and job creation for young women and men aged 18-35 years in South Sudan through the strengthening of the private sector, the building of entrepreneurship skills, and improvement in the enabling environment. The objectives of the project are to: (i) increase the employability of youth by facilitating access to skills development, business development support, and financing; and (ii) enhance public service delivery through institutional and human capacity development.

The project seeks to ensure that youth with the potential to grow as entrepreneurs are self-employed and/or create employment for others through their sustainable businesses. The said project aims to empower youth in five targeted locations of Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Upper Nile, Lake States, and Eastern Equatoria State.

The Stabilization, Recovery, and Resilience (StaRR) Unit is the unit in the UNDP CO responsible for the provision of technical assistance, programmatic guidance, development management support, and thought leadership to facilitate the transition from humanitarian and crises to recovery, resilience and development. The StaRR Unit adopts a portfolio approach in programming, establishing the complementarity and development of programmes and projects to enhance the achievement of relevant Country Programme Document (CPD) targets and focusing it on three major areas/portfolios, namely, Youth and Women Employment and Empowerment; Environment, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management; and Trade Promotion.

The Skills, Employment, and Empowerment for the Development of Youth (SEED4Youth) Project is an initiative under the Youth and Women Employment and Empowerment Portfolio of the StaRR Unit. It complements other initiatives under the youth and women employment and empowerment portfolio being implemented on the ground/states like the Youth Enterprise Development Capacity Building (YEDCB) Project, Improvement of Community Centres for Responding to Gender-based Violence (CC4GBV) Project, Rural Enterprise Agricultural Development (READ) Project, etc. The SEED4Youth Project aims to facilitate the transformation of local economies and upliftment in the well-being of vulnerable youth and women in eight target states through the improvement in the food security and income of 51,000 direct beneficiaries, as well as the recovery of state economies. It intends to empower youth and women socially and economically through the matching of industry needs and available skills, job creation, and enhancement of trade and business opportunities. The nurturing of entrepreneurial culture and market-linked skills and enhancement of employability and productive engagement in economic activities will raise the productivity and labour-absorptive capacities of agriculture and natural resource-linked value chains and private sector enterprises with a focus on young men and women.

The project will benefit 216,000 persons and transform the lives of at least 51,000 youth and women who will be directly benefiting from project interventions. Of the direct target beneficiaries, around 45,000 youth will be provided with career advice, counselling, and referral services while 30,000 youth will be trained, and their skills enhanced on both vocational and agricultural value chain trades. At least 36,000 youth will be provided with employment and livelihood opportunities and 3,000 MSEs established, formalized, provided business development support, assisted in accessing credit and financing, and integrated into the South Sudan Digital Marketplace.

The Project is implemented in Central Equatorial, Eastern Equatorial, Western Equatorial, Jonglei, Lakes, Upper Nile, Western Bahr el Gazal, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states. In this regard, UNDP is seeking to engage a Field Coordinator to coordinate and support the implementation the SEED4Youth Project.

Scope of Work:

The Field Coordinator shall be required to perform the following:

1. Programme Management and Technical Support:

• Ensure delivery and rollout of market-led vocational, agro-value-chain and livelihood, and entrepreneurial skill training for target beneficiaries including maintenance of database;
• Provide technical and strategic guidance on youth and women employment through sustainable livelihoods and/or employment services including career guidance and counselling, internship, job placements, etc;
• Guide and coordinate project staff, partners and implementers in areas relating to strategies, planning, management, implementation, and evaluation to ensure smooth progress and quality in implementation;
• Contribute to the development and improvement of vocational training, private sector development, and rural finance initiatives;
• Provide technical support to implementing partner(s) and monitor the project activities to ensure that progress is made towards achieving the objectives set in the project documents in line with the budget;
• Follow project budgets to ensure appropriate spending in accordance with donor requirements and agency policies. Keep track of spending and ensure all financial supporting documents are in place for the milestones;
• Ensure a fully functioning Integrated Hub that delivers career advice and placement, business development services, and incubates innovative ideas and approaches to business;
• Establishment of sustainable businesses (cooperatives, MSMEs, VSLAs) and job placements/employment, including the maintenance of the employment database system.

2. Programme Coordination :

• Ensure accurate records of project outputs and impacts as well as regularly report on progress, best practices, lessons learned, success stories and field observations;
• Undertake regular monitoring activities, keep track of achievements and lessons learned;
• Provide regular updates/reports of project achievements and produce human interest stories.

The following are the minimum (but not exhaustive) deliverables of the Programme Management Specialist:

• Delivery of market-led vocational, agro-value-chain and livelihood, and entrepreneurial skill training for target beneficiaries;
• Establishment of mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships with the private sector to address skills mismatch and enhance skills training and delivery through internship programs and curriculum improvement;
• Development of micro and small enterprises and VSLAs through capacity building and enhancing access to capital and markets;
• Coordinate and provide technical advice/guidance to project partners and implementers in areas concerning strategies, planning, management, implementation, and evaluation to ensure smooth progress and quality in implementation;
• Contribute and advise on the development of vocational skills training frameworks and courses/training and business ideas with key stakeholders;
• Ensure the operationalization and sustainability of the iHubs and the continued provision of   career advise and placement services;
• Support the conduct of studies and research;
• Provide administrative, logistic, and liaison support for activity implementation;
• Perform other duties and tasks as may be assigned by line manager(s).

Institutional Arrangements

As part of the StaRR Unit, the Field Coordinator will be reporting to the Chief Programme Advisor with matrix reporting to and benefiting from oversight of the STARR Unit Team Leader. S/he will work, collaborate, and coordinate on a day-to-day basis with the Programme Coordinator (SEED4Youth, YEDCB) and relevant lead staff of relevant projects (READ, CC4GBV, etc.), in close collaboration with the Project Team, STARR unit, country office program colleagues and partners.

Competencies

Core Competencies

• Achieve Result: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline;
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements;
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback;
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible;
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident;
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships;
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Direction & Strategy

• Effective decision making
  • Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources.
• Negotiation and Influence
  • Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain an advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates ‘win- win’ situations.

Business Management

• Result Based Management
  • Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus on improved performance and demonstrable results.
• Partnership Management
  • Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness

• Crisis management/Country Management Support
  • Humanitarian assessment capacity.

Partnership management

• Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding
  • Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms.

Requirements:

Minimum education requirements:

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Management, Development Studies, Technical Vocational Education, Social Sciences, or other relevant disciplines or;
• First Level University Degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the above-mentioned field in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• Up to 2 years (with Master’s degree) or Minimum 2 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in vocational, livelihood, entrepreneurial development; VLSA , cooperative development; private sector partnership; community engagement and/or relevant related field is required.

Required Skills:

• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advanced knowledge of web-based management systems such as ERP;
• Extensive knowledge of MSE and cooperative development and challenges.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:

• Experience in recovery and resilience programming in fragile contexts is desired;
• Broad understanding/experience of labour market dynamics is desired;
• Excellent coordination skills/experience in multi-sectoral programming is desired.

Language

• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English and excellent oral communication skills in Arabic are mandatory.

Disclaimer

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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