Youth & Adolescent Development Specialist, NOC, Thimphu, Bhutan (Fixed Term Appointment) #00085938

• Participate and/or conduct/update situation analysis and assessments to establish age and sex disaggregated evidence-based data for UNICEF advocacy and development of policies, frameworks, and programs to promote adolescent and youth development and participation in the country.
• Assess national/regional/international development priorities to identify opportunities and strategies and courses of action to enhance the delivery of services and achievement of objectives on adolescent and youth development and participation.
• Work in coordination with Child protection, SBC, Gender, Communication, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social policy, Social Protection, WASH/Climate, Planning, Emergency and Monitoring & Evaluation to support development of strategic framework for adolescents and young people.
• Participate in CO program formulation, planning and preparation to provide input, advice and operational support on the integration of cross sectoral policies and framework that promote adolescents’ and young people’s development and participation. This includes the processes of SMR and CPD formulation.
• Ensure alignment of adolescent policies, frameworks and interventions with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plans and coherence/integration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), and regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Lead on establishing specific goals, objectives and strategies and implementation plans for adolescent and youth development and participation programs/projects across all sectors using results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare relevant documentation for program review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with internal/external colleagues and partners and stakeholders to discuss strategies and methodologies that enhance the realization of adolescents and young people’s rights across all sectors and to promote partnerships and alliances on adolescent development and participation including partnerships with adolescents and young people themselves, and partnerships with the private sector.
• Ensure that the voices of adolescents and children are systematically taken into consideration in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme cycle.

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Provide technical leadership to generate knowledge on the situation of adolescents and youth, support sector specific analysis of data on adolescents and improve utilization of sex and age disaggregated data within UNICEF monitoring and evaluation tools and among partners.
• Submit/prepare proposals, program/project reports to donors and other partners to raise resources for adolescent and youth interventions with focus on young people’s transition from learning to earning, volunteering for positive social impact and civic engagement, and keep donors informed on program progress and critical issues.
• Plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish age/sex disaggregated benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and projects.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results for adolescents.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Plan, monitor and oversee the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity.
• Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources

Advisory, technical and operational support for programme implementation

• Lead on providing technical advice and strategic guidance to key government officials, NGO, UN system and other country office partners on policies, strategies, best practices and approaches on adolescent development and participation to support program development, conceptualizing, planning, implementation and delivery of results in adolescents’ and young people’s skills development and learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
• Participate in strategic discussions, meetings and other international/national meetings and workshops to provide evidence-based papers and inputs on adolescent development and participation to influence policy and agenda setting. This will include close technical collaboration with specialized agencies such as the World Bank and international financial institutions.
• Lead on preparation of policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and consideration in development discussion and planning relating to youth and adolescents.
• Lead discussion with local government, community leaders, and national partners to promote concept of child/youth participatory planning in the national, district and community level including promotion of civic engagement and participation of young people in community development.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Lead advocacy and policy drive for adolescent rights and programming within the country office, with other UN and government and non-government partners based on improved evidence and data. In collaboration with UNCT Youth group, lead on the initiation of a Public-Private-Youth Partnership to support young people’s learning, skilling, social inclusion and transition to decent work.
• Work in close collaboration with the UNICEF Regional Youth and Adolescents’ team and the global UNICEF Generation Unlimited team to generate learning and evidence to support further fundraising and mutual learning.
• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships through networking and advocacy with local/national governments, UN system agency partners, donors, internationally recognized institutions, NGOs, funding organization, research institutes, youth led organizations and private sector to reinforce cooperation and/or pursue opportunities to promote goals and achieve sustainable and broad results on UNICEF’s adolescent development and participation initiatives.
• Contribute to the preparation of advocacy and communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and to ensure that adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives are adequately resourced and supported.
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on adolescent development and participation to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNSDCF development planning and agenda setting process. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues the UNSDCF planning and preparation of programs/projects including emergency preparedness.
• Build networks and connections with other youth volunteers including scout volunteers, climate change organizations, and government agencies to advocate for youth involvement in climate change decision-making processes and to amplify the impact of climate change initiatives.
• Design and implement programs that educate and engage adolescents in climate change, environmental conservation, and disaster risk reduction, considering their unique needs and interests.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Promote, document, and disseminate critical thinking initiatives, innovative approaches and good practices on adolescent and youth development and participation initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory, with focus on adolescents’ and young people’s skills development, learning to earning transition and civic engagement.
• Contribute to fostering and nurturing an “intrapreneurial” and innovation-focused mind-set in the team, in partnerships with other sections and the wider UN and private sector partnerships, actively exploring, developing and promoting promising new ways of addressing bottlenecks in young people’s skills activation and civic engagement,
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, introduce and implement best and cutting-edge practices on adolescent and youth development related issues with focus on skills development and activation. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned to support development, planning, implementation and scale up.
• Contribute to the development of policies, procedures and programmes and introduce innovation and best practices that promote the rights of adolescents and youth and enhances their development and participation as active members of society and their community. This would include innovative partnerships with the private sector and exploring possibilities for innovative/impact financing of adolescents’ and youths’ initiatives.
• Organize/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of a wide range of internal and external partners/stakeholders to achieve sustainable results on adolescent development and participation programs and initiatives.

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