Inclusion and Youth Engagement Advisor

Professional Alliance for Development (PADet) is an indigenous, not-for-profit; a nongovernmental humanitarian organization established in 1998. It has been serving disadvantaged and marginalized segments of the community especially youth, women children in the areas of Reproductive Health HIV/AIDs Prevention and Care, Child Protection, Women Development and Livelihood &Food Securities for the last 25 years.

Project Background

PADet, as a consortium partner in a program led by SNV and funded by Mastercard Foundation will be implementing an anticipated flagship program focused on enabling 112,000 Rural young women (RYW) to access dignified and fulfilling jobs in Eastern Amhara regions. The program will target high-potential agricultural value chains (e.g., horticulture, poultry, dairy), using a market systems development approach. So PADet needs to recruit qualified and competent candidates in the following job opportunities.

Job title: Inclusion and Youth Engagement Advisor

Grade level: IX

Location: Field office/Dessie

Report to: Cluster Coordinator

Number of staff required: 1

Position Summary:

 The position holder will be responsible for the implementation of inclusive strategies that ensure the active participation and benefit of rural young women (RYW), persons with disabilities, returnees, and other marginalized youth. Working under the supervision of the cluster coordinator and in collaboration with zonal and woreda facilitators, TVETs, OSSCs, and local institutions, the advisor will ensure that information on business and employment opportunities are accessible to all project participants (rural young women, persons with disability and others). The position needs to actively engage in skills training, entrepreneurship, and employment opportunities and YSLA formation. The role strengthens youth voice and leadership by supporting Youth Advisory Groups (YAG) and other facilitating platforms for meaningful engagement in program planning and decision-making for meaningful employment creation of unemployed rural young women.

Key Responsibilities:

• Implement inclusive community outreach and mobilization strategies that ensure effective targeting, registration, and enrolment of RYW, Persons with Disabilities, returnees, and other marginalized youth into the program, and support their progression into enterprise formation and skill training.
• Play lead role in identification of social, cultural, and systemic barriers for inclusion and develop context-specific strategies to overcome these problems.
• Support the implementation of a comprehensive strategy of YSLA approach including targeting, group formation processes, and guidance on group lifecycle and sustainability.
• Support woreda facilitators to Identify, recruit, and provide orientation to YSLA facilitators based on clear selection criteria, ensuring their active engagement and readiness to support group formation and facilitation activities.
• Implement targeted inclusion interventions, including but not limited to facilitating access to assistive devices, reasonable accommodations, adapting training venues for accessibility, and coordinating tailored support services, to ensure full and meaningful participation of Persons with Disabilities in all program activities.
• Provide support to skill training providers, BDS providers and other public and private actors to integrate inclusive mechanisms (e.g., reasonable accommodation and facilities, mobility aids) into their services.
• Facilitate youth voice platforms (YAG, youth associations) to ensure active participation of youth in general and RYW and marginalized youth in particular in program planning, decision-making, and feedback processes at local and cluster levels.
• Lead efforts to ensure youth are consulted and represented in local decision-making such as MSP platforms, planning, strategy designing, monitoring and evaluation process.
• Provide technical support and capacity strengthening to woreda facilitators, local actors, and institutions in the design and delivery of inclusive programming.
• Ensure that youth engagement activities are sensitive to the diverse needs of young women and Persons with Disabilities.
• Foster partnerships with local government offices, TVETs, OSSCs, CBOs, and organizations working with persons with disabilities.
• Facilitate collaboration among key actors to support policy and system-level changes that promote inclusion and youth empowerment.
• Collect and document success stories, and case studies related to inclusion and youth engagement.
• Monitor the quality and effectiveness of inclusion strategies and adapt as needed based on feedback and evidence.
• Contribute to the broader goals of the cluster team, supporting cross-sector collaboration and integrated implementation.
• Undertake other tasks as assigned to support program implementation and results.

Qualifications and experience:

• Master’s /BA degree in youth development, Social Development, Sociology, or related field.
• Minimum 4 years of relevant professional experience in inclusion, youth engagement, and community-based programming, particularly with a focus on rural youth and Persons with Disabilities.
• Strong experience in community outreach and mobilization.
• Practical experience in inclusive programming and disability mainstreaming.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a diverse, multi-disciplinary team.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Proven track record in knowledge management, M&E, and participatory learning approaches.
• Culturally sensitive with adaptability to diverse environments and complex contexts
• Demonstrated capacity to work with local stakeholders, TVETs, OSSCs, Disability organizations and government institutions.
• Experience working with youth associations and facilitating youth platforms,
• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, and communication skills.
• Fluency in English is required

Personal Competency:

• Willingness to work extra working hours and weekends with staff.
• Highly motivated, self-managed and Strategic oriented.
• High level commitment to achieve project goal and Objectives.
• Able to work with minimum supervision.
• Ability to prepare and submit quality reports timely