BACKGROUND:
The IRC Child and Youth Protection and Development (CYPD) Unit currently has programs in conflict and post conflict situations in over 20 countries around the globe. Our programming approach is one that promotes and supports the realization of the rights of children and young people. Programs include formal and non-formal education, life skills, vocational training and enterprise development for youth, as well as holistic support for children involved in the worst forms of child labor. All programs adopt an approach that is designed to promote the psychosocial well-being of conflict-affected children and young people and include expanding opportunities for participation.
SCOPE OF WORK:
The Technical Advisor for Youth & Livelihoods will take a lead role in providing technical support, guidance, and training to a number of IRC country programs, particularly in the Middle East and Horn and East Africa, to improve and develop IRC’s work with children and youth in conflict affected populations, both in the immediate emergency phase through to our post-conflict work. He/she will be responsible for enhancing the scope, impact and quality of IRC’s programs involving technical and vocational education and training, youth micro-enterprise development, life skills and youth participation. Improved design, monitoring, publication of strategies and tools, staff training and capacity building are considered key components in achieving these objectives.
By working closely with the country teams, through regular field visits and communication, the Technical Advisor will support the development of new proposals and planning for program growth to effectively address the needs of this sector of the population. He/she will also play a role in liaising with and influencing donors, in terms of recognizing and funding activities to address the needs of children and youth.
The Technical Advisor will work with staff from other sectors such as health economic recovery etc, to improve access and relevance of all services for young people.
The Technical Advisor will report to the Senior Technical Advisor for Youth and Livelihoods. The location for this position is NewYork/ Washington DC.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
- PROVIDE ON-GOING DIRECT TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO YOUTH & LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMS
- Be the primary provider of Technical Support and guidance for youth and livelihood programming in selected Field Programs (in 6-8 countries), in accordance with IRC’s Technical Support package, with a particular emphasis on design, monitoring and resource publications. This will be done through:
- Regular communication with the field through phone and email;
- Field visits, to monitor implementation, deliver technical support to field staff, conduct trainings, provide resources, make clear recommendations on ways to strengthen programs and share learning across programs.
- Writing and publishing resources for field programs in relation to design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Support HR in recruitment for positions in the field (international staff, interns and consultants): assist with developing job descriptions, conduct technical interviews and provide feedback.
- Be the primary provider of Technical Support and guidance for youth and livelihood programming in selected Field Programs (in 6-8 countries), in accordance with IRC’s Technical Support package, with a particular emphasis on design, monitoring and resource publications. This will be done through:
- DEVELOP STRATEGIES AND TOOLS:
- With the full participation of field programs, contribute to the development/ revision of best practice guides, manuals and other technical resources to improve the quality of IRC’s youth & livelihoods programs;
- Solicit feedback from field staff about their resource needs, and research and identify relevant support materials for field staff and expand the resource library and promote improved access to this material for field staff;
- Work with other technical units to support the development of guidance and resource materials, which ensure other sectors and cross cutting programs explicitly recognize children and youth and incorporate their participation.
- FUNDRAISING/ PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT
- Lead the development of the business development strategy for Y&L in the Middle East, and contribute to business development in the Horn and East Africa, including, conducting stakeholder analysis and identifying potential partnership opportunities; developing sound technical designs proposals; identifying research and evaluation priorities;
- Supporting design of proposals and the development of good monitoring plans; directly engaging in the design and development of large RFAs, RFPs, IQCs and other proposals, and drafting, reviewing and edit other proposals on an on-going basis.
- REPRESENT IRC AT RELEVANT FORA
- Identify priority networks and external fora on Youth and Livelihoods issues.
- Represent IRC in selected internal IRC meetings and in selected interagency and donor meetings, workshops and conferences
- Regularly provide briefings on CYPD programs, emerging issues and political developments in our areas of operation, to a range of audiences, including IRC staff, donors, the media, UN agencies, inter-agency networks, and new recruits.
- CYPD TECHNICAL UNIT SUPPORT/ DEVELOPMENT
- Participate in CYPD TU strategic planning, special projects, meetings, communications material development, intra-net content development.
- Respond to requests for information about CYPD programs from IRC colleagues from various departments and field programs;
- Undertake special projects as requested.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Masters degree in Education, Economics, Social Work, Psychology, Anthropology, or another, related, social sciences field (International Affairs, etc.);
- 5 years related work experience;
- Proven technical expertise in delivering and managing youth and livelihoods programs, including some significant experience in implementing programs overseas, preferably in conflict or disaster affected environments;
- Proven technical expertise in one of more of the following areas: enterprise development, ICT, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, microfinance;
- Knowledge of youth development-focused work in both humanitarian and post-conflict settings;
- The ability to travel extensively to developing countries;
- Excellent writing and editing skills:
- the ability to draft and edit proposals;
- the ability to write and publish technical resources to support design and implementation of youth and livelihood programming;
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills: the ability to successfully listen to, interact with, and communicate clearly with people from diverse nationalities and backgrounds;
- Solid organizational skills: the ability to work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment;
- Flexible work attitude: the ability to work productively in a team environment & independently;
- French and Arabic language skills are a plus, but not required;
- Excellent Computer skills: MS Word, Excel, Power Point, and database software.
To apply for this position please go online to http://www.theIRC.org, click “Jobs” and search for the position.
Malnutrition rates continue to climb throughout the world, and food/nutritional security interventions, particularly those targeting children, are increasingly turning to foreign food aid donations, economic development interventions, and agricultural subsidy programs to address the problem of malnutrition. Donors and implementers alike are asking whether the solutions to these problems lie in interventions involving fortification (adding nutrients to food), nutritional supplementation (provision of vitamins), commercialization (growing food on large scale to be sold in the market), and provision of food aid and therapeutic food (free or subsidized provision of food); or in promoting the use of local resources and traditional knowledge in local gardening or subsistence farming.
Operating in an HIV/AIDS-affected context magnifies the urgency of resolving these questions. People living with HIV (PLWHIV) are often at risk for food and nutritional insecurity due to the disease’s negative effect on individual and family resources. In response to this risk, Project Concern International organized the Africa Forum 2009 to strengthen the collective efforts of organizations working on the African continent in the areas of HIV/AIDS and Food and Nutritional Security. At the Forum, practitioners engaged in a debate about whether local gardens or fortification/supplementation/commercialization provide the most effective ways to address food and nutritional security in the context of HIV/AIDS. As with similar dialogues within and among organizations around the world, the debate at the Africa Forum generated much discussion, but little consensus.
The debate addressed questions such as:
- Can small-scale household gardens really meet the nutritional demands of the world’s increasing population, or are outside interventions necessary?
- Are nutritional intervention programs necessary for children in urban communities that lack access to land for farming and gardening?
- How do these two different approaches to food and nutritional security fit into the larger picture of sustainable development?
- Don’t children with specific diseases, such as HIV, require addition nutritional supplementation that cannot be obtained from simple household gardening systems?
- Are there particular situations where food aid and supplementation are appropriate?
- With the current downturn in the global economy, don’t people need safety nets to ensure health and nutrition?
A particular sticking point for participants was whether dire short-term needs or the demand for long-term sustainability should underpin the decision on which food and nutritional security approach to employ.
Arguments for greater use of food aid, nutritional supplementation, fortification, direct food transfers and commercial agricultural systems concluded that in the short term and the long term they are simply a cheaper – and easier – way to get food and nutrition to thousands of people, especially children. Gardens are risky: they take a long time to grow, they cannot be easily implemented at scale, they require energy to maintain that PLWHIV do not have or need to direct to other income-generating activities, and they need resources such as water, fertile soil and good quality seeds and seedlings, which may be hard to access. Furthermore, specific diseases such as HIV/AIDS, or specific circumstances such as pregnancy, require additional nutritional supplementation and therapeutic food, which cannot be obtained from simple household gardening systems. These are also often essential as immediate forms of treatment when situations reach their most dire: when children could die if they do not receive the nutrition from therapeutic food that they need; when people have illnesses that require special nutritional needs; and in post-conflict or post-natural disaster situations where there has been large population displacement.
The argument for local gardens countered that thousands of local resources can be used for foods and natural medicines. Furthermore, when food needs become dependent on outside funding and food provision, communities are vulnerable to external economic fluctuations, which local gardens can help guard against. Participants brought up cases of poor practices in the provision of food aid, such as long-term provision of minimally nutritious food. In terms of concerns about inputs and resources associated with gardens, it was argued that gardens require less space than people assume: “functional landscaping,” which utilizes all available space to grow food and takes advantage of the fact that many kinds of produce can be grown with little soil, opens gardening up to those who have little access to land, including households in urban areas. In addition, gardening has the potential to be accessible through organizations such as hospitals, churches, and schools. Gardening that utilizes local resources that have adapted to growing conditions over thousands of years helps eliminate the need for purchased seed and agricultural inputs such as synthetic fertilizer, hybrid seeds, and other chemicals. Gardening also carries benefits such as diversifying food crops, which is beneficial to households nutritionally. With a 12-month growing season, gardeners in Africa have the potential to access fresh food year-round with minimal need for cash, and the potential to expand production to the point of being able to sell produce as well as consume it.
Participants did come to one point of agreement: the issue is not one of selecting one approach over another, but marrying household food production with supplementation, fortification, direct food transfers, therapeutic foods, and commercialization in a way that is sustainable and meets communities’ and children’s needs. Identifying the best paths to achieving this goal, however, continues to challenge practitioners.
This post was written by Margie Brand and Jennine Carmichael. It draws on information presented during a debate at the Africa Forum 2009, led by Kristoff Nordin and Margie Brand.
- Margie Brand is Program Director for the USAID STRIVE program and Founder of EcoVentures International (EVI). She is an experienced trainer, author, speaker, and curriculum developer in the areas of innovative environmental and youth livelihood development.
- Kristoff Nordin has been living and working in Malawi, Africa in the areas of sustainable agriculture and health for more than a decade. Kristoff and his wife, Stacia, a registered dietician, have identified hundreds of local food plants that can be easily and freely utilized, but are often neglected due to stigma, outside influences, and an ever-growing loss of traditional knowledge.
