About SHOFCO

SHOFCO combats gender inequality and extreme poverty in urban slums by linking tuition-free schools for girls to holistic social services for all. The SHOFCO model elevates girls while connecting community transformation to women's empowerment. Our ecosystem of services enables everyone to reach their full potential. Our holistic services change communities today: we improve health, provide economic opportunity, work to end gender-based violence and create sanitation systems that offer dignity. Tomorrow, our girls will become next-generation leaders, disrupting the systems that hold poverty in place.

Job Pupose

SHOFCO is seeking a Youth Engagement Manager to provide technical leadership and support for the Youth Voice Project that aims to empower youth to advance their own civic and social development across 40 counties in Kenya. The Manager is responsible for collaboratively leading youth civic engagement strategies and platforms, including setting up youth interest groups at local levels that coalesce into representative youth coalitions at national level that will become a sustainable platform for youth to advocate for their right in Kenya.  In partnership with youth and other key stakeholders s/he will facilitate the strategy development and implementation of crosscutting youth mobilization, advocacy, community engagement and social behavioral change activities raising and integrating youth voices in the overall development efforts of the counties and the country, and ensuring inclusion of young women and other marginalized youth. This position requires strong project management and coordination skills, technical knowledge in youth civic engagement and development activities, deep youth networks, and extensive experience of cultivating and establishing partnerships.

The Youth Engagement Manager will support and coordinate the project with other Project Leads to ensure an integrated package of services for youth, addressing their civic engagement and social development needs. She/he will be responsible for providing all demanded and needed support to the assigned teams to reach the targets, planned results and impact.

Location- Nairobi

Reports to-SUN Director

Monday – Friday | 8.00 AM – 5.00 PM

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership and guidance ensuring meaningful youth participation and engagement, advocacy, community involvement, social behavioral change, and gender interventions are integrated, high quality and evidence-based
• Provide overall leadership and coordination of the youth mobilization, youth civic engagement activities, youth group formation, youth coalition formation and rollout of youth advocacy activities and the overall meaningful engagement of youth throughout the project life cycle
• Identify youth and gender knowledge gaps and training needs, design training and capacity building interventions to ensure these needs are met and support team in delivery
• Lead design and implementation of evidence-based youth inclusion, engagement and youth led advocacy strategies with well-developed SOPs
• Design and implement key strategies to increase engagement of youth with key stakeholders including national partners, local collaborators, organizations, youth networks and individual leaders at each local, regional and national levels
• Engage and advocate for youth inclusion in county and national policy review and formulation ensuring that county governments develop youth responsive policies and strategies
• Develop and implement capacity strengthening plans to enhance the capacity of project staff, young people, youth networks and youth-serving organizations
• Provide strategic direction of the organization’s shift to becoming youth-centric and assist with the development and refinement of an organizational youth policy document
• Oversee the development and implementation of all project activities across multiple issues including social development, peace and security, education, health, economic development, and others;
• Oversee and ensure that gender equality is integrated across all project thematic areas.

Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Lead in the development and review of advocacy, community involvement and program work plans, quarterly, biannual and annual reports; in consultation with the Program Directors, update the monthly, quarterly and annual plan of action and share with relevant staff
• Work with the M&E unit to develop monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems that will effectively capture progress towards results and that will ensure consistent monitoring of program activities being implemented
• Contribute to the development and timely submission of written reports, preparing periodic update reports on successes and challenges facing the project, as well as its progress
• Work with project leadership to support continuous project learning and ensure integration of measurement, evaluation, and research into management decision-making

Partnership, Networking, and Collaboration

• Oversee establishment of strategic partnerships and alliances with youth movements and groups, and build relationships at the county, regional and national, regional levels
• Work very closely with stakeholders including government and private sector to advocate and influence organizations to be youth friendly and meaningfully engage youth in their organizations
• Represent the project in collaborative platforms with government, CBOs and NGOs to promote the project;
• In collaboration with other project leads, promote effective communication and coordination across the organizational structure to ensure integrated youth services;
• Establish, cultivate, and maintain relationships with the youth ecosystem of project actors, including the public sector, community-based organizations, local governments and civil society

Staff Supervision

• Directly supervise project staff as assigned, and provide ongoing support through coaching, performance evaluations, and feedback for achievement of project objectives and goals

• Minimum of 4 years of experience designing and implementing youth integration and empowerment systems specific to the role above, with at least two years of senior level experience demonstrating strategic leadership
• Experience in youth program management, particularly in youth mobilization and meaningful youth engagement skills: working knowledge of youth civic engagement issues and also government priorities
• Experience cultivating relationships and collaborating with a variety of Kenyan stakeholders including youth, government ministries and officials, NGOs, donors, the private sector, and community-based institutions
• Experience developing and implementing effective capacity strengthening models and approaches for local organizations and individuals
• Experience working collaboratively with teams from diverse backgrounds

• Strong presentation, reporting, and communication skills
• Must be a self-directed, highly organized person who can effectively prioritize and follow through on multiple initiatives simultaneously

All applications to be submitted before 11th December 2022.

NOTE TO ALL APPLICANTS

Please be truthful when answering the questionnaire and provide working contacts. All Applicants must provide at least three professional references.SHOFCO is an equal opportunity employer and does not require applicants to pay any fee at whatever stage of the recruitment and selection process. We, therefore, advise the general public to exercise due diligence when applying for employment.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.