National Project Coordinator - Digital Jobs for refugee youth and host communities NOB (DC)

Introduction

While forcibly displaced persons face specific vulnerabilities, including psychological trauma, lack of opportunity and protection risks, host communities also struggle to pursue their own development efforts in an environment that has been transformed by a large influx of newcomers. As displacement has become increasingly protracted, responses are focusing more on durable solutions backed by more dignified, inclusive and comprehensive programmes for refugees and the communities that host them.

In response to the challenges facing both host communities and refugees, a new partnership initiative titled: ‘PROSPECTS - Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons’, has been launched by the Government of the Netherlands that brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. The Partnership has a four-year initial time horizon (2019-2023) where partners will join their efforts to develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises in 8 countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Sudan, and Uganda).

PROSPECTS Kenya
The overall objective of PROSPECTS in Kenya is to improve the living standards and inclusiveness of refugees, asylum-seekers and vulnerable host communities, by contributing to the expansion of socio-economic opportunities through better education and mainstreamed protection interventions.

With a geographical focus on Turkana and Garissa Counties, PROSPECTS Kenya will work under three main pillars. The first pillar, Education and Learning focuses on increasing the number of forcibly displaced persons and host communities with quality education and training. The second pillar on Employment with Dignity seeks to increase the number of forcibly displaced persons and host communities with enhanced livelihoods and/or employment in decent work through improvements in labour market governance supporting transition to and entry into employment and formalisation. The third pillar on Protection and Inclusion aims at increasing protection, social protection and inclusion for forcibly displaced persons and host communities through strengthening of legal, policy and enabling environment for protection, social protection and inclusion.

.

The digital economy continues to emerge as a key driver for the creation of decent jobs especially for Kenya’s youth. The country has adopted the Digital Economy Blue Print of 2019 providing a framework to leverage digital government, digital business, infrastructure, innovation-driven entrepreneurship and digital skills and values. This also presents opportunities for refugees and host community members to access jobs in the digital labour market. Fully harnessing these opportunities requires to improve access to quality education and skills development as well as stimulating labour demand and access to digital labour markets within and beyond refugee camps. To achieve this, the ILO and UNHCR are working towards a digital revolution for refugee and host community youth in Kenya underpinned by three interrelated outcomes: i) boosting market-oriented digital skills, ii) easing youth transitions to jobs in the digital economy through enhanced labour market intermediation services and iii) supporting digitally skilled youth to access quality jobs in the digital economy. These outcomes will also support the ILO’s efforts to more broadly strengthen knowledge, action and impact for youth employment in the digital economy in Africa.  

Reporting Lines:
Under overall guidance of the Country Office (CO) Director, the National Project Coordinator will report directly to the Programme Manager (PM) in Kenya for all operational, technical and administrative issues to ensure delivery of technical-related outputs and overall project implementation. S/he will also receive additional technical support from relevant specialists from the Decent Work Team (DWT) Pretoria, the Regional Office for Africa (ROAF), the Employment, Labour Markets and Youth Branch (EMPLAB) and relevant other HQ branches and departments, PROSPECTS Regional Specialists, CO Dar-es-Salaam as required

Description of Duties

• In coordination with the Programme Manager, assess policy frameworks, digital labour market trends and employment priorities in the refugee hosting counties to inform and design project interventions.
• Engage with training institutions, TVET agencies, relevant county departments , the social partners and  other stakeholders to identify entry points for the implementation of market driven digital skills training approaches.
• Engage with digital work platforms in Kenya and support the creation of the Digital Jobs Council to boost communication and sharing of good practices among platforms, ILO constituents and other relevant stakeholder with a view to enhancing the capacity of platform to engage young refugees and strengthen practices for a transition to decent work
• Review practices and opportunities to enhance e-commerce among young entrepreneurs in refugees camps and host communities and secure synergies with other streams of work of PROSPECTS and other local and development partners.
• Initiate and maintain partnerships with organisations working on digital jobs and skills and build synergies with other such initiatives in Kenya with particular focus host communities and refugees
• In coordination with the PM and ROAF support effective collaboration and partnerships with related ILO initiatives on boosting youth employment in the digital economy, with a focus on the ILO/ITU joint programme in Africa.
• Support the effective management of funds/budgets allocated to the programme, in accordance with ILO rules and regulations.
• Support efforts to strengthen relationships to cooperate and coordinate with government ministries, employers' and workers' organizations, non-governmental organizations, other development organizations, target groups and donors in the planning and implementation of programme activities.
• Provide technical guidance and support in the capacity building of project partners to facilitate knowledge, awareness and smoother implementation of digital economy programmes and initiatives.
• In consultation with the PM, support efforts to develop information databases covering programme activities; prepare periodic and ad hoc reports on the implementation status and coordinate with concerned ILO offices, departments and programmes.
• Representation of the ILO in meetings related to the project as well as other related meetings with other UN agencies (including UNDAF processes), donors field visits and thematic donor meetings, county level as well as Sector meetings of tripartite partners. Similarly, leverage the leading role of the ILO in the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth.
• Any other duties as assigned by the Programme Manager.

Required qualifications

Education

A first level university degree in development, social science, economics, education, labour or a related discipline/field.

Experience

The successful candidate should have three years of professional experience in the area of project design, management and implementation. Familiarity with ILO policies, technical programmes and procedures, including experience working with the United Nations, Ministries of Labour, Education, Trade or other government Ministries Departments and Agencies, would be an added advantage, as would experience working in crisis and refugee settings. Prior experience with youth employment programmes and projects and/or development projects focused on job creation in the digital economy are considered assets.

Languages

Excellent command of English and good knowledge of another official language of the duty station or in the targeted areas of field operations.

Competencies

• Proven ability to take ownership of all responsibilities, to act with integrity and transparency by maintaining social, ethical and organisational norms, and to meet all commitments within the prescribed time, cost and quality standards.
• Ability to develop clear strategic goals consistent with the programme’s objectives, and to design and synthesise strategies for programme development.
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
• Ability to work effectively in a team and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to synthesise research and reach empirically based conclusions on related subjects by understanding both the qualitative and quantitative approaches in social science research.
• Ability to promote a knowledge-sharing and learning culture in the office.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write accurate reports and to build networks to obtain cooperation with partners.
• Excellent computer/information application skills, including word processing, excel, power point etc.
• Ability to maintain effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or environment, and to adjust effectively to work within new work structures, processes, requirements or cultures.
• Drive to seek or encourage others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to organisation challenges and opportunities for improvement.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviour and attitudes.
• Good knowledge of ILO programme and budget, project formulation and evaluation techniques and practices as well as good knowledge of ILO Social Partners.