Africa Regional Lead – Global Opportunity Youth Network

The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) is a multi-stakeholder initiative hosted at the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions and managed in partnership with Global Development Incubator (GDI). GOYN is committed to catalyzing place-based systems shifts in communities — cities and rural districts — around the world through the creation of sustainable economic opportunities for “Opportunity Youth,” (OY) aged 15-29 who are out of school, unemployed or underemployed. Created in 2018, GOYN’s current network is comprised of sixteen communities across India, Latin America and Africa (with GOYN communities in Thies, Senegal; eThekwini, South Africa; Mombasa, Kenya; and Tanga, Tanzania), which together represent over four million such young people. Over the next decade, GOYN aims to improve the lives of millions of young people, build community-based Collaboratives that coordinate work to improve the youth employment ecosystem, and catalyze systemic shifts to accelerate youth participation, opportunity, and equity, thereby ultimately contributing to more peaceful and vibrant communities. In 2024-2025, GOYN will continue to expand its network to new communities, including in Africa.

GOYN engages multiple partners and stakeholders across communities, from young people and local NGOs to employers, funders, and consultants. At the global level, GOYN is supported by a group of technical and funding partners, including Aspen Institute, Global Development Incubator (GDI), Accenture, Prudential Financial Inc., and Catholic Relief Services as well as a number of other philanthropic partners. At the local level, GOYN activities are led by a local organization (“Anchor Partner”) which is in charge of convening and coordinating youth employment stakeholders in the community. While this position is being hired by GDI, the successful candidate will operate as a full member of the GOYN Global Team.

GOYN is looking for a full-time, Kenya-based Regional Lead to support its growing network of communities in Africa. Relationship management with GOYN communities is key to ensure communities are successfully onboarded into the GOYN network and are provided with ongoing, long-term support until they have the capacity to function without intensive support from the GOYN Global Team. The Africa Regional Lead will be part of the GOYN Global Team and provide essential support to GOYN’s African communities in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Senegal and likely expansion into Ghana and Nigeria.

GOYN Regional Leads have five key areas of responsibility:

1. Be the primary point of contact for Anchor Partners (APs) within GOYN
   • Be the first point of call for AP communications with the GOYN Global Team
   • Arrange regular meetings with APs, creating a space where they can ask questions, sound out ideas, voice challenges
   • Orient APs to the GOYN network, connecting them as appropriate with other Global Team members and Anchor Partners
   • Help APs develop a cadence to work with GOYN global partners
2. Ensure alignment with GOYN approach and values
   • Provide guidance to APs on the key principles of the GOYN approach (scaled impact, systems change, ecosystem collaboration, data-driven, inclusive co-design, equity)
   • Ensure Anchor Partners meet GOYN quality standards, providing support as appropriate
3. Identify cross-cutting themes & share learnings
   • Proactively identify cross-cutting GOYN themes relevant to APs and share learnings from other GOYN communities in these areas
   • Connect APs to relevant GOYN Communities of Practice
   • Share insights, tools, templates and other resources from other GOYN communities
   • Facilitate and participate in calls with other communities for cross-network learning
4. Support GOYN Design & Implementation activities, including:
   • Ecosystem mapping (data collection & analysis underpinning GOYN’s strategy for the community)
   • Collaborative-building (stakeholder engagement and coordination, setup of advisory groups and technical working groups)
   • Strategy development, including Theory of Change and identification of priority intervention areas
   • Implementation activities, such as intervention design and development of partnerships with other stakeholders
   • Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) activities, including development of community-level MEL framework and Theory of Change, impact tracking and reporting
5. Support partnership development and fundraising activities for GOYN Africa communities, including:
   • Identification of and engagement with local and global funding partners to build knowledge of and interest in GOYN
   • Development of concept notes and proposals for local and global funders interested in supporting GOYN Africa communities
6. Participate in GOYN Global Team activities
   • Participate in regular calls, meetings and events with the GOYN Global Team
   • Share regular updates from the community with the GOYN Global Team
   • Support global fundraising and reporting efforts (proposal development, funders’ report)
   • Support Global Learning Agenda by proactively suggesting new learning themes, contributing to GOYN toolkit, sharing learnings from the community, developing case studies and raising questions/issues

Note: This role will involve significant external consultations with global stakeholders, extensive travel and will require a work schedule that can periodically accommodate calls slightly earlier or later than usual work hours, despite their time zone.​​​​​​​

• A Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree preferred.
• 10 years of relevant work experience.
• Professional experience in management/strategy consulting highly desired with understanding of strategy development, labor markets, investments, financing and value chains.
• Ability to deliver excellent written output and high quality presentations, with advanced PowerPoint, Excel and Word skills.
• Fluent English and fluent French speaker, professional proficiency in Swahili an added advantage.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with senior stakeholders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
• Outstanding analytical skills, with demonstrated ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data and evidence.
• Experience with impact monitoring and evaluation, fundraising and partnership development highly desired.
• Familiarity with youth and/or employment issues in an international context and experience working with nonprofits and impact-driven organizations preferred.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; good attention to detail.
• Collaborative team contributor, ability to self-manage work streams and tasks; self-directed and resourceful with high standards for quality output.
• A curious and creative intellect and a style that includes flexibility, levelness, and a sense of humor and humility; excellent listening skills, effective influencer and strong interpersonal skills.

The successful candidate will be based out of Nairobi, Kenya. This position comes with an expectation of minimum quarterly travel to GOYN communities in Africa and occasional travel to other GOYN locations (twice a year).

The Global Development Incubator is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Start Date:        February/March/April 2024

If you believe you can clearly demonstrate your abilities to meet the relevant criteria for the role, please send in your application, attaching your detailed CV and a one-page cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for the position. Applications that do not include a cover letter tailored to this position will not be considered. The application deadline is 15 February, 2023, at 5:00PM East Africa Time. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.