Details
Mission and objectives
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, working towards a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. It advances sexual and reproductive health and rights, promotes gender equality, prevents gender-based violence and harmful practices, and strengthens the use of population data to guide development and humanitarian action. UNFPA places adolescents and young people at the centre of its work, supporting their access to information, services, skills and opportunities to exercise their rights and shape decisions affecting their lives. In Somalia, this includes adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, life skills and citizenship education, youth leadership and innovation, engagement through youth centres, and meaningful participation in peacebuilding and the Youth, Peace and Security agenda. UNFPA works with government, youth-led organizations and other partners to reach underserved young people, particularly young women, displaced youth and young persons with disabilities.
Context
SOYO is a flagship professional and leadership development initiative within UNFPA Somalia’s Adolescents and Youth Programme. Building on the inaugural cohort, Cohort II will offer 22 young Somali fellows a structured 12-month experience combining practical placements, mentorship, coaching and targeted learning. Benefits and allowances will follow the applicable UNV Conditions of Service and approved arrangements for National UN Community Volunteers. The programme has three objectives: strengthen fellows’ professional and technical competencies through supervised workplace experience; develop leadership and meaningful youth participation through learning and mentorship; and enable youth contributions to UNFPA’s mandate as well as the UN mandate through practical assignments and knowledge products. A single recruitment process will cover the 22 placements. Successful applicants will be matched to UNFPA units based on their education, demonstrated competencies, interests, technical skills and operational needs. Placements may cover: ● Programme Coordination and Effectiveness ● Sexual Reproductive Health / Family Planning ● Gender Equality, GBV and Social Norms ● Adolescents and Youth ● Population and Development, Data and Economics ● Monitoring and Evaluation ● Humanitarian Response and Preparedness ● Communications and Advocacy ● Resource Mobilization and Partnerships ● Climate change, financing and resilience building ● Operations (Finance, HR, administration and ICT) Qualified young women and young persons with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply. Applicants may request reasonable accommodation; information provided for this purpose will be handled confidentially and used to support equitable recruitment and placement. Criteria for UN Volunteer assignments under SOYO Cohort II • Must be a Somali national living in the country or from the diaspora • Programme target age: 18–30 years • Must hold a bachelor’s degree relevant to a proposed placement area. • No prior professional experience is required; volunteering, student leadership and community engagement are valued. • Must demonstrate leadership potential, commitment to community service and interest in UNFPA’s mandate. • Must be available for the full-time, 12-month assignment and workplace learning activities. • Previous SOYO cohort participants are not eligible for Cohort II. • Selection will promote gender balance and inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the designated supervisor, each Fellow/UN Volunteer will undertake relevant tasks from the following common framework. Programme Coordination and Effectiveness • Support programme coordination and implementation by assisting with activity planning, workplans, meetings, documentation, action tracking and logistical arrangements for assigned initiatives. 1. Sexual Reproductive Health / Family Planning • Support sexual and reproductive health programme by assisting with activities on maternal health, midwifery, family planning, and access to quality services. Compile programme information, prepare background notes and training materials, and support coordination with implementing partners under technical guidance. • Support SRH outreach and service monitoring by helping organize approved outreach and awareness activities, compiling aggregate service and referral information, maintaining training and activity records, and documenting barriers affecting young people, women, persons with disabilities and displaced communities. Assist with tracking reported availability of reproductive health supplies and follow-up on programme actions. • Support reviews of midwifery curricula and training materials to identify gaps in competency-based education, including antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal and newborn care, under technical supervision. • Support reviews of midwifery curricula and training materials to identify gaps in competency-based education, including antenatal, intrapartum, postnatal and newborn care, under technical supervision. • Assist in analysing midwifery workforce data to identify gaps in availability, distribution, deployment and retention, particularly in underserved and humanitarian settings. • Support quality improvement by compiling non-identifiable findings from mentorship, supportive supervision and maternal and perinatal death reviews, and tracking agreed actions to strengthen respectful care and timely referral. 2. Gender Equality, GBV and Social Norms • Support gender equality, GBV prevention and response programmes as well as assessment of the social norms by assisting with awareness activities, community dialogue, engagement with women-led, and initiatives addressing discriminatory social norms and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child marriage. Help prepare materials and coordinate approved activities with women, girls, men, boys and community leaders. • Support GBV programme coordination and documentation by assisting with training, partner meetings, service mapping, approved referral information, and compilation of non-identifiable monitoring data and programme updates. Apply confidentiality and survivor-centred principles to all assigned work. • Assist in research and preparation of briefs, case studies and other knowledge products on GBV, FGM, child marriage and related gender issues. • Support initiatives that strengthen the leadership and meaningful participation of women and girls in programme planning, implementation and monitoring • Assist with campaigns and advocacy initiatives, including the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. • Apply confidentiality, informed consent, safeguarding and survivor-centred principles to all assigned work, with technical supervision and appropriate handling of sensitive information. 3. Adolescents and Youth • Support adolescent and youth Programme in close collaboration with partner organizations to develop activity workplans, track implementation and follow up on agreed actions. • Support consultations with displaced youth, young persons with disabilities and other underserved groups to identify their priorities, barriers to participation and gaps in ASRH information and services. • Assist in organizing inclusive youth dialogues and peacebuilding activities that strengthen relationships between young people, community leaders and decisionmakers, contributing to the Youth, Peace and Security agenda. • Assist in documenting youth feedback and following up with relevant programme teams and partners so that young people’s perspectives inform planning and implementation. 4. Population and Development, Data and Economics • Support population and development work by assisting with demographic research, compilation and cleaning of authorized datasets, basic analysis, tables and visual summaries on population trends, age structure, gender and geographic inequalities. Contribute to background notes linking population evidence to SRH, GBV, youth and development priorities under technical supervision. • Support population data and evidence-based planning by assisting with survey and assessment preparation, data quality checks, indicator compilation and dissemination of approved findings. Help prepare briefs and presentations for partners and document evidence gaps relevant to demographic analysis, national planning and UNFPA programme priorities, following data protection and access requirements. • Support activities aimed at strengthening national data systems, including data-driven policy making, research and policy analysis, data analysis, demographic intelligence. • Contribute to initiatives promoting the utilization of demographic data for sustainable development planning. • Support documentation of promising approaches and good practices related to data generation and use. • Assist in research and preparation of briefs and knowledge products on population dynamics, the demographic dividend, and other P&D-related issues. 5. Humanitarian response and preparedness • Support humanitarian preparedness and response by compiling authorized information on needs, affected populations, service availability and programme coverage. Assist with preparedness workplans, partner updates, coordination meetings and documentation of emergency SRH and GBV activities, including support to the Minimum Initial Service Package for SRH where relevant to the assigned unit. • Support humanitarian activity and supply tracking by maintaining approved trackers for outreach, reproductive health kits, dignity kits and other programme inputs; compiling partner distribution and activity reports; and assisting with documentation of service gaps and agreed follow-up. Support inclusion of adolescents, young people, pregnant women and other affected groups in assessments and feedback activities under supervision. • Support the implementation and monitoring of UNFPA’s humanitarian preparedness and response plans. • Contribute to anticipatory action, contingency planning, rapid-response preparedness and business continuity activities. • Assist in monitoring and developing analysis of humanitarian crises, including conflict, displacement, drought, flooding and disease outbreaks; • Support the mapping of affected populations, service-delivery points and referral pathways 6. Operations (Finance, HR, Administration and ICT) • Support finance and programme administration by organizing authorized supporting documents, updating expenditure and workplan trackers, assisting with document completeness checks, and maintaining audit and assurance records. Help compile implementing-partner submissions and track follow-up on documentation requests under the guidance of programme and finance staff. • Support Finance, travel, procurement, logistics and asset administration by assisting with requisition documentation, quotation and procurement records, delivery tracking, inventory updates, asset registers and logistical arrangements. Maintain authorized files and flag missing information or delays to the supervisor for action. • Support human resources and office administration by assisting with recruitment and onboarding logistics, authorized personnel and learning records, meeting schedules, correspondence, travel documentation and routine office coordination. Handle personal. 7. Monitoring and Evaluation • Support monitoring, evaluation and results reporting across assigned areas by compiling and checking activity data, maintaining indicator trackers and monitoring matrices, and preparing draft progress updates, reports and presentations. Use age, sex, disability and location disaggregation where available and appropriate; distinguish activities and service contacts from demonstrated results and document data limitations. • Support the collection, compilation and verification of programme monitoring data, including disaggregation by age, sex, location and disability where appropriate. • Assist in tracking workplan indicators, targets and milestones, preparing monitoring updates and following up on reporting gaps with programme teams and implementing partners. • Support monitoring visits, evaluations and learning exercises by supporting preparations of tools, documenting findings and tracking agreed follow-up actions.