The YEN Secretariat in Geneva is currently recruiting a "Sub-regional Coordinator" to its YEN Office for West Africa (YEN-WA) in Dakar, Senegal. The mandate of the unit is to raise awareness and to assist in mainstreaming youth employment as both a political and security issue, to facilitate capacity-building both at the national and regional level, and to promote private sector involvement in initiatives for youth employment.

Background
 The Youth Employment Network (YEN) is an inter agency partnership uniting the UN, the ILO and the WB to pool their skills, experience and knowledge to find new, durable policy and programme solutions to the youth employment challenge. A YEN unit for West Africa (YEN-WA) was established in November of 2006 and hosted by the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) in Dakar, Senegal. The mandate of the unit is to raise awareness and to assist in mainstreaming youth employment as both a political and security issue, to facilitate capacity-building both at the national and regional level, and to promote private sector involvement in initiatives for youth employment.

The Sub-regional Coordinator will serve as a focal point for youth employment in West Africa and be responsible for organizing and coordinating the work plan of the YEN-WA. The Sub-regional Coordinator will be based in Dakar, Senegal and report to senior officials at the YEN Secretariat in Geneva and the ILO Sub-regional Office in Dakar who will provide supervision and technical assistance.

Duties will include but will not be limited to;
a. serving as a focal point for youth employment within West Africa by collecting and disseminating information, and facilitating coordination of activities for youth employment.
b. building partnerships and networks of regional stakeholders within Governments, UN agencies, civil society, and the private sector.
c. contributing to effective implementation of the unit’s work plan, appropriate utilization of budget allocations and provide timely and efficient financial control and reporting.
d. facilitating capacity-building activities and support knowledge development and the dissemination of tools.
e. developing a fundraising strategy for the unit together with the YEN Secretariat and the UNOWA. 

Selection criteria:
• First level university degree in economics, international relations, social sciences or other relevant field;
• At least 3 years of international experience in the field of development;
• Excellent command of English and French are requirements. Knowledge of a local language is an advantage;
• Demonstrated technical expertise in employment issues and in youth employment specifically;
• Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills, including the ability to deliver speeches and to represent the Unit in meetings;
• Demonstrated experience in network and constituency building;
• Ability to make authoritative judgments, assume managerial, administrative and supervisory responsibilities, and to foster teamwork, and
• Excellent skills in programme development, planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation.

This is a local recruitment at National Professional Officer level and the contract period is one year. Interested applicants are requested to send their CV and application letter in English to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by April 4, 2008. No telephone inquiries will be entertained. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.