Youth Wellbeing Coordinator

Location: Gaza, Palestine

Position Status: Full-time, Service Contract

Salary Level: 4500-SC

Duration: One year with possibility of extension

Department: Programs, PYE

About Mercy Corps

We believe youth are vital stakeholders in this vision and we prioritize programming that empowers and enables them to be leaders in their communities. Mercy Corps is a non-profit, non-governmental international humanitarian and development organization, registered in the United States and Scotland with offices in more than 40 countries around the world. Mercy Corps has worked in Palestine since 1986 and currently operates across Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The organization works to empower Palestinians to meet their basic needs and overcome the negative effects of the blockade, occupation, and internal political divisions, while becoming more economically self-sufficient and civically engaged to live with greater dignity and create a brighter future.

About PYE Program

Mercy Corps is implementing the 5-year USAID-funded Positive Youth Engagement (PYE) activity, a multi-sectoral youth program designed to address the challenges of Palestinian youth in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Through a selected group of national partner organizations and community-based organizations (CBOs), PYE will support marginalized youth aged 10-19 at risk of social marginalization by improving education, health, employment, community engagement and other needs identified through diverse, community-supported assessments. By increasing opportunities for Palestinian youth to realize their potential and to effectively contribute to social and economic development, vulnerable youth will be able to transform into productive, contributing citizens who are connected to and engaged in their communities.

To set youth on positive and peaceful pathways to become productive, contributing citizens, PYE will deliver a three-pronged, mutually reinforcing program segmented by gender and age across the targeted communities:

• Core programming that supports, protects, prepares, and engages youth in safe spaces located within a strong network of CBOs.
• Tailored packages of activities, resources, and referrals that will set youth on individually selected pathways building on the core curriculum to increase opportunities for youth to effectively contribute to social and economic development; and
• Opportunities for sustained community engagement and leadership through youth-led pathways and councils, community and social media campaigns, and mentorship of subsequent cohorts as part of sustainable community youth networks.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

The Youth Wellbeing Coordinator will support the development and implementation of psychosocial support and healthy well-being interventions for youth and their parents/caretakers under the PYE program. The Youth Wellbeing Coordinator will work under the supervision of the PYE Program Manager/ Gaza and will work closely with Youth Wellbeing Manager, Technical Advisors on Non-formal Education, Youth Pathways Manager, and the MEL team. The Youth Wellbeing Coordinator will engage with National partner and safe spaces (primary, secondary. The Youth Wellbeing Officer will be responsible for the following task:

• Contribute to design of the learning curricula on youth psychosocial, emotional health, and well-being in line with the overall learning objectives of the PYE and Mercy Corps-related materials.
• Development of PYE partner and safe spaces on the referral system for youth to related local and national entities for further support to achieve positive agency and healthy well-being.
• Participate in related Training of Trainers (ToT) programs and accordingly provide training, mentoring, and coaching to the PYE pool of trainers and youth mentors within the PYE network of partner organizations and safe spaces.
• Support the mainstreaming of psychosocial support and healthy well-being interventions across the program components including the Learning, Youth Pathways, and Nonformal Education, engaging with the pathways team for referrals of youth to join the thematic pathways, non-formal education activities, and learning acceleration programs particularly youth grades 7-12 to bridge particular learning gaps

Essential Responsibilities

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

TECHNICAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Organize qualitative focus groups with the partnering organizations, and target youth ages (10-24) to understand youth priorities to achieve psychosocial support, emotional health, and well-being as well as opportunities that would respond to emerging youth needs and priorities.
• Effective participant with Wellbeing team to design the learning materials for the youth's psychosocial and well-being in line with PYE learning curricula “New Me” and “My Teens” and provide training accordingly to target mentors and youth groups. Similar tasks will be implemented by utilizing other tools of Mercy Corps on related topics, mainly Cognitive Art Therapy, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings.
• Support the design and implementation of related capacity-building programs for PYE psychosocial support and healthy well-being mentors, creating a community of practice, where the mentors engage in continuous learning circles to gain advanced skills and share lessons learned, observations, and best practices.
• Ensure integration of gender and priorities of youth who live with disabilities in the overall approach of the youth psychosocial and wellbeing pathways.
• Ensure integration of gender and priorities of youth who live with disabilities in the overall approach of the youth psychosocial and wellbeing pathways.
• Provide support in managing local consultants and specialized service providers.
• Employ creativity to adapt to learning and challenges throughout implementation.
• Ensure activities support sustainable approaches to improve the capacity of partner organizations to drive stable, long-term improvements and institutionalization.
• Develop related technical reports (e.g. weekly, quarterly, and annual) in English.
• Other tasks as assigned by the Youth Wellbeing Manager

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

TECHNICAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Contribute to design of the learning curricula on youth psychosocial, emotional health, and well-being in line with the overall learning objectives of the PYE and Mercy Corps-related materials.
• Development of PYE partner and safe spaces on the referral system for youth to related local and national entities for further support to achieve positive agency and healthy well-being.
• Participate in related Training of Trainers (ToT) programs and accordingly provide training, mentoring, and coaching to the PYE pool of trainers and youth mentors within the PYE network of partner organizations and safe spaces.
• Support the mainstreaming of psychosocial support and healthy well-being interventions across the program components including the Learning, Youth Pathways, and Nonformal Education, engaging with the pathways team for referrals of youth to join the thematic pathways, non-formal education activities, and learning acceleration programs particularly youth grades 7-12 to bridge particular learning gaps.

SECURITY

Ensure that all PYE programs and/or activities across target localities are implemented in line with USAID branding and marking guidelines with a clear analysis and understanding of security management priorities.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING 

As part of our commitment to organizational learning – and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities they serve – Mercy Corps expects all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO BENEFICIARIES

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to the partners and international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging partner communities as equal partners in designing, monitoring, and evaluating our field programs.

Supervisory Responsibility

The Youth wellbeing officer will be managing the design and implementation of the youth wellbeing in collaboration with PYE Program manager, Wellbeing Team, Youth Safe Spaces Capacity Strengthening Team, , The MEL Team, and the Communications and Reporting Specialist. Further, manage knowledge transfer, training, and mentoring to partnering organizations on the national and local level particularly the youth mentors within target CBOs.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: PYE Program Manager

Works Directly With: PYE Program Manager, Wellbeing Manager, MEL Officer, Communications and Reporting Specialist, national and local partner organizations.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of our field projects.

Jobs.ps, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• BA degree in social sciences, psychosocial support, and youth wellbeing, or related areas.
• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in psychosocial support and wellbeing of youth.
• Extensive experience in designing learning curricula and tools for youth with deep understanding of gender, needs of youth who live with disabilities, psychosocial support, emotional health, and youth wellbeing.
• Experience in designing learning curricula and tools for youth with a deep understanding of gender, the needs of youth who live with disabilities, psychosocial support, emotional health, and youth wellbeing.
• Experience in providing training, mentoring, and coaching to professionals from local partners and community-based organizations.
• Experience in technical reporting in English and Arabic, in addition to the development of case studies and success stories to illustrate changes induced by the program.
• Experience in referral mechanisms and case management.
• Demonstrated understanding of the mental and behavioral health issues among Palestinian youth.
• Strong interpersonal skills and commitment to humanitarian principles.
• Experience in working with the civil society sector.
• Experience in technical reporting in English and Arabic.
• Excellent writing, editing, and speaking skills in both English and Arabic.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ([email protected]).

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply online HERE no later than 12:00 on Wednesday,18 Dec 2024.  Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.