Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead (EDC)

Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead – Vietnam – YSEALI

Position system title and grade: Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead– Grade 10
Position Location: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Project Name: Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative- Mekong Program (YSEALI-Mekong)
Anticipated Start Date: October 28, 2022

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER (EDC)

Education Development Center (EDC) is a global nonprofit that advances lasting solutions to improve education, promote health, and expand economic opportunity, with a focus on vulnerable and under-served populations. Since 1958, we have been a leader in designing, implementing, and evaluating powerful and innovative programs in more than 80 countries around the world.

EDC promotes equity and access to high quality education and health services and products that contribute to thriving communities where people from diverse backgrounds learn, live, and work together. We support an inclusive workplace culture that embraces many perspectives and broadens our understanding of the communities we serve, enhancing and enriching our work.

EDC is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

We are looking for candidates who share EDC’s commitment and understand the importance of cultural responsiveness in today’s context.

Project Description

USAID’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative–Mekong Program will strengthen the leadership capacities and networks of youth leaders in Southeast Asia, empowering them to lead with confidence and to claim their right to a sustainable and just future.

The leadership development program will provide the knowledge, training, and exposure to empower Southeast Asian youth to act on environmental issues, help integrate them into the web of climate, biodiversity, and sustainability actors in the region in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the Mekong region.

The program will

Build the leadership capabilities of youth in Southeast Asia with focus themes of climate change, environment, and biodiversity within the Mekong sub-region countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam,
Strengthen ties among Mekong sub-region countries, other ASEAN countries (plus Timor-Leste), and the United States, and
Nurture a community of leaders who work locally and across borders to address shared issues relating to the focus themes.

Focus themes of the program are:

Climate change – advance equitable and ambitious actions to confront the climate crisis with dual climate change priorities of mitigation (reducing emissions) and adaptation (improving resilience to climate impacts)
Environment - Ensure that the environment and the natural resources upon which human lives and livelihoods depend are managed in ways that sustain productivity growth, a healthy population, as well as the intrinsic spiritual and cultural value of the environment.
Biodiversity - Conserve biodiversity and manage natural resources in ways that maintain their long-term viability and preserve their potential to meet the needs of present and future generations.

YSEALI-Mekong will be hosted by the Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), and will partner with local, regional, and international relevant stakeholders.

Position Description

Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead will work with staff and local partner organizations to leverage local industry and private sector resources for YSEALI-Mekong. S/he will shape YSEALI-Mekong’s approach to private sector engagement and partnerships with a diverse network of regional actors working in climate change, biodiversity, and the environment in the Lower Mekong sub-region.

The Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead will support the program’s mentoring component, including recruiting mentors from the program’s broader network, training mentors on EDC’s approaches to youth mentoring and coaching, matching mentors and youth leaders, and monitor the quality and effectiveness of the program’s mentoring component.

S/he will develop and support the program’s workplace-based learning component, Leadership in Action, including adapting tools used for work exposure and work experience, orienting youth, supporting youth placements, and orienting employers as well as contributing to CLA and project learning. S/he will manage the performance of the Communication Coordinator under his/her supervision. S/he will work directly with resource partners on the delivery of program activities and to harness their work in conservation and environmental sustainability. S/he will organize and oversee the Network of Champions which will engage as mentors, speakers and host youth for work-based learning projects.

Essential functions:

Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead is responsible for (but not limited to):

Identify opportunities for leveraging local, regional and international industry and private sector resources to create public-private partnerships.
Develop criteria for partners in both the advisory board and Network of Champions. Lead a mapping process.
Develop and implement strategies for engagement with the private sector partners.
Update the list of potential partners and grow the Network of Champions based on relationships developed on the ground by youth themselves.
Build the capacity of the YSEALI-Mekong higher education institution partner to establish effective partnerships.
Develop and support the program’s workplace-based learning component, Leadership in Action, including adapting tools used for work exposure and work experience, orienting youth, supporting youth placements, and orienting employers as well as contributing to CLA and project learning.
Identify mentors from within the program’s Network of Champions who can mentor youth on employment and self-employment. Match mentors and youth leaders in coordination with the coaches.
Provide training for mentors on EDC’s approaches to youth mentoring and coaching.
Monitor the quality and effectiveness of the program’s mentoring component.
Manage the development of materials or tools to support Mentors and youth.
Ensure understanding of the project and ownership of project activities by mentors to support youth development.
Adapt the peer coaching strategy, lead the peer coach election and training process for each cohort and pathway, and assist in the execution of weekly peer coaching meetings, which will be used as a feedback loop to obtain regular input from participants.
Ensure the establishment of an excellent working synergy between the mentors, the communities and the young learners in particular.
Provide technical leadership and guidance to project officers on the implementation of the youth livelihoods component.
Support the Youth Leadership and Inclusion Lead / Program Manager in collaborating with relevant departments/units of the VNU-HCM, technical partners and other USAID projects active in youth development activities.
Foster positive relationships (collaboration and networking) with private sector partners.
Support access to quality education opportunities, skills development for employment and self-employment opportunities for youth.
Collect successes stories (youth, mentors) for annual reporting and fostering further partnerships.
Coordinate with the Security Coordinator on movements and security incidents.
Collaborate with other project’s teams, including financial and administrative staff,
Support social and gender inclusion in the activities.
Collaborate with the M&E team to ensure timely collection of information.
Contribute to ad hoc, monthly, quarterly, annual and other reports.
Contribute to project’s activities planning.
Perform other tasks as required by the project

The candidate for the position of Green Partnerships and Mentorship Lead shall have at a minimum the following qualifications:

Education:

Master’s degree and 7 to 8 years of progressively responsible and directly relevant experience required

Skills and Experience:

Experience and expertise in facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration; fostering private sector partnerships and leveraging resources for development activities required.
Demonstrated experience with youth leadership development required; experience with youth leadership development in the context of technical or higher education preferred.
Experience working in the private sector or a demonstrated understanding of private sector engagement principles and ability to develop a vision for both private and public sector alignment/convergence for increased development outcomes for youth.
Eight years of relevant and progressively increasing responsibility developing and maintaining strategic relationships between public and private sector partners and growing those partnerships in Vietnam and the Lower Mekong sub-region.
Experience with professional mentorship and/or coaching programs or a demonstrated familiarity of the principles for structured and effective mentoring and selection of high-quality mentors. Ability to orient and support peer coaching groups.
Ability to establish strong working relationships with senior government officials, education institutions and administrators; civil society and private sector leaders; international donors; other stakeholders working in climate change, biodiversity, and the environment in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
Experience leading activities that reduce gender and social inclusion barriers in programs greatly desired.
Demonstrated track record of working in teams and fostering partnerships.
Knowledge of and commitment to the focus themes of climate change, biodiversity, and the environment preferred.
Adaptable and flexible; Be able to engage in self-learning, knowledge building through a participatory process.
Good planning and organizational skills, ability to write ad hoc, monthly and quarterly reports on a regular basis.
Excellent communication, interpersonal and cultural diversity skills.
Ability to travel throughout the Mekong and ASEAN regions.

Language

Fluency in English and Vietnamese (reading, writing, listening, speaking) required.

Application Instructions:

Job closing date: 21 October 2022 – open until filled
To apply, Applicants are encouraged to visit the Careers Page at: https://go.edc.org/GPML-Vietnam-YSEALI
Due to the volume of applications submitted, only finalists will be notified. No phone calls, please.
See https://www.edc.org/careers-edc for further details.

EDC is committed to enhancing the diversity of its workforce and ensuring an equitable and highly inclusive work environment. EDC is a smoke-free workplace, and offers a supportive work environment, competitive salary, and excellent benefits. Women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

This announcement is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this notice are the sole responsibility of Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.