The role of a Member of the UNOPS Youth Engagement Platform (YEP) involves acting as a youth intelligence hub and strategic consultative body to UNOPS senior leadership, ensuring youth perspectives are integrated into decision-making, strategies, and operational frameworks.
Functions / Key Results Expected
1. Generate Youth-Led Insights on SDG and Development Trends
The YEP acts as a youth intelligence hub for UNOPS, providing analysis and lived-experience perspectives on emerging and evolving development challenges linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key functions include:
- Identifying trends, risks, and opportunities affecting young people in UNOPS’ areas of work (infrastructure, procurement, project management, climate, fragility, etc.).
- Providing rapid feedback on global and regional developments from a youth lens to inform UNOPS strategies, policies, and programming.
- Contributing youth-informed viewpoints to internal analyses, strategy reviews, and foresight exercises.
2. Provide Strategic Advisory Input to UNOPS Leadership and Initiatives
The YEP serves as a consultative advisory body to UNOPS senior leadership and key corporate initiatives, ensuring that youth perspectives are embedded upstream in decision-making. Key functions include:
- Reviewing and advising on selected strategic frameworks, policies, and flagship initiatives from a youth, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and intergenerational equity perspective.
- Participating in targeted consultations with the Executive Director, UNOPS Management Team, and relevant units on issues where youth experience and innovation can add value.
- Co-creating recommendations and practical proposals that strengthen the relevance, legitimacy, and impact of UNOPS’ work for and with young people.
3. Advance Youth Representation in UNOPS External Engagement and Thought Leadership
The YEP positions UNOPS as a credible, youth-engaging actor in multilateral and development forums, ensuring that young voices are visible and heard in global dialogues. Key functions include:
- Representing UNOPS youth perspectives at selected international/regional events, in coordination with UNOPS leadership and external relations.
- Contributing to speaking points, panel interventions, and advocacy messages that highlight youth priorities and showcase UNOPS’ youth-related work.
- Supporting UNOPS’ participation in system-wide youth engagement initiatives and partnerships, in line with the UN Youth Strategy and Youth2030.
4. Strengthen Youth-Inclusive Operational Approaches and Project Delivery
The YEP contributes to youth-inclusive design and implementation of UNOPS operations, so that projects and initiatives better reflect and respond to the realities of young people. Key functions include:
- Providing practical feedback on project management approaches to enhance youth participation, access, and benefit-sharing.
- Identifying good practices and lessons from youth-engaging projects and feeding them into corporate guidance, tools, and operational standards.
- Advising on how UNOPS can engage young people safely, ethically, and meaningfully as partners, beneficiaries, and innovators in its programmes.
Qualifications and Requirements
Desired Education:
- High School Diploma or equivalent (KCSE).
Required Experience:
- Demonstrated youth leadership or community engagement (Involvement in a youth-focused initiative, student organisation, community project, volunteer network, or social-impact activity).
- Engagement in national, regional, or international youth platforms (Participation in youth summits, Model UN, youth councils, regional youth networks, or SDG-related youth consultations).
- Experience representing youth perspectives (Examples include speaking at a school/university forum, youth dialogue, community event, or taking part in advocacy or peer-led initiatives).
- Exposure to SDG-related issues or international development (This could come from coursework, volunteering, activism, personal lived experience, or participation in youth networks).
- Demonstrated experience in leading/engaging/contributing on platforms requiring collaboration across diverse groups (group projects, youth organisations, online communities, or volunteer settings).
Skills and Competencies
- Intercultural Communication
- Leadership
- Policy Analysis
- Public Speaking
- Research
- Stakeholder Management
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