Technical Advisor Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA)

Reports to: Head of Project

Duration: Until – 31 December 2025

BACKGROUND

With the youngest population in the world, Africa stands in a unique position to leverage the enormous potential of its young people to stimulate sustainable growth and change the future of the continent. To achieve this, however, the alarming rates of youth unemployment, which present a significant obstacle to fully realising the demographic dividend, need to be urgently addressed, in addition to tackling the issues of access to quality education – particularly in the context of the widespread inequality when it comes to women and girls, people from poorer backgrounds, people with disabilities, and displaced people.

Against this backdrop, the Skills Initiative for Africa (SIFA) – a programme of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union’s Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – promotes strategies and processes aimed at increasing access to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and skills development, as well as addressing the mismatch between supply and demand of skills, in order to improve youth skills, employability, and entrepreneurship – in so doing ensuring sustainable and inclusive development throughout the continent.

As SIFA continues to drive the skills development agenda and implement sustainable solutions to improve the occupational prospects of youth, it is intensifying our efforts to integrate gender and social inclusion in our work, in keeping with our renewed focus on equitable access among vulnerable and marginalised groups, including women, people from poorer backgrounds, people with disabilities, and displaced people.

OBJECTIVE - see full job description download below

The major focus of the role relates to the integration of Gender and Social Inclusion in SIFA implementation, lead the communications component of the project including the management of the ASPYEE.org website.

DELIVERABLES

  • Lead and manage the Gender and Social Inclusion Portfolio
  • Provide overall leadership in the development and implementation of a strategic plan for integrating gender equity and social inclusion (vulnerable groups: women and girls, persons with disabilities, people in contexts of displacement and fragility, and migrants) into SIFA workstreams.
  • Development of toolbox for improving access to TVET for people in contexts of displacement and fragility.
  • Drive the partnership with the ILO on Skills in Migration.
  • Conduct a scoping exercise of what is already available on gender and social inclusion in the SIFA project (Knowledge products, processes and interventions).
  • Design and support the implementation of evidence-based interventions that promote inclusiveness in TVET implementation through SIFA.
  • In collaboration with M&E unit, track gender indicators to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social inclusion across all SIFA output areas.
  • Stay informed on global best practices and trends in gender and social inclusion to ensure that they are incorporated into the development of activities (events, knowledge products etc).
  • Stakeholder mapping of partners (existing and potential) working in the area of gender and social inclusion.
  • Assist in the development and management of external relationships with donors, partners, and other stakeholders which work in the area of gender and social inclusion specifically for TVET (e.g. ILO).
  • Manage consultants responsible for supporting work on gender and social inclusion
  • Collaborate with AUDA-NEPAD on the area of social protection and financial inclusion in order to integrate SIFA workstreams.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Suitable candidates should apply for this position by submitting:

  • A motivation letter (concisely 1 page) stating why they should be the preferred candidate, the value they will bring to the work of the SIFA programme as well as salary expectations.
  • This should be accompanied by a detailed CV indicating their nationality

Internal Applicants ONLY should submit application to: recruit-pretoria@giz.de with the email subject line “Application for SIFA TA Position”, for the attention of Head of Human Resources.

External Applicants must submit their applications here to be considered.

Closing date for applications:  11 June 2024

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Applications without a motivation letter will not be considered!