BACKGROUND, SCOPE, and METHODOLOGY:

The Youth Grow Activity (YGA) is a five-year (2023-2028) USAID-funded project implemented by Q2 Impact and partners, empowering Jordanian youth through positive youth development (PYD) for the benefit of the youth and society at large. The YGA targets youth aged 10-29, prioritizing girls, women, people with disabilities, and isolated or economically disadvantaged communities. The YGA focuses on three core objectives: (1) preparing youth for economic opportunities by providing access to high-quality online career counseling and entrepreneurship and employability readiness services; (2) strengthening youth leadership through targeted support of local youth-led organizations (YLOs) and youth-serving organizations (YSOs) and (3) strengthening Jordan’s youth support systems to create youth inclusive and enabling economic and social environment, in partnership with the youth.

The YGA Theory of Change (TOC): The YGA believes that equipping youth and families with knowledge, resources, and leadership opportunities, along with stronger youth-inclusive systems, will lead to increased youth engagement in their economy and communities.

Overarching Activity Objectives and Expected Key Result Areas: 

YGA aims to achieve three main objectives:

• Enhance youth readiness for economic opportunities. Through increased access to career counseling and employability information, access to entrepreneurial readiness materials, and access to funding opportunities, the youth will be better prepared and inspired to start businesses and engage in the private sector.
• Enhance youth involvement in decision-making and leadership. Local YLOs, YSOs, and youth groups will be supported to provide and implement solutions and initiatives that enhances youth readiness and accessibility to economic opportunities.
• Strengthen national youth support systems and enabling environment. Co-creating youth-effective services and policies in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and other influential stakeholders, to foster an enabling environment for PYD-grounded youth participation in economic sectors.

ROLES and RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Economic Opportunities Component Lead will assist the DCOP in the overall project management of the USAID Youth Grow Activity project, the Economic Opportunities Component Lead’s specific responsibilities will include the following:

• Program Design, Development, and Implementation:
  • Develop a comprehensive economic opportunities program that caters to the needs and aspirations of youth participants.
  • Develop and implement a comprehensive entrepreneurship readiness strategy, including large-scale bootcamps programs.
  • Foster partnerships with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MODEE), local entrepreneurship support organizations, universities, youth led/serving organizations, and youth centers, to help create a youth-accessible entrepreneurship ecosystem.
  • Design and execute innovative entrepreneurship initiatives, such as the video game development program, to equip youth with practical skills and knowledge necessary for entrepreneurship readiness.
  • Leverage local service providers specialized in enabling technologies, including AI, to enhance youth access to entrepreneurship information and resources.
  • Support conducting in-depth labor market assessments to identify youth employment challenges and opportunities.
  • Develop and implement effective career counseling programs, including online platforms and offline initiatives.
  • Build strong partnerships with the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of education, employers, youth led/serving organizations, and youth centers, to facilitate youth employment.
  • Design and support the delivery of capacity building programs that equip youth with 21st-century skills and prepare them for the future of work.
  • Promote and support the growth of the gig economy and remote work opportunities for youth.
  • Manage budgets and resources effectively.

• Monitoring and Evaluation:
  • Support monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adaptation for the economic opportunity’s programs, and track and analyze the program’s impact on youth outcomes.
  • Ensure alignment between the economic opportunities program outcomes and outputs and the overall goals and objectives of YGA’s.

• Collaboration and Networking:
• Collaborate with other components of YGA to ensure a holistic approach to youth development and readiness for economic opportunities.
• Network with local stakeholders to assure youth readiness for economic opportunities.

• Team Leadership:
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a team of economic development specialists and coordinators.
• Conduct regular team meetings to share best practices, discuss challenges, and align strategies.

• Communication and Reporting:

• Maintain clear and open communication channels with youth participants, and stakeholders.
• Prepare regular reports on program outcomes, success stories, and areas for improvement.
• Any other assignments provided by the DCOP.

EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE:

• Bacher degree in economy, business administration, or any other relevant technical field.
• Minimum 10 years of experience, 4 of which in managing economic development projects/programs.
• Working with USAID and programs funded by other bilateral governmental donors is a plus. 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES:

• Ability to work with people with different backgrounds and experiences.
• Able to travel in the region and outside the region.
• Awareness, sensitivity, and understanding of cross-cultural issues.
• Superb written and verbal communication skills in both Arabic and English.
• Strong time-management skills and the ability to organize and coordinate multiple projects at once.
• Ability to effectively motivate and work as a team player.
• Self-motivated and able to follow through to the end of assignments while meeting goals and deadlines.
• Proficiency with MS Office applications including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• Accuracy, and attention to detail.

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO:

The Deputy Chief of Party at USAID Youth Grow.

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH:

YGA’s COP, communication specialist, DFA, entrepreneurship readiness specialist, Career counseling and employability specialist, MEAL manager, and consortium partners.