The UpSHIFT Mentor is a member of War Child UK (WCUK) team in Baghdad. The UpSHIFT mentor will work under the direct supervision of the Civic Engagement Supervisor, to whom s/he will report. WCUK’s Education and Life Skills Coordinator and Protection and Education Officer will provide ongoing capacity building, support, and guidance to the UpSHIFT Mentor. The selected candidate will plan, coordinate, and organize the work of a Youth Advisory Council that will be established to implement civic engagement interventions within War Child’s area of operation in Baghdad governorate, with periodic support of capacity building activities for local government and community stakeholders in Baghdad.

If you share our values and believe that children’s lives should not be torn apart by war, we want to hear from you.

Department: Programme

Place of Work: Baghdad governorate, with visits to field locations

Working Hours:Full-time, 40 hours

Reports to: Civic Engagement Supervisor

About us:

War Child UK, the charity for children affected by war. We are a specialist charity for children in conflict, delivering high impact programmes that are rebuilding lives across Afghanistan, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, and Yemen. We understand children’s needs, respect their rights, and put them at the centre of the solution - from reintegrating children formerly associated with armed groups and armed forces (CAAFAG) in the Central African Republic to reuniting children with their families in Afghanistan. We look forward to a world in which the lives of children are no longer torn apart by war. This is a vision that can only be realised through the collective actions of children themselves, communities and their leaders, organisations like War Child UK, governments, and key decisionmakers.

Your role:

This is a national position. This position will work under the supervision of the Civic Engagement Supervisor, The Upshift Mentor is to be based in Baghdad and will work in close coordination with the Civic Engagement Supervisor to lead the Youth Council that will be established in WCUK’s area of operations to implement Civic Engagement interventions in the area to benefit the local community, by design solutions to overcome the challenges in the community and empower the voice of youth.

Your responsibilities:

• Identify and mobilize youth leaders within the community to join and participate actively on the Youth Advisory Council for the project.
• Mentor and coach, the youth advisory council to develop their ideas and support them to develop their ideas into fully-fledged projects utilizing the UpSHIFT methodology.

• Provide support to the Youth Advisory Council to co-design and implement Civic and Digital Engagement initiatives.
• Engage young people using culturally and socially accepted approaches to address issues and development challenges in their communities, including issues around gender norms, gender-based violence, and gender inequities experienced by girls.
• Support in facilitating access and use the Digital Engagement tool “U-Report “to amplify the voices of young people, encourage citizen-led development and create positive change.
• Organize trainings and workshops including developing agendas, sending invitations, and organizing travel, venues and other procurements needs.
• Assist in monitoring official public debates on youth issues and identify opportunities for input.
• Support the youth to deliver effective advocacy and awareness raising campaigns.

• Be responsible for keeping track of attendance sheets and all other administrative and finance related documents for each activity as required.
• Ensure that project implementation effectively maintains high quality standards and ensure the consistency of the work in accordance with programming goals and objectives.
• Participate in the development of lessons learnt, best practices, and contribute relevant information to project reports.

• Perform work related other duties that may be assigned by the supervisor or senior staff members.

• Promote a safe work environment by following guidance and standard operating procedures (SoPs) for operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• have a strong knowledge of the local context and the cultural norms, conduct frequently (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) household visits
• Support in data collection, monitoring, and evaluation efforts in coordination with MEAL department
• Support the development of referral pathways for children requiring external services
• Ensure good relationships and coordination with the main service providers in the area of intervention
• Respecting key protection principles including but not limited to: PSEA, do no harm, non-discrimination, confidentiality, accountability
• Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to WCUK’s Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk Policies.
• Respect and adhere to WCUK’s HR handbook and Code of Conduct.

Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to WCUK’s Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk Policies.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.

 You are :

• Dedicated to the promotion and advancement of women and girls
• Creative thinker and team player
• Able to work efficiently with minimal supervision
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with Youth groups
• Friendly and have a sense of humour
• Have a good relationship with governmental and local community stakeholders
• Organised, accurate, systematic, with an eye for details
• You have a commitment to WCUK’s aims, values, and mission

Child safeguarding and Adults at Risk

Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm. Successful applicants will be expected to be compliant and sign up to our Child Safeguarding policy, our Code of Conduct and PSEA: Adults at Risk Policy. You can find the Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk policy here: https://www.warchild.org.uk/whats-happening/news/our-child-safeguarding-policies-and-procedures

Skills, knowledge, and experience for the role:

• 3 years of previous relevant work experience or academic study related to civic engagement, innovation, youth development projects is required
• Experience working with youth girls and boys is essential.
• An excellent understanding of youth issues in Iraq and demonstrable experience working with youth.
• Strong facilitation skills and ability to lead groups of young people.
• Experience working with IDPs, returnees, refugees, other vulnerable communities
• Knowledge of GBV, child protection standards and procedures is preferred
• Strong working knowledge of Arabic, English (written and spoken)
• Proficient with using computer and Microsoft Office applications (i.e. Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
• Because this project aims to directly contribute to the promotion of women and girls; Female candidates are preferred and highly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications via the below link

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RxOGZu0NC0eqzhC4ZqKer2sQlFXPjVpHmzeWL5qUMMhUQjVHUzhZMU5WWjZPMjdJQzNGWkVWTDdaQiQlQCNjPTEu 

• War Child is an equal opportunity employer, both females and males are encouraged to apply.
• Interviews will be done on a rolling basis.
• In order for an application to be considered valid, War Child UK only accepts online profiles duly completed.

Employment with War Child will be subject to the following checks prior to your start date:

• A clear vetting and Due Diligence check and Police Check.
• Receipt of three satisfactory references.

If you do not receive feedback within 2 weeks of submission please consider your application unsuccessful and kindly keep an eye on our website for future opportunities that may arise