Volunteer Program Design Experts — Help Build SkillsPlus for Vulnerable Women and Survivors

Global Welfare Association (GLOWA) is seeking experienced professionals to volunteer their expertise in developing SkillsPlus, an innovative program designed to bridge the gap between vocational training and sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable women and survivors of gender-based violence, human trafficking, conflict and other forms of exploitation.

Many vulnerable women and survivors complete vocational training but remain unable to translate their skills into sustainable employment or viable businesses because they lack business knowledge, mentorship, startup resources, market access and continued support. SkillsPlus is being developed to address this gap through an integrated model combining vocational skills, business development, enterprise incubation, mentorship, market linkage, catalytic startup support and trauma-informed assistance.

At this stage, GLOWA is looking for volunteers to help develop the program architecture and framework. This is a strategic, remote, skills-based volunteer opportunity rather than a beneficiary-facing training role.

Envisaged Volunteer Responsibilities

Depending on their expertise, volunteers may contribute to:

• Developing the SkillsPlus theory of change, program logic and results framework.
• Designing pathways from vocational training to employment, self-employment and enterprise development.
• Developing the business incubation and enterprise development model.
• Designing participant selection, readiness assessment and graduation criteria.
• Developing approaches to mentorship, market linkage and business support.
• Designing a potential catalytic financing/startup support mechanism.
• Integrating trauma-informed, survivor-centered and safeguarding principles.
• Developing monitoring, evaluation and learning systems and indicators.
• Researching comparable international models and relevant evidence.
• Reviewing and strengthening draft components of the SkillsPlus framework.
• Contributing practical tools, templates, methodologies and professional expertise.
• Participating in virtual design discussions with GLOWA and other volunteer specialists.

Qualifications and Experience

We welcome applications from professionals with experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Livelihoods and economic empowerment
• Women's economic empowerment
• Entrepreneurship and enterprise development
• Business incubation or acceleration
• Vocational education and workforce development
• Social innovation and program design
• Microenterprise development
• Impact investment or catalytic finance
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning
• Trauma-informed or survivor-centered programming
• International development
• Nonprofit program management
• Research and evidence-based program development
• Fundraising and donor engagement

Experience working with vulnerable populations, survivors, women, refugees, conflict-affected communities or other marginalized groups is an advantage.

We are particularly interested in professionals who can combine technical expertise with practical program design and who are comfortable collaborating remotely across disciplines and cultures.

Expected Contribution

The overall objective is to help GLOWA develop a comprehensive, practical and funder-ready SkillsPlus Program Framework that can subsequently be piloted, evaluated, funded and scaled.

The completed framework is expected to provide the foundation for implementation planning, partnership development, fundraising and future replication.

Time Commitment

Approximately 3–5 hours per week for 8–12 weeks, with flexibility depending on the volunteer's role and availability.

This is a fully remote volunteer opportunity and can be undertaken from anywhere in the world.

Why Volunteer with SkillsPlus?

This is an opportunity to use your professional expertise to help design a potentially scalable livelihood model for vulnerable women and survivors. Volunteers will contribute directly to the development of a new social-impact program and collaborate with GLOWA's team and other professionals from different fields.

The opportunity is particularly suited to professionals who want to apply their expertise to a practical social challenge and contribute to a survivor-led organization's efforts to move beyond vocational training toward sustainable economic independence.

SkillsPlus: Bridging the Gap from Vocational Skills to Sustainable Livelihoods.