Team Leader, Youth Economic Empowerment (Volunteer)

Overview

The International Youth Federation is an international non-profit youth organizations network governed by the present Statutes. It is neutral politically, and non-denominational, and aims to empower youth worldwide.

The IYF Bureau of Programme Support (BPS) is the programme management body within the IYF interventions. The Bureau is responsible for implementing the global programme and supporting Regional Administrations in programme management.

BPS serves as the programme management and strategic support function for IYF’s youth empowerment interventions. BPS develops programme frameworks, guidance, and support mechanisms to enable regional and country-level implementation and strengthen quality, alignment, and learning across the organization. BPS develops, oversees, and implements general programmes, policies, requirements, and processes utilized by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) to achieve programmatic results.

Aligned with the IYF Strategy 2026–2030, BPS operates as a resource, connector and convener to support Regional Directors, Country Directors/Representatives to implement youth centered interventions while advancing the global youth agenda.

About This Opportunity

The International Youth Federation (IYF) is currently entering a new phase of development and organizational growth. As part of this process, the Bureau of Programme Support (BPS) is establishing and strengthening its global programmearchitecture to better support youth empowerment efforts across the organization.

This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the design and development of a strategic programme pillar from its early stages. Rather than joining a mature and fully established programme area, the selected Team Leader will contribute to defining priorities, developing resources and partnerships, establishing the foundations, and ways of working that will guide IYF’s work in this thematic area in the years ahead.

We are looking for dynamic candidates who are motivated by the opportunity to help shape an emerging programme area, establish key foundations, and contribute to its long-term success and sustainability.

Position Purpose

Under the overall guidance of the BPS Global Manager, the Team Leader – Youth Economic Empowerment provides strategic and operational leadership for Pillar 2 of the BPS Programme Framework.

As the technical focal point for youth economic empowerment within BPS, the Team Leader provides guidance to the organization on evidence-informed and context-appropriate approaches that strengthen youth readiness and access to economic livelihood opportunities across diverse operational contexts.

During the establishment phase of the pillar, the Team Leader will play a key role in supporting the development and operationalization of frameworks, resources, partnerships, guidance, and enabling mechanisms that facilitate access to career development opportunities, entrepreneurship ecosystems, and youth livelihood pathways across IYF.

Working collaboratively across HQ divisions, regions, and functions, the Team Leader supports the translation of strategy into practical resources, partnership opportunities, knowledge exchange, and learning mechanisms that contribute to youth increasing their readiness and access to economic livelihood opportunities.

Mission Statement

To voluntarily represent, positively promote, and uphold the mission of “Empowering youth for a better world” in various programs and opportunities throughout the IYF interventions across member countries.

Scope of Work

The Team Leader provides leadership across the following intervention areas:

1.0 Youth Work Readiness

• Lead development and curation of youth work readiness resources and tools.
• Lead the design of practical employability tools and training opportunities.
• Facilitate access to learning opportunities and practical employability guidance.
• Promote knowledge exchange related to workforce readiness approaches.
• Support dissemination of accessible learning resources that strengthen youth preparedness.

2.0 Youth Career Planning and Development

• Promote access to career planning resources and guidance mechanisms
• Encourage mentoring, coaching, and pathway development approaches.
• Facilitate collaboration and exchange around career development practices.
• Support partnership exploration with relevant actors that strengthen access pathways.

3.0 Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Promote awareness and access to entrepreneurship and innovation resources.
• Support development of partnership opportunities and ecosystem mapping efforts
• Contribute to access pathways for innovation-related resources.
• Encourage sharing opportunities related to entrepreneurship and livelihood pathways.
• Facilitate collaboration across actors supporting youth innovation.

Responsibilities

(A) Pillar Leadership and Coordination:

• Serve as technical leader on the subject of Youth Economic Empowerment, stay abreast of good practice in the area as well as unfolding needs, trends and gaps, and guide IYF on their added value, positioning and programme design.
• Lead annual and quarterly planning discussions for Pillar 2.
• Coordinate implementation priorities and monitor progress across initiatives.
• Facilitate regular coordination with relevant BPS colleagues and regional teams.
• Support prioritization and sequencing of pillar activities.

(B) Programme Design and Quality Support:

• Contribute to the development of programme concepts, frameworks and guidance.
• Promote alignment with Results-Based Management principles and tools related to youth economic empowerment.
• Promote alignment with Results-Based Management principles.
• Support identification of indicators, evidence generation, and learning approaches.
• Encourage practical, scalable, and context-sensitive approaches.

(C) Knowledge, Partnerships and Convening:

• Identify opportunities for partnerships and collaboration relevant to youth livelihoods and economic participation.
• Support the development of curated resources and knowledge products.
• Promote collaboration with employers, educational institutions, ecosystem actors, and relevant stakeholders.
• Facilitate exchange of lessons learned and promising practices across IYF.
• Contribute to external visibility and positioning of pillar achievements.

(D) Team Leadership

• Convene and coordinate volunteers and contributors working under the pillar.
• Foster collaboration and accountability.
• Build an inclusive and youth-centered working culture.
• Encourage cross-pillar collaboration and learning.

Expected Results

Within the first 12 months, the Team Leader is expected to contribute to:

• Recruitment of Pillar 3 volunteer team completed.
• The annual pillar workplan developed and maintained.
• Quarterly coordination and progress updates.
• Knowledge/resource package developed or curated for use by regional/country teams and available on our website for global audiences.
• Support for development or strengthening of at least one pilar initiative or enabling mechanism.
• Contribution to programme monitoring and learning processes.
• Partnership mapping and engagement recommendations.
• Report of knowledge exchange opportunities relevant to youth livelihoods.

Functional Competencies

• Ability to support the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of youth leadership, participation and engagement initiatives and programmes.
• Ability to contribute to planning, results-based management, reporting processes, and achievement of programme outcomes.
• Ability to coordinate and facilitate collaboration across teams, regions, volunteers, employers, ecosystem actors, and external stakeholders.
• Ability to support the development of partnerships, networks, and collaborative initiatives that strengthen youth readiness and livelihood opportunities.
• Ability to contribute to knowledge management processes, including resource development, learning documentation, and dissemination of good practices.
• Ability to support corporate strategic initiatives and contribute to the advancement of the IYF youth agenda.

Education

A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in International Development, Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Workforce Development, Education, Public Administration, Human Resources, International Relations, Social Sciences, Communications, or another related field is required., or another related field is required.

A master’s degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant field is considered an asset.

Additional certifications or training in employability, entrepreneurship, workforce development, programme management, coaching, career services, or Results-Based Management (RBM) are desirable.

Experience

Required: Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible experience in two or more of the following areas:

• Youth economic empowerment initiatives
• Workforce development and employability programmes
• Youth livelihoods and economic inclusion initiatives
• Entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems
• Career development and workforce readiness programmes
• International development programmes focused on youth empowerment
• Technical advisory roles related to livelihoods, employability, or economic participation
• Programme design, coordination, or management related to youth economic opportunities
• Partnership development involving employers, educational institutions, private sector actors, or ecosystem partners.

Preferred:

• Experience working across countries, regions, or multicultural contexts.
• Experience supporting ecosystem partnerships or multi-stakeholder collaboration.
• Experience providing technical guidance or advisory support.
• Experience developing frameworks, resources, guidance documents, or support mechanisms related to youth livelihoods and economic participation.
• Experience working across private sector, non-profit, education, or entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Experience

Experience should demonstrate the application of evidence-informed approaches to youth economic empowerment, partnership development, resource development, and multi stakeholder collaboration.