Junior Volunteer to support Business Development Planning for Youth Hub in Nepal

ActionAid Nepal has recently established a Global Platform and three youth hubs in Bardiya, Palpa and Kathmandu – these are youth initiatives, which provide support for creative activism and training opportunities for young people to enhance young people’s leadership. The Global Platform and youth hubs thus serve as an important means to support the influence and engagement of young people in local decision-making processes.

At present there are more than 100 youth are involved in the hub in Bardiya. They are being oriented and trained on organizing climate justice campaigns apart from other action with support from ActionAid Nepal and other AA federation members. The youth are seeking ways to sustain the Bardiya youth hub financially and develop actions to strengthen their network in the community and to other stakeholders to actively engage in other social movements, development activities and humanitarian actions at local, provincial and federal level. In this regard, the Bardiya youth hub is to develop a business development plan that includes a fundraising strategy for the youth hub (to organize campaigns on local, provincial, federal, regional and global agenda) along with strategic actions for social movement, engagement on development activities and humanitarian actions. The volunteer placement is expected to support the development of Business Development Plan and will be based at AA Nepal’s regional office in the Western part of Nepal in the Bardiya district.

The volunteer position is part of the EUAID Volunteer’s Initiative – an Initiative that brings volunteers and organisations together from different countries, providing practical support to humanitarian aid projects and contributing to strengthening local capacity and resilience of disaster-affected communities. A core focus is also to promote global solidarity and post-placement information work in Europe.

The placement period is 5 months.

COVID-19

Nepal is one of the countries in South Asia to take early precautionary measures to break the chain of COVID-19 spreading. The first case of COVID-19 was identified in March 2021, the lockdown followed by the identification aided to check the infection rate. However, with relaxation of the restriction measure the number of cases rose exponentially, resulting in a second wave of COVID-19. As of September 2021, of 4.6 million tested, nearly 900000 individuals were infected, with 95.4% recovery rate and 1.5% fatality rate. The local governments have relaxed the restrictions recently following reduction in COVID-19 cases. Unlike earlier, despite the relaxation of restriction, the number of infected persons per day is lessening with around 1000 person/day being infected.

AA Nepal has been monitoring the situation closely. In reference to the COVID-19 cases and government guidelines AA Nepal ensures the office is not overcrowded, the staffs are taking necessary precautionary/preventive measures while at office, encouraging actions to limit direct engagement of staff with any health issues or COVID-19 symptoms, field level activities based on necessity among other actions.

Volunteer Tasks

Technical Tasks

• In close cooperation with relevant staff at AA Nepal and key stakeholders for the Global Platform, develop a Business Development Plan for the Global Platform for the purpose of sustainability
• Based on the Business Development Plan and concept paper, support the development of concrete promotion materials for the Youth Hub

Knowledge sharing and learning

• Participate in and contribute to relevant in-country and cross-country learning and knowledge sharing events and processes within the ActionAid federation, such as the Youth Community of Interest.

Communication and Awareness of the EU AID Volunteers initiative

• Promote local volunteerism in disaster risk reduction, prevention and response
• Promote partnerships and collaboration between local and European organizations
• Draft and publish articles in Europe on volunteer experiences in the field in cooperation with the communication teams of AA Nepal and AA Denmark
• Gather audio-visual materials to be used in public awareness on youth engagement and democratic participation in disaster/humanitarian crises contexts in the volunteer's local community in Europe – always in consultation with AA Nepal
• In coordination with the NGOs partner of the project, organize and execute a public awareness activity once back in Europe

Qualifications:

Educational background:

• Degree in International Development or similar

Language:

• English, basic Nepalese would be an added value

Required Skills

• Knowledge of how to develop a business plan
• Ability to develop concept notes and communicating briefs on program achievements
• Ability to prepare appealing info graphs and promotional materials
• Ability to carry out desk review and research work for information and analysis of information gathered
• Computer proficiency in Microsoft office and graphic design programs.
• Very strong cooperation skills and concrete tools to facilitate inclusive and participatory work process.
• Ability to work independently and proactively seek support/guidance, if needed.
• Strong intercultural skills and respect of others
• Diplomacy and humility
• Flexibility towards changing context and needs.
• Understanding and appreciation of the placement being temporary and thus strengthening the skills and competences of peers and colleagues is key
• Strong motivation to volunteer with a social justice organisation

Experience

• For this position it is an advantage if the candidate has personal experience from youth activism.
• practical experience relating to the concrete tasks to be performed
• previous exposure to working in a developing context
• Prior volunteer experience is an added advantage

As this volunteer is placed under the EU AID Volunteer Initiative the volunteer must be a citizen of the EU or a third country national who is a long-term resident in an EU Member State and must have a minimum age of 18 years

Terms and condition will follow those of EU AID Volunteers:

• Monthly Subsistence Lump Sum of 288,28 € per month which intends to cover basic needs and local transport.
• Monthly post-deployment resettlement of 100 € per month
• Modest accommodation, Visa fees, insurance and airfare to and from the country of service
• 2 days leave per month of voluntary activity + domestic holidays in the country of service
• Work hours in accordance with ActionAid Nepal

Application and recruitment Process

To apply, the candidate should write a letter of motivation, fill out a Europass CV [email protected] with your name and the position applied for as the headline of the email.

Application Deadline: December 5th 2021

Shortlisting and interviews on SKYPE with the candidates: Mid-December 2021

Selected candidates from interviews will be obligated to participate in an online training module as well as a 9-12 day in-presence training in Europe as part of the selection process. More than one candidate for each position will be selected for training to support the development of a pool of validated candidates – however only one candidate will eventually be selected for this position.

Travel and training costs to participate in the in-presence training will be covered.

Placement start is expected to be February 2022

Please, visit EACEA’s vacancy announcement page for more information and to see the full vacancy of this position. Here you will also be able to see other volunteer opportunities and read more about the EU AID Volunteer Initiative:

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/echo/eu-aid-volunteers_en/