Skilling and Employment Officer

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

In recent years, UNICEF’s work to support the unique needs of young people has gained momentum, as the challenges facing them have come more sharply into view. UNICEF is committed to deliver for all children and adolescents through its overall impact goal of ‘realizing the rights of every child, especially the most disadvantaged.

Building on the current work with, and for, adolescents, in line with the United Nations Youth Strategy, UNICEF is developing a new global partnership, Generation Unlimited (GenU), which is dedicated to expanding opportunity for young people from ages 10 to 24 years. Maximising the potential of the United Nations system, Governments, Civil Society Organizations and the private sector, and of young people themselves, GenU is focused on finding new ways to ensure that every young person is in school, undergoing formal or informal learning or training, or is employed by 2030. The focus will be on reaching those in the greatest danger of being left behind: including girls, the poor, young people with disabilities or on the move, or affected by conflict and natural disasters.

The India version of GenU has been named YuWaah! It signifies catalytic partnerships to unleash the potential of adolescents and young people. YuWaah has been designed to allow co-creation of solutions that are relevant and scalable for ensuring that young people in India have opportunity and choices for learning; have avenues and spaces for functional and vocational training, and can choose between employment and entrepreneurship which are accessible locally.

Passport to Earning (P2E) is a flagship skilling platform which provides young people (14-29 years old) with free, job-relevant skills, and position them for job opportunities. It is a Public-Private-Youth Partnership (PPYP) hosted by UNICEF, through Generation Unlimited, which aims to connect youth to opportunity by upskilling them towards employment and social impact.

Since October 2022, P2E has skilled more than 4 million learners in India with 50% young women. To ensure providing skilling opportunities to young people at large scale, the program works with a wide range of government and non-government agencies. P2E recently also started focusing on the learning-to-earning pathways for the young people, especially young girls. These initiatives are focused on building and delivering solutions that provide easy skilling opportunities and access to relevant employment opportunities for young people.

Given the nature of the program, wide range of implementation and government partners and digital systems in place, it becomes very important to regularly manage, coordinate and support various partners and systems. To provide this support for the program, YuWaah-UNICEF is currently on-boarding a UNV Volunteer, who will be supporting P2E team in managing program operations related to implementation partners, program monitoring and data management, supporting communication and documentation requirements.

Under the overall guidance of the Chief of GenU, Youth Development Partnerships and secondary supervision of Program Specialist – Passport to Earning, the national UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Support the planning, coordination, and implementation of the Passport to Earning (P2E) program, ensuring alignment with agreed targets and timelines.
• Support effective management of multiple program platforms like Learning Management System (LMS), Dashboards, MIS systems, through efficient coordination with digital learning partners.
• Coordinate with state teams, on-ground partners, and implementing agencies to facilitate youth mobilization, course enrolment, skilling activities, and placement support.
• Liaise with digital learning partners to onboard and update courses on the P2E platform, including Hindi and other regional language content.
• Support outreach and engagement activities with schools, colleges, and community-based partners to increase P2E participation, particularly among young women.
• Track and monitor key performance indicators such as youth registration, course completion, and employment linkages; maintain updated dashboards and progress reports.
• Document success stories, case studies, and lessons learned for program visibility and donor reporting.
• Assist in organizing review meetings, field visits, capacity-building sessions, and promotional events related to P2E.
• Provide coordination support for piloting innovative models under P2E, and scaling proven interventions.
• Collaborate with UNICEF/YuWaah teams to ensure effective knowledge management and sharing of best practices.
• Any other related tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work.

Results/expected outputs:
As an active team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNICEF and the YuWaah Secretariat in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
• Timely and accurate coordination with partners for smooth implementation of P2E activities.
• Increased youth enrolment, course completion, and successful job/self-employment placements, particularly among young women.
• Effective management of program’s digital solutions and platforms.
• Well-documented program progress, impact stories, and lessons learned.
• Effective knowledge sharing and collaboration across UNICEF/YuWaah teams and partners.
• Strong visibility of the P2E program through events, communication materials, and stakeholder engagement.