Technical Advisor, Youth Skilling & Workforce Development (YSWD)

The Agency For Accelerated Regional Development (AFARD) in collaboration with six partners (African Agribusiness Incubation Network (AAIN), Omia Agribusiness, Agromax, Tropical Institute of Development Innovations (TRIDI), Uganda Rural Development and Training Institute (URDT) and Gudie Leisure Farm (GLF) and partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will implement a 5-year program, “Sustainable Inclusive Youth Employment Pathways (SIYEP)” in West Nile, Karamoja, Acholi, and Central and Western Uganda as part of the Young Africa Works Strategy to address unemployment
challenges faced by young women in Uganda. The program will directly reach 258,000 young women (7% refugees and 5% young women with disabilities (YWWDs)) and transition 90% into work, and 70% into dignified and fulling work. This will be achieved through institutional strengthening, market relevant training, skilling, incubation, and access to capital and markets.
The program will work directly with Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVETs), Local Artisans, and incubation centers and in collaboration with local and central government entities such as Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD), National Council of Higher Education (NCHE), Uganda Business and Technical, Examinations Board (UBTEB), Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URBS), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), NGOs, CBOs, and existing Young Africa Works partners.

JOB TITLE: Technical Advisor, Youth Skilling & Workforce Development (YSWD) (1 vacancy)
Reporting: Program Director

Duty Station: Kampala
Employment terms: Full time; Fixed Term: 5- years renewable annually based on satisfactory performance and availability of funds.
Job Summary
Responsible for leadership, management and capacity strengthening in workforce development by ensuring an integrated partners skilling strategy, quality assurance, best practices documentation, and partnership strengthening of consortium partners and with relevant key stakeholders.
Roles & Responsibilities
Leadership and management
• Deputize the Program Director
• Develop a harmonized skilling strategy based on partners’ skilling delivery models
• Build synergies and learning among consortium partners
• Facilitate work planning in close collaboration with consortium partners and ensures implementation of work plan on time, on scope, and within budget.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of the learning agenda, knowledge capture and dissemination.
In collaboration with the Consortium Coordination Unit Team, s/he will in:
Effective, competitive, responsive and innovative YSLOs, and education and skilling institutions
• Oversee organizational capacity assessment for TVETs, incubators, local artisans, and YSLOs.
• Review and/or develop training curricula and training guidelines for TVETs, incubators, local artisans, and YSLOs with sensitivity to gender, disability inclusion and safeguarding.
• Oversee skilling & upskilling of Instructors on the new gender responsive, inclusive & safe curricula.
• Conduct tailored institutional capacity strengthening of TVETs, incubators, local artisans and YSLOs.
• Conduct joint coordination meetings between universities, TVETs, business incubators, private sector players, YSLOs and research institutions to forecast labour demands.
• Document and share innovative skilling models for scale up.
Young women in wage employment
• Conduct gender and disability responsive labour market and livelihoods assessment.
• Conduct formal and non-formal, vocational, entrepreneurship, soft and work readiness skills for the young women.
• Conduct exchange learning visits.
• Support TRIDI to conduct skills competitions for young women in TVETs.
• Ensure Childcare spaces at the training centers (TVETs, Incubators, Local Artisans, Farmer field Schools)
• Support TRIDI to provide Scholarships for male dominated courses.
Young women start and grow their enterprises will liaise with consortium partner Program managers to:
• Form and strengthen young women saving and loan groups (YWSLAs) and federate young women Cooperatives.
• Convene meetings of Micro Financial Institutions, government programs and young women to enable young women access financial services and other development programs.
• Provide financial literacy education for the young women.
• Provide start-up kits to challenge winners in line with the Foundation guidelines.
• Provide business development services to young women to sustain and or grow their businesses.
• Provide marketing support to young women enterprises.
Person specifications:
• A bachelor’s degree in education management, management studies, policy development, TVETs, Youth Development. Masters degree is an added advantage.
• At least 5 years of experience in the design, delivery and quality assurance of youth skilling, positive youth development and education programming in Uganda.
• Knowledge of current best practices in entrepreneurial skilling and workforce development for vulnerable and at-risk youth.
• Demonstrated experience in working with government MDAs, TVETs, private sector, local artisans and other humanitarian and development organizations.
• Demonstrated experience in capacity development of local implementing partners.
• Knowledge of relevant approaches for strengthening learning environments at the community.

Signed Application and a 2-pager motivation letter plus relevant academic & experience credentials, CV with names and daytime contacts of three referees,
and your daytime phone contact numbers in 1-file PDF format should be addressed to “The Human Resources Office” and e-mailed to procurement@afard.net latest on May 23, 2025 at 5:00PM. In the subject area of your email, indicate the position you are applying for.
Polite Notice.
• Qualified females and refugees are highly encouraged to apply.
• Only complete applications will be accepted and considered for review.
• Only those who are ready to start immediately will be shortlisted.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Successful applicants will be required to start immediately after appropriate screening checks including criminal records, child and sexual abuse, exploitation and/or harassment. By applying, job applicants consent to these screening checks