Youth jobs in South Africa

About TechnoServe:

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of TechnoServe’s work around the world for over 50 years. TechnoServe is a pioneer in leveraging the power of businesses and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics, and increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with TechnoServe staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing...when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they can access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

Program Overview:

TechnoServe is collaborating with the Anglo American Foundation and partners with the aim of enhancing the livelihoods of vulnerable workers while creating new quality opportunities for youth in the country’s recycling sector, providing target beneficiaries with access to more, better quality and higher-paying jobs in the circular economy. TechnoServe’s ambition is to develop a center of excellence in a targeted geography, that will demonstrate the viability of an integrated approach to enterprise development along the circular economy value chain and which will become an example to be scaled across other townships in South Africa and regionally.

The initial 15-month Phase A of the programme will focus on the townships of Soweto in the City of Johannesburg municipality and the City of Ekurhuleni. TechnoServe and RLabs will deliver a set of interventions to achieve youth empowerment objectives and address gaps observed in the plastic and paper recycling sector. This first phase will be a learning phase to inform a potential follow-on 36-month programme, contingent on co-financing.

The conceptualization of this programme follows a diagnostic study conducted by TechnoServe in 2023 to validate the potential to create jobs and improve workers’ livelihoods by building the capacity of waste recovery businesses. The diagnostic study identified three priority interventions to create lasting impact in South Africa’s circular economy: 1) direct enterprise support, 2) micro businesses creation, 3) strengthening of the support ecosystem.

TechnoServe and consortium partner RLabs have collaborated with GreenCape (the Secretariat of the South African Plastics Pact) to engage with relevant stakeholders in the value chain and validate the scope and high-level design elements of the interventions, and to get buy-in for operational collaboration.

Job Summary:

The Gender Specialist will work closely with the Implementation Manager and in coordination with the Global Gender Practice to support the delivery of youth and gender integration activities of the Green economic opportunities for youth in South Africa recycling sector programme. This will include technical support to program staff, staff capacity development, direct management of gender integration activities, support to monitoring, reporting, and knowledge management activities, participation in the Gender Champions Network, and overall support to advance TechnoServe’s Gender Equality Policy.

TechnoServe will provide customised capacity building to small and medium growing recovery businesses and promote connections among market participants in targeted recycling routes. TechnoServe will directly develop the capacity of opportunity-driven business owners through training, advisory, mentorship, and aftercare including access to finance and access to markets interventions, gather market intelligence and monitor performance. This pillar is complementary to Pillar 1 as recovery businesses have a critical role to play to enable and support micro business creation in communities they operate in while also facilitating formal and informal networking and linkages with various stakeholders.

The tasks outlined below are the key responsibilities of the Youth and Gender Specialist; however, the employee will be expected to perform any tasks that are necessary within the context of the evolving needs of the project.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Provide technical oversight and technical assistance to a portfolio of activities across the programme.
• Provide support to short-term consultants during the inception phase analysis study which will include a socio-economic baseline, macro level baseline, youth, and gender analysis.
• Assist the Senior Business Specialists and Implementation Manager in developing the detailed project work plan, including training material content.
• Identify, develop, and support deployment of gender-responsive activities to meet the needs of clients.
• Build local capacity for gender integration and facilitate gender-related training for staff.
• Support the development and adoption of gender analysis tools including gender action plans which assist with the design and implementation of activities and continuously improve technical excellence.
• Conduct assessments and facilitate meetings, as needed, with key stakeholders and clients to identify measures to improve inclusiveness, especially for youth and women within the project scopes.
• Provide strategic guidance and counsel to program leadership and staff on gender integration approaches, priorities, and compatibility with program aims and resource constraints.
• Support monitoring of youth and gender integration in activities and inclusion in program reports.
• Contribute to reporting on youth and gender-related topics.
• Support the development of key knowledge products (e.g., case studies, lessons-learned documents, etc.) that facilitate program development, program implementation, internal knowledge sharing, and the influencing agenda.
• Participate in regular meetings with the Global Gender Practice and the program leadership.
• Participate in the Gender Champions Network.

Qualifications and Core Competencies:

• A Bachelor’s degree with 3 years of experience or a Master’s degree in development economics, sociology, anthropology, gender or another relevant discipline with at least 1-year experience.
• Demonstrable experience implementing practical approaches to advance youth and gender equality in programs.
• Experience in youth learning techniques, excellent in-person and virtual facilitation skills.
• Must be able to work across teams to influence behavior and build capacity.
• Ability to work both persuasively and diplomatically in a team-based environment with a high degree of complexity and ambiguity.
• Ability to communicate complex youth and gender issues with clarity and precision.
• Demonstrated success in leading tasks, activities, or initiatives requiring a combination of strong analytical, writing, social, and management skills.
• A deep, demonstrable commitment to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
• Experience implementing approaches to mitigate and reduce gender-based violence in economic growth programs, a plus.
• High standards of personal integrity and a flexible, laid-back personality with an excellent sense of humor required.
• Fluent in English and at least one local language.

Closing Statements:

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.