Technical Director

POSITION TITLE
Technical Director

SUPERVISOR
Chief of Party

LOCATION
Palestine

Palestinian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply. Hiring for this position will be contingent upon funding from USAID.

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FOUNDATION (IYF)
The International Youth Foundation (IYF) stands by, for, and with young people. Founded in 1990, IYF is a global nonprofit that has worked in more than 100 countries in close collaboration with over 600 local partners to directly serve more than 7.8 million young people, and indirectly serve an additional 12 million young people. Together with local community-based organizations and a network of corporate, foundation, bilateral, and multilateral partners, we connect young people with opportunities to transform their lives. We believe that educated, employed, engaged young people possess the power to solve the world’s toughest problems, and we focus our youth development efforts on three linked objectives: unlocking youth agency, driving economic opportunity, and making systems more inclusive. For more information please see www.iyfglobal.org

POSITION SUMMARY
IYF seeks a Technical Director who will provide technical leadership and guidance for an anticipated four-year project in Palestine funded by USAID that aims to strengthen technical and vocational education and training (TVET).  This position requires strong project management and coordination skills, technical knowledge, and extensive experience cultivating and establishing partnerships with key stakeholders, including implementing partners and funders.

CORE JOB RESPONSIBILITES 

  • Strategic: Contribute to the project’s overarching vision in collaboration with the Chief of Party and project partners, to ensure achievement of project results.  
  • Technical: 
    • Provide technical leadership and guidance ensuring that interventions are high quality and evidence-based, with a long-term “systems” view and approach to development.
    • Design and implement evidenced-based interventions to strengthen TVET systems in Palestine. Interventions should be gender sensitive/transformative, align with positive youth development, and emphasize participatory and youth-led approaches.
    • Strengthen the technical capacity of young people, youth-serving organizations, and government. Develop and implement capacity strengthening plans. Develop tools and guides to facilitate knowledge transfer. Provide technical training and support.
    • Support the identification and establishment of public-private partnerships that create new pathways for youth economic opportunity. 
  • Functional: In collaboration with project leadership, contribute to the development of project work-plans and annual implementation plans that are consistent with project goals and objectives.
  • Reporting: Contribute to the development and timely submission of written reports, including funder reports and oral presentations on the project. Prepare periodic update reports on project successes, challenges facing the project, and progress toward meeting deliverables.
  • Representation/External: 
    • Establish, cultivate, and maintain relationships with the ecosystem of project actors, including the public sector, private sector, civil society, community-based organizations, and local governments.
    • Represent the project at local, national, and regional meetings, workshops, and conferences and promote the project at the national level.
  • Learning: Work with project leadership to support continuous project learning and ensure integration of measurement, evaluation, and research into management decision-making.
  • Supervisory: Directly supervise project staff as assigned, and provide ongoing support through coaching, performance evaluations, and feedback for achievement of annual project objectives and goals.
  • Perform other duties as requested.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 

  • Bachelor’s degree required; a graduate degree in a relevant field such as education, public policy, international development, or other social sciences highly preferred.
  • Ten years of experience in designing, implementing, and/or managing development projects focused on TVET strengthening, workforce development, youth development, private sector engagement, capacity strengthening, and/or education in Palestine or similar settings.
  • Strong understanding of the economic, educational, and youth contexts in Palestine with a deep network of relevant contacts across government, industry, and civil society.
  • Technical leadership experience on youth development projects funded by USAID and/or other funders.
  • Strong understanding of best practices in youth programming, including Positive Youth Development, and familiarity with USAID’s Youth in Development Policy.
  • Experience cultivating relationships and collaborating with a variety of stakeholders including youth, government ministries and officials, NGOs, donors, the private sector, and community-based institutions.
  • Experience developing and implementing effective capacity strengthening models and approaches for organizations and individuals.
  • Experience working collaboratively with teams from diverse backgrounds.
  • Strong presentation, reporting, and communication skills.
  • Spoken and written fluency in English and Arabic required. 
  • Excellent computer skills using MS Office 365 Suite of products including Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint.

TO APPLY
Please submit your CV in English via email.

To be eligible for this position, applicants must have the legal authority to work and reside in Palestine; this position is a local hire position in Palestine. Applications will be reviewed as received.

The International Youth Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.