VSO is the world’s leading international development organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty. Working in 24 countries around the world, our unique role in international development is to place committed volunteers with carefully selected organisations where their skills can have the greatest impact. As a VSO volunteer you’ll live and work in some of the world’s poorest communities. By sharing your unique skills and experience you’ll help generate new ideas and new ways of doing things, helping the communities you work in lift themselves out of poverty. We’re not about delivering quick fixes, but instead we focus on long-lasting, sustainable change, that will impact generations to come. Join us as a VSO volunteer and help us work towards our vision of a world without poverty.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) https://fundforyouthemployment.nl/, initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), aims to create decent work and make jobs more accessible for 200.000 youth (half of these for women) in the ministry’s priority focus countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa and the Horn of Africa. The fund is open to Private sector and (I)NGO applications (or mixed consortia). VSO will strengthen the work of the selected Implementing Partners through strategic VSO volunteer engagements.
The aim of the Fund will be achieved by supporting youth employment initiatives in these regions. Initiatives will offer youth, particularly young women, opportunities for decent work that delivers better prospects for personal development, is productive, and offers a stable income, social protection and safe working conditions.
ILO’s Decent Work agenda is a guiding principle in all CFYE programmes: “Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.” Decent work will be defined and addressed as relevant for each project context. It may not always be a static assessment, but rather a process towards improvement across various specific areas such as working hours, productivity, income, better prospects, etc.

Expected Responsibilities (to be confirmed and refined):
As a Corporate Social Responsibility/ Decent Work Adviser you will:
- Support implementing partners in developing and implementing strategies to improve the working conditions of young people in Uganda.
- Advise on systems to monitor working conditions, work-processes, career pathways and job motivation, -satisfaction.
- Monitor the use and results of the implementation of these systems and if necessary, provide further support and guidance on how they should be used.
- Work together in a multidimensional project team with additional knowledge and skills.

Qualifications:
• A Bachelor/master’s degree in sustainable development, employment law, behavioral and Social Science/Anthropology/ HR/ Business or another relevant field.
• Knowledge of the landscape of rules, regulations and guidelines that set standards for working conditions, such as ILO conventions, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and national labour law.
• Knowledge on gender equality and social inclusion, particularly in relation to the workplace.

Experience:

• Extensive (5+ years) work experience in the field of labour rights, corporate social responsibility (CSR), design and implementation of CSR policies, corporate accountability, business ethics, sustainable private sector development, social auditing, business advisory, employability management and/or job satisfaction or -motivation.
• Strong experience working with private sector partners and a variety of stakeholders.
• Experience in working with monitoring and evaluation.

Desirable:

• Familiarity with the concept of living wage / income

Competencies and Behaviour

At VSO we believe progress is only possible by working together. Whether you want to join us as an employee, or as a volunteer working in your own country, overseas or online, our selection process includes an assessment based on these core competencies:

• open-minded and respectful
• resilient and adaptive to new situations
• facilitate positive change and build sustainable working relationships
• seek and share knowledge

Equal Opportunities

VSO promotes equal opportunities and values a diverse workforce.

Allowance

As a VSO volunteer, you will be sharing your skills with local communities on a full time basis. VSO will cover your travel, vaccinations, accommodation, and medical insurance costs, along with a local living allowance which will be paid in local currency. This allowance meets reasonable living expenses in country, but will not be enough to send money home. You will also receive some financial support to contribute to your on-going expenses at home.

Accommodation

VSO works with some of the poorest communities in the world which means accommodation varies and will be basic.

Some background about VSO

Much has changed since VSO started 60 years ago. We’ve gone from being a UK charity to a truly global development organisation. In 2016/2017 alone, we worked with over 7,000 volunteers from all over the world and from all backgrounds to deliver services that had an impact on the lives of almost 2.6 million people in the 24 countries where we work. Our programmes focus on the areas of health, education and livelihoods, with an increasing emphasis on resilience building, social accountability, gender and social inclusion. We believe progress is only possible when we work together and that strong partnerships are crucial to delivering positive change. That’s why we work with over 500 partner organisations, from local and national governments, to businesses, NGOs, funders, charities and community groups. Currently, over 30% of our people are recruited from within the country in which they work, and we continue to grow the share of community and national volunteers involved in our programmes. We also send increasing numbers of volunteers from one developing country to another. However, our vision has remained the same; to build a world without poverty.