Leaving Care YouthLinks Coordinator

SOS Satele Copiilor România este o organizaţie neguvernamentală, membră a Federaţiei SOS Children’s Villages International, ce derulează programe în 137 de ţări ale lumii.

SOS Satele Copiilor România are ca misiune să ofere o familie iubitoare copiilor care au rămas fără îngrijirea părintească și să îi susțină și protejeze pe cei care riscă să o piardă. Anual, peste 700 de copii și tineri sunt sprijiniți în mod direct de SOS Satele Copiilor România, dintre care peste 150 cresc în Satele SOS, alături de Mame SOS și de fraţii biologici sau sociali, iar 550 de copii sunt sprijiniți să rămână în familia lor și să nu trăiască trauma separării.

Leaving Care project:

SOS Children´s Villages International is currently coordinating the implementation of the project Leaving Care - An Integrated Approach to Capacity Building of Professionals and Young People co-financed by the Rights Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union. The project implementation time is: April 2018 to April 2020; the project is being implemented in Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Italy and Romania.

The project seeks to contribute to the capacity building of a range of Care Professionals (CPs) working with children and young people leaving care or with responsibility for the well-being of young care leavers. The project builds on the experience of project partners to develop and deliver trainings for care professionals to learn how to integrate a child right approach into their work and best prepare children and young people for leaving care.

In order to build a supportive network for care leavers, five of the project partners (Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Romania) will implement YouthLinks. Within the frame of the Leaving Care project, the aim of YouthLinks (mobile and web based application) is to improve access to social rights by connecting care leavers to trusted partners and mentors, conducting skills development sessions and providing guidance through the leaving care process and after care.

For the project’s implementation in Romania, SOS Children’s Villages Romania is looking for a YouthLinks Coordinator who will design, coordinate, administrate and monitor the YouthLinks platform in the project partner country, under the direction of the Leaving Care project coordinator.

The YouthLinks Coordinator will be responsible for the implementation of YouthLinks. The YouthLinks Coordinator will work closely with the Leaving Care Project Coordinator to ensure timely and efficient implementation of all project activities.

The YouthLinks Coordinator will provide capacity-building on the use of the YouthLinks App for young people in the preparation for leaving care, transitioning from care and after care as well as for mentors from corporates and for care professionals.


Requirements

BA degree in Sociology, Community Development, Project Management, ICT and programme and other development related disciplines;
2+ years of experience in project coordination in a related field (cooperation, development, childcare organisation, youth projects…);
Previous experience in youth employability projects would be a plus;
Good knowledge of care leavers situation and needs would be a plus;
Previous experience in cooperating with Project Managers for the delivery of project activities;
Experience cooperating with partners;
Capacity building experience;
Strong networking skills;
Excellent client-facing as well as written and oral communication skills, including English;
Experience in working in-distance;
Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office;

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Focal point and responsible for the implementation of YouthLinks mobile application in the country;
Work closely with the young expert group coordinator in Romania to design and implement YouthLinks with strong participation from the members of the young expert group (YEG);
Ensure synergies and coordinate with youth employability and leaving care related initiatives in the MA (i.e. YouthCan!);
Provide the Leaving Care project coordinator with regular up-dates and work closely with other actors of the Leaving Care project
Socialization of YouthLinks concept and app;
Capacity building of Leaving Care project co-workers, young people, corporate partners and care professionals on the use of the app;
Organize YouthLinks related meetings and events;
Administer YouthLinks mobile application, managing access of users, assigning groups to young people, mentors and care professionals, creating discussion groups and administering them;
Set up of YouthLinks groups based on the needs of users, establishing objectives per group and monitoring their progress;
Work closely with the colleagues responsible for fundraising and to involve corporate and social partners to build a strong support network for care leavers
Ensure the use of the app by project participants (young people, mentors, care professionals and co-workers), the sharing of content and the achievement of objectives per group;
Document and share good practices and lessons learned with colleagues to support project learning.