Organization Mission

The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) is a political mission managed by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA).
UNOWAS has the responsibility for preventive diplomacy, good offices and political mediation and facilitation efforts in West Africa and the Sahel. UNOWAS also works to consolidate peace and democratic governance in countries emerging from conflict or political crises.
UNOWAS works closely with the African Union, ECOWAS, the Mano River Union, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Gulf of Guinea Commission, the G5 Sahel, as well as other regional partners to support regional solutions to cross-cutting threats to peace and security, such as terrorism and violent extremism, transnational organized crime, piracy and maritime insecurity.
UNOWAS assists regional institutions and member states to enhance their capacities to promote good governance and respect for the rule of law, human rights and the mainstreaming of gender in conflict prevention.
UNOWAS leads the implementation of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, endorsed by the Security Council in June 2013. The strategy includes a range of programs and initiatives in the areas of Governance, Security and Resilience.
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Context

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250, adopted unanimously in 2015, is the first international legal framework to recognize the positive role that young people can play in preventing, managing, and resolving conflict, countering violent extremism, and building sustainable peace for development. Resolution 2250 (2015) was the culmination of decades of youth-driven activism in peacebuilding. Young people have always been actively engaged in building peace in their communities, mending the wounds of war, bringing together divided parties – but with very little if any recognition. This landmark resolution was followed by the adoption in 2018 of Resolutions 2419 and in 2020, the Resolution 2535, which all call on Member States to implement the youth, peace and security (YPS) agenda, ensure the full protection of peacebuilders and human rights activists, respectively and to take measures to curb the radicalization of young people and to invest in young people so that they can be a driving force for development, also urge States to enhance the involvement of young people in decision-making processes, in order to help build peaceful societies. Furthermore, the YPS agenda became a pillar of the Youth 2030, the first UN Strategy on Youth, launched in 2018. To support the operationalization of the YPS agenda, several tools and guidance documents have been developed.
In West Africa and the Sahel, UNOWAS worked towards enhancing synergy, collaboration and complementarity through sustained partnership built with regional organizations; institutionalized intergenerational dialogue between youth and women through integrating young people within the working group on women, youth, peace and security in West Africa and the Sahel; set-up with other UN entities of UN Interagency YPS Group; and organizing SRSG annual dialogue with youth in the region. UNOWAS maintained the momentum for convening each year, with regional organization and members states, young women and men to regional youth, peace and security fora.
States and their partners were called by youth of the region to effectively and systematically address violent extremism leading to terrorism in the region by engaging young women and men while ensuring their protection and resilience to the extremist groups’ offerings and the disastrous consequences of this phenomenon on human security. They expressed their satisfaction with the development, adoption and implementation of Nigerian Youth, Peace and Security Action Plan on Resolution 2250 (2015) and subsequent resolutions and recommended to technical and financial partners to support other countries in regards. UNOWAS, UNDP, UNFPA and other agencies are currently supporting kind process in Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Liberia and Senegal.
For supporting this process, UNOWAS intends to recruit a UN Volunteer for 12 months.

Key Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Mission’s Head of Gender and Youth Unit, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
Support UNOWAS Gender and Youth Unit in its efforts for the implementation of resolutions 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020) on YPS in West Africa and the Sahel through design, implementation and follow-up of the actions recommended by young women and men of the region. Especially, (s) he will:

•Contribute to development and implementation of a proposal based on young peo-ple recommendations formulated during the youth annual fora;

•Finalize for publication of the young people and youth-led organizations data base;

•Undertake a survey and work on the report on the implementation of the youth, peace and security agenda in the West Africa and the Sahel regions;

•Collect stories on the implementation of the youth, peace and security agenda in the West Africa and the Sahel regions;

•Contribute to the organization of the regional youth forum and workshops planned for 2026;

•Support young women and men organizations in resource mobilization;

•Maintain contact and interaction with youth organizations and network, as well as all actors in the region working on youth issues;

•Develop and manage appropriate socio medias facilitating interactions within young women and men organizations and networks around West Africa and the Sahel re-gion;

•Produce quarterly newsletters on West Africa and Sahel youth activities;

•Assume all relevant duties contributing to UNOWAS Gender and Youth Unit goals.

Required Skills and Experience

•Youth, Peace and Security
•Gender and Women, Peace and Security

Skills in:

•Demonstrated interest and/or experience in project and program development tech-niques;

•Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded;

•Preferably experience in multi-country work;

•Strong ability to translate data into effective, strategic, well-written reports

•Experience working in the West African sub-region would be an asset;

•Good knowledge of youth associations and movements in West Africa and the Sahel would be an asset;

•Willing to actively work and collaborate with the UN system ( alignment and comple-mentary of programme of work; joint advocacy and programming ; etc.. )

•As English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat, the incum-bent must have excellent written and oral skills in one of these two languages.

Knowledge of the other is highly desirable. Knowledge of Portuguese would be an as-set.

Core Competencies

•Accountability

•Adaptability and Flexibility

•Building Trust

•Client Orientation

•Commitment and Motivation

•Commitment to Continuous Learning

•Communication

•Creativity

•Empowering Others

•Ethics and Values

•Integrity

•Judgement and Decision-making

•Knowledge Sharing

•Leadership

•Managing Performance

•Planning and Organizing

•Respect for Diversity

•Self-Management

•Technological Awareness

•Vision

•Working in Teams

Living Conditions

Dakar is a safe area without any serious security issue. It is a family duty station where staff dependents will easily get schools and other facilities.

Conditions of Service

The Conditions of Service, available here: https://explore.unv.org/cos, outline the policies and rules governing UN Volunteer assignments. Full information on entitlements at the duty station can be accessed here: https://app.unv.org/calculator.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.