Latin America Relationship Manager (Contractor) – Global Opportunity Youth Network

  • Contract

Company Description

The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) is a multi-stakeholder initiative hosted at the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions. GOYN is committed to catalyzing place-based systems shifts in communities — cities and rural districts — around the world through the creation of sustainable economic opportunities for “Opportunity Youth,” (OY) aged 15-29 who are out of school, unemployed or underemployed. Created in 2018, GOYN’s current network is comprised of nine communities in India (Pune, Ramgarh and Barwani), Africa (Thies, Senegal; eThekwini, South Africa; and Mombasa, Kenya) and Latin America (Bogota, Colombia; Mexico City, Mexico; and Sao Paulo, Brazil), which together represent over four million such young people. Over the next decade, GOYN aims to improve the lives of millions of young people, build community-based Collaboratives that coordinate work to improve the youth employment ecosystem, and catalyze systemic shifts to accelerate youth participation, opportunity, and equity, thereby ultimately contributing to more peaceful and vibrant communities. In 2023-2024, GOYN will expand its network to 11 new communities, including Barranquilla, Colombia.

GOYN engages multiple partners and stakeholders across communities, from young people and local NGOs to employers, funders, and consultants. At the global level, GOYN is supported by a group of technical and funding partners, including Aspen Institute, Global Development Incubator, Accenture, YouthBuild International, Prudential Financial Inc., and Catholic Relief Services as well as a number of other philanthropic partners. At the local level, GOYN activities are led by a local organization (“Anchor Partner”) which is in charge of convening and coordinating youth employment stakeholders in the community.

Job Description

GOYN is looking for a part-time, Bogota-based Relationship Manager to support its growing network of communities in Latin America. Relationship management with a GOYN community is key to ensure the community is successfully onboarded into the GOYN network and is provided with ongoing, long-term support until they have the capacity to function without intensive support from the GOYN Global Team. The Latin America Relationship Manager will be part of the GOYN Global Team and provide essential support to GOYN’s Latin American communities in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.   

GOYN Relationship Managers have five key areas of responsibility:

  1. Be the primary point of contact for the Anchor Partner (AP) within GOYN
    • Be the first point of call for AP communications with the GOYN Global Team
    • Arrange regular meetings with AP, creating a space where they can ask questions, sound out ideas, voice challenges
    • Orient AP to the GOYN network, connecting them as appropriate with other Global Team members and Anchor Partners
    • Help AP develop a cadence to work with GOYN global partners
  2. Ensure alignment with GOYN approach and values
    • Provide guidance to AP on the key principles of the GOYN approach (scaled impact, systems change, ecosystem collaboration, data-driven, inclusive co-design, equity) 
    • Ensure Anchor Partner meets GOYN quality standards, providing support as appropriate 
  3. Identify cross-cutting themes & share learnings
    • Proactively identify cross-cutting GOYN themes relevant to AP and share learnings from other GOYN communities in these areas
    • Connect AP to relevant GOYN Communities of Practice
    • Share insights, tools, templates and other resources from other GOYN communities
    • Facilitate and participate in calls with other communities for cross-network learning
  4. Support GOYN Design & Implementation activities, including:
    • Ecosystem mapping (data collection & analysis underpinning GOYN’s strategy for the community)
    • Collaborative-building (stakeholder engagement and coordination, setup of advisory groups and technical working groups)
    • Strategy development, including Theory of Change and identification of priority intervention areas
    • Implementation activities, such as intervention design and development of partnerships with other stakeholders
    • Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) activities, including development of community-level MEL framework and Theory of Change, impact tracking and reporting
    • Fundraising activities, including identification of and engagement with local and global funding partners and proposal writing
  5. Participate in GOYN Global Team activities
    • Participate in regular calls, meetings and events with the GOYN Global Team
    • Share regular updates from the community with the GOYN Global Team
    • Support global fundraising and reporting efforts (proposal development, funders’ report)
    • Support Global Learning Agenda by proactively suggesting new learning themes, contributing to GOYN toolkit, sharing learnings from the community, developing case studies and raising questions/issues

Note: This role will involve significant external consultations with global stakeholders and will require a work schedule that can periodically accommodate calls slightly earlier or later than usual work hours, despite their time zone.

Qualifications

  • A bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Master’s preferred.
  • 5–8 years of relevant work experience. Professional experience in management/strategy consulting highly desired.
  • Fluent Spanish speaker, with professional proficiency in English and Portuguese.
  • Demonstrated experience managing relationships with senior stakeholders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
  • Experience with impact monitoring and evaluation, fundraising and partnership development highly desired.
  • Familiarity with youth and/or employment issues in an international context highly desired.
  • Experience working with nonprofits and impact-driven organizations.
  • Outstanding analytical skills, with demonstrated ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data and evidence.
  • Excellent PowerPoint, Excel and Word skills.
  • Excellent listening skills; effective influencer; strong interpersonal skills.
  • Collaborative team contributor.
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; good attention to detail.
  • Ability to self-manage work streams and tasks; self-directed and resourceful with high standards for quality output.
  • A curious and creative intellect and a style that includes flexibility, levelness, and a sense of humor and humility.

The successful candidate will be based out of Bogota, Colombia. This is a work-from-home position, with an expectation of frequent visits to the GOYN Bogota offices, minimum quarterly travel to other GOYN communities in Latin America (Barranquilla, Sao Paulo and Mexico City) and occasional travel to other GOYN locations (twice a year).

Additional Information

The Global Development Incubator is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

If you believe you can clearly demonstrate your abilities to meet the relevant criteria for the role, please attach your detailed CV, one-page cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for the position, e-mail address and telephone contacts. Applications that do not include a cover letter tailored to this position will not be considered. The application deadline is 15 June, 2023, at 5:00PM US Eastern Time. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.