ThaiNGO

Plan International Thailand

Job Advertisement: Project Coordinator – Career Development for Youth Program

Plan International is a rights-based development and humanitarian organization working for equality for girls and better lives for all children. We are independent of governments and have no political or religious affiliation. Our purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 75 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Position: Project Coordinator – Career Development for Youth Program
Assignment duration: Fixed term 12 months with possible extension
Duty station: Bangkok with travels to 21 Juvenile Vocational Centers

Role Purpose: Incarcerated youth are among the most vulnerable groups in Thailand, as they face challenges with respect to their future, economic well-being. A majority of these youth come from unemployed, low or very low-income families. They often lack life skills, particularly the work-readiness skills needed to secure and maintain decent jobs. They do not live in supportive environments to build these employability skills. In addition to that, with their criminal records, they face discrimination in the workplace, family and society, making it difficult for them to live productive and dignified lives. These compounding factors result in a lack of opportunities for these young people to be equipped with employability and vocational skills as well as connections with potential employers.

Plan International believes in giving young people a chance to make different choices to prepare themselves for a productive future through demand-driven vocational training and wrap-around services. For this reason, Plan International Thailand has engaged with the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection and its juvenile vocational training centers on a program called the Career Development for Youth Program.

Phase 1 of the program ran from 2015 - 2017. After a reflection meeting on the project, Phase 2, which began in June 2018, set out to address three main challenges identified at the end of Phase 1 including; deficiency of appropriate life skills for employment, many vocational skills provided in juvenile vocational training centers are outdated and not aligned with the emerging needs of the labor market and the fast changing nature of the private sector, and lack of gender equality considerations by vocational training centers and their staff.

The implementation of CDY 2.1 and 2.2 thus far has proven to be on the right track with a major push for the six participating centers to address the three challenges above. These six centers, located within the Greater Bangkok Metropolitan Area and in rather developed industrial provinces, may not be ideal representation of all juvenile vocational training centers. The remaining challenge to be addressed in this proposed CDY 2.3 project is to replicate this model to the remaining 15 centers nationwide and to ensure the sustainability of the training program

Role Dimensions: The Project Coordinator will assist the project manager (PM) and the project assistant (PA) to operate and monitor the implementation of assigned projects (CDY and YEDP). The job requires financial, administrative and logistics supports to organize activities of the assigned projects, especially Career Development for Youth Program.

Specific responsibilities and accountabilities include the following:

•    Assist PM to coordinate with the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection (DJOP)/ Juvenile Vocational Training Centres (JVTCs).
•    Facilitate and coordinate with the project team and advisor on project management; planning/ implementing/ monitoring/ evaluation and reporting.
•    Assist PM to monitor the implementation of activities as per operational and action plans through involvement of all stakeholders in accordance with outlined project proposals.
•    Collaborate and coordinate with external consultants and partner agencies in ensuring effective implementation of project activities including service delivery. This will entail organizing formal and informal meetings with all stakeholders.
•    Assist PM to revise and review both progress towards started activities and output mentioned in the project work plan and a detailed implementation plan as well as financial situations
•    Assist in preparing the project’s progress and financial reports and ensure timely submission
•    Involve in monthly Program team meeting and Monthly project management meeting with the donor 
•    Maintain records, monitoring and evaluation for efficient project data/information.
•    Provide supports to all concerned parties as required
•    Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor

KEY RELATIONSHIPS
Internal relationship:
•    With the Project Manager, the YEDP Project Assistants, RM Team, Administration and Finance Team, Technical leads and Specialists of different departments for providing technical support during implementation process and Staffs of other projects for lesson-learnt and information sharing.
•    With Program implementation team. 
External relationship:
•    Project partners/stakeholders, local communities, local government, CSO Networks, USNO.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
Essential:
•    A degree in Social Work, Social Development, Public Administration, Public Policy, Political Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology, and other related fields
•    Demonstrated knowledge in community development tools: participatory approaches, effective facilitation, community empowerment and youth empowerment
•    Demonstrated knowledge of gender approach, gender-based violence, child rights, and inclusion
•    Demonstrated skills in analysis and problem solving
•    Affinity to work with and for young people on improving their well-being
•    At least 2 years of experiences in on-site project implementation
•    At least 2 years of experiences working with children and youth
•    Good communication skills in English 
•    Possess strong computer literacy including presentation and writing skills
•    Ability to function efficiently and effectively with minimum day-to-day supervision
•    Willingness to travel to Project implementing area on a frequent basis
•    Experience in activity design, planning and organisation is a plus.
•    Experience in project management including budget management is a plus.
Desirable:
•    Demonstrated experience in working with children and youth
•    Knowledge and skills in on-site project implementation
•    Experience in implementing Projects in child protection and gender area
•    Experience in working in a multi-cultural organisation

Reference & background checks will be performed for successful candidate including clearance on child related offences in conformity with Plan’s Child Safeguarding Policy, Anti-Terrorism Screening (ATS) and Criminal Check Record.

How to apply:

Interested candidates who meet the above requirements are required to submit a motivational letter, a comprehensive CV and details of at least 3 referees via E-mail. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.