Call for Mentors in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe 

ICLD is making a call for national mentors in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe for ICLD’s network “Partnerships for Human Rights Youth”.

The main responsibility of the mentor is to support a team of public officials, politicians and civil society representatives from the local governments in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Sweden with their municipal partnerships in ICLD’s network Human Rights Youth.

This network consists of six local governments in Southern Africa. The overall task for a mentor will be to support the ongoing municipal partnerships in these municipalities to implement their projects on strengthening local democracy, through expertise, concrete tools (from ICLD leanrning toolbox) and materials to help participants (public officials, politicians and civil society representatives) to understand and apply human rights within their local governments. More information on the mentor’s role can be found in the mentors handbook. 
 
Each partnership will be working on one dilemma, related to human rights with a focus on youth inclusion. It may concern the capacity of relevant stakeholders to engage effectively in youth policy dialogue, youth policy design and evaluation at a local level as well as a development of guidance to better address youth inclusion issues in local policies and in development cooperation activities. The exact topic of each project is not determined until project applications are submitted and approved, tentatively in August, 2023. 

Qualifications and skills required:  

• be well versed in local governance, human rights and issues related to youth inclusion; 
• be experienced in the planning, implementation and follow up of projects; 
• have knowledge of the national context from a local governance perspective; 
• be an experienced educator (and ideally experienced in peer to peer learning); 
• have an excellent command of the national language and of English; 
• have connections, knowledge and/or experience on local government/municipalities; 
• have experience from an international context (training, work, education or other); 
• be experienced in change management, communication and coaching of others. 

Job description in short: 

• Support a team of public officials, politicians and (if relevant) a civil society representative with their municipal partnerships  
• Support and educate teams in the overall principles for local governance, human rights and youth inclusion at local level 
• Carry out (at least) three team visits  
• Be available over the course of 2024 and 2025 for up to 10 hours consultation with ICLD project coordinators;  
• Deliver reports; 
• Participate and together with the ICLD project coordinators organize, design 4 peer to peer training sessions. Some digital shorter sessions might also be organized by the ICLD where the mentor is expected to participate. 
• Support the municipality to locate expert consultants/lecturers if deemed necessary and inform ICLD.  
• Previous knowledge of local governance and/or interest in applying in the local government context is essential. 

How to apply

Interested applicants should send a CV and a letter of interest including answers to the mentor questions here below, to ICLD programme officer, Liene Ledaine, liene.ledaine@icld.se  

Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for a live interview during a second week of May, 2023. Deadline for the applications: 1 May 2023. 

Mentor questions (the answers should be max 3500 characters): 

Conditions of Employment:

 National Mentor in the Partnerships for Human Rights  YOUTH network. 

 Number of Mentors wanted in this call:   

1 person for South Africa.  

1 person for Botswana.  

1 person for Zambia/Zimbabwe.  

Duration of assignment:  Starting from August 2023 –2026 (spring)  

 Total nr of hours/working days and renumeration for this assignment: Exact amount of working hours and country specific hourly rates will be communicated after the selection is completed. Estimated: around 30 working days (approximately 14 for workshops, 16 for preparation visits and meetings, support, reporting etc.)