Call for Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) members

Call for Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) members

The Fund was established in recognition of the critical need for a strategic regional response to collectively address the myriad of SRHR issues in Southern Africa with particular attention to young people and adolescents as well as to provide an opportunity for donors to coordinate their support to SRHR in the region.  In 2017, Hivos with support from Sida’s Africa Department – Unit for Regional SRHR extended the scope and reach of the Fund to cover East and Southern Africa (ESA).

The Fund will be implementing the second phase of the project titled “Adolescent and Youth SRHR Inclusive Access Initiative” from March 2023 to December 2026. The new phase of the Fund will focus on strengthening and empowering youth and youth led organizations to increasingly defend and promote their SRHR, engage and influence duty bearers to increasingly design, adopt and implement laws and practices that promote the SRHR of adolescents and young people and finally to strengthen and empower youth researchers to generate evidence on SRHR in the ESA region. 

Through this phase, the Fund seeks to establish a Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) as a mechanism for the Fund to meaningfully engage the project’s rightsholders (adolescents and youth) and ensure their voice, participation and leadership on strategic actions, implementation, grant making, monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Role of YAP members

YAP members will:

• Design mechanisms for meaningful youth engagement across the project
• Participate in decision-making on key aspects of the project including grant-making processes
• Provide technical input and support to the Fund and its partners
• Participate in Fund activities and processes

Benefits of participation

YAP members will benefit from

• Promoting adolescent access to SRHR information and services across the ESA region
• Promote meaningful youth engagement best practices and models on SRHR
• Access innovative leadership training and mentorship opportunities
• Access youth-led and youth-focused SRHR organizations and networks
• Receive a certificate of participation from the Regional SRHR Fund
• Participate in regional and/or national SRHR forums and speaking engagements
• Coverage of logistical and travel costs related to YAP member participation

Call for application for Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) members volunteers

The Regional SRHR Fund is seeking adolescents and youth below the age of 30 years from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda to serve as YAP members. Participation in YAP is on a voluntary basis.

Responsibilities of the YAP member volunteers

• Provide strategic information to the Regional SRHR Fund about young people’s involvement and representation in program designing, grantee’s proposal appraisal, planning and decision-making processes
• Provide advice on emerging Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues and concerns for youths within the focus countries.
• Assist the Regional SRHR Fund with consultation processes with young people in focus countries.
• Raise awareness and advocate on digital platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube) for youth SRHR issues, rights and interests
• Promote and encourage the involvement of youths in advocating for provision of SRHR services in the focus countries
• Provide advice on the various aspects of the Regional SRHR Fund’s work.

Selection criteria

The following criteria will guide the selection of YAP members:

• Be a young person aged 15 to 29 years that live, work and/or study in any of the focus countries (Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia).
• Be passionate about SRHR issues and meaningful youth engagement
• Be available and committed to participation in the Fund’s activities and project
• Be inclusive and aligned to Hivos’ values and code of conduct including safeguarding, anti-corruption and fraud policies
• Be willing to commit to human rights approaches and consider a broad range of SRHR views that reflect the diverse societies across the East and Southern Africa region.

Application process

All interested individuals should respond to the call for application by 21 April 2023. If you meet the above requirements, please submit the following:

1. Motivation letter indicating name, age, location/country, interest and past experience in SRHR
2. Curriculum vitae (CV) – outlining similar SRHR experience and academic qualifications

Send the required documents to srhr@hivos.org with the title YAP in the subject line. Incomplete applications will not be considered.