Portfolio Coordinator - Youth Empowerment

Job Title: Portfolio Coordinator - Youth Empowerment
Location: Kabarole with travel within districts of implementation
Reports to: ASTYE Program Lead

Application Deadline: 8th March 2026

Program Background

The Agrifood System Transformation for Youth Employment (ASTYE) Uganda program

ASTYE is a 5-year transformative initiative designed to enable dignified and fulfilling work opportunities primarily for financially disadvantaged young women, refugees, and vulnerable groups by addressing structural barriers in Uganda's Agrifood system. Aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040, the National Development Plan and Government of Uganda Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy, the program will contribute to national efforts toward poverty alleviation, economic growth, as well food and nutrition security. Additionally, ASTYE is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Uganda, which aims to empower 4.3 million young Ugandans, particularly young women, by addressing structural barriers to employment and providing them with the skills and resources to succeed.

Specifically, GOAL will implement component one to reach 500,000 financially disadvantaged young people, with 456,000 transiting into work and 336,000 securing dignified and fulfilling work. As the program is young women-centric, 80% of the total outreach target will be young women within Uganda's agrifood ecosystem. Furthermore, 5% of the total youth in work target will be refugees, and another 5% will be people with disabilities.

General Description of the Role

The Youth Empowerment Portfolio Coordinator is a senior position within GOAL's ASTYE program, reporting directly to the ASTYE Program Lead. The Youth Empowerment Portfolio Coordinator will provide technically strong backstopping to Civil Society Organization (CSO) partners primarily implementing the empowerment strategy for youth, women, refugees, and people with disabilities within Uganda's agrifood system. The role encompasses strategic technical leadership, budget management of at least $3 million, increasing the youth voice within agrifood sector through changing social norms, coordinating youth-centered advocacy initiatives at district, regional, and national levels, and ensuring robust monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management of youth empowerment interventions across 16 program districts in Bunyoro and Tooro sub-regions.

Key responsibilities include developing technical standard operating procedures for youth mentoring, managing CSO partnerships, conducting policy analysis and advocacy work, and building capacity among local partners. The role requires demonstrated experience in participatory programming, line management of technical teams, stakeholder engagement with government ministries and market actors, and a strong commitment to safeguarding vulnerable populations while driving systemic change in Uganda's agrifood ecosystem.

The key responsibilities of the role will be:

Strategic Technical Leadership

• Bring a broad range of knowledge, experience, skills and networks in youth empowerment in the agrifood system in Uganda, and social cohesion to inform the youth empowerment strategy and represent and integrate within the overall ASTYE program strategy and the Program Management Unit (PMU).
• Lead development of technical SOPs and guides for mentoring and skilling youth in group formation, group dynamics, problem identification, youth-led research and advocacy, business skills and the use of online platforms to increase collaboration and sharing innovations within the agricultural market system.
• Lead the development of the Social Behavioural Change SOPs to challenge social norms and increase the youth voice within the agrifood system.
• Monitor policy discussions and reforms within the agricultural market system to increase youth influence and participation on government programmes targeting agricultural market systems at district, regional and national levels.
• Take the lead in the co-design of all Civil Society Organisation (CSO) partnerships documents relating to youth empowerment and ensure that CSO partners have the technical skills to implement the full portfolio of youth empowerment initiatives.
• Provide the technical mentorship to larger CSO partners sub-granting to partners to ensure that their sub-granted partners have the technical skills to implement the youth empowerment initiatives detailed in their partnership documents.
• (See MEAL below for monitoring, adaptive management and measurement)
• Work closely within the Program Management Unit and lead the development of program work plans that relate to the youth empowerment objective.
• Review partner narrative and financial reports and flag issues for discussion with partner teams.
• Work closely with the Partnership team to ensure that all partnering documents are completed and approved correctly and documented in the Global Partnership Centre (GPC) management information system.
• Work with the ASTYE Program Lead, MEAL Coordinator and Program Management Unit to provide high quality timely reporting in line with the program documents and donor requirements.

Budget management

• Work closely within the Program Management Unit and lead the development of program budgets that relate to work plans for youth empowerment.
• Be responsible for the monitoring and adjustment of the youth empowerment components of the budget in collaboration with the Program Management Unit and ASTYE Program Lead.
• Monitor CSO partner plans and budget spending to inform projections for program activities.

Program Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

• For each CSO partnership, ensure that an appropriate short list of KPIs are built into partners proposal and review these with the team and partner on a 1-2 monthly basis.
• Based on the KPIs, lead the adaptive management of partnerships with CSO and provide the leadership and documentation on adaptations over time by partner.
• Ensure that partners can upload and retrieve program data using a robust information sharing and storage products.
• With the Program Management Unit and MEAL team contribute to and monitor data from the case management system.
• Provide technical direction and input to monitoring and evaluation tools for the agrifood system components of ASTYE.
• With the Program Management Unit, MEAL Coordinator and ASTYE Program Lead, and using program data and evidence, plan and conduct regular reflection and learning events with relevant stakeholders and revise the youth empowerment strategy as required.
• Develop at least one youth empowerment learning brief a year
• Develop an youth empowerment project brief and update every year.

People Management

• Inspire and empower when managing relationships up, down and horizontally.
• Build skills and confidence in youth empowerment in agrifood systems across the program team and partners.
• Provide inspirational management of direct line management team members as well as matrix managed teams in line with GOAL HR policy.
• Develop effective professional technical relationships with the Program Management Unit and MEAL teams responsible for design implementation, management and measurement of the program.
• Provide technical training and mentoring in all aspects of youth empowerment programing.

External Stakeholder Engagement

• Network, coordinate, and cooperate with key finance and agrifood system market actors at national, regional and district level, including government ministries, and their departments and agencies, ensuring buy-in for interventions to maximize impact and affect system change.
• Represent GOAL Uganda in a range of external fora and building strategic relationships and partnerships.

Job Level Specifications

Essential Criteria

• Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Business Administration.
• Minimum seven (7) years’ work experience in youth and women empowerment programing.
• Demonstrated experience in policy development, social and behaviour change initiatives, and advocacy efforts that amplify the voices of vulnerable groups including young people, women, refugees, and persons with disabilities in Uganda.
• Previous experience in partnership management especially for CSOs in Uganda.
• Proven expertise as a participatory trainer and mentor.
• Demonstrated experience of managing budgets of at least $3million.
• Demonstrated experience in program monitoring and evaluation (M&E), adaptive management, and learning within initiatives that apply a youth empowerment approach.

Desirable Criteria

• Demonstratable experience in capacity strengthening with a range of local actors.
• Experience of market-based development programs
• Experience of Social Behaviour Change programs

General Terms and Conditions

At GOAL, we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please just contact our Recruitment Team at recruitment@ug.goal.ie

How to apply

For full details and to apply please click here