Job Title: Youth Empowerment Specialist
Location: Hoima District (with extensive field travel)
Reports to: Portfolio Coordinator Youth Empowerment

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.

Job summary

The Youth Empowerment Specialist will lead the design, coordination, and implementation of youth empowerment, community mindset transformation, and Nutrition Impact and Positive Practices (NIPP) interventions under the ASTYE Programme. The role will focus on strengthening youth agency particularly financially disadvantaged young women, refugees, and persons with disabilities by supporting youth groups, youth champions, civil society organisations /community-based organisations (CSOs/CBOs), and communities to improve dignified employment outcomes, food and nutrition security, and positive household practices within the agrifood system.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

Essential

• Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies, Social Science, Community Development,
• Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Nutrition, Agriculture, Public Health and Gender Studies.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in youth empowerment, community development, nutrition programming, or livelihoods programming.
• Demonstrated experience working with CSOs/CBOs, youth groups, and community-based structures.
• Strong experience in nutrition behaviours change communication (SBCC), Nutrition Impact and Postive Practices (NIPP), or similar community nutrition approaches.
• Experience working with young women, refugees, and persons with disabilities.
• Experience in implementing youth-centered and gender-transformative programming

Desirable

• Strong facilitation, training, and mentorship skills.
• Experience working on donor-funded programmes (Mastercard Foundation experience is an added advantage).
• Partnership development and coordination
• Community facilitation and social behaviour change communication
• Strong planning, coordination, and reporting skills
• Cultural sensitivity and ability to work in rural community settings

The key responsibilities of the role will be:

Youth Empowerment, Skilling & Community Mindset Transformation

• Provide technical, financial, and legal support for the formation, strengthening, and formalization of youth and young women-led groups within the agrifood ecosystem.
• Map, profile, and enroll formal and informal youth groups and young women into the ASTYE program in collaboration with CSOs/CBOs.
• Support the identification, training, and mentorship of Youth Champions and Master Youth Champions to cascade services at community level.
• Coordinate and support mindset change, leadership, governance, soft skills trainings for young women.
• Facilitate exposure visits, exchange learning, and benchmarking engagements for young women entrepreneurs and youth groups through collaboration with CSOs/CBOs.

Partnerships & Civil Society and Community Based organizations’ Capacity Strengthening

• Identify, assess, and onboard CSOs and CBOs as downstream implementing partners for youth empowerment and NIPP interventions.
• Conduct Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCAs) and develop capacity strengthening plans for CSOs/CBOs partners.
• Support partnership co-design, workplan development, implementation, and performance monitoring.
• Orient GOAL and partner staff on ASTYE programme design, youth empowerment approaches, safeguarding, and measurement frameworks.

Youth Voice, Agency & Policy Engagement

• Support youth champions and young women to conduct community conversations to identify and address barriers to youth participation in agriculture.
• Facilitate youth participation in sub-county, district, regional, and national dialogue platforms, including youth parliaments and planning/budget conferences.
• Support youth-led evidence gathering, documentation, and dissemination (reports, audio-visuals, community briefs).
• Facilitate youth engagement with radio, social media, and digital platforms to influence community norms and policy discourse.

Nutrition Impact and Positive Practices (NIPP)

• Lead the planning and implementation of Nutrition Impact and Positive Practices (NIPP) interventions in target communities.
• Coordinate mapping, identification, and profiling of vulnerable and malnutrition-prone households.
• Support formative research on household decision-making, feeding practices, sanitation, food access, use and storage.
• Oversee the development, adaptation, translation, and printing of NIPP training manuals, IEC materials, volunteer guides and food flash cards.
• Establish, support, and monitor NIPP circles (female, male, and community leader circles).
• Support the selection, training, certification, and mentorship of NIPP volunteers and facilitators.
• Coordinate household visits, community sensitization sessions, and follow-up support to ensure sustained behaviour change.
• Lead entry, exit, and longitudinal follow-up surveys (6-month follow-up) in collaboration with MEAL teams.
• Ensure integration of nutrition, gender, safeguarding, and inclusion (PWDs and refugees) across all youth empowerment interventions.

Market Linkages & Employment Pathways

• Facilitate linkages between youth groups and private sector actors, including agribusinesses, financial institutions, Business Development Services (BDS) providers, and agri-tech players.
• Support youth participation in agricultural trade shows, expos, youth agro-expos, and national/international events.
• Promote access to markets, inputs, finance, skilling, mentorship, and employment opportunities for young women.

Monitoring, Learning & Reporting

• Lead and coordinate programme documentation, including activity reports, field reports, meeting minutes, best practices, case studies, and success stories.
• Ensure proper filing and record keeping of programme documents, tools, training materials, and partnership agreements.
• Support preparation of quarterly, annual, and donor reports by compiling accurate and timely information.

Supervision & Team Support

• Provide technical supervision and guidance to Program Officers implementing youth empowerment and NIPP activities.
• Support Program Officers in planning, budgeting, implementation, and reporting of activities.
• Conduct regular field supervision visits to ensure quality implementation and compliance with programme standards.
• Support performance monitoring, coaching, and continuous capacity development of Program Officers.

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

GOAL Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
GOAL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all employees. We foster an inclusive culture where all voices are heard and valued. We know that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling GOAL’s commitment to equal employment opportunity and equal treatment. GOAL does not discriminate against any employee on the basis of sex, race, colour, ethnic background, tribe, birth, creed or religion or social or economic standing, political opinion, disability.

Code of Conduct and Accountability within GOAL

GOAL is an equal opportunities employer and has values and behaviours framework which defines our code of conduct. Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability.

• Comply with GOAL’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, Code of Conduct, health and safety, data protection and confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within our programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behaviour of a GOAL staff or partner.

Safeguarding

Children and vulnerable adults a must be safeguarded to the maximum extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury, and any other harm. One of the ways that GOAL shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

GOAL 

Established in 1977, GOAL is an international humanitarian agency and works with the most vulnerable communities to help them respond to and overcome humanitarian crises, and to assist those facing poverty and exclusion achieve greater resilience and well-being. GOAL envisions a world beyond humanitarian crises where poverty no longer exists, where vulnerable communities exposed to shocks and stresses are resilient, where barriers to well-being are removed and where everyone has equal rights and opportunities.

General Description of the Country Programme 

First operational in Uganda in 1979, the current GOAL Uganda country programme focuses on Health, (including WASH, Health Accountability and Nutrition); and a market-based systems approach to improving agricultural livelihoods and WASH. GOAL Uganda mainstreams gender, child protection, social behavior changes and resilience strategies across all programming. GOAL uses a mixture of direct implementation and partnerships with national and international civil society organizations, local government, the private sector and communities to give effect to our mission.

GOAL Uganda has a skilled team of over 110 personnel and has a head office in Kampala and field offices in 7 locations across Northern, Southwestern and Eastern regions of Uganda.  GOAL Uganda’s donors include the Mastercard Foundation, charity: water, Irish Aid, The Kingdom of Netherland Embassy in Uganda (EKN) and other private donors.

Interested applicants who meet the requirements should apply through the link with at least 3 reference contacts (current or former Line Manager) from the last three employers and daytime contact number by 8th March 2026.