Organizational Context
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network, with 191 member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. IFRC uses the Triple R – response, resilience and respect – to deliver on Strategy 2030. IFRC responds to disasters and crises, ensuring timely, coordinated and locally led humanitarian action. IFRC supports its members in building community resilience in the areas of climate and environment, health and wellbeing, and migration and displacement. IFRC promotes respect for our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality, including in our work on values, power and inclusion. The IFRC focuses throughout on our core mandate – our raison d’être – of strategic and operational coordination, humanitarian diplomacy, National Society development, and accountability.
IFRC is led by its Secretary General and has its Headquarters in Geneva and five regional offices in Africa (Nairobi); the Americas (Panama); Asia Pacific (Kuala Lumpur); Europe (Budapest); and MENA (Beirut) as well as representation offices, service centres and delegations across the globe.
The IFRC has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of harassment, abuse of authority, discrimination, and lack of integrity (including but not limited to financial misconduct). IFRC also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles.
The Danish Red Cross Country Office in Ukraine has supported the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in country since 2014 and have significantly scaled up its support following the intensification of hostilities after the 24th of February 2022. DRC in Ukraine focuses its support to URCS within Disaster Management, Humanitarian Relief, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Health, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, National Society Development (including branch development and volunteer management), youth and livelihood.
In URCS youth engagement is anchored in the Volunteering and Youth Development Unit, including the Youth Development Sector, which leads the development and implementation of youth-related policies, programmes, and activities.
The Youth Coordinator will work within these structures, with the Head of the Volunteering and Youth Development Unit and the Head of the Youth Development Sector as key counterparts.
Job Purpose
Since 2014, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) has actively engaged young people, equipping them with the skills and confidence to take action in their communities. Through Humanitarian Education, URCS provides training in conflict management, project development (Sprint), and youth empowerment - including self-confidence building, psychological resilience, and social cohesion (Life Skills and YABC).
All URCS youth activities follow a peer-to-peer approach, where young people are trained to facilitate workshops for their peers. Recently, URCS has been working to integrate its inclusive youth empowerment methods into livelihood initiatives, aiming to better prepare unemployed youth for the job market by strengthening self-confidence, decision-making, and job search skills.
Since the escalation of the conflict, URCS has expanded its youth engagement efforts across Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyi, and Kharkiv oblasts, with support from Danish Red Cross (DRC).
To continue and further strengthen this work, DRC is seeking a Coordinator for Youth Engagement and Development. Overall, the Coordinator supports the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) in strengthening and further developing its Youth Engagement portfolio. The position serves as the primary focal point for all youth-related matters between DRC and URCS, ensuring alignment of priorities and coherent programme development within projects supported by DRC. The role works in close partnership with relevant URCS departments, particularly the Youth Development sector, while remaining anchored within DRC to ensure strategic alignment, quality assurance, and contribution to broader programme objectives.
The role focuses on supporting URCS in strategic planning and programmatic development, including the operationalisation and implementation of the Youth Engagement Strategy 2026–2030. Through close collaboration with the URCS Youth Development sector and other departments, the position contributes to strengthening the overall structure, coherence, and sustainability of youth engagement across the organization.
The Youth Engagement and Development Coordinator provides technical guidance on programme and project development, including planning, budgeting, and quality implementation of DRC-supported initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational strategies and donor requirements. The role also contributes to strengthening URCS’s capacity in programme design and institutional development, promoting approaches that ensure meaningful participation of young people in humanitarian activities.
A key component of the position is to support URCS to develop partnerships and identification of new opportunities for youth engagement, including collaboration with Movement partners. The role contributes to expanding and diversifying the youth portfolio, fostering stronger cross-departmental collaboration within URCS, and ensuring that youth engagement is integrated across programmes.
The role contributes to positioning youth as a cross-cutting strategic priority within URCS, ensuring that young people are not only beneficiaries of URCS services but also active agents of change.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic Development, Planning and Advisory Support
- Provide ongoing advisory support to the URCS Youth Development sector on strategic planning, programme prioritisation and development, and organisational development.
- Serve as the technical focal point for youth engagement within DRC, ensuring alignment across sectors and contribution to internal planning processes.
- Support URCS in finalization of the Youth Engagement Strategy, 2026-2030 ensuring it reflects organizational priorities, humanitarian context, and evidence-based needs of young people.
- Support URCS in operationalisation of the Strategy into clear implementation and action plans, including defined priorities, roles, and coordination mechanisms.
- Support URCS in tracking implementation of the Strategy across national and regional levels, including periodic review and adaptation based on learning and contextual developments.
- Promote meaningful youth participation in programme design, implementation, and evaluation
- Support development of youth-led initiatives and leadership pathways within URCS
Programme Oversight, Quality Assurance, Learning and Project Management
- Ensure effective oversight of DRC-supported youth programming, maintaining alignment with project objectives, donor requirements, and agreed implementation plans.
- Monitor the quality, relevance, and consistency of youth interventions across supported regions, including regular follow-up with URCS counterparts and field visits.
- Coordinate closely with URCS to ensure timely, compliant implementation of DRC-funded youth projects.
- Ensure systematic tracking of budget utilization and implementation progress, identifying gaps, bottlenecks, and risks of under/over-delivery, and support development of mitigation measures.
- Identify and monitor programmatic and contextual risks related to youth programming and support development of mitigation measures
- Support documentation of best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches, and contribute to high-quality narrative and analytical reporting in line with donor requirements.
- Strengthen institutional capacity of URCS in youth programming through development of tools, guidelines, and mentoring support
- Support development and standardisation of youth-aimed activities, including in terms of curricula and methodologies
Coordination, Integration and Institutional Coherence
- Facilitate structured collaboration between the Youth Development sector and other URCS departments to ensure alignment of youth-related interventions.
- Facilitate the mapping and consolidation of youth-focused activities across URCS, identifying overlaps, gaps, and opportunities for integration.
- Support the development of a coherent, organisation-wide youth engagement portfolio and structured overview of services provided to young people.
- Support the conceptualisation and documentation of URCS “social services for youth”, ensuring clear positioning of youth as both beneficiaries and active contributors.
- Facilitate coordination within DRC, including with Danish Red Cross Youth to integrate youth engagement as a cross-cutting component and ensure coherent implementation across regions.
Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)
Partnerships, Resource Mobilisation, External Engagement and Knowledge Sharing
- Develop and strengthen partnerships with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, Movement partners, and relevant external actors.
- Participate development of concept notes and project proposals for external funding (e.g. DUF, All-Ukrainian Youth Center, UDYH, and other opportunities).
- Represent DRC in relevant youth coordination platforms, working groups, and external engagements
- Contribute to positioning DRC and URCS as key actors in youth engagement in Ukraine
- Promote cross-learning between regions and programmes, ensuring successful approaches are shared, scaled, and contribute to strengthening DRC’s technical positioning.
Duties applicable to all staff
1. Actively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals
2. Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles
3. Perform any other work-related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager
Education
Required
- Higher education or an academic degree
Experience
Required
- Working experience from working with either organizational development, management, administration and/or project implementation at least 5 years
- Experience in working with youth and volunteering with URCS or other NGOs with branch and volunteer development/management.
- Be flexible and able to work with people who differ in culture and capacities.
- Ability to work in politically and security complex environment.
Preferred
- Understanding and commitment to the Red Cross mission and Fundamental principles, and the role, mandate, and opportunities of RC branches.
Knowledge, Skills and Languages
Required
- Self-supporting in computers - good computer skills and command of standard Microsoft office tools
- Very good interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
- Motivated self-started personality, sense of responsibility and organization skills
Good negotiation skills - Flexibility and ability to travel in the operation’s areas
- Fluency in written and spoken Ukrainian and English
Competencies, Values and Comments
Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust