A CALL FOR APPLICATION: Project Manager | ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Position Title: Project Manager |  ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Contract Type:Consultancy

Duration: 2 years

Eligibility and Geographic Scope : Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe (with occasional travel to target countries)

Reports To: Lead Agency (Action Against Hunger) and Consortium Steering Committee

Mode of Engagement: Hybrid/online

Project: ALIGN – Advancing Local Innovations for Adolescent Health & Nutrition

Collaborates With: Consortium partners (ENN, The Youth Café), CSOs, YLOs, and national stakeholders

About the Project

ALIGN is an initiative funded by the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents (GFF) and administered by the World Bank. The project aims to improve adolescent health and nutrition outcomes by empowering local civil society organisations (CSOs) and youth-led organisations (YLOs) to adapt, scale, and integrate proven, community-driven innovations into national health systems across up to 12 African countries.

The project is implemented by a two-member consortium. Action Against Hunger USA (ACF USA) serves as the prime recipient and leads overall programme management and fiduciary responsibility. The Youth Café (TYC) is the youth-focused implementing partner responsible for youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, community of practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy. The Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) serves as the technical knowledge and research partner. Together, the consortium bridges the gap between local civil society innovation and national-level systems change in adolescent health and nutrition.

Project Components

Component 1: Strengthening CSO and YLO Capacities for Networking and Enabling Pathways to Scale

This component strengthens the organisational and technical capacity of CSOs and YLOs to co-design, expand, and integrate high-quality adolescent health and nutrition innovations into public systems. It delivers Technical Support Packages covering baseline capacity assessments, tailored technical assistance and mentorship in programme design and grant management, policy dialogue facilitation, and the establishment of youth engagement mechanisms such as youth councils and social listening channels. It establishes and manages a Cross-Country Community of Practice (CoP) that connects local innovators with technical experts, policymakers, and partners through peer learning platforms, stakeholder convenings, structured knowledge exchange, and the documentation and dissemination of lessons on scaling and health system integration.

Component 2: Supporting CSOs and YLOs to Effectively Engage Government Entities in Adolescent Health and Nutrition

This component provides sub-grants to eligible CSOs and YLOs across up to 12 countries to scale proven adolescent health and nutrition innovations. It covers all grant management and administration activities, including the development of an Operational Manual, formation of a technical selection committee, targeted country-level outreach to attract strong applicants, sub-grantee selection, and compliance and fiduciary management. It focuses on sub-project implementation supporting CSOs to identify and scale promising interventions, conduct sensitisation workshops, execute awareness and communications campaigns, and carry out periodic adaptive sub-project reviews.

Component 3: Generating Evidence and Influencing Policy

This component builds a robust evidence base and uses it to drive policy change and sustainable scale. It covers operational research and M&E: conducting mixed-method studies on performance and cost-effectiveness, strengthening CSO and YLO monitoring systems, and piloting adolescent feedback mechanisms such as SMS polling and social listening. It covers knowledge management and advocacy: documenting successful co-design models, producing policy briefs and academic papers, and engaging with national and global decision-making forums to advocate for policy integration and financing.

The Youth Café's Role in ALIGN

As a consortium partner, The Youth Café leads youth engagement, sub-grant portfolio management, Community of Practice facilitation, and evidence-based advocacy across the project. TYC is specifically responsible for ensuring that adolescent voices and youth-led innovations are at the centre of the project's policy influence and systems integration work. TYC's ALIGN team is based in Nairobi with responsibility for country-level coordination across all target countries.

Staff recruited under ALIGN will operate within TYC's administrative and programmatic structure, in close coordination with ACF USA and ENN. All positions are governed by TYC's human resources policies, the World Bank's Environmental and Social Framework requirements, and the safeguarding and labour standards set out in the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP). Each staff member assigned to ALIGN is expected to support TYC's designated Environmental and Social Focal Point and to uphold TYC's and ACF USA's safeguarding, anti-discrimination, and gender equality policies throughout implementation.

Note to Applicants

The position for which you are applying is part of The Youth Café's ALIGN project team. This background document is a standard introduction provided with all ALIGN Terms of Reference and should be read together with the specific position description that follows. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate in their application how their experience relates to the project's three-component structure and to TYC's specific implementation responsibilities as described above.

Key Responsibilities

 1. Project Coordination and Leadership

  • Lead the development and implementation of TYC's Annual Work Plan and budget aligned to all three ALIGN components and project activities.

  • Ensure alignment of TYC's activities with ACF USA's overall project design, GFF donor requirements, and the Consortium Steering Committee's strategic direction.

  • Serve as TYC's primary liaison to ACF USA and ENN, attending all consortium coordination meetings and representing TYC at Steering Committee level.

  • Monitor overall project risk across all components, resolve operational issues escalated by team members, and report strategic risks to the Consortium Steering Committee.

  • Ensure all ALIGN activities are implemented in accordance with TYC's institutional policies, the World Bank's Environmental and Social Framework, and the ESCP safeguarding obligations.

2. Component 1: Capacity Strengthening and Community of Practice

  • Oversee the delivery of Technical Support Packages: coordinate baseline capacity assessments of sub-grantees; manage delivery of tailored technical assistance and mentorship in programme design, grant management, M&E, and safeguarding; facilitate policy dialogue and co-delivery planning with health providers and government counterparts; and support co-design of school-based and community health interventions.

  • the establishment and ongoing management of Youth Engagement Mechanisms, youth councils, scorecards, and social listening channels, ensuring adolescent voices are systematically embedded in programme design and policy engagement.

  • Lead TYC's role in establishing and facilitating the Cross-Country Community of Practice: oversee platform establishment; coordinate stakeholder convenings, including webinars, thematic sprints, and workshops; curate learning agendas and lead partnership brokerage; and ensure lessons on scaling pathways and health system integration are documented and disseminated.


3. Component 2: Sub-Grant Management and Sub-Project Oversight

  •  Lead TYC's contribution to the development of the project's Operational Manual, including eligibility criteria, screening, due diligence processes, and performance milestones.

  •  Represent TYC on the Technical Selection Committee responsible for oversight and management of the sub-grant process.

  • Lead TYC's targeted country-level outreach to identify and attract strong CSO and YLO applicants, with particular attention to underserved geographies and marginalised groups, across up to 12 eligible countries.

  •  Oversee sub-grantee selection, agreement execution, and ongoing grant management, applying strict corporate governance practices and risk mitigation strategies to ensure compliance with multilateral fiduciary requirements and ensuring timely fund disbursement.

  •  Provide periodic adaptive support to sub-grantees, including monitoring sub-project progress, reviewing sensitisation workshop delivery, and supporting awareness and communications campaigns.


4. Component 3: Evidence Generation and Policy Influence

  • Coordinate TYC's contribution to mixed-method operational research, working with ENN and sub-grantees to assess performance, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of community-led solutions.

  • Lead TYC's M&E capacity-strengthening activities for CSOs and YLOs, ensuring sub-grantees maintain robust monitoring systems and implement data quality assurance measures.

  • Oversee the piloting and scaling of adolescent feedback mechanisms — SMS polling, social listening, scorecards — and ensure findings are integrated into quality-of-care reviews and programme improvement cycles.

  • Lead TYC's knowledge management and advocacy work: coordinate documentation of successful co-design models; oversee production of policy briefs, practice notes, and academic papers; and represent TYC at global decision-making forums to advocate for policy integration and financing.

5. Donor Compliance and Reporting

  • Oversee the preparation of TYC's quarterly and annual donor-compliant narrative and financial reports for submission to ACF USA within agreed timelines.

  • Ensure all project documentation is maintained to audit-ready standard, consistent with World Bank financial management requirements.

  • Maintain compliance with GFF, World Bank, and ACF USA standards across all programmatic and financial management activities.

Deliverables

  • Annual work plans and budgets by January each year

  • Quarterly and annual donor-compliant reports

  • Documentation of consortium meetings and learning exchanges

  • Evidence briefs and policy recommendations for national and global stakeholders

  • Consortium steering committee meeting documentation

  • Policy briefs and practice notes 

  • End-of-project report summarizing outcomes and lessons learned

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

  • Master's degree in Public Health, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a closely related field..

  • Minimum 5 years of progressive experience in programme management of multi-country, donor-funded projects.

  • Demonstrated experience managing sub-grant portfolios including eligibility assessment, compliance monitoring, capacity building, and fiduciary oversight.

  •  Proven track record in facilitating multi-stakeholder platforms, communities of practice, or peer learning networks in a health or development context.

  • Strong expertise in adolescent health,nutrition programming, RMNCAH+N policy engagement or deep understanding of localized public sector budgeting, devolution frameworks, and government executive operations.

  • Applicants must hold a valid work permit or be legally authorised to work in their country of residence at the time of application. The Youth Café will not sponsor or facilitate work permits for this assignment.

  • Experience working with youth-led organisations and CSOs in Sub-Saharan African contexts.

  • Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality donor reports, policy briefs, and knowledge products.

  • Excellent English communication, writing, and presentation skills.

Desirable

  • Experience with World Bank-financed projects including familiarity with Environmental and Social Framework requirements.

  • Working knowledge of the GFF x CIVIC Platform, GANN, MAMI Global Network, or comparable adolescent health and nutrition initiatives.

  • Proficiency in French (added advantage given the project's Francophone country coverage).

  •  Experience using digital community engagement tools, social listening platforms, or M&E data systems.

Duration and Compensation

Duration: 2 years

Compensation: Competitive salary aligned with donor budget provisions

Payment Schedule: Monthly, upon submission of deliverables and timesheets

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit the following documents:

  • A cover letter of not more than one page setting out your suitability for the role and confirming availability from 1 July 2026.

  • An updated CV of not more than four pages.

  • Contact details for two professional referees (referees will not be contacted without prior notification to the candidate).

 

Email applications to: human.resource@theyouthcafe.com

cc:admin.compliance@theyouthcafe.com 

Subject Line: Project Manager – ALIGN Project

Deadline for submission: 30th June 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Equal Opportunity

The Youth Café is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion and strongly encourages applications from women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.