Let‘s Collaborate

About the Global Opportunity Youth Network
The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) is a global initiative that aims to catalyze youth economic opportunity at scale by strengthening cross-sector, community-based approaches to address youth unemployment. In the eThekwini region, the GOYN will work to improve youth employment outcomes by partnering with community leaders to identify the systems, policies, and incentives most needed to improve long-term youth employment outcomes and accelerate high-priority solutions through global grant funding and linkages to impact financing. The GOYN partners in eThekwini region include GOYN, ACTIVATE! Change Drivers, Harambee and Africa Tikkun.

About ACTIVATE! Change Drivers
ACTIVATE! Change Drivers is a multi-sectoral youth development initiative established to strengthen the capacity of youth leaders to be catalysts of positive social change within their communities and across South Africa. Its core value proposition is the development of a network of youth change drivers; equipped with competencies in leadership, public innovation, critical thinking and community development to be innovative and active citizens influencing positive social, economic and political change in society.
As part of the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) partnership in eThekwini, Activate! Change Drivers is committed strengthening youth leadership, civic engagement, and advocacy as core levers for improving employment outcomes for Opportunity Youth (OY) aged 15–35. This partnership aims to empower young people to drive governance structures, influence employment pathways,contribute to community initiatives, and participate in local a more inclusive youth employment ecosystem.

Role overview
The Youth engagement coordinator will play a critical role in the mobilization and inclusion of the youth voice in creating opportunities in eThekwini region. The Youth Engagement coordinator will achieve this by ensuring youth inclusion in solutions co-design; mapping of youth hubs and existing interventions that could be leveraged for systemic change. The Youth Engagement coordinator will work in close coordination with the GOYN Coordinator, the GOYN global team and local youth ecosystem stakeholders including government, civil society, private sector, academia, and young people. The Youth Engagement coordinator will be responsible for ensuring the initiatives advance by keeping all parties organized, engaged, and moving forward.

Essential Functions
The following are the key duties of this position. These are not to be construed as exclusive or all-inclusive. Other duties will develop as the network evolves.

Youth Advisory Group (YAG):
– Ensure engagement with youth advisory group is consistent and constructive
– Organize for meetings and workshops for members and other stakeholders
– Facilitate co-creation workshops
– Coordinate the capacity building and mentoring of YAG members.
– Ensure consistent participation of Youth advisory group members
– Support the YAG in strategy formulation and annual planning for the group

Youth inclusion/Mobilization
– Mobilize Opportunity Youths in eThekwini region for GOYN activities
– Ensure the youth voice is included in all GOYN initiatives
– Promote Opportunity Youth as drivers of change
– Coordinate advocacy activities for youth inclusion in eThekwini region

Global Youth Convening
– Provides substantive support to the GOYN global team in organizing periodic global youth convening
– Contributes substantively to the development and implementation of the global convening strategy
– Facilitating engagement between GOYN global team, Anchor partners and other stakeholders in eThekwini region

Knowledge Management
– Promote the use of collaborative tools
– Help disseminate information about the organization’s to internal and external audiences
– Plan, develop, support, and promote collaborative tools to facilitate sharing of ideas and work among internal teams and external partner
– Identify knowledge critical to the GOYN; looking beyond technical knowledge (‘know-how) to strategic, business-environmental, people and other knowledge categories

Candidate Profile
– Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of five years equivalent experience in Education, Youth Affairs, Social Work, Human Services, Early Childhood Development, or a related field (preference for related experience in eThekwini region context);
– Five years of progressively responsible experience with demonstrated talent for forming and leading partnerships between diverse stakeholders working towards a common goal;
– Comfortable with public speaking and public presentations;
– Ability to travel regularly to local communities for meetings, trainings, and workshops;
– Understanding of community mobilization, project management, strategic planning, data gathering and analysis, communications, and/or organizational/systems dynamics.

Technical Skills
– Document and presentation development; proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other valuable presentation platforms. The role involves creating a variety of engaging reports, presentations, proposals, and communication materials;
– Comfort utilizing databases and handling large volumes of data;
– Ability to examine and analyze data, research, and facts to uncover and understand cause-effect relationships, and use information as a basis for problem solving, decision making, and prioritization;
– Event, logistics, and project management involving coordination of diverse project needs and stakeholders.

Other Skills
– Ability to collaborate and contribute to a close knit, supportive team environment, and work with people and organizations of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures;
– Efficient, high-capacity self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced work environment;
– Outstanding interpersonal skills. Ability to quickly establish trust and rapport with professional and community stakeholders; comfortable addressing politically sensitive and policy questions with tact and poise.

Start date
01 June 2026

Application Instructions
The recruitment team is soliciting expressions of interest immediately. Nominations or applications (with current resume, letter of interest, 3 references) should be sent confidentially, electronically, on or before 27 May 2026 to hr@activateleadership.co.za / 087 820 4874