Careers & Opportunities

Youth, Gender and Community Engagement Coordinator

• Department: Inclusive Africa Program (IAP)
• Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya, with regional travel and virtual engagement across Africa
• Contract Allocation: Full-time
• Level: Middle level
• Recommended Reporting Line: Programs Director
• Direct reports: None initially; may supervise officers, interns, consultants and service providers as assigned
• Experience required: 3-5 years of progressively responsible relevant experience

1. Position Purpose

The Youth, Gender and Community Engagement Coordinator will ensure that young persons with disabilities, particularly young women, are reached, selected, supported and engaged as rights-holders, leaders and co-creators across IAP. The role will coordinate OPD and community relationships, gender-responsive participation, safeguarding focal-point functions, reasonable accommodation planning, youth feedback and ethical collection of stories of change.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Youth Outreach, Selection and Participation

• Develop and implement inclusive outreach and participation plans with OPDs and country partners across programme locations.
• Coordinate transparent, accessible and documented participant identification and selection processes consistent with approved criteria and targets.
• Maintain participant engagement calendars, contact protocols, attendance and participation records in coordination with delivery and MEL teams.
• Create multiple accessible channels through which youth can shape programme design, delivery, governance, learning and accountability.

B. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

• Serve as the programme gender focal point and support integration of gender analysis, targets, risk mitigation and responsive actions across workstreams.
• Monitor barriers affecting young women with disabilities and other underserved participants, and recommend practical adaptations to recruitment, scheduling, communication, travel and learning environments.
• Work with women-led and women-with-disabilities organisations to strengthen safe participation, leadership and visibility pathways.
• Support colleagues and partners to apply intersectional, youth-friendly and disability-inclusive approaches.

C. Safeguarding and Participant Wellbeing

• Serve as a designated programme safeguarding focal point, subject to inABLE’s safeguarding framework, referral protocols and separation-of-duties requirements.
• Coordinate safeguarding orientation, codes of conduct, safe reporting information and refresher sessions for staff, consultants, partners and participants
• Receive and immediately escalate safeguarding concerns through authorised confidential channels without investigating beyond the role’s mandate.
• Maintain secure, access-controlled safeguarding records and support survivor-centred referrals, incident follow-up and risk mitigation as directed.
• Conduct participant-safety and accessibility risk assessments for training, internships, travel, digital engagement, storytelling and public events.

D. Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation

• Coordinate participant-led accommodation assessments and plans covering accessible formats, captioning, sign-language interpretation, connectivity support, personal assistance, transport and venue access.
• Work with Finance, Convening, Skilling and service providers to ensure accommodations are budgeted, delivered on time and reviewed with participants.
• Monitor the accessibility and inclusiveness of virtual and in-person activities and document corrective actions.
• Promote dignity, choice, confidentiality and informed consent in all support arrangements.

E. Community and OPD Partnerships

• Maintain respectful working relationships with OPDs, youth-led groups, families or caregivers where appropriate, and community partners.
• Coordinate partner orientation, role clarity, feedback, issue resolution and follow-up related to outreach and participant support.
• Strengthen OPD capacity in inclusive facilitation, safeguarding, gender-responsive engagement, ethical storytelling and basic programme documentation.
• Ensure community feedback and concerns inform programme decisions and are closed through visible response loops.

F. Youth Voice, Stories and Learning

• Coordinate ethical identification and collection of stories of change, ensuring informed consent, accessible participation and protection from harm or exploitation.
• Support youth speakers, advocates and advisory members to prepare for conference, policy, media and governance engagements.
• Work with MEL and Communications colleagues to gather qualitative evidence without compromising confidentiality or participant ownership.
• Contribute to participation, gender, safeguarding and community-engagement reports and learning reviews.

3.  Education and Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Gender and Development, Community Development, Youth Development, Disability Studies, Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Public Health, International Development or a related field.
• Recognised training in safeguarding, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, gender equality, psychosocial first aid, case referral or disability inclusion is required or must be obtained upon appointment.
• Training in accessible facilitation, reasonable accommodation, participatory methods or qualitative research is desirable.

4. Required Experience

• 3-5 years of progressive experience in youth, gender, disability inclusion, community engagement, safeguarding or rights-based programmes.
• Demonstrated experience engaging young persons with disabilities, OPDs and community partners in programme design and delivery.
• Experience as a safeguarding focal point or in implementing safeguarding systems, confidential reporting and referral processes.
• Strong experience in gender-responsive programming and addressing intersectional barriers affecting young women with disabilities.
• Experience coordinating accessible training, events, travel or digital participation across multiple locations.
• Experience with ethical storytelling, informed consent, qualitative data collection or youth advisory mechanisms is desirable.

5. Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Youth participation and co-creation methods
• Gender analysis and gender-responsive programming
• Safeguarding, PSEA, confidential reporting and referral
• Disability inclusion, accessibility and reasonable accommodation planning
• OPD and community partnership management
• Inclusive facilitation and conflict-sensitive engagement
• Qualitative data collection, informed consent and ethical storytelling
• Basic monitoring, participant databases and secure documentation
• Strong spoken and written communication, including sensitive conversations

6. Behavioural Competencies

• Empathy with professional boundaries
• Trustworthiness and confidentiality
• Respect for autonomy, dignity and lived experience
• Courage to escalate concerns promptly
• Patience, active listening and cultural humility
• Organisation and reliable follow-through
• Calm judgement in sensitive situations
• Collaborative problem solving and inclusive leadership

Safeguarding & inclusion

inABLE has zero tolerance for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. All offers are subject to background checks and adherence to PSEA and Child/Adult Safeguarding policies. inABLE is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

Persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Job application and guidelines

Interested candidates should submit their cover letter, detailed CV, and expected salary to: [email protected]

Application Deadline: 26th October, 2026

Note: Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis. Early applications are encouraged.