Skill Development Advisor - RAYEE II Project

Company Description

SNV is a global development partner, deeply rooted in the countries where we operate. Driven by a vision of a better world where all people live with dignity and have equitable opportunities to thrive sustainably, SNV strengthens capacities and catalyses partnerships that transform agri-food, energy, and water systems. We help strengthen institutions and effective governance, reduce gender inequalities and barriers to social inclusion and enable adaptation and mitigation to the climate and biodiversity crises.

With 60 years of experience and a team of approximately 1,600 people, we support our partners in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia, tailoring our approaches to different contexts to achieve large-scale impact and create more equitable lives for all.

Our core values of people-centeredness and respect, equity and equality, and diversity and inclusion, are fundamental to who we are, and what we do. This is reflected in our vision and mission, and strategy, which sets out our aspirations and commitments as our compass towards 2030.

For more information on SNV's, please visit our website: www.snv.org.

Background of the Project

SNV Ethiopia is implementing Resilient and Empowered Young Women via Rural Agri-preneurship (RAYEE II) program which is a five-year program (15 August 2025 to 14 August 2030) with the objective to reach one million financially disadvantaged rural young women and to secure dignified and fulfilling employment for 800,000 youth (10% youth men) using a market systems development approach in seven regions. The selected potential value chains that have high potential growth are Dairy, poultry, and horticulture value chains.

It emphasizes transformative gender and social inclusion (GESI) and aims to address structural and socio-cultural barriers that limit young women’s participation in economic life. Implementation will be decentralized, with strong collaboration across local TVETs, youth centers, community organizations, and public service institutions.

Summary of the position

The Skill Development Advisor provides technical leadership at the cluster level to design, coordinate, and oversee inclusive, gender-responsive, and market-relevant skills development interventions for rural young women (RYW) and persons with disabilities. The role involves engaging and strengthening local training providers, supporting woreda facilitators, and promoting the integration of digital, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy training into existing systems, strengthen the local skills ecosystem, enhance access to training and improve service quality.

The Advisor ensures training is accessible and responsive by introducing flexible delivery models, embedding inclusive practices, and customizing content to the local context. The position also supports quality assurance, contributes to learning and reporting, and represents the program in cluster-level coordination platforms to align training supply with market demand and youth aspirations. The role reports to the Cluster Coordinator and is technically guided by the Skill System Advisor at national level.

Job Description

Cluster

Skills

• Planning and Implementation
• Lead planning, design, and rollout of cluster skills development interventions in line with approved annual and quarter work plan and national program strategy.
• Coordinate implementation of entrepreneurship, agribusiness, digital and financial literacy, and value chain technical training packages for rural young women and persons with disabilities.
• Support training and capacity building activities for Youth Savings and Loan Associations (YSLA).
• Provide technical guidance to woreda facilitators on service provider engagement, and follow-up
• Participate in contextualizing and adapting training manuals and materials to local needs.
• Training Provider Engagement, Quality and Inclusion
• Identify, assess, engage and strengthen A/TVETs, youth centres, OSSCs, universities, private training providers and other local skills service providers.
• Support local service providers to co-develop and deliver inclusive, gender responsive and digitally integrated training.
• Monitor training quality and materials for different groups, service providers and TOT participants.
• Promote flexible delivery models, including mobile training, community-based learning and digital advisory services.
• Promote and support the adoption of digital advisory and learning tools in collaboration with training providers.
• Work with GESI and safeguarding colleagues to address barriers for rural young women, persons with Disabilities and young mothers, including childcare, assistive devices and safe spaces.
• Systems Strengthening, Monitoring and Field Support
• Embed digital literacy, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and mentorship in woreda government offices, A/TVETs, youth centres, OSSCs and community institutions.
• Promote adoption of digital advisory and learning tools with training providers.
• Conduct regular field visits and coaching with zonal coordinators, woreda facilitators and skills service providers.
• Collaborate with MEAL to develop and use tools and indicators to track training participation, completion and outcomes.
• Provide timely feedback and follow up on implementation quality and improvement actions.
• Knowledge Management, Coordination and Reporting
• Capture lessons learned, document success stories and contribute technical inputs to cluster progress reports, learning briefs and annual work plans.
• participate in multi-stakeholder dialogue and represent the programme in cluster forums, skills networks and coordination platforms.
• Support alignment of training supply with labour- market demand and youth aspirations.
• Undertake other responsibilities within the program that contribute to achieving the desired results.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in education, Agriculture, Youth Development, TVET, Social Sciences, or a related field. Preferably master’s degree in the field mentioned.

• 8 years of relevant experience in skills development preferably in rural youth employment and agricultural value chains.

• Proven experience in working with TVET institutions, private training providers, and public skill development systems.

• Strong understanding of GESI, safeguarding, and inclusion approaches in training.

• Experience in coaching and capacity building of field staff and local actors.

• Proven expertise in adult learning methodologies and youth entrepreneurship experience in tracking training quality and gathering field data.

• Fluency in English language and advantageous if she /he understand the local languages widely used in the clusters Gamogna, Wolita etc.

• Willingness to travel extensively within the assigned cluster.

• Additional Information

• Contract Type: National

• Expected start date: January 1, 2027

• Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

• Contract Duration: The contract is for one year, with the possibility of extension based on performance and budget availability.