Founded in 1979, St Andrew’s Refugee Services (StARS) is a refugee service provider in central Cairo that works to enhance the quality of life for refugees and vulnerable migrants through four programs: adult and children’s education, legal, and psychosocial services. We provide high-quality services meeting the unaddressed needs of refugees, and we provide a safe and inclusive space for displaced people to come together as a community. We work for refugees, with refugees, to make rights recognition a reality.
Our mission is to enable refugees and migrants to recognize their potential by encouraging self-motivation and independence through quality, client-centered programming.
Our vision is that every refugee and asylum seeker is entitled to health, security, dignity.
We serve people from many places, including Ethiopia, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Syria.
Project Description: Unaccompanied Children and Youth Psychosocial and Education Programs.
StARS currently runs two programs for unaccompanied children and youth aged 13-19 years; the Unaccompanied Children and Youth (UCY) psychosocial program and the Unaccompanied Youth Bridging Program (UYBP). The UCY Psychosocial program provides community-based individual and group psychosocial support to youth, connecting them to the communities, helping them advocate for their needs and building their knowledge of services and access to education. The UYBP education program runs two full-time programs a year, focusing on English, mathematics and IT; and incorporates psychosocial group activities which aim to build participants’ self reliance and living skills. StARS is seeking an experienced and enthusiastic UCY Groups Developer to help develop and implement a curriculum of psycho-educational groups targeting unaccompanied youth across both of these programs.
Role: Working together with the UCY Psychosocial Program Coordinator and the UYBP Coordinator, the UCY Group developer will work across programs to develop psycho-educational groups for UCY in 2015 to be run at both StARS premises and within refugee communities.
Responsibilities
All duties are carried out under the supervision of the UCY Psychosocial Program Coordinator and also the UYBP Coordinator.
Curriculum development and implementation
- To develop and implement a curricula for:
- Psycho-educational groups for UCY attending the UYBP program twice a week.
- Community-based psycho-educational groups targeting new arrivals in Cairo. In close collaboration with UCY psychosocial workers.
- A leadership training for older UCY to develop their advocacy and leadership skills with the aim for them to become youth advocates within their communities. This will be jointly developed with the UCY program coordinator in collaboration with the UYBP Coordinator.
· To create workshops and groups that build self-reliance and coping skills and include workshops on SGBV, stress, budgeting, nutrition, “Know your Rights,” art therapy, and other topics which could improve their psychosocial well-being and living skills.
· To develop thorough workshop plans and documentation which support groups that may be used in the future by other psychosocial workers or volunteers.
· To ensure that the development of the program includes child participation and adheres to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
· To facilitate all workshops and groups in the UYBP program to be run twice weekly.
· To co-facilitate groups with UCY psychosocial workers in order to ensure effective implementation of the psycho-educational groups that take place in refugee communities.
Psychosocial
· To identify children at risk and highlight them to UCY psychosocial workers and coordinator as necessary.
· To establish programs based on psychosocial principles and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Supervisory
· To assist the UCY Program Coordinator in training psychosocial workers in delivering psycho-educational groups and activities to their clients in their communities and at StARS
· To assist the UYBP Coordinator in working with teaching assistants.
Finance/Administration
· To monitor and maintain financial records and procedures as per StARS financial rules, and ensure proper financial documentation of all activities.
· To undergo probation and regular performance appraisals.
· To participate in StARS strategic planning, periodic meetings, and other events as needed.
Communication/Reporting
· To communicate regularly with UCY program coordinators.
· To submit activity reports as requested.
· To promote information sharing within UCY programmes and StARS on all issues affecting the populations we serve.
· To collect data on all group participants as required.
· To conduct pre- and post-tests, administer questionnaires, and conduct any other monitoring and evaluation as needed.
· To communicate with funders in proposal writing and reporting as requested.
· To build and maintain strong relationships with refugees communities.
Qualifications & Experience
The ideal candidate will be energetic, articulate, and comfortable interacting with diverse segments of society. She or he will have demonstrated a firm commitment to human rights and refugee issues.
Essential qualifications:
· Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience
· English being the official language of UNHCR Cairo and StARS, the UCY Groups Developer must be fluent in oral English and have good writing skills.
· Fluency in Arabic or a refugee language is an advantage.
· Experience working with vulnerable youth in a refugee, post-conflict, or humanitarian emergency setting is essential.
· Experience in developing curricula and running groups or workshops for adolescents or young adults.
· Proven ability to work as part of a multi-cultural team.
· A positive attitude and sensitive manner when dealing with clients including a range of interviewing skills for dealing with challenging scenarios, particularly in advocating for survivors of violence, trafficking, torture, and SGBV.
Salary: 1600 EGP/month (plus 400 EGP/month cost-of-living allowance and 100 EGP/month medical allowance).
Closing date for applications: 4 January 2015, though applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Anticipated starting date: as soon as possible or 10 January 2015.
The UCY Groups Developer is expected to work 21 hours a week on a part-time contract. Aside from the previously scheduled and regular UYBP sessions per week, these hours will be flexible and are to be taken over 3-4 days of the week.
HOW TO APPLY:
How to apply:
Interested applicants should send a cover letter and CV to calt@stars-egypt.org. Please Note: For international candidates not in Cairo, keep in mind that this employment opportunity is part-time. Please read the salary information before applying.
