Adolescent and Youth Social and Economic Empowerment Program Officer
Organization: Plan International
Posted: 27 Jul 2026
Closing date: 31 Jul 2026
Plan International is an independent humanitarian and development organization that promotes children's rights and girls' equality.
We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often repressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are the most affected.
Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we fight for a just world, addressing the root causes of the challenges faced by girls and all vulnerable children.
We support the rights of children from birth to adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive change in practice and policy at the local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 85 years and are now active in more than 80 countries.
PURPOSE:
Responsible for leading the design and ensuring technical quality of the implementation of program and project strategies from the area of social and economic empowerment of youth, with a transformative approach to gender and influence. Strengthen the technical capacities of the teams. Identify sources of financing and work on the formulation of proposals to obtain funds for the financing of projects. Establish and develop inter-institutional relationships at the central and local levels, under the coordination of the program manager, both for influence-oriented actions as well as for partnership work.
ROLE DIMENSIONS:
• It designs programs and projects with programmatic quality to meet the goals of the Country Strategy. She advises the Management Team (CMT) in relation to trends and priorities in youth empowerment and climate change.
• Ensures the technical quality of the implementation actions led by the coordinators and technical team.
• Identifies funding opportunities for their area and leads the process of formulating technical and financial proposals together with the Business Development team.
• Responsible for identifying new partners/alliances and ensuring a good relationship with partners in their thematic area, participating in networks and platforms.
• She articulates and participates in national, regional and global thematic spaces (internal/external) to position Plan as an expert and benchmark in youth empowerment guiding influence strategies.
• Member of the Extended Management Team (ECMT).
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:
Programmatic Design and Quality
• She leads the technical assistance of Social and Economic Empowerment of Youth, ensuring compliance with the results of the Country Strategy and advising the CMT on trends and innovations within her area.
• She designs, in coordination with the Business Development area, quality proposals for Grants, companies and sponsorship with a transformative approach to gender and influence related to the programmatic lines under her responsibility. Guaranteeing articulation with the Sponsorship area so that they respond to institutional commitments.
• It ensures the quality of innovative youth empowerment programs and projects that are capable of having a positive impact on the lives of young people, their families and communities, with a gender-transformative approach.
• It ensures the positioning of Plan in the area of Youth Empowerment, maintaining an active relationship and strategy with all the National Offices (NO), the regional office (ROA) and the headquarters (IH).
• Articulate, in coordination with the MERL team, the processes of capturing and gathering information (primary and secondary) as an input for the design of proposals and advocacy.
• It designs innovative methodologies and practical tools that favour the technical and methodological quality of the intervention.
• It guarantees timely and planned coordination with the other areas (CMT, HR, MMRR, Finance, IT, Pus, implementation management, among others) both for the design of proposals.
• Responsible for identifying and mitigating actions in the formulation of projects.
Technical Advice on Programs and Projects:
• It supervises the technical/programmatic quality of the implementation of programs and projects and compliance with donor requirements, aligned with the national strategy.
• Coordinate the preparation and review of the annual operational plans of the country office (CO), the preparation of the annual budget of the areas under his/her responsibility, manage the projects (PO) using the SAP institutional software.
• It ensures that the gender transformative approach is present in all Plan RD programs and projects and is understood by staff and partners.
• It ensures the integration of youth empowerment programmes and projects and that the various activities are results-oriented to the Country Strategy.
• Coordinates with the Program Units to ensure the technical quality of grant projects with sponsorship projects.
• Ensures the strengthening of PLAN team members in the thematic areas they lead
Monitoring and Evaluation:
• It guarantees the contribution of the youth empowerment area for the preparation of the country's semi-annual and annual report.
• Ensure the technical review of project reports for donors, ensuring that they are submitted with the required quality, within the scheduled dates and that follow-up recommendations are incorporated.
• It ensures that in the development of its area, the necessary evidence is generated both for the design and management of projects, as well as to feed the influence strategy.
• Identifies opportunities and develops specialized research and studies in its area for advocacy in coordination with NOs and national academic centers that help position Plan.
• Ensures the relevance and quality of internal and external evaluations.
• It contributes to effective accountability to key actors related to the intervention, including local and international donors.
• Ensures that the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan is included in the project design.
• Monitors and generates knowledge and advocacy, in collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation team and Implementation Management, on the results, indicators, milestones and objectives of the program lines and projects.
• It contributes to the documentation and exchange of best practices with stakeholders (partners, government, private sector and business), as appropriate.
• Generation of knowledge in internal and external opinion articles, showing good practices and institutional learning from the results of current and historical programs and projects.
Alliances and Partnerships:
• It identifies potential partners and alliances to ensure that Plan has a high level of engagement and influence on youth empowerment issues with civil society, government, UN agencies, academia, the private sector, the media, etc., and that it has the right partners for programmatic implementation.
• She represents and leads Plan RD's participation in platforms, coalitions, movements, and alliances that work on youth empowerment issues.
• Complies with the partnership policy in coordination with the national advisor according to his/her area of competence.
Influence, Campaigns and Communication:
• Identifies priorities for influence and coordinates initiatives to ensure that Plan influences at the national level with changes in laws and policies on issues related to youth empowerment, articulating the demands with the SDGs and the National 2030 Agenda.
• She contributes to the design of the influence and communications strategy, coordinates the implementation of campaigns with the Communications and Marketing team and identifies communication and audiovisual production needs.
• Provides key messages to the Communications and Marketing team to ensure that media activities reflect programmatic work in the area of youth empowerment.
• She produces quality technical documents, positions, stories and blogs to articulate the impact of work in the area of youth empowerment.
• He assures that Plan has the necessary evidence to develop strategies and tactics to influence the area of youth empowerment.
• It maintains an active relationship with the guarantors of rights and decision-makers to promote the fulfillment of the rights of young people.
• Acts as a spokesperson and representative of Plan on issues related to their area.
Business Development:
• In coordination with Business Development, it identifies funding opportunities for youth empowerment projects, contributing to meeting local and international fundraising goals.
• Formulates technical proposals with programmatic quality.
• She supports marketing actions to ensure Plan's positioning in the area of youth empowerment and climate change.
Capacity development and strengthening:
• Management and generation of knowledge and skills that guarantee the programmatic quality of the team according to thematic and institutional approaches.
• Promotes knowledge management and learning on communication management issues within the PU Management teams, together with the Communications facilitators.
• Design guidelines and production of materials, to ensure the attributes of the Brand Plan and Global Campaigns.
• Prepare the annual performance objectives (PAR) and the self-evaluation.
• Coordinates with the HR department for staff inductions.
• Responsible for reviewing the terms of reference for the hiring of project personnel and associated consultancies, to ensure programmatic approaches and quality.
Extended Management Team Member:
• Actively participates in the meetings of the Extended Management Team (ECMT), providing strategic inputs and contributing to effective decision-making.
• It supports the other ECMT members to achieve the objectives proposed in the Country Strategy.
• It updates ECMT members on progress in advocacy and project formulation and requests support in the areas of support to meet youth empowerment goals.
• It supports Plan's geographical expansion into new territories with youth empowerment projects.
TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
Fundamental Requirements:
• Bachelor's degree in social sciences or related areas; with a master's degree in related areas in disaster risk management (preferred).
• Training in topics related to Risk Management, Climate Change Adaptation, Project Management, project monitoring and evaluation tools, Advocacy/Influence.
• Experience leading and defining strategies, organizational and institutional strengthening, development of Operational Plans, in at least three of the following topics related to: human rights, social inclusion, gender equality, social and economic empowerment of youth, governance.
• Minimum experience of 5 years in social and community development work with vulnerable populations.
• Experience of 3 to 5 years supervising personnel (administration) and leading multidisciplinary and inter-institutional teams.
• Experience in advocacy and collaboration with relevant actors at the national level
• Extensive knowledge of the social, political, cultural and economic context of the DR.
• In-depth knowledge of the Rights of Children and Youth.
• Mastery of the methodology and tools of logical framework, results-based management, preparation of proposals for project financing.
• Report writing skills; Ability to identify key elements and criteria for writing quality reports. Ability to produce accurate, consistent reports in accordance with organizational and donor standards.
• Mastery of MS Office technological tools (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook). Languages: English - reading, writing and having a conversation fluently.
Desirable Requirements:
• Training or Certification in methodology for the implementation of social projects (e.g. PMDPro).
• Knowledge and experience in the management of SAP systems and/or financial and strategic planning tools.
• Communication through influence: Demonstrated effective interpersonal communication skills, including conflict resolution, negotiation skills, and the ability to prepare accurate and detailed documentation.
• Development of relationships of mutual trust with personalities and complex alliances to deliver excellent results by building effective teams.
Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Type of role: Technical coordination staff
Reports to: Country Representative DR
Closing date: July 31, 2026
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We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to all regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil union, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Plan International is built on a culture of inclusion and we strive to create a work environment that ensures that every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts and ideas.
We foster an organizational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls' rights, and inclusion.
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A number of pre-employment checks will be carried out in accordance with Plan International's Child and Youth Protection policy. Plan International also participates in the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Program. In accordance with this scheme, we will request information from applicants' previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.
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How to apply:
For applications, send your CV to the following link:
https://jobs.plan-international.org/job-invite/54635/