Call for Applications: DEPP Youth Advisory Council

The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening is looking for five young leaders from around the world to help inform youth-inclusive democracy, rights and government (DRG) programming through its DEPP Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

This group will help deepen and expand inclusive youth priorities into the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) work being carried out under CEPPS’ DEPP Leader with Associates Award (LWA) and strengthen its impact on diverse youth populations. The YAC will be engaged for a 10-month tenure (approximately December 2024 through September 2025) to support CEPPS in designing youth-informed strategies that strengthen effective, sustainable, inclusive youth inclusion in DRG programming.

Principles

• CEPPS prioritizes partnering with young people to design and deliver programming that empowers them to meaningfully engage in political processes and fosters enabling environments for youth leadership and representation through the application of CEPPS’ technical approach to inclusion as well as by applying three guiding principles:
  • Acknowledge youth as a heterogenous population: There is no “one size fits all” approach to youth engagement. Young people hold diverse identities and experiences. CEPPS creates and delivers tailored approaches to youth programming to respond to this by considering differences among and between different young people, as well as specific sociocultural contexts, when designing activities.
  • Partner with young people to design and apply interventions at all levels: CEPPS employs consultative processes to engage young people throughout the program life cycle. CEPPS prioritizes social behavior change interventions and intergenerational political collaboration at the institutional and societal level to foster enabling environments for young people’s participation.
  • Integrate cross-cutting and cross-sectoral considerations: CEPPS works across sectors to engage young people on the issues they care about, while connecting them to spaces for decision-making and political participation.

Funding Information 

• Each member of the DEPP Youth Advisory Council will receive a stipend of $3,000 upon successful completion of the work described in the ToR. The assignment will begin on December 1, 2024 and will continue for 10 months.

Key Responsibilities

• Over a 10-month period (approximately December 2024 through September 2025) members of the DEPP Youth Advisory Council (YAC) will collaborate with CEPPS to:
  • Strengthen CEPPS’ overall youth inclusion approach through the revision of its existing youth inclusion strategy;
  • Support CEPPS’ partners in the inclusion of youth priorities in program design and reporting through the development of indicators to measure youth-focused intermediate result statements;
  • Collaborate with CEPPS’ technical teams on mainstreaming youth inclusion and priorities into key cross-cutting priority areas and
  • Design and present learning events and resources that increase practitioners’ understanding of challenges to the political and civic participation of diverse young people and promising practices to mitigating those challenges.

Eligibility Criteria

• The ideal candidate for the DEPP Youth Advisory Council should possess the following skills and qualifications:
  • Ages 18 to 30 years old;
  • National of one of the following geographic regions: Europe/Eurasia, Middle East/North Africa, Latin America and Caribbean, Africa, or Asia;
  • Demonstrated leadership in civic and/or political engagement;
  • Strong understanding of the importance of fostering youth political and/or civic participation and leadership and how to advance this goal;
  • Demonstrated leadership and participation across one or more sectors, including, for example, health, business, gender equity and social inclusion, education, peace and security; climate and environmental sustainability, etc.;
  • Demonstrated experience designing and implementing local and/or national-level initiatives promoting or enhancing the participation of youth and members of marginalized groups in politics, electoral processes, and/or civic life;
  • Strong understanding of inclusive, intersectional approaches in working with diverse groups of young people with multiple marginalized identities;
  • Experience working with diverse stakeholders, including civil society organizations, universities, local and national government bodies, political parties, businesses, development actors, etc.;
  • Some experience with research and monitoring and evaluation preferred, but not required;
  • Fluency in English (speaking, reading, and writing);
  • Have strong collaboration and communication skills;
  • Be self-motivated and creative; and
  • Have access to a strong internet connection.

For more information, visit CEPPS.