African Union Youth Volunteering Program 2018

Deadline: July 31, 2017

The African Union Youth Volunteer Corps (AU-YVC), established in 2010, is a continental development program that promotes youth volunteerism in Africa. The program aims to deepen the status of young people as key actors in Africa’s development targets and goals, enhancing their participation in policy development as well as design and implementation of relevant interventions towards the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063, ‘The Africa we want’. It brings people together to share skills, knowledge, creativity and learning to build a more integrated, prosperous and peaceful Continent driven by its citizens. The volunteering opportunities are intended to build professionalism and a sense of responsibility among the participants, thus enhancing their employability. Young African professionals are recruited to serve for a period of 12 months as AU Volunteers in an AU Member State other than their own.

Benefits

For the successful candidates, the African Union Commission and its partners will cover the full costs of their pre-deployment training. On deployment, African Union Youth Volunteers receive the following:

• Economy return air ticket from home town to place of deployment;
• A modest monthly stipend;
• Health insurance cover;
• Separation allowance upon successful completion of twelve months service.

Eligibility

Applicants have to meet the following criteria:

• Citizen of an AU Member State living on the continent or the Diaspora;
• Aged between 18 – 35 years;
• Have a post-secondary certified qualification(s) (TVET, Bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
• Available in 2018 to dedicate 12 (twelve) months for volunteer work;
• Willing to live and work in another AU Member State;
• Is proficient in at least one AU working language (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese);
• Has at least one year verifiable volunteering experience and one year professional work experience.

Application

Only application form completed online will be accepted.

• The form will help in assessing your suitability for the program. Kindly respect the stated word limit. You are advised to type your answers in a Word Processor (such as Microsoft Word) before pasting in the relevant fields.
• You will also need to add in a motivation letter with a maximum of 750 words. This should be added under the ‘Cover letter’ text box. Please ensure that your motivation letter answers the following:
  • Why you want to become an African Union Youth Volunteer?
  • Why you believe you are the best candidate to be an African Union Youth Volunteer?
  • What is your experience(s) (formal or informal) in youth civic engagement and participation, youth empowerment and/or promoting Pan-Africanism?
  • How has your previous experience(s) prepared you to work in diverse teams and cultures?
  • What change do you expect to see in yourself, the organization that you will be deployed in, and the community that you will be part of after your year of service?
• Attach a copy of your CV
• You will ALSO need to attach the following. Please merge these as one PDF document and attach that document. You might choose to use a service such as http://www.pdfmerge.com to do this.
  • A copy of the identity page in your passport or national identity card
  • Highest post-secondary certified qualification(s)
  • Signed Letter of Recommendation verifying your volunteer experience(s)
• Deadline for submission of applications is Monday, 31st July 2017 at Midnight GMT+3