Educational Projects Coordinator
YFU Global Office (Brussels)
Background
Youth For Understanding (YFU) advances intercultural understanding, life-long learning, global competence, mutual respect, and social responsibility through transformational educational exchanges for generations of youth, families, and communities, supported by dedicated volunteers and professional staff. YFU is a global non-profit community driven by the passion of people, consisting of 50+ member organizations across six continents. As a leader in intercultural exchange and educational programs for more than 70 years, YFU has impacted more than 270.000 students – and their host families, schools and networks – and more than 70.000 volunteers.
YFU’s Global Office, composed of the legal entities European Educational Exchanges - Youth for Understanding (EEE-YFU) and Youth For Understanding International Educational Services (YFU IES), is the global structure that works to enable the YFU membership worldwide to achieve our mission by providing leadership, critical services and opportunities to grow and thrive as (a) sustainable and quality organization(s).
To support the Global Office in furthering our mission and increasing our visibility by developing and implementing meaningful educational activities for different stakeholders, we are looking for a committed Educational Projects Coordinator working from Brussels.
Position
The Educational Projects Coordinator supports YFU's Global Office in developing and implementing relevant and innovative responses to the challenges of an evolving society. The role is established to increase YFU's impact, visibility and outreach in Europe and beyond as well as to raise funds to facilitate fulfilling the Global Office's purpose and carrying out its activities.
The Educational Projects Coordinator reports to the Director of Programs and is responsible at YFU's Global Office for fundraising for educational projects and the coordination of their implementation, first and foremost the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES). The YES is a yearly YFU event gathering more than 100 volunteers and around 400 students at the end of their exchange year in Europe who get the
chance to learn about active citizenship and topics of global interest, but also to talk about their exchange experience with the volunteers and the other students. The YES aims to empower participants to expand upon the learnings gained through exchange programs and other intercultural experiences, while connecting with the global YFU community, and thus become proactive and globally oriented agents of change.
The Educational Projects Coordinator collaborates closely with the Communications and Advocacy Specialist and the Learning and Knowledge Manager and oversees the work of an ESC intern. The position works also very closely with YFU's Global Volunteers.
Responsibilities
Effectively coordinate internally and externally funded educational projects:
- Ensure the implementation of the YES from an administrative, logistic, financial and educational perspective and coordinate the volunteers who support this implementation
- Support the development of the YES into an event that becomes an integral component of all YFU exchange programs hosted in Europe
- Develop and implement other educational projects that further the mission of YFU (youth exchange, trainings, workshops etc.) including budget management, project coordination and oversight, reporting, collaboration with funders
- Oversee quality assurance, evaluation, reporting and knowledge management in educational projects organized by YFU's Global Office
- Coordinate and support the development and alignment of YFU Colored Glasses intercultural educational workshops, implemented by YFU members globally
Raise funds to facilitate fulfilling the Global Office´s purpose and carrying out its activities:
- Monitor and identify promising funding opportunities on the European and global level and translate them into project ideas and funding applications
- Expand revenues sources by maintaining current and gaining new grant opportunities, mapping donors' landscape, outline initial strategy to approach new donors
Candidate profile and qualifications
- A Bachelor or Master’s degree in political science, sociology, international relations, communication or related discipline
- A minimum of 2 years of experience in project management, stakeholder relations, fundraising or related field
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in English and ideally other languages (e.g. German, Spanish, French)
- Experience in working with volunteers
- Detail oriented and efficient organizational, project and time management skills, working with virtual teams
- A solid understanding of YFU programs and stakeholders
- Availability for occasional travel (international)
- Outstanding interpersonal skills, a good sense of humor, a team player, open-minded, creative and innovative, a quick learner, entrepreneurial and culturally sensitive
- An EU work permit
What we offer
- An unlimited fulltime contract (38 hours/week), subject to Belgian Employment laws
- A competitive salary based on experience and qualifications
- An attractive level of autonomy and responsibility in an intercultural, collaborative and energetic working environment
- Work in a small organization with a diverse and committed team to deliver impact
- The opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven organization with global operations
- Starting date: Ideally, January 2023, but flexible; work location: Brussels
Application
Please submit a meaningful application, including motivation letter and salary expectations, by email to Kea Hoppe, Deputy Secretary General and Director of Programs (eee-yfu@yfu.world), reference “Educational Projects Coordinator”. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis.
YFU encourages any person with the required qualifications to apply, without distinction to gender, disability, social or ethnic origins, religion, convictions or sexual orientation. YFU recognizes different types of experience, including professional and volunteering.