General
Description of assignment title: YELL Community Volunteer for DemiLaut
Assignment country: Malaysia
Expected start date: 07/17/2023
Sustainable Development Goal: 13. Climate action
Volunteer category: National UN Community Volunteer
Host entity: UNDP
Type: Onsite
Duration: 6 months (with possibility of extension)
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Kuala Lumpur
Details
Mission and objectives
UNDP Malaysia is committed to assist Malaysia and its people in establishing sustainable pathways to development. UNDP’s analytical work, household surveys, and policy offerings found uptake from multiple Ministries – Planning, Finance, Enterprise Development, National Unity, Environment, and Communications. UNDP led 3 of the 4 pillars of the United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF). We combine global networks and best practices to indigenous knowledge and experiences to overcome challenges in the areas of: Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth, Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Environment and Energy for Sustainable Development, Women’s Empowerment and SDG Financing.
Context
YELL is a joint programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), supported by Amanah Lestari Alam (ALAM) to reimagine youth participation in climate and environmental action, in Malaysia. With a focus on moving from awareness to action, empowering young people with the knowledge, skills and networks to address sustainability issues, YELL has two objectives: (1) To address the knowledge and resource gaps among local youth from diverse background by localizing climate narratives through inclusion and emphasis on local and indigenous perspectives on nature and the environment, and (2) To strengthen the ecosystem of actors to support and hold the space for youth to engage as agents of change in environmental policy- and decision-making and in environmental actions. YELL’s objectives will be achieved through three programmatic pillars: the ‘Exploration’ programme, the ‘Conservocation’ programme, and the YELL Network Resource Hub. YELL is expected to enable children and young people aged 7-30 years old to act on climate and environmental issues with structured entry points through the three programmatic pillars. In 2023, YELL is implementing a work placement pilot under one of its programmes – called Conservocation – that aims to encourage young people from different backgrounds an opportunity to embark on a viable green career, regardless of their educational level or background through a UN Community Volunteer exposure experience at a network partner organization. The objectives of the work placement exposure are: 1. To provide a platform for young people to be exposed to and experience work in the environmental sector impacting their own community or of other communities, building an understanding of intersectionality (human rights, social, economy) and the environment. 2. To build a network in the sector for future references and collaborations. 3. To widen young people’s perspectives about careers in sustainability and conservation, to help them assess their own interests and abilities. 4. To provide an opportunity for skills building that is relevant to the sector. One such network organization that YELL has partnered with is DemiLaut, to provide the work placement and career exposure opportunity. #DemiLaut is iterating on solutions to upskill Rural Youths with modern digital science skills to be the bridge in increasing the adoption of an app that allows traditional fishers to record their catches for governance and to come up with distribution efforts that disrupt fishers’ vicious cycle of exploitation and desperation that leads to destructive fishing amongst themselves. They believe that by logging across the supply-chain of traditional fishers from the ocean to port, it allows us not only to have a better understanding of their efforts and impact on biodiversity, also to improve their incomes and access to market, while providing them with alternative income in data collections of fish stocks and climate change impact on the ocean and coastal. They have implemented a model that allows unique individuals to iterate processes of engaging and improving buy-ins from traditional fishers to adopt out technology and to collect various data in fishing activities across Malaysia. They also have several other modules including fish recognition and counting AI system, traditional fishers SAAS, and data dashboard to help us process this.
Task description
The UN Community Volunteer is expected to be based full-time (5 days a week) for 6 months with DemiLaut, from workstation(s) at Kuala Lumpur and may include field sites. There are also work from home opportunities as some of the work required can be executed as a desktop deliverable. The UN Community Volunteer is expected to work closely with and report to the assigned supervisor at DemiLaut, who will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the UN Community Volunteer. YELL Coordinator will be responsible for supervising administrative, operational and contractual matters of the UN Community Volunteer, and will conduct joint progress evaluations with the host supervisor at DemiLaut. The UN Community Volunteer is expected to use their own vehicles for project-related travels if necessary for which expenses will be borne by the project on a reimbursement basis. The UN Community Volunteer is expected to: ● To support the delivery of DemiLaut programmes and activities (80%); and ● To support collection of grassroots and local content on environment and climate action that YELL can promote and advocate for through its platform, not limited to the YELL website (20%). DemiLaut activities (80%) Under the day-to-day supervision of the host supervisor at DemiLaut, the UN Community Volunteer is expected to: ● To conduct research on specific topics related to the agritech industry, such as market trends, competitor analysis, or new technologies ● To update website and social media content, including in proofreading, editing, formatting content, basic graphic design etc. (subject to the volunteer’s expertise) ● To support in organizing events, including event management and administrative and logistical support. ● To support administration and communication-related work including communicating with all project partners/stakeholders; preparing documents for administrative purposes and other administrative work; arrange meeting schedules or handle basic correspondence. ● To assist & support organization programs development and implementation. ● To assist in organization monitoring and reporting work. ● To support on-going projects or operational tasks, as and when required. ● To support data and knowledge management work. ● To support in organizing events, including event management and administrative and logistical support. ● Participate in relevant YELL fellowship activities with other UNVs of the Conservocation programme. ● Any other related tasks may be required or assigned by the assigned supervisor. YELL activities (20%) With support from the YELL Coordinator or YELL designated personnel, the UN Community Volunteer is expected to produce at least one (1) type of content* for each YELL activity below, at a regularity of every 2 months: ● Document DemiLaut programmes, activities, and area of advocacy. ● Collect human interest stories from stakeholders or communities. ● Document UN Community Volunteer’s experience / journey i.e. self-reports. *Note: The type of content produced for each YELL activity, not limited to the following formats: ● Written materials i.e. Write-ups, articles, blogs. ● Visual-audio materials i.e. videos, photos, podcasts, etc. ● Other creative expressions i.e. drawings, poems, etc. Furthermore, UN Community Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. Results/expected outputs Following are the indicative results / expected outputs that the UN Community Volunteer is expected for the duration of their placement at DemiLaut. A work plan will be developed together with the UN Community Volunteer and the host supervisor of DemiLaut and YELL Coordinator, where relevant, at the start of the programme. ● To conduct research on specific topics related to the agritech industry, such as market trends, competitor analysis, or new technologies ● To organize at least 1 event or consultation ● To create and revise content in website and social media platform for DemiLaut
Eligibility criteria
Age: 18 – 80
Nationality
Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Requirements
Required experience
No experience required
Area(s) of expertise
Social work, Community development
Driving license
–
Languages
English, Level: Working knowledge, Required Bassa/Basa, Level: Working knowledge, Required
Required education level
Technical/vocational diploma in Voluntary service, community engagement or work experience can be considered in lieu of any formal education.
Competencies and values
● Accountability ● Adaptability and flexibility ● Ability to work in a diverse group ● Creativity ● Excellent oral skills, i.e. communication skills ● Excellent written skills, i.e. drafting and reporting skills ● Judgement and decision-making ● Planning and organising ● Proactive and willingness to learn ● Professionalism ● Self-management ● Agile & Transparent ● Committed to documenting and following workflow implemented
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
N/A
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy
