Governance and Administration Advisor

  • Volunteer, Long-term consulting assignment
  • Posted on 15 July 2025
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Job Description

Role Title: Governance and Administration Advisor

Country/Project: Youth Prison Population Alliance (Youth Pops 2: Eswatini, Malawi and Zimbabwe

Duration: 16 months

Role purpose: To providing technical support in assessing and building capacities of Southern Africa Network of Prisons (SANOP) and its Chapter members in the areas of administration and governance as well as advocating for the rights of the Prison populations in Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Malawi.

Safeguarding level: Level 1: This post will have no direct contact/access to children and vulnerable adults as the role works to capacitate civil society organisations. The post holder will be expected to have a full commitment to always uphold VSO safeguarding policy. As part of our safer recruitment practice, a criminal background check will be obtained for post holder prior to start date.

Project background and contextual information: The Youth POPs project delivers a unique and innovative approach, targeting youth population, in prison populations across Southern Africa. It has been progressively built on strengthening youth-led spaces/associations/clubs for youths in prison and youth who are exinmates. Through employing a rights-based approach, programmes have heightened demands on HIV and health service creation and improvement, centred on youth-led social accountability and advocacy. The project, running from 2025 to December 2026, is being implemented in Southern Africa, namely Eswatini, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. It is being implemented in a consortium approach with the four partners bringing in their special expertise. Southern Africa Network of Prisons (SANOP), as the lead partner, exists to serve the prison and ex-prison community and promote human health and dignity in Southern Africa. In the Youth POPs project, is coordinating initiatives that promote health, rehabilitation and reintegration, movement leadership, network strengthening and influence, cross learning and sharing, and research and advocacy.

Role outputs

  • Support organizational development and capacity-building of SANOP and its Chapters, focusing on:
    • Governance, institutional strengthening, and service delivery (including policy monitoring, advocacy, and lobbying) through targeted training and sensitization events.
    • Accurate and timely processing of procurement documentation, including purchase requisitions, vendor onboarding forms, quotations, and purchase orders, in compliance with organizational procedures.
    • Comprehensive project documentation and reporting support, including drafting meeting minutes, maintaining action trackers, and compiling project status updates.
    • Systematic filing and archiving of governance and advocacy documents, such as policies, approvals, and audit trails, in alignment with organizational standards and audit requirements.
    • Coordination of meetings and workshops effectively; managing scheduling, logistics, and material distribution, and maintaining stakeholder communication logs and summary reports to document engagement with vendors, project teams, and governance bodies.

Experience and skills required for this volunteer placement

  • Academic background: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Administration, Social Sciences, International Development, or a related field.
  • Strong project management capabilities, with the ability to plan and execute effectively even in contexts with incomplete or evolving data. Demonstrates a structured and organized approach to work.
  • Proven ability to manage limited resources in high-demand environments, ensuring optimal impact despite constraints.
  • Extensive experience in capacity-building and strengthening civil society actors, including strong documentation and report writing skills.
  • Exceptional leadership, partnership development, and influencing skills, with a track record of building and maintaining strategic relationships.
  • Excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse stakeholders effectively.
  • Training and practical experience in change management, with the ability to lead and support organizational transitions.
  • Strong facilitation and training delivery skills, adept at engaging participants and driving learning outcomes.

Additional Information

Equal Opportunities: VSO promotes equal opportunities and values a diverse workforce.

VSO reserves the right to close this job early if we receive a sufficient number of applications.

All volunteers have an allowance paid in local currency. The allowance meets reasonable living expenses in country, but will not be enough to send money home.

VSO works with some of the poorest communities in the world which means accommodation varies and will be basic.

Deadline for Applications: July 24, 2025

“While we try our best to keep our information updated, the closing date of the actual job source may be changed by the recruiter without prior notice. With this, please make sure to check the official job link when submitting your application. Thank you.”

About the Organization

VSO is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Our vision is a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfil their potential. We bring people together to share skills, creativity and learning to build a fairer world. VSO welcomes volunteers from an ever increasing range of countries, backgrounds and ages. National agencies in Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands and the Philippines recruit volunteers from many different countries worldwide and this international approach allows us to combine and learn from a rich variety of perspectives. Tackling Disadvantage at "Grass Roots" Level Ours is a very individual "people to people" approach to development. Instead of sending food or money, we send women and men from a wide range of professions who want the chance to make a real difference in the fight against poverty. These volunteers work in partnership with colleagues and communities to share skills and learning and jointly achieve change. But we have to be realistic in our expectations. We commit to long-term development goals and long-term partnerships and focus on sustainable development rather than the short-term relief of certain problems. VSO also works to address the structural inequalities and barriers that prevent people from exercising their rights. We use our experience and our supporter networks to work for changes in policy and practice - rich and poor countries - that reduce disadvantage. VSO is by far the largest independent volunteer-sending agency in the world. Since 1958, we have sent out more than 29,000 volunteers to work in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific region and, more latterly, Eastern Europe in response to requests from our overseas partners. At the moment we have around 1,500 people working in placements in these regions. Shared Partnerships, Shared Benefits You only have to talk to VSO volunteers to realise that they gain from their experience, personally or professionally, as much as they contribute. Many will enthuse how fascinating it was to explore a different culture at first hand. Others will point to the friendships they have made. But many will also tell you how their professional talents have been stretched, and how they have learnt new skills that will significantly enhance their career prospects on their return home. If ever it was true that "you get out what you put in", VSO is proof positive. This experience makes volunteers passionate in challenging misconceptions about developing countries. In the current climate, it is more urgent than ever that we work to achieve a global community where people of all cultures are seen as equal, learn from each other and share a common sense of rights and responsibilities as global citizens. VSO builds on this experience and passion to support a range of global education activity. To find out more about volunteering with or supporting VSO visit our website at www.vso.org.uk

More information

VSOJD_Governance and Administration Adviser c--20250715082221.pdf
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