About the Africa Youth Climate Fund (AYCF)

Africa's youthful population is one of the continent's greatest assets in advancing a low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathway through initiatives that promote a just and inclusive green transition. Yet despite young people being at the forefront of climate action, innovation, advocacy, and community resilience-building, they continue to receive only a fraction of global climate finance. Less than 1% of international and local climate funding reaches youth-led organizations directly, limiting their ability to scale solutions, influence policy, and drive transformative climate action. At the same time, Africa faces disproportionate climate impacts despite contributing less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making investment in youth leadership and locally driven solutions more urgent than ever.

The Africa Youth Climate Fund (AYCF) is a flagship initiative of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO), established to redistribute power, resources, and decision-making to Africa's youth climate movements. AYCF exists to address the persistent inequities in climate finance by ensuring that young African climate leaders, innovators, movements, and organizations have direct access to the resources, partnerships, and opportunities needed to scale transformative climate solutions. Through a participatory youth-for-youth grant-making model, the Fund supports entrepreneurship and innovation, movement building, research, and climate justice advocacy across Africa. AYCF serves as both a financing mechanism and a continental platform for strengthening youth leadership in climate action, resilience, and sustainable development.

AYCF envisions an Africa where young people are not merely beneficiaries of climate interventions but are recognized as decision-makers, innovators, investors, and architects of the continent's climate-resilient future. Through resource mobilization, fostering partnerships, nurturing innovation, and amplifying youth voices, AYCF is building a new paradigm of climate finance that is accessible, equitable, and responsive to the aspirations and realities of Africa's young people.

Purpose of the Position

The Programs and Community Support Manager will provide strategic leadership for the coordination, implementation support, quality assurance, learning, and community-facing dimensions of AYCF’s program portfolio. The role will ensure that AYCF-funded initiatives are programmatically coherent, technically supported, youth-centered, and capable of generating meaningful evidence, learning, and impact. Working closely with the Grants and Operations Manager, the role will support grantees from post-award onboarding through implementation, learning, reporting, and program reflection, while the Grants and Operations function leads grant administration, compliance, contracting, disbursement coordination, and formal close-out processes.

As AYCF expands its investment in youth-led climate action, the programs and Community Support Manager will champion a grantee-centered approach that recognizes youth-led organizations as long-term partners rather than short-term funding recipients. The role will cultivate strong relationships with grantees, facilitate peer learning and collaboration, strengthen institutional capacities, and promote adaptive program management that responds to emerging opportunities and challenges. The Manager will also lead the development of systems and approaches that strengthen program quality, monitor implementation progress, capture evidence of impact, and generate learning to continuously improve AYCF's grantmaking model. This includes coordinating technical assistance, facilitating knowledge exchange, documenting good practices, and supporting grantees to strengthen organizational performance, leadership, and sustainability.

Through effective program management, grantee accompaniment, and continuous learning, the programs and Community Community Support Manager will help position AYCF as a trusted partner to Africa's youth climate entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers and movement, ensuring that investments in young climate leaders translate into scalable solutions, stronger organizations, and transformative impacts for communities and ecosystems across the continent.

Purpose of the Position

The Programs and Community Support Manager will provide strategic leadership for the coordination, implementation support, quality assurance, learning, and community-facing dimensions of AYCF’s program portfolio. The role will ensure that AYCF-funded initiatives are programmatically coherent, technically supported, youth-centered, and capable of generating meaningful evidence, learning, and impact. Working closely with the Grants and Operations Manager, the role will support grantees from post-award onboarding through implementation, learning, reporting, and program reflection, while the Grants and Operations function leads grant administration, compliance, contracting, disbursement coordination, and formal close-out processes.

As AYCF expands its investment in youth-led climate action, the programs and Community Support Manager will champion a grantee-centered approach that recognizes youth-led organizations as long-term partners rather than short-term funding recipients. The role will cultivate strong relationships with grantees, facilitate peer learning and collaboration, strengthen institutional capacities, and promote adaptive program management that responds to emerging opportunities and challenges. The Manager will also lead the development of systems and approaches that strengthen program quality, monitor implementation progress, capture evidence of impact, and generate learning to continuously improve AYCF's grantmaking model. This includes coordinating technical assistance, facilitating knowledge exchange, documenting good practices, and supporting grantees to strengthen organizational performance, leadership, and sustainability.

Through effective program management, grantee accompaniment, and continuous learning, the programs and Community  Support Manager will help position AYCF as a trusted partner to Africa's youth climate entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers and movement, ensuring that investments in young climate leaders translate into scalable solutions, stronger organizations, and transformative impacts for communities and ecosystems across the continent.

Key Responsibilities

The Programs and Community Support Manager will provide strategic leadership across six interconnected functional areas that ensure AYCF's grant investments translate into meaningful, high-quality, and sustainable climate action led by young people across Africa.

The key areas of responsibility include:

1. Program Portfolio Management and Delivery
2. Grantee Support, Capacity Strengthening, and Organizational Development
3. Program Quality Assurance and Adaptive Management
4. Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Knowledge Management
5. Strategic Partnerships, Stakeholder Engagement, and Ecosystem Building
6. Leadership, Team Coordination, and Continuous Improvement

Together, these functions ensure that AYCF delivers high-impact programs, strengthens the institutional capacity of youth-led organizations, fosters learning and collaboration across its grantee portfolio, and generates evidence that advances youth-led climate action and informs the continuous evolution of AYCF's grant-making model.

Program Portfolio Management and Delivery (30%)

• Lead the strategic management and oversight of AYCF's program portfolio, ensuring that funded initiatives are implemented effectively, achieve intended outcomes, and contribute to AYCF's mission and strategic priorities.
• Support the design and refinement of AYCF’s program windows, including movement building, climate research, innovation, youth-led advocacy, and other thematic areas, ensuring that each window has clear objectives, target groups, support models, learning questions, and expected outcomes.
• Coordinate program onboarding for new grantees in collaboration with the Grants and Operations Manager, ensuring that grantees understand program objectives, implementation expectations, safeguarding requirements, reporting obligations, learning expectations, available support mechanisms, and grant compliance requirements.
• Develop and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with grantees throughout the grant lifecycle, serving as the primary point of contact for program implementation and technical support.
• Monitor program implementation against approved work plans, milestones, results frameworks, and grant agreements, identifying risks and opportunities for adaptive management.
• Coordinate regular portfolio review meetings to assess implementation progress, address emerging challenges, and identify opportunities to enhance program impact.
• Support grantees in navigating implementation challenges by facilitating access to technical expertise, mentoring, and relevant resources.
• Ensure timely identification and escalation of program risks that may affect delivery, and collaborate with the Grants and Operations Manager to address compliance-related matters as needed.
• Promote adaptive program management by supporting grantees to respond effectively to changing contexts while maintaining alignment with grant objectives.

Grantee Support, Capacity Strengthening and Organizational Development (20%)

• Design and implement AYCF's grantee support strategy to ensure that youth-led organizations receive tailored institutional and technical support throughout the implementation period.
• Strengthen AYCF’s wider community support approach by creating spaces for youth-led organizations, applicants, grantees, alumni, and movement actors to learn, collaborate, access opportunities, and remain connected to the Fund beyond individual grant cycles.
• Conduct organizational capacity assessments to identify strengths, gaps, and priority areas for institutional development.
• Develop and coordinate capacity-strengthening initiatives across organizational leadership, project management, financial management, governance, safeguarding, monitoring and evaluation, communications, resource mobilization, and sustainability.
• Facilitate coaching, mentoring, and technical assistance to strengthen grantee performance and long-term organizational resilience.
• Coordinate peer learning initiatives, exchange visits, webinars, communities of practice, and other collaborative learning platforms that enable grantees to share experiences, innovations, and lessons learned.
• Promote inclusive participation and youth leadership by ensuring that grantee engagement reflects AYCF's values of equity, collaboration, locally led development, and meaningful youth participation.
• Support grantees in identifying opportunities for growth, partnership, and long-term sustainability beyond individual grant cycles.

Program Quality Assurance and Adaptive Management (20%)

• Develop and implement program quality standards, tools, and guidance to promote effective, accountable program delivery across the grant portfolio.
• Conduct periodic program reviews to assess progress, quality, relevance, effectiveness, and emerging risks.
• Work closely with grantees to strengthen program design, implementation approaches, and results delivery through adaptive management.
• Ensure safeguarding, gender equality, inclusion, youth protection, do-no-harm principles, ethical community engagement, and environmental and social safeguards are effectively integrated across funded initiatives.
• Coordinate program improvement plans where implementation challenges or capacity gaps are identified.
• Document and disseminate program innovations and successful approaches to inform future grantmaking and program design.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Knowledge Management (10%)

• Lead the implementation of AYCF's monitoring, evaluation, learning, and knowledge management framework across the program portfolio.
• Monitor program performance using agreed indicators, results frameworks, and learning objectives.
• Coordinate the collection, analysis, and synthesis of program data to assess progress, outcomes, and impact.
• Prepare high-quality program reports, portfolio analyses, and impact summaries for internal management, donors, and governance bodies.
• Capture and document lessons learned, promising practices, innovations, and case studies that strengthen organizational learning and inform future programming.
• Facilitate regular learning and reflection sessions with grantees and internal teams to promote continuous improvement and adaptive management.
• Work with the Communications and Youth Engagement Officer to translate program evidence, case studies, learning briefs, and grantee stories into accessible knowledge and communications products for youth audiences, donors, partners, and the Advisory Circle.
• Strengthen knowledge management systems to enable the effective documentation, dissemination, and utilization of evidence generated by AYCF's investments.

Technical Partnerships, Community Engagement, and Ecosystem Building (10%)

• Build and maintain relationships with technical partners, youth networks, research institutions, mentors, incubators, learning partners, and ecosystem actors that can strengthen the support available to AYCF grantees and wider youth climate communities.
• Coordinate technical and learning collaborations that expand opportunities for mentoring, capacity strengthening, peer learning, research support, visibility, innovation, and community-building across the grant portfolio.
• Represent AYCF in program-related meetings, learning events, conferences, technical working groups, and partner engagements as delegated by the Director.
• Promote collaboration among grantees, partners, and stakeholders to strengthen Africa's youth climate ecosystem and encourage collective action.
• Support the documentation and communication of program achievements and impact stories in collaboration with the Communications function.

Leadership, Team Coordination, and Continuous Improvement (10%)

• Provide strategic leadership for AYCF's program portfolio, fostering a culture of excellence, learning, accountability, and innovation.
• Supervise program staff, consultants, and technical partners as assigned, providing coaching, performance management, and professional development.
• Strengthen collaboration across the Programs, Grants & Operations, Finance, and Communications functions to ensure integrated delivery of AYCF's strategic objectives.
• Contribute to organizational planning, annual work planning, budgeting, institutional development, and the generation of program evidence that supports AYCF’s donor engagement and resource mobilization efforts.
• Champion continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to strengthen program systems, grantee support approaches, and portfolio performance.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the Founding Director that are consistent with the purpose of the role and contribute to AYCF’s mission.

Person Specifications

Education and Professional Qualifications

Essential

• A master’s degree in International Development, Development Studies, Project/Programme Management, Climate Change, Environmental Management, Public Policy, Social Sciences, Monitoring and Evaluation, Organizational Development, Youth Development, or a related field.
• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline with substantial and progressively responsible experience in program management, grantee support, organizational development, capacity strengthening, MEL/KM, or community-based development may be considered in lieu of a master’s degree.
• Professional training or certification in project/programme management, monitoring and evaluation, organizational development, capacity strengthening, facilitation, safeguarding, or youth development will be an added advantage.

Professional Experience

Essential

• At least five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in program management, grant portfolio support, organizational development, institutional capacity strengthening, MEL/KM, community engagement, or grantee accompaniment within the development, philanthropy, humanitarian, climate, youth development, or non-profit sectors.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country or multi-partner program portfolios.
• Proven experience supporting civil society organizations, youth-led organizations, grassroots movements, or community-based organizations to strengthen program delivery and institutional performance.
• Experience in designing and implementing organizational capacity-strengthening initiatives, including mentoring, coaching, and technical assistance.
• Demonstrated experience in program planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, and adaptive management.
• Experience in integrating safeguarding, inclusion, gender equality, youth participation, and do-no-harm principles into program implementation and community engagement processes.
• Experience developing and implementing Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Knowledge Management (MEL/KM) systems.
• Proven ability to facilitate learning processes, peer exchanges, workshops, and communities of practice.
• Experience preparing high-quality program reports for donors, senior management, and governance bodies.

Desirable Skills and Experiences

• Experience working with youth-led organizations, youth movements, or youth networks across Africa.
• Experience managing programs in climate change, environmental conservation, biodiversity, sustainability, or climate justice.
• Experience working with climate finance initiatives, grant-making institutions, community foundations, or philanthropic organizations.
• Experience supporting locally led development, participatory approaches, and trust-based philanthropy.
• Experience in supporting participatory grantmaking, youth advisory processes, community-led funding models, or movement-based funding approaches will be an added advantage.
• Experience working with regional or international development partners and multi-country programs.

Technical Competencies

Program Portfolio Management

• Strong understanding of program and portfolio management principles.
• Ability to oversee multiple grants and programs simultaneously while ensuring quality implementation and results.
• Experience applying adaptive management approaches to improve program performance.
• Strong planning, coordination, and program management skills.

Grantee Support and Organizational Capacity Strengthening

• Demonstrated experience in designing and delivering organizational capacity-strengthening programs.
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to assess organizational capacity and develop tailored institutional strengthening plans.
• Experience supporting organizational sustainability, governance, leadership, and program management.
• Strong appreciation of locally led development and participatory approaches.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Knowledge Management

• Strong knowledge of results-based management and MEL frameworks.
• Experience developing indicators, results frameworks, and learning agendas.
• Ability to analyze program data and generate evidence for decision-making.
• Experience documenting lessons learned, good practices, and program innovations.
• Strong knowledge management and report-writing skills.

Climate and Youth Development

• Good understanding of climate change, climate justice, adaptation, resilience, biodiversity, and sustainable development.
• Understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing youth-led organizations across Africa.
• Knowledge of youth participation, leadership development, and inclusive program design.

Core Competencies and Skills

Strategic Program Leadership

• Ability to provide strategic direction for program portfolios and translate organizational priorities into impactful programs.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Relationship Management

• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build trusted relationships with grantees, partners, and diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong networking and stakeholder engagement skills.

Communication and Facilitation

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Exceptional facilitation, presentation, and training skills.
• Ability to communicate complex program concepts clearly to diverse audiences.

Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Ability to identify program challenges and develop practical, context-specific solutions.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage competing priorities.

Digital Literacy

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and collaboration platforms.
• Experience using program management, monitoring, and data management systems is desirable.

Personal Attributes

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• A strong commitment to youth leadership and meaningful youth participation.
• Passion for climate justice, locally led development, and strengthening youth-led organizations.
• Integrity, professionalism, and accountability.
• A collaborative, empathetic, and service-oriented leadership style.
• Strong emotional intelligence and cultural sensitivity.
• Creativity, innovation, and a continuous learning mindset.
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced, and mission-driven environment.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and safeguarding.
• A genuine interest in empowering young people to lead transformative climate action across Africa.

Equal Opportunity Statement

AYCF is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We strongly encourage applications from young professionals, women, persons with disabilities, and individuals from underrepresented communities across Africa. Recruitment and selection decisions are based solely on merit, competence, and alignment with AYCF's values and mission.