What is it?
The World YMCA offers YMCA staff from across the globe the opportunity to join the World YMCA office in Geneva on a short-term placement.
Staff Placements work on specific projects within the strategy: youth empowerment, movement strengthening, resource mobilisation, and communications.
Please express your interest via office@ymca.int.
The staff member will return to their local and national YMCAs with increased leadership skills and competencies and an expanded network of organisational contacts and relationships.
Goals of the Staff Placement Programme:
• Offer professional development experiences to YMCA staff or volunteers from a member National Movement, Local YMCA, or Area YMCA Organisation.
- Develop increased capacity to work on strategic initiatives for increased organisational capacity and sustainability of YMCAs around the world.
- Support the implementation of the worldwide Youth Empowerment change model and framework, with special focus on research, resource mobilisation, and communications.
- Expand the YMCAs’ collective image and impact (with capacity, resources, and knowledge) to be made available to the worldwide YMCA movement on youth empowerment, movement strengthening, and resource mobilisation.
Work Plans: Staff Placements will work on specific projects within the World YMCA strategy: youth empowerment, movement strengthening, resource mobilisation, and communications. These may include:
Support the Youth Empowerment Strategy – Work with Change Agents: Work with staff to continue to strengthen and expand the Change Agents programme. Support organisation of training and leadership development including webinar sessions for Change Agents through definition of best approach for the themes, help to identify speakers, writing reports on results, and social media activities (Facebook group). Follow up with Change Agents: This includes delivery of assignments, mentorship, registrations and database.
Comprehensive Youth Focused Research and Analysis: Continuation of research project focused on young people aged 15 to 24. Staff Placements will work on desk research, review of national reports, and gathering data. Focus areas are: Employment, Health, Civic Engagement, and Environment. This will involve literature review, interviews and data collection, data analysis, synthesis of information, and development of reports. It will include collection of worldwide evaluation reports on YMCA youth empowerment programmes.
Communications/Social Media: Work on targeted communications and social media projects. This includes working together with World Alliance staff on organising, planning, and holding webinars, providing updates for information platforms, planning for worldwide social media campaigns, and for world events such as World Council. Other work includes website (Stories of Empowerment/other news), World Facebook Page posts, Development of Presentations, contact with National Movements.
World Council: Staff placements will assist with preparations for the next World Council in July, 2026. These assignments will include administrative work, communications, programme planning, and videography/design of presentation materials.
Resource Mobilisation – Fundraising Initiatives: Work with staff on fundraising including development of proposals, data gathering on prospects, networking and cultivating potential donors in collaboration with Areas and national and local YMCAs located in each country.
Terms of Agreement: A professional staff from a YMCA (Area, National or Local) will have a placement in Geneva, over a 3-months period, with a possibility for a rotation over 3 years. (i.e. for 3 months every year for no more than 3 years).
The World Alliance will cover the cost of accommodation, food, local travel for a two-to three-month period in Geneva.
The World Alliance of YMCAs reserves the right to interview the candidate in order to ensure the experience and assignments match with the expectations of the candidate.
National or Local YMCA: The YMCA (Area, National Movement, or Local YMCA) agrees to second the professional staff person to the World Alliance headquarters office for a 2 or 3-month (consecutive) period with the salary to be paid by the sending YMCA (Area, National Movement, or Local YMCA) and to maintain the staff person as an employee.
The National, Local YMCA, or Area Organisation will cover the round trip airfare of the staff person and their ongoing salary during the placement period.
If the individual is a volunteer or retiree, they will need to negotiate with their home YMCA financial support for their travel to and from their home to Geneva.
Mutual Benefit: The staff person will have a professional development opportunity during their experience at the World Alliance. During this time period the staff person will be able to continue to work on their responsibilities and functions for their National Movement on a remote basis.
Time Period: The time period during the year (e.g. January to December) will be negotiated and planned with the sending YMCA or individual to ensure that the staff person or volunteer/retiree can continue to fulfil their responsibilities in their YMCA (Area, National Movement, Local YMCA).
Anticipated Results and Benefits:
Leadership development experience: The staff person will return to their local and national YMCAs with increased leadership skills and competencies and an expanded network of organisational contacts and relationships.
YMCA programme and organisational development: The Staff Placement programme strengthens YMCAs’ collective organisational and programme capacity. The medium and longer-term results include resource mobilisation for youth empowerment programmes. World YMCA will collaborate extensively with National Movements and Areas in coordinated approaches, negotiating strategies, and promotion of worldwide partnerships and collaborations.