Youth Researchers

Are you a young person aged 18 to 34 who is passionate about budget advocacy, accountability, Sexual Reproductive Health, and financing for adolescent and youth SRHR? We want to work with you! Restless Development is recruiting 6 youth researchers (2 per country) from Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia for a 5-month engagement.

Where: You should be based in any of the 3 countries
Duration: 5 months (December- March 2026)
Stipend: USD 285 per month

About Restless Development

Restless Development is a global non-profit agency. We support the collective power of young leaders to create a better world. We are independently registered and governed in nine countries (India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe) bound together by our vision for youth power. We run youth-led programmes to tackle the issues that young people care about the most –  We also run the Youth Collective – a growing network of over 4000 local youth civil society groups and organizations in 185 countries. We are committed to creating an agency that walks the talk on power shifting, using the power shifting checklist, both internally and externally.

Our approach to safeguarding

Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organizational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives. We recognize that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we expect all of our staff, volunteers and partners to ensure we protect the communities in which we operate from harm and abide by our
Safeguarding Policy.

What Is SHE SOARS?

SHE SOARS (Sexual and Reproductive Health & Economic Empowerment Supporting Out-of-school Adolescent Girls’ Rights and Skills) is a seven-year project funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by CARE Canada, Restless Development, and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), among other partners. It works to improve Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and economic opportunities for out-of-school adolescent girls in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia.

Background

This youth-led research initiative is part of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Economic Empowerment, supporting out-of-school adolescent girls’ rights and skills (SHE SOARS project), implemented by Restless Development in partnership with CARE International and the Centre for Reproductive Rights. The seven-year project implemented in Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia seeks to increase enjoyment of sexual related human rights by the most marginalised and vulnerable women and girls, particularly out-of-school adolescent girls.

About the Research

Restless Development is interested in working with youth researchers to conduct research on Domestic Resourcing for Adolescent and Youth SRHR in Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia to generate actionable, country-specific evidence on domestic SRHR budgeting, accountability, and financing pathways, and to strengthen youth-led systems for monitoring and influencing budget implementation and policy reform.

Access to SRHR commodities across Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia remains inconsistent due to delays in procurement, low domestic allocations, and weak subnational budget execution. While national medical stores manage procurement centrally, local authorities struggle with budget rigidity and limited contingency financing. This situation is further exacerbated by declining Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the withdrawal of USAID and other major funders, which have historically supported SRHR commodity supply chains. From 2020 to 2025, donor funding specifically for SRHR decreased by over 20% across Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, putting significant financial strain on local sources. When donors withdraw, stock-outs of commodities increase, endangering maternal health, family planning, and HIV prevention efforts.

Global and regional frameworks such as the Abuja Declaration (2001) and the SADC SRHR Strategy (2022-2030) emphasise increased domestic investment and accountability. However, SRHR budget lines remain fragmented, poorly defined, and insufficiently tracked. We would therefore like to carry out this study to explore how SRHR-related budgets are defined, approved, funded, and implemented, and how youth-led accountability can enhance transparency and sustainability.

Your role as a Youth Researcher

The youth researchers will receive technical training in economic policy and budget analysis as well as comprehensive training in Restless Development’s six-step youth-led research methodology, covering ethics and safeguarding, data collection, data management, desk review, budget framework paper review, and transcription. Through this approach, youth researchers will play a pivotal role in shaping the research agenda and analysing results, ultimately generating evidence that can inform advocacy, drive conversations for action, dialogue, and influence policy at both national and regional levels.

As a Young Researcher, you will:

• Attend a five-day foundation workshop in December 2025 on budget analysis and Restless Development’s youth-led research methodology, covering ethics, safeguarding, data collection, data management, and transcription.
• Collaborate with technical teams to co-design tools, collect data, conduct budget document reviews, interpret findings, and co-create advocacy messages.
• Engage key respondents (in person and online), including duty bearers, to support planning, budgeting, and the implementation of SRH commodity service delivery in government health facilities.
• Collect data aligned with the target to deepen understanding of national and local budgets and the role of young people in ensuring accountability.
• Interpret findings in a participatory workshop, then validate them in selected communities.
• Support with drafting the final report and using the insights for advocacy, discussions, and intergenerational dialogues.
• Promote the findings within networks and government agencies to drive meaningful change at local, national, and continental levels.

About You

We are looking for youth researchers who meet the following criteria:

Age: 18-34 years old.
Location: Based in Uganda, Kenya, or Zambia.
Education: Have completed university.
Language: Comfortable communicating in English and local languages.
Experience: Active within civil society spaces, youth activism, technical knowledge on economic policy, and budget analysis, budget framework paper review, community engagement, and/or demonstrating community leadership.

We especially encourage applications from young women, people with disabilities, individuals who have previously conducted youth-led research with Restless Development, or have been part of the SHESOARS programme.

Expected Outcomes

By placing youth at the forefront of knowledge production, this research will:

• Capture Youth Experiences: Document young people’s experiences with budgeting and domestic resource allocation for SRHR.
• Influence, Advocacy, and Learning: Equip young people to shape policy priorities, evaluate results, and drive advocacy aligned with their needs at local and continental levels.
• Foster Intergenerational Dialogue and Policy Impact: Provide robust data to bridge gaps between youth, policymakers, and stakeholders, shaping more responsive budgeting processes, policies and programs.