Psychosocial Support Consultant at Search For Common Ground’s International

About the RESILAC Project

• The overall objective of the RESILAC project is to contribute to the economic recovery and to the strengthening of the resilience and the social cohesion of the territories of the Lake Chad basin most impacted by the Lake Chad crisis and the climate change.

The Specific Objectives of the Project are: 

• Strengthening human capital, social cohesion and collective and sustainable management of natural resources in targeted territories; 
• Promoting economic recovery in targeted areas and the resilience of the most vulnerable populations, especially young people and women, through access to employment and agro-sylvo-pastoral production systems intensified and adapted to climate change; 
• Valuing and consolidating the actors of the targeted territories by encouraging dialogue and commitment, and reinforcing their capacities according to the skills and roles of each one; and 
• Producing useful knowledge for the quality of project activities in a crisis context and for decision-making by local actors.

Purpose of the Consultancy

• Search is working with community and government stakeholders towards building community resilience to conflict, building social cohesion and management of natural resources/psychosocial support to affected populations.
• This is being achieved through community structures supported by the project to utilize community led initiative towards addressing issues militating against access and utilization of resources and delivery of a full range of project activities.  
• Search for Common Ground is seeking to hire a psychosocial support consultant for the next four months to exclusively support the delivery of key psychosocial support training and other PSS activities with support from the senior psychosocial support Specialist and project team.
• The consultant will manage their activities throughout the delivery of their assigned task.
• S/he will be responsible to ensure that training dates are upheld, training reports produced in time and of the expected quality at an acceptable standard. The consultant will be an integral part of the RESILAC project team with specific responsibility to ensure that all training deliverables are achieved within the timeframe.

Responsibilities
Deliverables:

• Work with the comprehensive training plan and stipulated dates for each training to coordinate all PSS trainings and activities. ( Trauma awareness training and PFA)
• Ensure that he/she produces an acceptable training report that is finalized and approved  
• Support the preparation of Purchase Request and develop Terms of reference for activities. 
• Coordinate field training activities and ensure they are delivered in line with Search for Common Ground’s standards.
• Support with weekly supervision of sub-grantee activities in the field Facilitate WHO problem management plus (PM+) training to health workers.
• Attend MHPSS SWG meetings where necessary.

Reporting Line:

• The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of Search’s Senior Psychosocial Specialist with support from the RESILAC Project Manager 

Required Profile
Education:

• A Degree or Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology, Mental Health Nursing, Sociology or Public Health.

Experience:

• Experience in community mental health and psychosocial support programs. 
• Experience working with psychological effect effects of war, political violence or other traumatic events 
• Experience working with WHO problem management plus highly desirable.
• Previous experience with other INGO is a plus

Desired Profile and Skills:

• The consultant must be familiar with the context of Northeast Nigeria with focus on conflict dynamics of the Lake Chad region.
• Must be resident in Maiduguri Excellent facilitation skills and high capacity to plan at short notice Excellent written communication and report writing skills in English.
• Basic computer skills is in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel among other skills.
• Fluency in Hausa and/or Kanuri and knowledge of other languages indigenous to Northeastern Nigeria will be an added advantage.
• Motivation and self-discipline to work without supervision

The Consultant is Required to Respect the Following Ethical Principles:

• Comprehensive and systematic inquiry: Consultant should make the most of the existing information and full range of stakeholders available at the time of the review. Consultant should conduct systematic, data-based inquiries. He or she should communicate his or her methods and approaches accurately and in sufficient detail to allow others to understand, interpret and critique his or her work. He or she should make clear the limitations of the review and its results.
• Competence: Consultant should possess the abilities and skills and experience appropriate to undertake the tasks proposed and should practice within the limits of his or her professional training and competence.
• Honesty and integrity: Consultant should be transparent with the contractor/constituent about: any conflict of interest, any change made in the negotiated project plan and the reasons why those changes were made, any risk that certain procedures or activities produce misleading review information.
• Respect for people: Consultant respect the security, dignity and self-worth of respondents, program participants. Consultant has the responsibility to be sensitive to and respect differences amongst participants in culture, religion, gender, disability, age and ethnicity.