Associate Technical Officer at Palladium Group

Project Overview and Role

• The Associate Technical Officer will support the Engaged Citizens Technical Support Team in the update of systems/templates/tools that feed into strategic planning of the programme, key researches relevant to technical strategy, and tracking activities across locations.
• He/she will also participate in and support the development of notes/minutes and related documents from team reflection meetings as assigned by the National Technical Officer (NTO).
• While 70% of efforts of the Associate Technical Officer will be dedicated to supporting the Technical Support team, 30% of his/her efforts will be targeted at supporting the National Team Leader.
• Building on this, he/she will support the Engaged Citizens National Team Leader in summarizing, documenting and archiving programme documents and research documents as assigned.

Primary Responsibilities
Support to the National Team Leader:

• Support the National Team Leader (NTL) in summarizing programme and other external documents as assigned by the NTL
• Actively look out for contents which need the Engaged Citizens’ management attention, directly links to DFID’s actions/feedback/guidance in monthly reports and other programme documents which the NTL should be aware of.
• Working with relevant person in ARC and LEAP, review and collate Delivery Teams’ Monthly meeting reports for submission highlighting any issues for the attention of the NTL.
• Support reporting and taking minutes of meetings as delegated by the National Team Leader
• Support the drafting of proposals and related documents networking and information opportunities that benefit partners and their constituencies.

Support to the National Technical Support Team:

• Familiarize with ECP’s strategic approach, thinking and ethos, as well as PERL’s overarching theory of change/ theory of action, programmatic approach papers and location/output-specific engagement strategies
• Under the guidance of the NTO, support monthly/Quarterly reviews of forecasts and workplans  (including periodically monitoring activities by the delivery teams in prep for monthly forecasts and quarterly workplan reviews by the Technical Support Team)
• Under the guidance of the NTO, support data entries into specific strategic planning tools and templates that support programme delivery
• Report writing support to technical reflection sessions and support synthesis of learnings from related sessions
• Under the guidance of the NTO, contribute to the programme’s periodic progress reporting (e.g. QPRs) processes as required (including development of relevant infographs and visuals)
• Provide  support to the Technical Support Team: organising meetings, preparing materials, filing documents (both electronic and hard copies), etc as and when required
• Research on topics relevant to the programme’s strategy as assigned by the Head of Technical Support or the National Team Leader..
• Working with the Private Sector Advisor, Diversity and Inclusion Adviser,  , Media Engagement Adviser, NTO and other members of the PERL Advisory Team, support the delivery of Technical/ National level programme activities as and when required
• Working with the Diversity and Inclusion Adviser, contribute to quarterly diversity and inclusion analysis
• Support the coordination and collation of technical/ programme documents (including FTRs) under the guidance of the NTO
• Operational support to the Technical Support team: liaison with the NAM & NFM in Abuja to facilitate administrative, logistical and financial support to strategic planning activities as required

Leadership, teamwork, relationship management:

• Actively reflect the Engaged Citizens shared mission, vision, values.
• He/she should familiarise themselves with the ToRs of all their team members as well as key programme management frameworks: technical, financial and administrative policies and guidelines.
• Actively contribute to Team-Building within the ECP team – use of shared mission, vision, values, identity/public profile, use of staff meetings, staff welfare, social events, formal and informal opportunities, etc, to reinforce teamwork.
• Actively contribute to a positive office culture within the joint PERL office in Abuja.
• Establish a good working relationship with members of the Technical Support Team in Abuja under the technical guidance and supervision of the National Technical Officer as your line manager.
• Establish a good working relationship with all other members of the ECP Team at both National and State level.

Line Management Responsibilities:

• Line managed by the National Technical Officer (NTO):
• The Associate Technical Officer is responsible for working under the direction provided by the NTO, regularly reporting to him/her and ensuring their own performance of the above tasks (primary responsibilities) falls within agreed frameworks and operating principles, as well as building an effective working relationship with the NTO and NTL more broadly.

Compliance:

• Ensure familiarity with all DFID and Palladium policies & procedures and check the ECP SharePoint regularly to ensure that any updates are also being implemented in a timely manner.
• Adhere to all stipulated PERL-ECP communications protocols regarding use of official email, Box, SharePoint/MIS, Twitter, Facebook, etc. accounts.
• Ensure all labour and finances relating to this role is accurately reported (using correct codes, inserting adequate comments) in timesheets, expense claims and cashbooks. This post has no signatory authority but will be required to work closely with other team members who do and provide them sound recommendations.  
• Habitually monitor and promote value for money and diminishing dependency of partners on PERL resources in line with the programme’s engagement approach. Ensure cost of all activities completed falls within that forecasted to ensure monthly variances of reimbursable income to DFID are kept below 5% in Q1-Q3; 2% in Q4.
• Work to place the programme’s core values/principles, approach, ethos and priorities above private interests while delivering to this role.

Time-Period and Commitment:

• Five days per week, a total of 40 hours per week, usually between the hours of 8am-5:30pm, Monday - Friday.

Benefits

• Hands-on experience in document development, analysis and synthesis, research, strategic planning, adaptive programming, communications, and knowledge management in a professional environment in an internship position. Being an equal member of a fun, professional, passionately engaging and dynamic team.

Job Requirements

• Minimum education and experience required
• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Communications, Public Relations or any Development-related field.
• Postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
• At least 1 year of experience in supporting governance programmes in Nigeria.
• Experience working in a donor (preferably DFID) funded programme

Key competencies and professional expertise required:

• Strong interpersonal, verbal and written communications skills with some exposure to the rigor of writing at the international level
• Enthusiasm to learn and develop new skills within the role
• Detailed oriented mindset with some experience on systems support
• Strong computer skills with interest and ability to learn new software
• Motivated and energetic self-starter who takes initiative
• Ability to multi-task and balance multiple projects and priorities simultaneously