Service Delivery Specialist at Plan International

Job Purpose
The Local Service Delivery Specialist will function as a member of a team implementing the USAID funded local governance and civil society program in Nigeria. The Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) program has been implemented since 2009 to build partnerships between civil societies, state and local governments and the private sector to improve state and local governance capacity in Bauchi, Sokoto and Rivers states. and to build the capacity of local governments to be more responsive to community needs. The Local Service Delivery Specialist will be responsible for working with CLGAs to develop Service Improvement Plans (SIPs). working with state actors and other stakeholders in engaging polity development and implementation, ensuring that gender considerations are addressed throughout program activities and contrihuting to the community mobilization and advocacy portfolio which aims to engage communities in demanding improved services.

Core Roles and Responsibility

• Design and implement concepts notes and implementation plans on engagements with State M DAs, LGAs, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders through participatory and gender approaches that ensure improvement in service delivery as they relate to education, health, water and sanitation and economic growth.
• Design strategies to strengthen partnerships that match State, LGA, private sector and civil society services with articulated community needs in education, health, water and sanitation and in collaboration with other USAID Implementing Partners.
• Contribute to the development or/and review of state wide and LG polices, laws and implementation guidelines to improve sector financing. coordination and regulation for effective service delivery.
• Conduct gender disaggregated beneficiary assessments to identify the public service needs of different constituencies and initiate public private partnerships for effective service delivery
• Promote, conduct, design community-based activities to improve service delivery by engaging beneficlaries and Local governments in thedesign of service improvement activities
• Identity ways to improve service delivery by addressing gender considerations
• Work collaborativelywith other members of the LEAD technical team on local governance processes, the budget process, IGR strategies, improving access to basic education and reading. csos/caos engagements for effective service delivery in the LGAs.
• Work closely with other USAID Implementing Partners to identify and Implement strateaies in areas of collaboration for improved service delivery in the health and education sector .
• Contribute to project reporting and documentation,
• Represent PLAN on LEAD engagements with partners and communities to ensure strong acceptance and implementation support for activities,

Key Results & Criteria for Success

• Identify key activities for the project to undertake to advance women's participation in service delivery decision making or building the skills and competencies of LGA officials to conduct their work in a more gender sensitive and socially inclusive way
• Building the capacity of CSOs, community women and gender champions to productively engage in service delivery decision making. This would demand desigmng capacity building activities and advocacy strategies;
• Developing training materials [or make revisions to ex' ling materials) that reflect stare-of-the-art practices in gender and social inclusion;
• M&E systems to capture the impact of gender related activities on project outcomes:
• Developing staff capacityin gender and social inclusion;
• Preparing quarterly and final reports;
• Creating project levels systems and protocols to ensure that gender and social inclusion is integrated into the project's operational systems;
• Engage with gender and social inclusion throughout the project activities.

Primary Linkages for this Post
Internal: Plan's CMT members. Plan/LEAD Senior Gender Advisor (in terms of technical advice, support and coordination). Management Support Coordinator

Leadership Behaviours

• Ability to maintain strategic vision and link with everyday work
• Clear and effective communication that builds relationships in order to influence others
• Proactively organizes and manages performance'
• Accountability and responsibility for own decisions
• Promote team work and cooperation
• Demonstrate high degree of professiooalism and integrity
• Confident in taking initiative and exploring new opportunities
• Assertiveness and shows cultural sensitiveness

Skills Specific to the Post Holder

• Strong communicating. organizational and writing skills
• Project management skills and ability to work with diverse teams.
• Experience working on a USAID project
• Bilingual - preferably Hausa speaker.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders.
• Energetic and motivated individual. with a proven track record of undertaking similar assignments
• Strategic and critical skills - but also focused on operational results and 'getting things done'
• Commitment to continuous learning; willingness to keep abreast of new developments in security
• Able to work independently but also collaborate dosely within teams
• Ability to establish and sustain strong working relationships with Plan colleagues and in the broader community/context
• Culturally and socially sensitive
• Computer: MS Word. Excel. Power Point. Outlook.

Qualifications and Experience
A multidisciplinary background, with 3 years Master's degree and or Bachelor's degree with five years' experience working in civil and local governance, community based interventions and gender Multi-sector (education, health. WASil, economic growth) experience and extensive background in the areas of participatory and gender needs assessments Three - four years previous experience in mobilizing communities effectively and leading advocacy forts

Challenges/Changes

•     Typical office environment
•     Regular local travel to programme countries (25% of time) .
•     Occasional interaction with women and children in field visits