Senior Project Officer at Mercy Corps

Reference No: MDG/HUMOPS/2018/00008
Location: Maiduguri, Borno

Program / Department Summary

• For years, the Northeast of Nigeria has been, plagued by insurgency and a dire humanitarian crisis. The intense focus on humanitarian and counter-violence activities, coupled with increasingly complex conflict dynamics in the region, has exposed gaps in the international community’s response to new and emerging sources of violence.
• Tensions between IDPs and host communities, resistance of communities to accept former fighters and their victims, fear of IDPs to return home and face tensions with those who stayed behind – these are just several evolving sources of conflict. If these issues are not addressed in a timely manner through locally- owned solutions, they have the potential to intensify and worsen the on-going crisis in the NE.
• The North East Conflict Management and Stabilization Initiative is an expansion from a pilot phase implemented by a consortium from August 2016 to March 2017. The project will result in increased peace within and between communities and increased confidence in government and security institutions to address the root causes of conflict and violent extremism in Borno State.

General Position Summary

• The Senior Project Officer will provide technical, management, and strategic leadership at community level by collaborating with the partner project staff, beneficiaries and other key stakeholders, to ensure that the program meets performance-based targets on time and within budget, as per DfID requirements.
• H/she will ensure that the NEC MS implementation contributes to the re-building of community trust in the ability of the Local and State Government to address the root causes of youth participation in violence in Borno.
• Support the project management in ensuring the achievement of the overall goal and objectives of the project within the target communities.
• Provide technical oversight and leadership of the project in the LGA/s assigned to you.
• Implement the activities within the assigned target communities and LGAs according to the project log frame and work plan: ensure you have a well-developed activity level implementation work plan.
• Develop and submit weekly and monthly activity plans in time for review and prior to implementation.
• Plan, organise and conduct quality community trainings, sessions and document the process, content delivered and identify indicators that you will monitor.
• Support the work of NEC MS partner staff in implementing their activity plans, community sensitization, training and planning sessions
• Build capacity of the partners and target communities in the key components the NEC MS project
• Monitor and report on the project progress within area of assignment: submitting weekly, monthly, bi-annual and annual reports. Submit to the DPM and copy the sector advisors including the PM.
• Productively participate in planning sessions and reviews called by the sector advisors /pm and or sub-grant partners.
• Work with the target communities to develop community / LGA level action plans and reviews
• Participate and provide leadership to assessments, surveys and research within the LGA/s assigned to you.
• Provide technical input as a resource person during workshops organised by the project
• Participate at delegated coordination meetings or events relevant to the project and provide detailed report within a day of the activity.
• Support other Mercy Corps interventions within the LGA/s assigned to you.
• Perform any other duties asked of you that are relevant to the attainment of the project goal.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Program Support:

• Participate in the planning, implementation and review of project, and adaptation of new initiatives and innovations.
• Ensure quality and integrity of implementation, including adherence to technical guidelines, administrative systems, and established deadlines
• Ensure implementation of activities is on time, target and budget, using effective systems to reach desired impacts in order to assess the project effectiveness and impact and propose recommendations for improvements.
• Implement and model Mercy Corps’ philosophy of social entrepreneurship and leverage Mercy Corps’ best practices.
• In collaboration with the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning team, implement relevant surveys, need assessments, data and information collection for on-going monitoring in the LGA assigned.

Team Management:

• Sustain a work environment of mutual respect you and other team members strive to achieve excellence.
• Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
• Provide other team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.

Finance & Compliance Management:

• Ensure compliance of sub-grantee partners with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to field programming.

Influence & Reperesentation:

• Identify, build and manage collaborative partnerships with implementing partners, local governments and other stakeholders.
• Communicate effectively to ensure project implementation targets are met.
• Participate in coordination meetings and workshops at LGA relevant to the project and or State level as delegated.

Security:

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that you and other field team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies

Organizational Learning:

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries:

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Knowledge and Experience

• Advanced University Degree in Political Science, International Relations, Journalism, Social Sciences, Peacebuilding, Conflict Management, International Development or related Technical field (minimum Bachelor's degree)
• Minimum of four years working experience in a similar context
• Written and spoken fluency in English and Hausa/ Kanuri is an added advantage
• Willingness to learn and interest in conflict, governance, peace, economic and community development related fields
• Excellent writing, editing and analytical skills and ability to formulate well-targeted documents
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced and often demanding environment
• Flexibility in terms of office hours
• Experience in an NGO (local or international) or research institution

Success Factors:

• Commitment to achieve results in a timely manner.
• Trustworthiness and integrity.
• Committed to humanitarian and development values and principles.
• Strong people-management skills.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Strong communication skills.
• Cultural sensitivity.
• Gender equity and protection sensitive.
• Creative solutions to problems.
• S/he will have an outstanding ability to develop, implement and manage innovative and complex programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in the region.
• Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential.
• The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
• Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours .
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.