Economic Recovery Officer at Danish Refugee Council (DRC)

Background

• Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and its Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding technical unit - the Danish Demining Group (DDG), has had an operational presence in Nigeria since 2015. DRC Nigeria is the largest DRC country mission in the West Africa region and one of the largest DRC country missions globally. 
• Currently, DRC delivers life-saving assistance and protection to vulnerable, conflict-affected populations including internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in the areas of humanitarian mine action, livelihoods, nutrition and food security, protection, shelter and non-food items (NFI) and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in 30+ Local Government Areas (LGAs) across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in northeast Nigeria.

Purpose

• The DRC Nigeria is looking to recruit an experienced, highly- qualified and enthusiastic professional to join the Economic Recovery team in Nigeria. 
• Coordinate with partners and other stakeholders in the implementation of livelihood programming through supporting market systems development (MSD), improved production practices for farmers’ associations, cash transfer programming (CTP) and village savings and loans associations (VSLA) while developing the social cohesion between members of the target communities.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Supporting SME Development, CTP and Agricultural Inputs Distributions and Farming Skills Training using Market Systems Development (MSD) Approach:
• Work with Government and Community Resilience Groups (CRGs) to screen, select and verify beneficiaries in the target communities.
• Provide livelihood guidance, on an individual, group or association basis, to increase beneficiaries’ awareness of different business options based on market assessment and beneficiary interests.
• Provide information to beneficiaries about livelihoods and business development opportunities.
• Organize small business training and business planning activities with beneficiaries
• Provide information to the beneficiaries on skills trainings, market opportunities, and small enterprise creation.
• Train, coach and mentor farmers on improved agricultural (livestock and crop) production practices
• Facilitate the implementation of Cash Transfer Programmes (CTP) at ward level; Unconditional/Conditional Cash Grants and Cash for Work
• Work with line manager to plan for agricultural inputs distributions using MSD approach and ensuring distributed inputs accountability.
• Linking bulk agriculture produce buyers with farmers’ associations and input sellers with farmers.
• Work closely with Ministry of Agriculture Extension workers in facilitating crop farming/poultry production trainings for beneficiaries.
• Support the organization of trainings and other events related to the project.
• Establish linkages to vocational learning institutions and refer beneficiaries to selected marketable courses of their interest.
• Provide administrative support if required.
• Submit weekly reports and contribute to compilation of the monthly report and submit to line manager.

Stakeholder Coordination:

• Coordination of LGA and Ward level stakeholders in consultation with line manager.
• Ensure that protocol is followed through stakeholder consultation at all stages of project implementation.

Social Cohesion:

•  Assess the relevance of potential intercommunal dialogue activities linked to livelihoods to improve the dialogue and cooperation between these fields (e.g. joint workshops, peer-to-peer activities, language exchanges, etc.).
• Select beneficiaries who will participate in the activities through youth empowerment and social safety-net planning in coordination with AVR teams.
• Maintain Excel tracking sheet to ensure that data are collected on a timely basis.
• Contribute to regular reporting on achievements and challenges related to the project as requested by the Livelihoods Officer.

Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Work closely with the monitoring team and the Livelihood Officer on the timely monitoring and evaluation of all components – information, beneficiary selection, beneficiary feedback about activities, etc.
• Facilitate the qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the project through team meetings, visits to selected beneficiaries, regular reporting and any other monitoring tools.
• Participate in the internal evaluation of the program.

Job Requirements
Qualifications:

• Candidates should possess a Degree in Agriculture, Social Science, Political Science, International Development, Economics or other relevant field.
• Professional experience of at least two years, including one year working with a humanitarian organisation;
• Proficient with standard software tools (Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power-Point);
• Ability to work in a team, independently and under minimal supervision;
• Good communication, analysis, and writing skills;
• Excellent negotiation and diplomacy skills;
• Ability to work in complex environments and under pressure

Experience and Technical Competencies: (include years of experience):
Desirable:

• Previous working experience with humanitarian agencies
• Experience working with hosts, returnees and displaced populations.
• Previous experience working on Market Systems Development approaches

Essential:

• Experience in livelihood programming and trainings.
• An understanding of humanitarian/civil society issues in the country and the region.
• At least 2 years working experience in Cash and Voucher Assistance Programming is required
• Experience of humanitarian work with displaced populations in Borno, Adamawa or Yobe is essential

General Regulations:

• The employee shall follow DRC instructions on safety, confidentiality and ethical guidelines, including the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Accountability Framework
• Employee should not engage in any other paid activity during the DRC contract period without prior authorization
• Employee should not engage in any activity that could harm DRC or the implementation of any project during the DRC contract period
• Employee should not give interviews to the media or publish project-related photos or other material without prior authorization
• Employee shall return all borrowed equipment for the project to DRC after the end of the contract period or upon request