Field Officer at Search For Common Ground’s International

The Project

• In 2023, Nigerians will return to the polls to vote for a new president, following the two terms of President Muhammadu Buhari. Civil society’s participation will be critical to ensuring a transparent, inclusive, and credible electoral process. For many citizens, the 2019 elections represented a setback to the progress made in earlier polls, notably in 2015.
• Yiaga Africa’s pre-election and Election Day observation in 2019 highlighted a number of challenges that threatened the credibility of the process: the quality of election administration fell short of expectations; parties and their supporters engaged in vote-buying, hate speech, and violent acts to impede the electoral process; and voter turnout was at 35 percent, the lowest in two decades.
• Building on lessons learned from this past electoral process, the Consortium for Election and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), under this program represented by the National Democratic Institute (CEPPS/NDI), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (CEPPS/IFES), and CEPPS Associate Partner Search for Common Ground (Search), is embarking on a five-year program to further strengthen the engagement of Nigerian civil society in support of credible elections and democratic progress in the country.
• The program would enhance citizen observation and analysis in advance of, during, and after the 2023 elections cycle; increase participation of marginalized populations in the electoral process; and counter hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation while promoting civic education.

Position Summary

• Search for Common Ground seeks an early level professional, to provide logistical support to the project implementation team during trainings and meetings across project implementations states and locations.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Coordinate and arrange all logistics for various meetings, and workshops, including invitations, venue, participants travel and accommodation;
• In collaboration with the project coordinator, facilitate the creation and implementation of a detailed annual work-plan, which identifies sequences of activities needed to successfully implement the project and ensure project objectives are met
• In collaboration with key stakeholders, facilitate the development and roll out of detailed implementation plans in communities and LGAs
• Review the project schedule with Project Coordinator and all other staff that will be affected by the project activities; revise and regularly review the schedule as required.
• Document project activities and ensure that all project data is appropriately secured;
• Monitor the progress of the project implementation and make adjustments as necessary to ensure the project remains on track and is successfully implemented;
• Establish a communication schedule to update stakeholders including appropriate staff in the organization on the progress of the project;
• In collaboration with M&E officer, assist with the implementation and development of Monitoring and Evaluation tools;
• Produce activity and monthly reports

Educational Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science, Arts, Development Studies or related field;

Required Experience:

• At least 2 years of professional experience in project cycle management, coordinating project activities, outreach, and/or advocacy;
• Experience working with CSOs, partners and faith based groups will be an added advantage;

Other Relevant Competencies:

• Accountability: Being accountable and passing on accountability for one's own actions and those of colleagues and the organization.
• Attention to detail: The ability to process detailed information effectively and consistently
• Collaboration: The ability to work effectively with others in order to achieve a shared goal - even when the object at stake is of no direct personal interest possibilities.
• Creativity: The ability to come up with original and innovative ideas and solutions, to adopt points of view outside the usual parameters.
• Focus on Quality: Setting high quality standards and striving for continuous improvement and quality assurance.
• Learning Ability: The ability to absorb new information readily and to put it into practice effectively
• Adaptability: The ability to remain fully functional by adapting to changing circumstances (environment, procedures and people).