Livelihoods Coordinator at FINDEF

Job Purpose:

The Livelihoods Coordinator is responsible for the planning, management, and quality oversight of all livelihood recovery and economic strengthening activities. This includes overseeing the formation and support of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), delivering market-linked vocational training for youth, and brokering and monitoring market-level child protection compacts with traders, transporters, and agricultural processors. The post-holder ensures that livelihood programming is conflict-sensitive, market-informed, and integrated with the project\'s child protection activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Form and support 80 VSLAs structured around the adashe rotating savings model; train Livelihoods Officers and community facilitators in VSLA methodology, group governance, savings cycles, and loan management.
• Deliver financial literacy and household financial management sessions for VSLA members and monitor group health at regular intervals, providing targeted support where needed.
• Broker community-monitored market compacts with traders, transporters, and agricultural processors through Bulama and ward-head authority structures, committing market actors to child-safe practices and monitoring compliance at six-month intervals.
• Coordinate with the Child Protection Coordinator to integrate market compacts into the broader community protection strategy, including linking compliant market actors to VSLA membership and market linkage support.
• Conduct a rapid market assessment at project outset; design and manage the delivery of market-linked vocational training for at least 800 youth and establish post-training linkages to buyers, employers, and business networks.
• Facilitate post-harvest support and agricultural market linkages for farming households, and identify and support households whose land access is restricted by insecurity or explosive ordnance contamination.
• Lead data collection and reporting: contribute to baseline and endline surveys, monthly output monitoring, and quarterly outcome reviews; track VSLA savings, vocational training completion, compact compliance, and household food security indicators; and prepare timely reports for the Project Manager and donor.

Qualifications

• Bachelor\'s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Rural Development, Agricultural Economics, International Development, or a related field.
• Minimum six years of experience in livelihoods, enterprise development, or economic recovery programming, including at least two years in a coordination or management role in a humanitarian or development context.
• Demonstrated experience establishing VSLAs or community savings groups, conducting market assessments, and designing market-linked livelihood interventions; ability to engage traditional community authorities in conflict-affected settings and integrate protection considerations into economic programming.
• Fluency in Hausa or Kanuri (written and spoken) with English proficiency for reporting; experience with digital data collection platforms such as KoBoToolbox; direct experience in Borno State or northeast Nigeria is an advantage.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with a commitment to humanitarian values, accountability, safeguarding, and gender sensitivity.

Note

• Our organization procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation. 
• We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.
• FINDEF does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. FINDEF\'s recruitment process is transparent, and merit based. Lobbying of any form is not allowed and can lead to disqualification.
• FINDEF has zero tolerance to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of beneficiaries. Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) is everyone\'s responsibility, and all staff are required to adhere to the Code of Conduct, that enshrines principles of PSEA, at all times (both during work hours and outside work hours).

Familiarization with, and adherence to FINDEF\'s Code of Conduct is an essential requirement for all staff, in addition to related mandatory training