National Professional Volunteer - Livelihoods at VSO

Job / Role Purpose

• This National Professional Volunteer role will contribute to VSO Rural Livelihood Practice Area with its focus on ensureing gender considerations, women empowerment forms an integrated core of the Livelihoods Volunteering for Development implementation.
• The Livelihoods NPV will work closely with the program manager, to provide technical expertise on gender & livelihood programming and other related functions to improve the livelihoods of women and men small scale farmers, fishermen/women, and livestock owners in VSO programming state.
• She/he will be responsible for providing technical support on DRR, coordination, and networking, with VSO projects and partners, government, and other stakeholders.
• S/he will support Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA) and test other tools as the need arises.

Task Responsibilities
Technical Support:

• Coordinate the Livelihood component of project development activities for the VSO Rural Livelihood project.
• Organize and support livelihood project activities through partner staff involved in the implementation of project activities.
• Organise and support key project development activities to ensure quality planning and implementation are carried out within the framework of the project.
• Ensure effective engagement and relationship management with project partners, community leaders and groups, government institutions and other relevant, strategic/key sectoral actors for effective and sustainable delivery of the gender & livelihood component of the project delivery.
• Assist the Program Manager in recruiting and line managing private consultants for specific short-term assignments related to livelihood, including facilitating the development of their work plans, monitor their fieldwork, and organize debriefing sessions with consultants.
• Maintain effective communication on the progress of the project and ensure project learning in relation to Gender and Livelihood is documented for communication with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders in consultation with the Program Manager.
• Carry out periodic monitoring visits to project partners and project implementation sites, verify outputs indicated in progress reports submitted to VSO by partners and produce project activity and progress reports.
• Support the development of reports for the donor as well as reports for wider circulation within VSO in consultation with Project Manager – as appropriate.
• Analyse and ensure interventions are gender-sensitive and factor in issues of inclusion of normally socially excluded groups
• Provide technical support to VSO projects on integration of resilience in alignment to VSO core approaches, strategies and guidelines and incompatible with the context analysis
• Perform other work-related outputs as requested by the Project Manager
• Ensure that beneficiaries and local populations understand the project goals and agree with the implementation process and modality.
• Actively participate to the good collaboration with local leaders and community representatives.
• Act as a liaison with the local population and authorities in order to identify the needs, grievances and major events that could have potential consequences for VSO activity.
• S/He ensures the proper training and supervision of the community’s volunteers who take part in the project.
• S/He organizes sensitizations for the beneficiaries or community’s members according to the identified needs.

Knowledge management:

• Support resilience teams including the VSO Project in collection and or publication of good practices, success stories, project outcome documents, etc. in resilience work with Communication, learning to develop knowledge products, communication materials and other IEC materials to promote awareness raising about Resilience.
• Ensure regular and comprehensive monitoring for reporting on the gender-related indicators in the project areas in consultation with the Project Manager and in line with donor requirements.

Capacity Building:

• Assist in the development of case studies, best practices, and key learning on gender mainstreaming and integration into Livelihood program including generating success stories related to project and project developments as they relate to gender equality issues to feed into the linking and learning objectives of the program.
• Aid in data collection, compiling lessons learned, establishing indicators to support knowledge sharing. Support in updating and sharing with staff recent developments and knowledge tools in the areas of interventions.

Monitoring and reporting:

• Set agreed indicators and milestones based on the result framework developed
• Provide feedback to the programme team based on the field monitoring visits
• Support the project team in developing high quality project/ programme reports regarding resilience perspective
• Liaise with VSO colleagues and some project partners to ensure timely submission of contributions.

Networking and Project Logistics Support:

• Coordinate and build relationship with Rural Livelihoods global team, VSO project/program, government, CSOs, partners and private sectors.
• Facilitate the organization partner meetings and field risk assessment processes.
• Under the responsibility of the PM, take part in logistical and administrative organization, planning, and preparation of the projects.
• Ensure the follow-up and the proper use of materials and tools used during on-site works.
• Manage the supply of materials to the work site in collaboration with logistic department.
• The tasks and responsibilities defined in this job description are non-exhaustive and can evolve depending on the project’s needs.

Collaboration responsibilities:

• Program Manager, primary actors, implementing partners, government officials and key stakeholders

Competence Requirements
Essential:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Development studies or related field.
• Must have 3-5 years relevant work experience working in Northern Nigeria on gender related projects.
• Proven practical experience in cash and livelihoods programming.
• Coordination experience with different partners and stakeholders.
• Comprehensive understanding of international, regional, and national legal frameworks and policies related to advancing gender equality and promoting women’s rights.
• Ability to generate and communicate gender-related information for a variety of audiences to enhance understanding of gender integration and mainstreaming goals of the V4D project.
• Experienced in generating new ideas and approaches, research, best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of promoting gender equality in patriarchal communities and especially in Northern Nigeria
• Working experience in supporting development programmes, specifically Livelihood-related interventions - preferably within the NGOs sector.
• Contributes to results through primary research and analysis.
• Good reporting and writing skills.
• Excellent computer skills and office software packages.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Hausa language
• Committed to rights based and gender sensitivity work, pro-poor policy, committed and strong civil society organizations and social mobilization.
• Able, willing, and committed to work with people from different backgrounds
• Contribute constructively to a working environment based on mutual respect, trust, and commitment.
• Able to cope with stress and work under any challenging circumstances.

Competencies:

• Building and Sustaining working relationships: The social skills to build and actively maintain working relationships that foster teamwork and collaboration with others for the benefit of a common goal.
• Open Minded and Respectful: A non-judgemental approach that values other people and culture.
• Seeking and Sharing Knowledge: Recognition that learning is a two-way and continuous process.
• Facilitating Positive Change: The ability to analyse problems and develop lasting solutions in line with VSO approaches.
• Adaptability: A flexible approach and the ability to adapt behaviour to different situations.
• Resilience: The self-confidence to work with a variety of situations, diverse people and ambiguity