Programme Assistant, Disaster Risk Reduction at Christian Aid

Contracted hours: 35
Contract length: 11 months
Type of contract: Fixed Term
Reports to (Job Title): Programme Officer DRR

Role Purpose

• The role is key in providing administrative support to the work team to ensure partnerships and programmes are managed effectively and contribute to the implementation of Christian Aid Climate and Resilience Strategy while supporting the team on concrete steps in the implementation of the strategy within the wider country programmes. 
• The role is based at the field office in Sokoto state and there may be occasional travel required mostly to deep field locations while the role holder works with mostly government partners, plan and organize technical trainings, manage partnership and networking with key stakeholders.

Key Outcomes

• Effective and efficient administrative systems and procedures, including support in collating and compiling activity and monthly reports, in accordance with Christian Aid’s framework.
• Means of verification, reports and other documentation from activity implementation accurately recorded and filed both manually and electronically.
• Strong relationships developed through regular communication between partners and Christian Aid.
• An information repository suitable for production of reports, internal consumption, and to share externally with institutional donors, and for corporate communication while enhancing project/programme visibility.
• Advocacy and policy engagement plans developed, and action demonstrated through learning documents, knowledge products and shared with stakeholders

Role Agility:

• Expected national travel per annum: Up to 75 days
• Expected international travel per annum: No travel
• On call/unsocial hours: Yes, in event of Christian Aid response to humanitarian emergency
• Surge capacity for emergency responses: Choose an item.
• In order to respond to ever changing demands within the environment, Christian Aid operates within an agile framework (both in workforce and operational) that requires from all employees, a high level of responsiveness and adaptiveness to processes and structures making flexibility and a project based working approach the norm. 
• To sustain this system, managers may/will agree further details of specific tasks and duties as part of the performance agreement. Any reasonable duty may be assigned that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility, and employees may be required to change the focus of their role from time to time.

Role Context

• The role is designed to raise the Christian Aid’s profile through effective content management and contribute to the representation and brand of Christian Aid in of the Disaster Reduction and Social Safety Project in North-west with focus in Kaduna and Sokoto.
• The role holder will work within the International Programmes role family positioned within Country Programme team engaged with and promoting communications and fundraising, including managing relationships with institutional donors. 

Key Relationships
External: 

• The role holder will work indirectly with Institutional donors, and directly with INGOs and relevant networks & technical working groups, Civil Society Organizations, Government MDAs at Federal and State Level and at the same time with Local Government Councils.
• The role is primarily domiciled in a project consortium where relations are maintained with a key consortium partner with effective communications skills coming to bear. 
• The role holder is expected to harness negotiation and consensus building skills.

Internal: 

• Team buidling and team play are essential skills for the role holder as s/he will be required to work with and support multi-skilled and diverse individuals and teams. Such skills will be required working with the MEAL, Communications, operations and finance teams to ensure seamless project implamentation on a day-to-day routine and liaise with consortium partners in planning, coordination and implementation.

Decision Making:

• The ability to make day to day decisions to assist in the administration and smooth running of the partnership and programmes.

Budgetary/savings responsibility:

• The role holder will be responsible for the generating and administering programmes and finance documents and managing sub-activity budgets for volunteers and project beneficiaries.

Analytical skills

• Analytical skills desirable to perform day to day administrative work. The role requires a sound demonstration of stakeholder analysis, power analysis, and the ability to be iterative and apply adaptive programming based analytical skills.

Role related checks:

• Child protection clearance: Standard 
• Counter terrorism screening: Required

Person Specification
Applied skills/knowledge and expertise:

Essential:

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent in relevant field
• Substantial knowledge of supporting programmes and programme staff in international and national agencies
• Knowledge of development issues and current affairs especially in Northern Nigeria especially around peace building and conflict issues and a fair knowledge of the stakeholder mapping of Northwest Nigeria (Kaduna and Sokoto is desirable).
• Relevant experience of similar task and responsibilities, including administration
• Programme management experience and financial controls and procedures
• Good training, facilitation, and consensus- building skills
• Direct experience of working with government MDAs
• Progressive experience (for not less than 2 years) in implementing programmes with very good report writing skills
• Understanding of advocacy, campaigning, and lobbying and network building

Desirable:

• Good knowledge of political and religious context especially in northern Nigeria.
• High proficiency rating in English (written and oral) and medium rating in Hausa languages (oral)
• Understanding of partnership approach to international development
• Understanding of gender programming and child protection
• Network and alliance building

Digital / IT competencies required:

• Word, Excel, PowerPoint: Intermediate 
• Web content design & development: Intermediate 
• Internet based collaboration tools and video calling: Advanced 
• Social Media: Intermediate
• Data Visualisation: Intermediate.