Project Officer - Food Assistance at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Job Summary

Under the leadership of the IMPROVED ALERTS Food security and livelihoods (FSL) Manager, the Project Officer (PO) is a non-supervisory position, responsible for the daily project activities in food assistance in Gubio, Kaga and Magumeri, while maintaining relationships with local partner staff as well as vendors and beneficiaries. 

The PO, in collaboration with the local partners, will lead field level engagement with food assistance vendors, and project participants, ensure compliance with voucher methodology, collect data as guided by the MEAL Officer and assist the local partners in project implementation, monitoring and reporting.

Responsibilities

Coordinate and clearly communicate food assistance activities 

• Support the vendor procurement and price negotiation process as required, in collaboration CRS SCM team.
• Act as the focal point for field level communication with the community mobilizers on food assistance. 
• Support partners officers with food assistance activities capacity building.
• Support the preparation of payments to the vendors on a bi-monthly basis, after every food redemption.
• Hold daily debrief with the community mobilizers during redemptions and provide timely updates to the Food assistance Manager.
• Support the partner officer in coordinating the planning of the CMs.
• Ensure support to partner officer in effectively implementing the food redemptions. Review partner plans and reports, providing guidance to the team.
• Participate in local coordination meetings including, Area Based Committee meetings and local food security engagements at the field level.
• Provide interpretation and facilitation support in local languages for training events and community meetings.
• Support MEAL team with registrations, OSMs and PDMs as required.
• Carry out other roles in food assistance as directed by the supervisor.

Provide support to project vendors and food assistance key stakeholders 

• Ensure shop signs are displayed in front of each participating vendor’s shop.
• Coordinate all vendor support and communication.
• Organize meetings with project vendors as needed.
• Organize monthly meetings with project vendors to discuss distributions.
• Conduct regular vendor spot checks before and during the redemptions, ensuring vendor readiness and access to quality food commodities by project participants.
• In collaboration with the Cash & Asset Transfer Officer (CAT), carries out vendor training.

Provides feedback on project’s food assistance activities to PM

• Provide information to the CAT Officer on troubleshooting needs.
• Provides feedback to the PM on program activities.
• In partnership with the CAT officer reviews vendor transactions.
• Documents good practices stemming from project implementation linked to food assistance teams activities.

Reporting 

• Review partner officer reports.
• Provide capacity building on reporting to the local partner as shall be required.
• Report on project activities. 
• Collects three human interest stories with photos on project beneficiaries, of which one is of a project vendor.
• Any other task, assigned by supervisor.

Required Languages - The post requires high level oral communication skills Hausa and English.

Travel - Willingness to travel about 70% of the time

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Observation, active listening and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners and community members
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities
• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented
• Must possess ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. 
• Capacity to work effectively with a diverse team and with stakeholders. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data preferred.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Demonstrated experience in community engagement in Borno State.
• Strong skills in oral communication in the languages spoken by community members in Borno.
• Understanding of the cultural, social and gender dynamics of the communities in Borno. 
• Proven experience in group discussions and other participatory methods. 
• Strong ICT skills. Experience of RedRose database systems is desirable. 
• Demonstrated capacities and commitment to gender responsive programming.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, oral and written communication skills.
• Team-oriented and strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and to multi-task.
• Capacity and willingness to work most of the time in the field. 

Basic Qualifications

• University degree in Social Sciences, humanities, agricultural sciences, or any other relevant equivalent degree.
• At least three years’ experience in project implementation and for an NGO would be a plus.
• Additional education may substitute for some experience.
• Experience of private sector engagement is desirable.