Project Officer at Search For Common Ground’s International

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Job type: Full Time - Local

Position Summary

• The Project Officer  is to provide programmatic support, including planning, organizing, and coordinating communication and project activities. The position is full time, based in Abuja, Jos, Maiduguri, or Katsina with frequent field visits within these cities.
• The position holder will work under the direct supervision of the Project Manager and closely with all other departments .

About The Project

• This project will strategically invest resources into creating a comprehensive and actionable toolset on DDR / SPRR[1] and PVE for diverse stakeholders to operationalize at the country level in Nigeria, with subsequent potential for replication and scale up across the region.
• Goal: To improve community centered DDR, SPRR and PVE processes across Nigeria’s Northern geopolitical zones.

Objectives and Activities

• Objective 1: To develop a toolkit for PVE and reintegration across Nigeria’s northern geopolitical zones.
  • A1.1.1: Develop National Toolkit on PVE and SPRR
• Objective 2: To foster cross-sectoral coordination among and between diverse national, zonal, and community level stakeholders for PVE and the reintegration of ex-combatants and defectors of VEOs and armed groups.
  • A2.1.1.: Zonal and Community Level Multistakeholder Validation Workshops and Strategy Planning.
  • A2.1.2: National Validation Conference and Strategy Planning on DDR / SPRR and PVE

[1]Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (SPRR) is the terminology used in the context of violent extremism / terrorism rather than disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR).

Roles and Responsibilities

• Support the Project Manager and the DMEL Team on all aspects of the participatory research process and development of the toolkit, with a particular focus on supporting the logistical requirements of this process;
• Support the logistical planning for the Validation Workshops and the National Validation Conference;
• Produce activity report after each activity implemented, including documenting lessons learnt, feedback from participants, pictures;
• Track attendance to each activity and document it with attendance lists;
• Keep track of project progress and feed in Search’s monitoring and evaluation system;
• Writing and producing reports that include but not limited to activity reports, context updates, monthly reports, quarterly reports, success stories, and case studies;
• Analyze the context within the scope of the project and provide inputs for regular context updates;
• Support in the reporting on project activities, ensuring timely grant reporting and compliance with contract and donor guidelines in coordination with the consortium partners;
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation activities through data collection;
• Provide support to the Project Manager in identifying key relevant stakeholders;
• Develop and nurture relations with relevant state, NGO, religious bodies and other stakeholders at the local, state and national level;
• Create and maintain a database of all relevant contacts
• Communicate with relevant project stakeholders and mobilize them to ensure their participation in the project’s activities;
• Represent Search to local authorities meetings, when delegated;
• Identify and work with local influencers such as religious, tribal leaders and associations, to  ensure meaningful participation to all activities, including by most hard-to-reach communities and groups;
• Provide support to the Project Manager in conducting and facilitating all project activities; and
• Organizes all logistics related to the implementation of project activities (hall rental, catering, invitations, etc.)

Required Qualification

• Bachelor’s degree in Peace Building, Conflict, Security Studies, Political or Social Science, International Studies, Public Administration, Development Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation,  and experience in a related area.
• Additional extensive training in at least one of the areas of SFCG thematic work- Peace building, conflict transformation and resolution is an added advantage.
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience in implementing project with a special focus on research, conflict analysis, social cohesion, crisis prevention, early warning and early response and/or  farmer-herder Project engagement
• Experience working in an NGO. Experience in an INGO is a plus;
• Past working experience in projects research/M&E inclined focus
• Experience implementing complex activities with limited supervision;
• Experience in a delicate conflict context with difficult and hard-to-reach stakeholders;
• Experience working in large multicultural environment and in a diverse team;
• Knowledge of English and Hausa is required and knowledge of an additional local language is a plus (Fufulde, Kanuri, Tiv, Shuwa Arab, etc.)