Senior Project Officer - Household Economic Strengthen at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Reference ID: 210000O1
Location: Delta
Job Type: Full-time (Day Job)
Job: Program Management
Schedule: Regular
Shift: Standard

Project Background

• The Global Action Towards Epidemic control in Sub-national units in Nigeria (4GATES) program is a five year (2017-2022), United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) funded HIV/AIDS care, treatment and support program implemented across Faith-based and Government owned health facilities in Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States.
• Catholic Relief Services is part of the 4GATES consortium, which is led by Caritas Nigeria and includes, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Pro-Health International and Palladium. CRS supports the implementation of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) component of the 4GATES project.

Job Summary

• Household Economic Strengthening Senior Technical Specialist will support the project’s technical team to achieve the strategic objectives of the program – focusing primarily on household economic strengthening and food security but also supporting cross-cutting themes and integration efforts across the project with other areas of OVC programming.
• S/he will support planning and capacity strengthening efforts while implementing operational strategies for achieving project aims, results and performance expectations through adherence to high standards of programmatic and management quality.

Specific Job Responsibilities

• The HES Senior Technical Specialist will provide technical and programmatic direction in the areas of household economic strengthening and food security.
• S/he will be responsible for strengthening the capacity of implementing CBOs in HES with a focus income generation activity, savings group, asset accumulation, agro-business models and value chain development as well as increased food security for vulnerable households. Other key areas include gender equity and child to ensure that children participate in age-appropriate economic strengthening activities without the risk child abuse and child labor.
• The HES Senior Technical Specialist will support the OVC Team Lead to ensure that CBOs utilize approaches that support integration and maximize country and community- ownership.
• The HES Senior Technical Specialist will support planning, trainings, learning/documentation, reporting, and monitoring of household economic strengthening and food security related activities.

Technical Leadership:
In addition to ensuring that 4 GATES HES strategies and approaches are in line with existing and future PEPFAR, and GoN policies and approaches CRS will support CCFN to design and implement household-specific need-based HES interventions that will result in improved and tangible socio-economic wellbeing of vulnerable households. Some of the activities to prioritize are enumerated below:

• Evaluate HES interventions supported in the previous years for coverage and impact, identify gaps and ensure that every eligible HH is profiled and effectively supported within the first two quarters of the project year.
• Facilitate the use of approved and NOMIS-based HES tools assessment and programming purposes.
• Mainstream the use of Household Access to Emergency Fund form, analyze findings for reporting and implementations of HES interventions based on needs.
• Support CCFN to ensure that all households on the OVC program are accessed and supported with needed HES interventions before SAPR.
• Establish an all-inclusive routine follow up for all supported households to ensure greater project outcomes routine.
• Work with CCFN to develop the 4GATES financial management, financial literacy training manual for caregivers and older OVC.
• Working closely with CCFN, support the planning and Co-facilitation of saving group methodology and financial illiteracy training for CBOs, caregivers, and case managers.
• Support the identification, implementation, and monitoring of income-generating activities for caregivers and older OVCs on the project.
• Collaborate with CCFN to carry out series of skills and knowledge update sessions for CBO partners and government partners in HES.
• Co-facilitate training, supervise and monitor HES interventions supportive supervision and monitor training outcomes.
• Provide high-quality mentoring support and supervision to CBOs on economic strengthening and food security activities.
• Support CCFN to generate high-impact, news briefs and success stories for her HES interventions.
• Support CCFN to develop a research protocol aimed at evaluating the impact of the HES interventions on the lives of the beneficiaries.

Project Design and Management:

• Oversee and ensure the successful implementation of HES and food security activities by CBO subgrantees.
• Assure appropriate engagement with the formal and community health systems and structures.
• Support the development of functional referral networks for vulnerable groups, especially adolescent OVC for skill acquisition trainings.
• Use appropriate project management tools to plan, review and track progress on implementation of HES and food security activities and use of project resources to achieve expected results.
• Contribute to the development/update and monitoring of HES and food security indicators and tools particularly those required by PEPFAR and the Nigerian OVC M&E Plan.
• Ensure the exchange of lessons learned and experiences and promote coordination between project sub-grantees, other donor grantees and projects in the target States.
• Monitor progress toward targets; identify and implement approaches to overcome challenges.
• For HES and food security activities, support timely completion of required work planning, donor narrative reports, quarterly reports and performance indicator tracking tables, baseline and final evaluation reports and other reports needed/required by the local government, donors, the region or headquarters.
• Identify and facilitate partnerships with the private sector, key government entities e.g., Ministry of Agriculture and SMEDEN and other relevant PEPFAR funded programs
• Oversee the development of referral networks and MOUs to enhance linkages and service delivery to targeted households
• Undertake other program related duties as assigned by the OVC Team Lead- 4GATES project

Presentation:

• Represent the project consortium in external technical meetings, conferences and workshops related to HES and food security.
• Participate on behalf of the project in strategic meetings with the GON.
• Liaise and coordinate with other HES and food security actors, including the government, the UN system, other NGOs, learning institutions and civil society actors to promote synergy, share lessons learned and avoid duplication.
• Link State, LGA, and CBO staff to relevant HES and food security technical and coordination forums.

Supervision and Mentoring:

• Support CBOs to develop appropriate job descriptions to ensure staffing is appropriate for expected results.
• Provide regular supportive supervision CBO HES and food security staff to ensure achievement of expected results.
• Support CBO staff professional development, including identifying capacity building needs for CBO staff, providing mentoring and training and linking staff to appropriate external opportunities to in line with project needs.
• Ensure relevant GON entities have the knowledge, skills and tools to provide technical oversight to CBO engaged in HES and food security interventions.
• Support CBOs and related GON entities to use quality improvement science and methodology to enhance the quality of HES and food security interventions.
• Support the GON planning processes, particularly at the state and local levels, around HES and food security as it relates to vulnerable households.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: OVC Program Lead, Senior Technical Specialist Case Management/Referral Coordination, Senior Technical Specialist MEAL, Technical Specialist Case Management/Protection, Technical Specialist MEAL, CRS Operations team, RTAs for Health and OVC, Country Representatives, Heads of Operations, and Security Managers/Focal Points.
• External: Caritas Nigeria; Ministry of Women Affairs desk; Ministry of Agriculture particularly the ADPs; private sector players; Save-UGM counterparts; UN and international community representatives, and other stakeholders.

Travel:

• Travel up to 80% of the time.

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 6 years of experience in household economic strengthening and/or food security with an MSc in a related field.
• Technical skills and experience in household economic strengthening across the economic continuum, including appropriate agricultural value-chains.
• Demonstrated ability to develop training materials and train partners in key areas including savings-led microfinance, private-service provider models, and agro-enterprise.
• Demonstrated experience working closely with the private and government sectors.
• Demonstrated experience working with household poverty and food security assessment tools such as the household economy approach, Nigeria Progress out of Poverty Tool, Household Hunger Scale, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to support partners working at a distance to achieve results against program objectives/targets.
• Excellent facilitation skills using adult learning techniques.
• Ability to use and train staff in participatory methodologies.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Familiarity with OVC programming and principles.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship
• Promotes Learning.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

What We Offer
CRS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, vision, generous retirement savings plan and the opportunity to work in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that is committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.