Department Summary
The Senior Project Officer will be part of Mercy Corps Nigeria's Resilience and Climate Adaptation portfolio and will support the implementation of the Protecting Food Security Against Flood & Drought Cycles project in Katsina State. The project aims to improve food security and community resilience through integrated flood and drought mitigation measures, climate-resilient infrastructure, sustainable land management, and capacity strengthening of farmers and pastoralists. Key interventions include watershed restoration, construction of solar-powered water systems, development of community food and fodder storage facilities, and promotion of climate-smart agriculture and rangeland management practices. The Senior Project Officer will provide day-to-day technical and operational leadership for field implementation, ensuring that project activities are delivered efficiently, on time, within budget, and in accordance with Mercy Corps standards, donor requirements, and government regulations.
The Position
The Senior Project Officer is responsible for coordinating field implementation of project activities across target communities, supervising technical teams and community facilitators, managing relationships with local stakeholders, monitoring implementation progress, and ensuring high-quality delivery of project outputs. Working under the supervision of the Technical Project Manager, the Senior Project Officer serves as the primary field focal point for implementation and ensures effective coordination between technical, operations, procurement, finance, MEAL, contractors, and community stakeholders.
Essential Responsibilities
Project Coordination and Implementation
- Coordinate day-to-day implementation of all project activities across assigned Local Government Areas and communities.
- Develop detailed implementation plans and monitor progress against approved work
- Coordinate implementation of project interventions including Flood and drought mitigation measures, Climate-resilient water infrastructure, and community storage
- Ensure activities are implemented according to technical standards, work plans, budgets, and donor requirements.
- Monitor implementation timelines and proactively address implementation
- Ensure project documentation is complete, accurate, and maintained according to Mercy Corps procedures.
Technical Support and Quality Assurance
- Support technical assessments, baseline studies, and site selection
- Assist in reviewing engineering designs, Bills of Quantities (BoQs), technical specifications, and implementation plans.
- Conduct routine field supervision to ensure quality implementation of infrastructure
- Monitor contractor performance and verify completed works before
- Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps Infrastructure Minimum Standards and relevant national regulations.
- Identify technical issues during implementation and recommend corrective
- Support quality assurance and quality control processes for all project
Community Engagement and Capacity Strengthening
- Coordinate community mobilization and stakeholder engagement
- Facilitate participatory planning meetings with community leaders, farmer organizations, pastoralist groups, women's associations, and local authorities.
- Support establishment and strengthening of community management
- Organize and facilitate technical trainings on Flood and drought preparedness, Water infrastructure management, and Operation and maintenance of community assets
- Promote community ownership and sustainability of project
Contractor and Infrastructure Supervision
- Coordinate daily supervision of contractors and construction
- Monitor construction schedules and ensure adherence to approved technical
- Verify quality of construction materials and
- Ensure compliance with environmental, health, safety, and safeguarding
- Support procurement processes by preparing technical inputs and monitoring delivery of construction materials.
- Assist with infrastructure commissioning and handover to
Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
- Support implementation of the project's Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) framework.
- Collect, verify, and submit high-quality implementation
- Conduct routine field monitoring visits and beneficiary
- Track progress against project indicators and
- Prepare weekly, monthly, and quarterly implementation
- Document success stories, lessons learned, innovations, and best
- Support donor monitoring visits and technical
The Senior Project Officer will contribute to achieving key project targets, including:
- Protection of productive land through flood and drought mitigation
- Construction or rehabilitation of solar-powered water
- Development of climate-resilient food, seed, and fodder storage
Coordination and Partnership Management
- Maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders at state, local, and community level.
- Represent Mercy Corps at community coordination meetings and technical forums as
- Ensure regular communication between field teams and project
Financial and Administrative Management
- Monitor field activity budgets and
- Support preparation of procurement plans and activity
- Verify invoices and contractor payment
- Ensure efficient utilization of project
- Maintain complete activity documentation and filing
Team Supervision
- Provide day-to-day supervision and mentoring of partner Project Officers, Community Facilitators, and Technical Assistants.
- Coordinate work schedules for field
- Promote teamwork, accountability, and high
- Support staff capacity development through coaching and on-the-job
Risk Management and Compliance
- Identify implementation risks and recommend mitigation
- Ensure compliance with donor regulations, Mercy Corps policies, safeguarding requirements, and security procedures.
- Promote environmental and social safeguards throughout
- Report incidents, challenges, and emerging risks in a timely
Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills
- Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Management, Agriculture, Water Resources Engineering, Natural Resource Management, Project Management, or a related field.
- Master's degree is an added
- Minimum of 5–7 years of progressively responsible experience implementing donor-funded infrastructure, climate resilience, agriculture, or natural resource management
- Demonstrated experience supervising construction or community infrastructure
- Experience working with rural communities and local government
- Experience supervising contractors and managing community-based
- Strong planning, coordination, reporting, and organizational
- Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and mobile data collection
- Fluency in English is required; knowledge of Hausa and other local languages spoken in Katsina State is highly desirable.
- Professional certification in Project Management (PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent) is an advantage.
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