Training Coordinator at Search For Common Ground’s International

Location: Yola, Adamawa

Position Summary

• A training coordinator with proven experience and skills in and training of conflict transformation, conflict resolution, conflict sensitivity and do no harm (DNH) principles along with human rights. The candidate will have skills in training government actors at the local and state level that includes security personnel in the Common Ground approach to conflict resolution and human rights; the candidate will also have experience working with youth and on farmer-herder issues and leading interfaith dialogues.
• The primary purpose of this position is to both coordinate all training and facilitate workshops in the NorthEast Region where Search operates in the Common Ground approach on all project training. The position holder will work with key stakeholders that include community leaders, the security sector, government officials, women and children, internally displaced peoples (IDPs), and understand cycle programming and the importance of building confidence and fostering good relationships.
• This position holder will report to the Head of Office and be functionally managed by the Senior Training Coordinator. The position holder will be based in Adamawa State.

About the Project

• Search for Common Ground with support from the EU is starting a 18 months project titled “Contributing to the mitigation of conflict over natural resources between farmer and herder communities in Adamawa state, Nigeria (COMITAS)”. The project pursues four specific objectives: First, it will aim to strengthen traditional conflict resolution in the targeted locations in Adamawa state to support conflict prevention and mitigation efforts. Secondly, this project will aim to improve trust in authorities’ commitment to providing security and adequate resource management to help prevent communities to turn towards violence.
• The third specific objective of the project is to address the root causes of conflict between farmer and herder communities over natural resources and lastly, the fourth specific objective of this project is to improve intra and inter-communal perceptions. The project will be implemented in Demsa, Girei, Numan, Lamurde, and Song local government areas in Adamawa State, Yola in Adamawa State.
• This project” will work to contribute to the mitigation of conflict over natural resources. Search and her partners will work with authorities first at the lowest level (local administration, authorities, the judiciary) and other higher levels (State, Federal) where necessary. This approach, as developed has successfully applied, in USAID-funded “Building Bridges Between Herders and Farmers in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Kaduna States” program in the Middle Belt, consists of conflict prevention, dispute resolution, and sustainability beginning from the local level and conflict-affected people themselves.
• The project will support community-based Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) to identify risks and partner with civil society, security or government actions to institutionalize strategies and approaches that will build community capacity and skills for sustainable peace.
• Additionally, the project seeks to ensure conflicts identified through the EWER feed into multi-stakeholder forums for dispute resolution and higher-level policy change and create open and neutral spaces for farmer and pastoralist community members and leaders to identify collective solutions.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Develop and implement an effective training coordination strategy for the project across in the Adamawa office
• Work with the project teams to ensure all training needs are planned and met and;
• Support implementation of all SFCG training activities in Adamawa State, either in –person, other SFCG staff or through hired training consultants;
• Work with Senior Training Coordinator to establish a pool of qualified training consultants;
• Coordinate the hire of training consultants where need be, in close collaboration with the HR department.
•  Design each training to be culturally identifiable to the context; Search’s programs, and for the participants attending the training;
• Design training material, methodology, training guides and reporting templates;
• Coordinator is expected to be delivering trainings that will focus on: Principles of Common Ground in conflict transformation; Conflict resolution and mitigating strategies; Conflict sensitivity and Do No Harm; Dispute resolution; Human rights; Non-adversarial Advocacy; Transformative dialogue and interfaith dialogues processes and; Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR ) co-facilitating with trauma lead.
• The coordinator will be using Search’s Common Ground Approach manuals and other Search-developed manuals as a basis for adapting the training curriculum to the projects’ needs
• Write a monthly summary report highlighting training, lessons learned, and challenges, and recommendations including success highlights, feedback from participants, and recommendations for the next stages of Search’s program (sent to line supervisor).

Note: As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.

Requirements
Educational Background:

• A degree in Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Peacebuilding, Conflict Management or relevant field;
• Additional education in conflict management, media for peacebuilding, communication for social change would be a strong asset.

Required Experience:

• At least 3 years’ experience as a trainer. 2 of those years should be in the non-profit and NGO sector in relevant topics (as per above-mentioned list) for a diverse range of audiences (from communities to authorities);
• Have facilitated/ co-facilitated at least 10 trainings to key stakeholders that include: security, local and state-level actors and community leaders with excellent command of trainees in relevant fields;
• In-depth knowledge of the North East and Middle Belt regions,

Other Relevant Requirements:

• Good knowledge of the local languages will be an asset.
• Knowledge of civil society organisations, government agencies, private sector companies and international development agencies, with experience of working in partnership within some of these sectors;
• Written and verbal communications skills including the ability to synthesise complicated policy issues into digestible products and to deal with both elite and popular media and specialist and non-specialist audiences;
• Experience of partnership building, with experience of influencing stakeholders and establishing and maintaining strong partnerships;
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and strong interpersonal skills;
• Commitment to SFCG’s aims and a clear understanding of the links between policy, lobbying, campaigning and media work and of how policy change can be achieved through effective advocacy;
• Organisational skills and attention to detail;
• Ability to responding flexibly to opportunities and requests sometime with little notice;
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a rapidly changing environment;
• Demonstrate a capacity to adapt to a multi-cultural context, and tolerance and respect to issues related to gender, religion, race and nationality;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism and solves problems in collaborative ways.