Job Vacancies at Search for Common Ground (SFCG)

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Reports to: The Senior Community Mobilization Officer
Direct Reports: The community mobilizer will have no direct report

Position Summary

• The Community Mobilizer role is to mobilise and facilitate active participation and dialogue of target populations, including beneficiary children, caregivers, community and religious leaders, and other key men and women in target communities, to participate in the implementation of project activities within the “Supporting the Socio-Economic Reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Groups, and other vulnerable children, in North East Nigeria” project. 
• In particular, Community Mobilizer will develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders in select communities, update the project team on context specific factors impacting the project, support in mobilising project beneficiaries for activities related to psychosocial, social and economic reintegration, as well as wider community strengthening initiatives, media visits, and other key activities as arise.
• The Community Mobilizer will motivate, inspire and support children in target communities, and contribute to detailed planning and implementation of activities in line with conflict sensitivity, do no harm, and Search’s common group approach, always ensuring that children’s best interests are promoted. 

About the Project

• In the past decade, states in the North East region of Nigeria have faced frequent attacks by Boko Haram militants leading to widespread displacement, violations of national laws, international humanitarian and human rights laws, and a deepening humanitarian crisis. Children, who are the most vulnerable members of society, have suffered the worst impacts as pre-existing problems of access to social protection, education and healthcare increase, new threats emerge, and the systems to protect children fails.
• This project aims to ensure that children verified and separated from CJTF receive a comprehensive child protection package including counselling, psychosocial support and socio-economic reintegration and that their communities understand the importance of their separation and reintegration.
• Search will work closely with the children, their families and communities, and CJTF to address the psychosocial and economic needs of the children and to influence the attitudes of communities and CJTF so they understand the negative impact of associating with armed groups on children and prevent the CJTF from using children. By increasing the resilience of children associated with CJTF and increasing their employability, this project will facilitate lasting reintegration of these children and amplify positive narratives around their role in communities as productive civilian actors and agents for peace.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Conduct community entry engagement sessions to ensure the project aims and objectives are communicated across communities, and that the communities are engaged from the outset and throughout the project. 
• Contribute to detailed planning and implementation of mobilization on Search activities in collaboration with the Security Manager. Ensure regular communication with education and enterprise teams. 
• Identify and mobilise participants for various project activities such as community dialogues among others. 
• Assist the project team to develop IEC and visibility related materials by ensuring voices from communities are captured. Support promoting Search acceptance within the target communities. 
• Support feedback mechanism within the project to ensure voices from direct beneficiaries and wider community are continuously shared, captured, and fed into project activities.
• Develop and maintain a network of external contacts with key individuals in the government, NGO sector, civil society and media. 
• With the support of Senior Community Mobilization Officers, facilitate community meetings and dialogues to identify key community needs that can be addressed through the community strengthening initiatives; support the implementation and monitoring of these initiatives.
• Keep abreast of local context and the security situation, and provide feedback in a timely manner.
• Draft activity and monthly reports. 
• Represent Search in relevant community and interagency stakeholders meetings and any other meetings that may be assigned by the supervisor.
• Complete any other task relevant to the position as requested by the supervisor.

Job Requirements
Education:

• University Degree or equivalent in Social Science, Education, Psychology, or a related field.

Required Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years experience in the field of community work, particularly with children.
• Experience working with Children Associated with Armed Groups, and other vulnerable children.
• Experiencing coordinating activities within a large project.

Other Relevant Requirements:

• Familiarity with principles including the best interest of the child, do no harm, humanitarian principles, amongst others.
• Strong cross cultural communication and interpersonal skills.
• Highly organised and systematic, with excellent attention to detail. 
• Experience working in emergency settings
• Experience working in different communities in Borno State
• Experience working with refugees, IDPs, host communities, and other vulnerable populations 
• Excellent analytical and writing skills
• Knowledge of a local language (Hausa, Kanuri, Shuwa) a must.

Desirable:

• Good analytical, problem solving and project planning skills. 
• Ability to prioritise, plan, organise workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities. 
• Community oriented and respect for local culture.
• Good IT skills, particularly with MS Office - Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
• Strong command of both written and spoken English.
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour.
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity.
• Provides good administrative and logistical support to team.
• Strong attitude towards teamwork and collaboration. 
• Actively seeks support in addressing difficulties in execution of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and organisational development.
• Sound judgment and decision-making in complex situations.
• Strong emotional intelligence including self-awareness.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Strong commitment to continuous learning.

go to method of application »

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Job type: Full Time - Local
Reports to: Senior Enterprise Officer

Position Summary

• The Enterprise Assistant supports the Enterprise Officers to implement the economic reintegration component of the “Supporting the Socio-Economic Reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Groups, and other vulnerable children, in North East Nigeria” project.
• This will ensure timely and quality implementation of all project activities as defined in the proposal.
• The Enterprise Assistant will support coordinate training for enterprise beneficiary children to ensure they are equipped with technical skills and knowledge.
• Enterprise Assistants will then ensure children of legal age are matched with mentors from their local community to develop skills through informal apprenticeships, before then being supported with seed grants to procure basic items to set up small scale businesses in their area of skills development.
• The Enterprise Assistant will motivate, inspire and support children in target communities in making informed choices regarding their skills development, to assist them in the future.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Work directly with selected enterprise adolescent children and help increase their financial capabilities and coordinate their enrollment in the apprenticeships and micro-enterprise training on a one to one basis, as well as a selection of self-employment and wage-employment businesses opportunities;
• Support in Identification & organizing micro-enterprise training courses/workshops to facilitate the development of start your own business skills of the target participants; Support individuals in their applications for the creation and engagement of bank accounts;
• Provide support and information to target participants with regard to improving their job seeking skills through support and referrals to other initiatives;
• Support target beneficiaries in their application to establish bank accounts
• Support in Developing terms of reference (TORs) and Purchase Requests (PRs) for required trainings and workshops.
• Provide support and information to target adolescent children to improve their job seeking skills through support and referrals to other initiatives.
• Support the enterprise training activities that taking place in the  project locations
• Help identify, assess and select the local artisans/small business owners in targeted communities;
• Support Monitor each young person’s relation with his/her employer and pay scheduled and random visits to the artisans to check on the progress of the beneficiaries and address any arising issues
• Collect monitoring data from the field in line with program indicators and submit regular updates, reports and case studies on success stories and lessons learned;
• Keep abreast of local context and security situation to provide feedback on Search’s weekly context analysis.

Education

• University Degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Marketing, Business Management, Social Science, or a related field.

Required Experience

• Minimum of 2 years’ experience in marketing, livelihood, or a related field.
• Minimum 2 years’ experience with business and strategy development processes.
• Experience working with Children Associated with Armed Groups.

Other Relevant Requirements:

• Familiarity with principles,including best interest of the child, do no harm, humanitarian principles, amongst others.
• Strong cross cultural communication and interpersonal skills.
• Highly organised and systematic, with excellent attention to detail.
• Experience working in emergency settings
• Experience working in different communities in Borno State
• Experience working with refugees, IDPs, host communities, and other vulnerable populations
• Excellent analytical and writing skills

Desirable:

• Native of Kanuri, Shuwa Arab
• Good analytical, problem solving and project planning skills.
• Ability to prioritise, plan, organise workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities.
• Community-oriented and respect for local culture.
• Good IT skills, particularly with MS Office - Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
• Strong command of both written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of a local language (Hausa, Kanuri) a must.
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour.
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity.
• Provides good administrative and logistical support to team.
• Strong attitude towards teamwork and collaboration.
• Actively seeks support in addressing difficulties in execution of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and organisational development.
• Sound judgement and decision-making in complex situations.
• Strong emotional intelligence, including self-awareness.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Strong commitment to continuous learning.

go to method of application »

Locations: Maiduguri, Borno

About the Project

• In the past decade, states in the North East region of Nigeria have faced frequent attacks by Boko Haram militants leading to widespread displacement, violations of national laws, international humanitarian and human rights laws, and a deepening humanitarian crisis. Children, who are the most vulnerable members of society, have suffered the worst impacts as pre-existing problems of access to social protection, education and healthcare increase, new threats emerge, and the systems to protect children fails.
• This project aims to ensure that children verified and separated from CJTF receive a comprehensive child protection package including counselling, psychosocial support and socio-economic reintegration and that their communities understand the importance of their separation and reintegration. Search will work closely with the children, their families and communities, and CJTF to address the psychosocial and economic needs of the children and to influence the attitudes of communities and CJTF so they understand the negative impact of associating with armed groups on children and prevent the CJTF from using children.
• By increasing the resilience of children associated with CJTF and increasing their employability, this project will facilitate lasting reintegration of these children and amplify positive narratives around their role in communities as productive civilian actors and agents for peace.

Position Summary

• The Education Assistants role is to support implementation of the education components within the “Supporting the Socio-Economic reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Groups, and other vulnerable children, in North East Nigeria” project.
• In particular, the Education Assistants will provide support to children separated from armed groups, and other vulnerable children, to resume school or continue their formal education, receive necessary back to school kits, and support ongoing monitoring of their progress. In addition, Education Assistants will support the enrolment of select enterprise adolescent children in accelerated literacy and numeracy classes.
• The Education Assistant will motivate, inspire and support children in target communities in their educational attainment, to support the knowledge and skills development of beneficiary children. 

Roles and Responsibilities

• Participate in developing the activity plan for the education component and implement the activities on time, with quality as per the plan. 
• Identify and communicate project gaps, challenges and vulnerabilities related to Education
• Actively participate in education-related meetings at the community and interagency level e.g. with School Principals, Ministry of Education, education sector and the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), where requested by the supervisor.  
• Distribute education support materials (i.e. Back to School Kits) to the beneficiaries.
• Identify children within the case load with complex needs that may affect their school attendance and coordinate the case management officers and other partners to address these needs. 
• Provide the necessary data and information and participate in drafting activity and monthly reports.

Education

• University degree or equivalent in Education, Psychology, Social Science, or a related field.

Required Experience:

• Minimum of 1 year experience in the field of education and with children.
• Experience working with Children Associated with Armed Groups, and other vulnerable children.
• Familiarity with principles including the best interest of the child, do no harm, humanitarian principles, amongst others.

Other Relevant Requirements:

• Strong cross-cultural communication and interpersonal skills.
• Highly organised and systematic, with excellent attention to detail. 
• Experience working in emergency settings
• Experience working in different communities in Borno State
• Experience working with refugees, IDPs, host communities, and other vulnerable populations 
• Excellent analytical and writing skills.

Desirable:

• Good analytical, problem solving and project planning skills. 
• Ability to prioritise, plan, organise workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities. 
• Community-oriented and respect for local culture.
• Good IT skills, particularly with MS Office - Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint.
• Strong command of both written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of a local language (Hausa, Kanuri) a must.
• Holds self and others to account to deliver on agreed goals and standards of behaviour.
• Demonstrates a high degree of professionalism/integrity.
• Provides good administrative and logistical support to the team.
• Strong attitude towards teamwork and collaboration. 
• Actively seeks support in addressing difficulties in the execution of duties.
• Strategic thinking and effective contribution to own work and organisational development.
• Sound judgement and decision-making in complex situations.
• Strong emotional intelligence including self-awareness.
• Leads by example to motivate high performance of others.
• Strong commitment to continuous learning.