Job Vacancies at The International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Requisition ID: req6533
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Program Administration
Employment Category: Fixed Term
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: Yes

Job Description
IRC began working in Nigeria in October 2012 in response to a widespread flood disaster. Since then, IRC has expanded its program scope and size with the aiming of making the greatest possible contribution to meeting humanitarian needs in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in North East Nigeria. IRC’s response includes integrated health, reproductive health and nutrition support, protection including women’s protection and empowerment services, child protection, environmental health, economic recovery and development, and education. In 2015, IRC Nigeria developed a five year Strategy Action Plan, which has protection, health, education and livelihoods as high priority program areas.

IRC is the NGO Co-Lead of the Protection Sector in North East Nigeria, which is responsible for:

• Ensuring predictable, accountable and effective coordination of the protection response at the National and State levels.
• Ensuring the centrality of protection in the humanitarian response in North East Nigeria through effective mainstreaming of protection in all humanitarian sectors.
• Ensuring that Protection Sector members are accountable to affected populations through consultative and feedback mechanisms.

Scope of Work:

• The Protection Sector NGO Co-Lead will work in partnership with UNHCR, as the Sector Lead Agency, to provide leadership and facilitate the processes that will ensure a well-coordinated, strategic, adequate, coherent, and effective protection response in Nigeria.
• The Co-Lead will have specific responsibility for ensuring that the Protection Sector is informed by NGO perspectives, including, importantly, that of local partners.
• The Co-Lead will also be responsible for ensuring that the NGO membership is contributing to and sharing Protection Sector responsibilities, and will play a lead role in developing the active engagement and technical capacity of members of the Protection Sector.

Main Responsibilities

• Co-chair regular coordination meetings of the Protection Sector in the absence of the Sector Coordinator. Actively identify, make contact with, and offer technical and operational support to new and existing protection partners, including both national and international organizations; lead follow-up with prospective Protection Sector members, as applicable.
• With the Sector Coordinator, provide leadership and strategic direction, reflecting NGO perspectives in particular, including those related to the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and Humanitarian Response Strategy as well as Situation Updates; otherwise support coordination so as to enable coherent and timely responses to protection and humanitarian needs.
• Co-lead on the development, implementation and regular updating of the Protection Sector strategy and workplan.
• Support Technical Working Groups, where needed, and operational working groups to facilitate emergency responses and to strengthen emergency response capacity and coordination.
• Support in developing periodic and ad hoc protection analyses to inform strategy development, as well as operational responses and advocacy; likewise, in collaboration with UNHCR, develop periodic response analyses to further assist in identifying response gaps in relation to identified needs.
• In collaboration with the Lead Agency, support the development and dissemination of appropriate protection tools for use by Protection Sector members to identify, report, monitor and respond to protection concerns.
• Identify core advocacy concerns for the Protection Sector through a consultative process; develop joint Working Group/ Inter Sector Working Group messages and advocacy strategies to ensure regular and consistent advocacy, including those raised by the CP, GBV, HLP and Mine Action Sub-Sectors, as well as the General Protection TWG and the Anti-Trafficking Task Force.
• Support the other Sectors and their membership with protection mainstreaming initiatives and promote analysis and integration of protection risks into their strategies and accompanying responses.
• Otherwise work with IRC Protection colleagues to generate and share evidence and to leverage the IRC’s technical knowledge and programmatic strengths so as to improve the overall quality of the response.
• Support representation of the Protection Sector in interagency fora; otherwise support protection mainstreaming through engagement in interagency and direct support to protection and non-protection actors.

Other Core Responsibilities:

• Promote and support accountability to the affected population.
• Support the monitoring of the Centrality of Protection Work Plan and the drafting of quarterly / bi-annual/ annual reports on its implementation in the NE Response.
• Support training and capacity building of Protection Sector Members.
• Support LGA Protection Sector meetings as appropriate.
• Work with UNHCR Co-Lead, IRC ProSPINE+ Consortium Lead and PSWG members to ensure that key protection (including Anti-Trafficking, CP, GBV, HLP and Mine Action) concerns are reflected in OCHA or NGO led multi-sectoral assessments, as well as other protection specific sectoral assessments.
• In collaboration with the Protection Sector’s Information Management Officer, support the Sector’s data collection efforts, helping national partners in particular to submit accurate and consistent data; provide analysis back to the Protection Sector and other inter-agency fora.
• Support the PROSPINE+ Consortia lead to develop and implement a protection advocacy strategy to support and amplify protection sector-wide advocacy initiatives.
• Provide direct training in protection for key stakeholders, in line with agreed upon Protection Sector priorities.
• Work with protection and non-protection partners to promote understanding of, and adherence to, humanitarian and protection principles and standards according to international legal frameworks.
• Serve as the representative of the Protection Sector in key cross-sector working groups.
• Any other duties assigned by the line manager.

Qualifications

• Master's degree (MA) or equivalent in International Affairs, International Law, Development, Social Sciences or other relevant subject; Bachelors degree required
• Minimum of 3-5 years proven experience working on protection issues in humanitarian environments, including provision of technical advice to field teams; excellent understanding of protection issues in emergency situations and detailed knowledge of humanitarian principles, guidelines and laws
• Demonstrable leadership, coordination, capacity building, planning and analytical skills
• Demonstrable experience in policy and advocacy and negotiation
• Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical skills
• Fluency in English, spoken and written
• Strong writing and editing skills with close attention to detail
• Ability to juggle competing priorities, make timely decisions and work under pressure in an insecure environment
• Willingness to travel
• Commitment to women’s rights and IRC’s vision, mission and values, including sensitivity to cultural settings

Desirable:

• Prior experience working on Nigeria, and/or experience working in West Africa
• Strong prior experience with information management as related to the protection sector, including maintaining standards of impartiality and confidentiality with data of a sensitive nature
• Previous experience of working within the sector/cluster system

Specific Security Situation/ Housing:

• The Protection Sector NGO Co-Lead will be based in Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria with travel throughout the sites affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
• The security situation in North East Nigeria continues to be volatile; candidates should have experience of implementing programming in insecure environments.
• This is a non-accompanied position, and the postholder will live in shared housing.

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Requisition ID: req6527
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Monitoring & Evaluation
Employment Category: Regular
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Job Description

• IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when the organization responded to flooding in Kogi state.  In early 2014, IRC opened a field office in Mubi town of Adamawa state in NE Nigeria followed by offices in Yola (Adamawa state) in November 2014 and Maiduguri (Borno state) in October 2015. The IRC Nigeria country program is implementing multi-sectoral interventions in the sectors of: Health and Nutrition; Environmental Health; Child Protection; Education; Women’s Protection and Empowerment; Food Security and Livelihoods and Protection. Most of these programs are driven in partnership with strategic local NGOs.

Job Overview/Summary

• The purpose of the M&E Officer position is to coordinate the collection, compilation, consolidation and analysis of data to track programs/ projects activities, monitor progress and support impact measurement.
• S/he will also conduct development research, engage in reflective practice and generate lessons from projects/program and prepare M&E plans for the sector or Protection and Rule of Law.
• S/he is responsible for establishing and ensuring better data management systems for the core program s/he assigned for and coordinates the proper and timely evaluation of project objectives/impact.
• S/he will supervise, coach, and mentor the Protection and Rule of Law Assistant M&E Officer/s.
• S/he will ensure the existence of accountability mechanisms and devise a strategy for program staff participation in M&E activities.  The position holder will closely work with front line staff and volunteers. 
• S/he also will work closely with the M&E unit on technical matters and reports to the M&E Manager and will have dotted line report to the Protection Manager.

Major Responsibilities

• Program/project design and learning
• Participate in program/ project design specially in developing log frames;
• Design, develop and continuously update project M&E, and impact measurement tools and systems on timely fashion;
• Develop and make sure all the projects in the sub-sector has tested monitoring tools that capture both program activity and indicators progresses;
• Take part in diagnostic studies, evaluations and surveys;
• Organize periodical ongoing sector level review, reflective practice, evaluation and progress monitoring events by involving communities and local partners;
• Organize panel monitoring and/or similar M&E events to ensure accountability to the target community, with relevant stakeholders including communities and ensure their dissemination to concerned parties;
• With support from the M&E Manager and M&E Coordinator, establish and maintain project level information management system;
• Design a strategy to collect filed level information required by IRC, donors and/or stakeholders;
• Proactively ensure networking and sharing of lessons from the core program with strategic partners and other stakeholder including government;
• Ensure that learning from previous projects is incorporated into project design where applicable;
• Coordinate synergy and cross-learning among different projects and programs;
• Cross fertilize learning among projects by regularly producing (compiling) summary monitoring reports and sharing to staff and partners.

Monitoring and evaluation:

• Track progress against monitoring work plans;
• Coordinate the field level community participatory monitoring and evaluation, reflective practice and impact measurement;
• Ensues the on time execution of projects major monitoring and evaluation events including but not limited to baseline survey, mid-term evaluation, final evaluation, data quality audit and field supervision;
• Provide technical assistance to staff and partner organization on information management system, proper data collection and record keeping;
• Provide consistent, supportive supervision to strengthen staff performance as necessary to meet monitoring objectives;
• Update M&E plan timely and provide feedback to program staff on status and quality of implementation.
• Assist with monthly and/or quarterly performance indicator analysis, including generation of reports as well as presentations for staff related to on-going performance;
• Conduct regular data verification exercises to ensure reporting and collection of quality data;
• Verify entered data for completeness, correctness, and consistency and follow up on any data quality issues;
• Document findings from data quality audits and store in project files to ensure collective and sustainable access;
• Actively participate in and contribute to M&E team activities, system assessments, development and implementation of new systems and/or tools aimed at strengthening overall M&E practices at IRC Nigeria;
• Closely work with staff to ensure they follow correct procedures and criteria during beneficiary registration;
• Take part in the recruitment of enumerators and survey consultants;
• Provide M&E inputs for reports written during project implementation;
• Periodically leads reflective practice forums at field office/ project level and compile lessons from project implementation processes.

Information management and reporting:

• Establish and maintain project information management system;
• Submit data set to update country office wide program database on monthly basis;
• Compile regular project monitoring report, including lessons learned, prepared by different projects and application of evaluation recommendations;
• Ensure all projects have downward/ forward accountability mechanisms and works with project staff to make sure its implementation;
• Compile quarter, biannual and annual tabular and narrative reports (as required by project stakeholders) on projects’ accomplishments by cost and alert the management for special deviations form the plan.

Capacity building and supervision:

• Assist local partners in designing monitoring and reporting tools and establishing database management systems.
• Organize orientation for front line staff, partners’ staff and volunteers on the monitoring tools and train them how to use data for decision making;
• Let the front line staff and volunteers understand IRC’s program principles and the bigger picture, in general;
• Coach, mentor and supervise Assistant M&E Officer/s,
• Assist her/his subordinate/s in completing performance management activities including: performance planning, monitoring, and annual performance appraisals;
• Perform other duties assigned by the supervisor
• Perform other task related assignment proposed by his/her supervisor/s

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: M&E/Prol Manager, Prol Coordinator
• Position directly supervises: M&E/Prol Manager
• Indirect Reporting: Prol coordinator, Prol officers
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: describe the nature of departments or groups the position influences or requires support from to accomplish objectives.
• Internal: M&E Coordinator, PROL Coordinator, Snr. M&E Manager, M&E Manager, PROL Managers/Officers and M&E team
• External:  PAG members/CVs

Qualifications

• Degree in Statistics, Computer Science/IT/, Law or any other related field;
• Excellent computer skills are required (particularly Advanced Microsoft Excel, Access and Word);
• At least two year experience working in monitoring and evaluation preferred;
• Strong data collection, analysis, and report writing skills required;
• Ability to work independently, think analytically and take initiative in solving problems;
• Ability to communicate technical issues effectively;
• Familiarity with log frame analysis and M&E plan;
• Experience in conducting assessment;
• Desirable - Law background and Working with highly vulnerable and displaced people would be added advantage;
• Good verbal communication skills in local languages and working knowledge of English;
• Most importantly, commitment to IRC values and principles;
• A strong team player with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work with groups of diverse backgrounds.
• Language Skills: Must be able to communicate and write in English. Local language is an added advantage.