Program Officer - Women Peace Building Council Coordinator at Mercy Corps Nigeria

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action - helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Officer - Women Peace Building Council Coordinator

Reference Number: ABV/PRO/2019/0029
Location: Abuja, Nigeria (With an estimated 40% travel to other program locations)
Position Status: Full-time, Field-based, and Regular.

Program / Department Summary

• The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched one of its most comprehensive peacebuilding programs in Nigeria to date with Mercy Corps, a leading global humanitarian aid and development organization, which has been working with communities in Nigeria since 2012. The goal of the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) program is to prevent violent conflict in the most at-risk communities across 6 states and 24 local government areas (LGA) in Nigeria’s North West and North Central regions. CIPP builds on the accomplishments and deep contextual knowledge gained by USAID and Mercy Corps through their previous peacebuilding programs in Nigeria.
• Mercy Corps’ strategy has also expanded to address the root causes of the conflict and seek to build the long-term resilience of communities with integrated programs focusing on governance, protection of the vulnerable population, social cohesion, inclusion of women, youth and persons living with disabilities, and local conflict management.
• The CIPP program will be implemented in six Middle Belt & North-Western Nigerian states: Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi and Plateau. CIPP will strategically build on the past four years of the Mercy Corps former peacebuilding programs to:
  • Improve local capacity and skills to manage disputes
  • Strengthen and enable more sustainable Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms
  • Increase collaboration among communities with government agencies, CSOs, and local leaders to address the root causes of conflict
  • Strengthen women’s capacities to prevent and resolve conflict
  • Improve ability to address violent extremist recruitment tactics.

General Position Summary

• The Program Officer- Women Peacebuilding Council Coordinator will ensure an intentional approach to engaging women in peacebuilding work through the program’s multi-level women councils, and enable women and vulnerable groups to participate fully in peacebuilding activities, including negotiation mediation and community dialogues. 
• The Officer will provide necessary orientation and advise to all the implementing partners and agencies on engaging the Women Peacebuilding Councils on issues and policies, and engage with the partners in reviewing and support the Gender & Inclusion Officer with the provision of necessary inputs on drafting advocacy and policy briefs for women engagement in peacebuilding work.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Support the formulation and management of the Women Peacebuilding Councils at State and Local Government levels in collaboration with the Gender & Inclusion Officer, Program team and implementation partners
• Facilitate capacity building training and activities to strengthen the capacity of the Women Peacebuilding Councils across the six states
• Foster multi-level and interstate learning by facilitating joint activities specifically for the councils across the six states
• Support the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team in establishing and implementing gender-sensitive monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting systems
• Support the Gender & Inclusion Officer to develop the data collection and analysis tools for the baseline assessment to guarantee gender and social inclusion considerations.
• Assist the Gender & Inclusion Officer & M&E team in conducting a local gender assessment at the start of the program with an integrated gender and social inclusion analysis, to inform how CIPP address needs in different States
• Assist implementing partners to develop gender-sensitive and gender-responsive monitoring mechanism as well as engage with the Women Peacebuilding Councils in program activities;
• Work closely with the Communications Officer to support the documentation of successes, lessons learned and best practices and communicate with the Gender Officer & program team to contribute to global knowledge on gender and social inclusion in relation to conflict and peacebuilding
• Provide partner organizations with ongoing gender integration and social inclusion technical assistance
• Support the inclusion and representation of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations across all CIPP program components, including as staff members, project participants, trainers, facilitators, speakers, evaluators, and so forth
• Support the integration of gender and social inclusion considerations into operational research design and policy analysis
• Provide necessary orientation and advise to all the implementing partners and agencies on  gender and social inclusion issues and policies;
• Contribute to the production of resource materials addressing the issues of women in peacebuilding
• Facilitate policy dialogue on women and conflicts, gender and social inclusion, sexual and gender-based violence, gender-sensitive transitional justice with government through the Councils and other relevant stakeholders;
• Support the engagement of partners in reviewing and providing necessary inputs on drafting necessary advocacy and policy briefs for women engagement in peacebuilding work;
• Support the capacity strengthening of CSOs and government partners towards planning and implementing of project activities on women peacebuilding, gender and social inclusion in conflict management programs;
• Collaborate with the Monitoring and Evaluation team to make sure that the impact measurements focus on women and other vulnerable groups;

Organizational Learning:

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically
• to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves professionally and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Accountability:

• Reports Directly To: Gender & Inclusion Officer
• Works Directly With: Program Team, Communications Officer, M&E Team, Staff of Partner Organizations, Operations team etc.

Requirements, Knowledge and Experience

• University degree in Gender Studies, Sociology, Peace Studies, International Development or related field required
• Minimum of Two (2) years of progressively responsible experience working in program management on gender and social inclusion issues within the community and civil society development programs, preferably with USAID or other U.S. Government programs
• Excellent knowledge of gender and social inclusion issues in Nigeria including social, political, and cultural gender norms and challenges
• Excellent knowledge of the status of vulnerable and marginalized populations within Nigeria and their engagement in social, political, and cultural realms
• Experience in conducting gender and social inclusion analysis, as well as integrating and implementing findings into program activities
• Experience building capacity of local stakeholders on gender and social inclusion issues
• Experience integrating social inclusion in community participatory engagement or advocacy preferred
• Demonstrated analytical and organizational skills
• Experience engaging local stakeholders, including CSOs, political leaders, and other local and national government leaders in gender and social inclusion initiatives
• High level of interpersonal, diplomacy and communication skills
• Ability to work well in a team environment, as well as work effectively with civil society organizations, donors, project staff, and other beneficiaries.

Success Factors:

• The successful Program Officer will combine exceptional implementation skills and coordination skills with a focus on innovative interventions to bring communities together.
• An ideal candidate will be conversant with the challenges inherent in peacebuilding, gender inclusion and will be a self-starter who has led grassroots development efforts.
• He/she will have an outstanding ability to support innovative programs within the current and future program structure of Mercy Corps in Nigeria. Multi-tasking, prioritizing, problem-solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The candidate must have excellent attention to detail.

Applications Closing Date
20th September, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should submit no more than 4 page CV and Cover Letter in one document, addressing the position requirements to: [email protected]

Note

• All applications must include the position title and Reference Number in the subject line.
• CV and cover letter and should not be more than 4 pages.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview and we are an equal opportunity organization so women are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.