Project Officer at CARE

JOB SUMMARY & PURPOSE:

Reporting to the Climate Change Specialist, the Project Officer (PO) within the “EVALUATING IMPACTS OF GENDER INTEGRATION ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY OUTCOMES” project is responsible for supervising and coordinating field research and adaptation activities in collaboration with project key stakeholder (KALRO and UoN) as well as county governance and the community structures. The PO will also be responsible for participatory community level mobilization, implementation of all FFS activities, participatory M&E, including training workshop and seminars working with Ministry of Agriculture, Extension services and Ministry of social services.

S/He will focus on coordinating project level activities in collaboration with all project partners such as KALRO, UoN and project technical experts while promoting and building capacity around Farmer Field and business Schools (FFBS) for community-based chicken pea and Irish Potato value chain adaptation activities. Drawing on emerging lessons from project outputs, the position holder will support the formulation and implementation of project activities as well as providing the required documentation on emerging lessons, knowledge learnt, agronomic data, field report and other documents as required from time-to-time with a focus on improving the agricultural productivity and livelihoods of communities within the project sites.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Facilitate participatory establishment and implementation of FFBS within target project sites (30%)
• Tasks
  • Support of participatory, gender-sensitive FFBS at community level
  • Participate in development , testing, rollout and upscaling of Pigeon pea and Irish potato value chains to be tested within the FFS/FFBS models in collaboration with project partners and other Country Project Team
  • Support planning of required data collection and data collection implementation; data synthesis, analysis and validation of relevant data emerging from FFBS/FFS.
  • Take a lead role in facilitating the identification and prioritization of FFBS/FFS activities at community level for CARE and other project stakeholders
  • Facilitate identification of technical needs (capacity building/training/resource requirements) by project beneficiaries, community target groups for successful implementation of FFS/FFBS
  • Coordinate activities implementation and reporting
  • Coordinate and support activity, quarterly, semi-annual and annual project reporting activities
• Coordinating activities of local implementing partner organizations working at county and community levels (20%)
• Tasks
  • Contribute to institutional mapping exercise to identify local agricultural actors involved in garden pea and Irish potato value chains
  • Participate in community groups selection for establishment of FFS/FFBS at community level
  • Support county partners to develop work plans and strategies to achieve project results
  • Monitor activities of local implementing partner organizations
  • Facilitate regular coordination meetings among partners working at project and community level
• Building capacity of County level partner organizations and community groups (20%)
• Tasks
  • Support in planning and capacity evaluation of partner organizations at Community and County level
  • Participate and coordinate in the development of a capacity building strategy
  • Support and coordinate training, mentoring and ongoing technical advice to project and community level partners
  • Facilitate external training opportunities for county level partners
• Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and documentation of processes and results at community and County (20%)
• Tasks
  • Support and coordinate development and implementation of activities M&E system
  • Support and coordinate project information and knowledge management system development and implementation
  • Facilitate monitoring of processes and results by partners working at community and County levels
  • Support partners in reporting and documentation on processes, results and lessons learnt
  • Facilitate reflection and learning sessions among farmer groups and other project partners to identify key lessons learned
  • Coordinate and support monthly, quarterly and annual project report for donor submission
• Management of Project Resources
• Tasks
  • Coordinate procurement planning of field level expendables and inputs to ensure adequate and timely provision to participating farmer group/communities and partner organizations communities
  • Supervise proper maintenance and use of assigned project resources

AUTHORITY:

• Spending Authority: NIL
• Supervision: Field Officer

Decision Making:

The position holder can make decision for field level activities under extraneous field conditions with mandatory consultation with the project Manager.

CONTACTS/KEY RELATIONSHIPS (internal & external):

• Livelihood and climate change sector manager and the climate change specialist
• CARE USA and Canada technical teams
• IDRC personnel involved in the project grant.
• KALRO project team lead and its support staff
• UoN project lead and its pro-graduate students
• County and sub-county Ministry of Agriculture staff and field officers
• Community farmer groups and participating households
• Any other institution/organization as required from time-to-time

WORKING CONDITIONS:

The position is 100% based in Nyandarua County, Kinangop constituency with 60% field travel.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

The Project Officer will have a minimum qualification of a university degree, in a relevant discipline such as rural development, community development or agriculture and livelihoods. The candidate must have practical experience in community facilitation and of working with diverse research and academic teams both locally and internationally. .

S/he must be an experienced and mature person capable of working largely independently. He /she will be supervised by the Country Project Manager. S/he is expected to interact closely with national and international Project technical Team, project donors, county MoA officials and community beneficiaries.

Experience:

• At least six years of relevant working experience, including a minimum of five years working on community facilitation and capacity building
• Strong experience and knowledge of agricultural value chains, sustainable livelihoods and disaster risk reduction approaches or all the three.
• Strong practical experience working with communities to mitigate climate change effects on agricultural value chains and the need to build community resilience
• Strong and positive experiences working with international partners, county governance structures and community relationship-building
• Demonstrated awareness of and sensitivity to gender and diversity

Competencies:

• People Skills: Ability to work both independently and as a team player who demonstrates leadership. Demonstrated ability to listen to and support programme staff and partners, and to work with communities in a sensitive and participatory manner.
• Communication Skills: Well developed written and oral communication skills in English. Able to communicate clearly and sensitively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Computer Skills: Basic computing skills including Ms Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Integrity: Works with trustworthiness and integrity and has a clear commitment to CARE's core values and humanitarian principles.
• Resilience/Adaptability and flexibility: Ability to operate effectively under demanding circumstances. Fair knowledge of local language and environment will be an added advantage