Community Facilitator at Mercy Corps

Location: Turkana County – Kerio / Kanamkemer Ward

Program / Department Summary: The is a five-year USAID-funded Kenya Feed the Future (FtF) Livestock Market Systems (LMS) Activity for northern Kenya.

This activity will contribute to USAID’s Feed the Future Initiative and specifically will improve households’ income, productive assets and resilience to drought and other shocks.

General Position Summary: The Community Facilitator will be responsible for execution of the Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock and Learning (GIRL), a 9-month adolescent girl personal agency empowerment safe space model aimed at supporting human capital development for resilient individuals who are well placed for commercial engagement.

S/he will focus on community adolescent girls’ engagement, including the identification, recruitment and retention of training girls and participants; the establishment of partnerships with key community members (elders, religious leaders, government officials) and ensuring that common strategies and approaches are applied consistently in all communities.

Essential Job Functions:

• Community Engagement
  • Contribute to the successful implementation of Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock and Learning activities.
  • Implement a 9-month adolescent girls’ personal agency empowerment safe space model.
  • Manage adolescent girls safe space groups in collaboration with the GIRL mentors.
  • Provide mentorship to up to 30 GIRL mentors every year.
  • Support the GIRL Officer with conducting trainings on basic education (numeracy & literacy), WASH and nutrition awareness campaign, financial literacy and reproductive health.
  • Support and guide the GIRL mentors to deliver trainings to adolescent girls.
  • Support with community mapping activities.
  • Represent Mercy Corps in Kerio/Kanamkemer ward at the community level interactions.
  • In coordination with the GIRL Project Officer, monitor the implementation of activities through regular field visits and assessments to ensure program quality and impact and document lessons learned.
  • Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
• Mobilizing
  • Mobilize the community for events related to GIRL activities.
  • Take part in the identification and recruitment of girls in the community to participate in safe space groups.
• Monitoring and Reporting
  • Monitor the GIRL safe space groups on a daily basis and upload all data collected data on a weekly basis.
  • Prepare weekly GIRL group monitoring reports.
  • In collaboration with GIRL Project Officer, report on the businesses and savings groups’ performances via the GIRL group monitoring tool.
• Other
  • Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum of 1 year experience working with an NGO/CBO in a Livelihoods, Education, Community Development/Engagement program.
• Diploma in Community Development, Social Work, Gender Studies or any other related field.
• Basic computer skills knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel.
• Commitment to working with women, girls, youth and vulnerable groups in need, regardless of race, tribe, religion or gender.
• Experience in data collection and data entry is an added advantage.
• Experience with mentorship of girls.
• Experience facilitating trainings.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• Strong written and spoken English and Kiswahili. Local language skills are required.

Success Factors: The successful candidate will have the ability to work without constant supervision and as part of a diverse team. S/he will have good representation and problem solving skills. Attention to detail and analytical skills are essential for the role. The Community Facilitator will be committed to long-term program sustainability and the delivery of high-impact activities at the community level.