Education And Peace Building Project Officer (PO) at Islamic Relief

Reporting To: Programme Manager
Base Location: Mandera 100%

Scope of the Role:

The project officer – Education & peace building will be responsible for the implementation of Education, peace building and women empowerment component of the project “Empowering Local Communities through Integrated Interventions project in Mandera & Wajir Counties. The officer will directly report to the Field Coordinator but for technical issues will be supported by country office technical team and key stakeholders in respective sectors.

Key Duties and Responsibilities (Key results areas)

1. Planning, Design, Implementation:
   1. Actively participate in the design and implementation of new initiatives that would improve the current project design.
   2. Support proposal development for new project as necessary in line with the country business plan
   3. Assist in the development and implementation of the education, women empowerment, peace building & conflict Sensitivity activities.
   4. Contribute to internal discussions and deepen understanding on thematic issues particularly on key project areas.
2. Project Implementation
   1. Prepare project detailed implementation and procurement plans.
   2. Develop plans for capacity building and training of community / institutional groups on various trainings needs.
   3. Carry out project beneficiary identification through a consultative community process.
   4. Support the field coordinator in project coordination and liaising with government and stakeholders.
   5. Promote awareness of project deliverables for accountability purposes.
   6. Support partners to mainstream cross-cutting issues, among them, gender, inclusivity, safeguarding and child protection in their initiatives.
   7. Conduct regular data collection using existing tools to track project performance on indicators and measure overall impact and for donor reporting purposes and make recommendations on the improvement of these tools.
   8. Responsible for accurate narrative reporting against agreed objectives and results frameworks
   9. Assist in regular review of project budget and expenditure to avoid over or under expenditure.
   10. Organize and facilitate dialogue meetings, workshops and forums with government representatives, civil society, and communities in efforts to prevent violent conflict and promote cooperative approaches to peace, security, and conflict resolution.
   11. Arrange for regular meetings with partners to review and reflect on progress and results to identify, mitigate challenges, and learn lessons for improved programme delivery.
   12. Carry out additional assignment as deem necessary by the organization and/or as assigned by line manager.
3. Monitoring, Documentation, Communications, and reporting
   1. Ensure beneficiaries are consulted and their views considered during all stages of project implementation.
   2. Support the development of a need’s assessment plan, training of enumerators and quality data collection.
   3. Ensure that field-based monitoring data and information is collated regularly and made available to Field Coordinator and the MEAL Team for reporting and monitoring purposes.
   4. Ensure preparations of periodic progress reports in a timely manner for both internal and external use
   5. With the assistance of Communications officer, develop marketing and promotional materials to increase awareness of field level programs for fund-raising and profile enhancing purposes.
   6. Ensure that at all time the project target achievement is in line with the planned log frame milestones and the budget burn rate are up to date with the planned cash flow.
   7. Develop project implementation tools including implementation manual, Detailed Implementation Plans (DIPs), M&E Plans, Procurement Plans, Communication plan, weekly/monthly work plans as may be necessary.
   8. Document community and stakeholders’ feedback and share with relevant stakeholders for appropriate action.
   9. Regular monitoring and evaluation of project implementation at local level.
   10. Prepare and submit timely monthly, quarterly, annually narrative, and financial reports.
   11. Compliance with the requirements of the IRK’s M&E System.
4. Coordination and Networking
   1. Represent IRK at relevant functions/forums as may be requested by the line Managers.
   2. Establish good working relationship with respective local authorities supporting the project implementations, school managements, county cohesion department and target communities.
5. Staff management Other
   1. Supervise and technically support/mentor the project assistant to ensure quality and timely delivery of the project deliverables.**
   2. Conduct performance appraisal for the project assistants.
   3. Work closely in team spirit with other IR and contribute to maximum achievement of IR goals.

Personal skills and competencies

1. Excellent interpersonal skills with a strong beneficiary/local partner-service focus.**
2. Ability to work with diverse groups of people as a member of multi-cultural teams.
3. Ability to prioritize work, multitask and control processes.
4. Experience in projects planning, Implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning.
5. Knowledge of the key issues and trends in the education & peace building / conflict resolution, women empowerment sectors.
6. Maturity, diplomacy, tact, and discretion, with strong negotiation skills.
7. Proven analytical skills and ability to think strategically.
8. Fluency in English – written and verbal.
9. Knowledge of education in emergencies, education sector policy, child rights, protection and peacebuilding and conflict management issues
10. Experiences of facilitating community-based training, capacity building for school managements, awareness campaigns and skills/experience in peace initiatives-workshops, trainings, rallies and peace events.

Qualification and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in education, peace, security and governance, Development studies, Project management
• Minimum of at least for five years’ experience working in similar context and fields in humanitarian work.
• Past work experience with the similar geographical context is desirable.

Desirable

1. Working experience in North Eastern region
2. Knowledge of local language- (Kiswahili and Somali)