Project Officer- Economic Recovery at Danish Refugee Council

The overall purpose of the role: 

The responsibility of the Project Officer is to support the provision of sound technical expertise in an Economic Inclusion and Social Protection 3 years funded project by BPRM in Nairobi county and hopefully in its expansion to Nakuru and Mombasa subject to funding availability and intervention outcomes including lessons learned in its Nairobi implementation in year one. The International Labour Organization (ILO) with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) have come together to work on a project that will seek to promote pathways to economic inclusion and social protection for urban refugees and host communities in Kenya. The role will technically be supervised by a Project Coordinator and support the day-to-day implementation of the project. The role will be expected to closely work with other urban project teams to enhance programmatic integration and complementarities. In addition, he/she will undertake other duties relevant to the success of the project as technically assigned by the Project Coordinator in a matrix line management arrangement with the Urban Area Manager and technical coordination with DRC Country/or Regional Economic Recovery/or Livelihoods Coordinator to ensure the project expectations are met.

Responsibilities:
R1. Project Management, Technical Development & Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Assist to plan and support the broad implementation of decent livelihoods and economic inclusion activities. 
• Remain abreast of topical developments and policy shifts as well as laws/regulation related to social protection that will promote community participation and stakeholders’ engagements in the project hence improving decent livelihoods and social protection well-being of those the project aims to assist. 
• Contribute to promote sector learning and knowledge management in the economic inclusion and livelihoods sector through collating findings/ information collected from the field as well as routine monitoring to draw lessons.
• Support to develop and or adopt sector guidelines and tools in support of decent livelihoods and social protection implementation. 
• Submit timely and high-quality activity and donor and internal progress reports. 
• Work closely with the social protection, Gender, MEAL and Advocacy & Communication teams to enhance program integration and showcase impact through well-thought-out strategic strategies.  
• Contribute to ensure livelihoods sector growth in scope through fundraising - identification of sector gaps and root causes analysis, and take the lead in developing quality concept notes/proposals with corresponding activity budgets.
• Support the project in kick-off, review and project closure meetings including periodic program review and planning meetings and external meetings as often and as requested by the supervisor.
• Adhere to CHS Principles in project implementation; participate in CHS audits and support M&E plan
• Assist to implement technical activities related to decent livelihoods economic inclusion including building the capacity of communities as guided and expected by project objectives.
• Support the Project Coordinator to provide technical mentorship to project assistant and community engagement facilitators on best practice around decent livelihoods and economic inclusion and best practices focusing on community engagement to yield desired project aims.

R2. Coordination & Representation:

• Contribute to develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders, including urban refugee and host community members and leaders, NGOs, UN agencies, DRS (Department of Refugees Services), private sector and other DRC team members including partners to enhance multi-agency and multi-sectoral cooperation and coordination on response activities.
• Support to promote collaboration and synergy between refugee-focused interventions and the host communities.
• Actively participate and engage in relevant coordination meetings and collaborate with other agencies of relevance/value add to DRC’s urban agenda as guided by the Project Coordinator (PC)

R3. Budget Management:

• Provide support in the project in close coordination with the PC to ensure sound project budget expenditure, adherence to DRC financial procedures and donor requirements related to the livelihoods sector.  
• Support in draft spending plans, procurement plans and work plans based on decent livelihood and economic inclusion /social protection activities and budgets.
• Participate and support the PC in budget follow-up (BFU) meetings to ensure the budget is tracked and over/under expenditures are addressed in time.

Experience and technical competencies: 

• Minimum 2 to 3 years of relevant field experience in implementation focusing on providing support in an economic inclusion or livelihoods programming in an International NGO’ or other relevant agency.
• Good understanding of project cycle management. 
• Experience working and knowledge in urban displacement responses and in multi-sectoral interventions including working with diverse communities.
• Good planning, organization and problem-solving skills with ability to work both independently and within a team in a demanding working environment.
• Understanding of IT and ERP tools commonly used in NGOs
• Good analytical, communication and planning skills.
• A demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, partners, local organizations, and other relevant project stakeholders.
• Agile, self-starter with an ability to work autonomously and in a team. 

Education:

• A degree in social sciences, business management, economics/entrepreneurship or community development, project planning or any other development related fields.  Masters in the same fields is an added advantage.

Languages: 

• English - Fluent
• Swahili - Fluent