Vacancies at Hand in Hand Eastern Africa (HiH EA)

The specific responsibilities will be:

• Together with the project management and in consultation with branch project managers and other longer-term TAs, identify and compile strategic needs for technical longer term and short-term support for the Project and develop specific ToRs for short term TAs;
• Identify and contract suitable short-term TAs from the TA consortium pool to address the identified needs.
• Perform quality control and quality assurance of short-term TAs’ advisory inputs based on specific assignments.
• iSupport the planning, organization and follow-up action on resolution of bilateral review meetings Monitoring the implementation of the financing agreement between HiHEA and SIDA
• Assessing the status of implementation of outcome and output objectives to ensure implementation remains on course
• Support the review of all project documentation to ensure quality and validity of information to be shared
• Deepen the knowledge on results planning and monitoring, evaluation and lesson learning
• Function as a team leader for Technical Assistance support.
• Participate in relevant events including workshops, field visits, reviews, evaluations, and other activities as required.

Professional qualifications

The TA Team Leader/QA must:

• Hold at least a master’s degree in subjects relevant to enterprise development and have at least 15 years’ experience in fields related to rural development including environmental conservation.
• Have broad managerial experience of coordinating a team of experts to undertake tasks in project cycle management
• A wide knowledge and experience on the Kenyan economy and functioning of the administrative units and systems of the Kenya Government and non-governmental organizations.
• Be fluent in English with excellent writing and verbal communication skills.
• Have broad knowledge in all topical areas on SME development and particularly in areas where short-term TAs will be engaged
• Candidates with the following merits shall have added advantage:
• Are conversant with multidimensional approaches to poverty reduction, as well as good governance, as preconditions for development.
• Are conversant and familiar with research methods for development
• Have higher than average knowledge in project cycle management
• iHave knowledge on advocacy and advisory talents and proven ability to work effectively with representatives of different groups in society such as communities, the private and civil society sectors and representatives of government and international organizations; and
• Have proven experience working on similar assignments in the region.

Annex 3. Job description of the long term TA Business Development lead

• The key responsibilities of the TA programme lead will be to provide
• Technical capacity on the whole aspect of market systems development in the perspective of the financing partner of the project
• Leverage on short-term TA to deepen capacity of project implementers on market systems dynamics.
• Working with the project manager TA market system Lead’s input will be continuous for 5 days per month for the first two years and 2 days per month for reminder of the project period.

The specific responsibilities will be:

• To provide technical support in business development within the project target sectors of waste management, agriculture and services with a focus on micro small enterprises.
• Guide on the capacity needs assessment of all the beneficiary cohorts
• Support and guide on the development of the key project implementation strategies and guidelines as may be determined during inception
• Supported by short term TAs, enhance the capacity for the integration of cross-cutting issues of environment, gender and human rights in programming
• iIdentify key technical needs within the project outcome areas with a view to mobilizing needed short-term TA to enhance the capacity of the implementers and where necessary the beneficiaries
• Support the development of guidelines for the procurement of innovations/technologies
• Support the customization of existing curriculum for the acceleration groups
• Support the enhancement of capacity on the whole concept of aggregation among the project implementers and CBOs/cooperatives
• Professional qualification
• The Project Business Development Lead (PBL) must
• Holds a master’s degree in development studies or equivalent and have at least 15 years working and managing development programmes

Has qualification and experience in digital systems

• Has more than 10 years of programme advisory and management
• Demonstrated capacity to lead in context specific application of Market Systems Development (MSD) approach
• Have broad knowledge on rights based approach to development
• Have broad knowledge on integration of environment in implementation of development programs
• Has demonstrated experience promoting and building capacity of value chain development
• Be fluent in English with excellent writing and verbal communication skills.
• Have broad knowledge in all topical areas on SME development and particularly in areas where short-term TAs will be engaged
• Candidates with the following merits shall have added advantage
• Have proven knowledge on project appraisal and assessment
• Have a track record of deepening knowledge among development agents and communities
• Has practical experience of supporting and managing innovations
• iHas working knowledge on SIDA supported interventions
• Has known experience in project implementation negotiations

Annex 4. Team of Short-term Technical Assistance

• The key responsibilities of the short-term technical assistance team will be to undertake short term tasks/assignments to be identified by project management and long-term TAs that require specific skills that would not be provided by the long term TAs.
• The short-term TAs will work closely with theme leaders on agreed tasks and monitored by the TA Team Leader.

Specific responsibilities

• Support the deepening of knowledge on assessed capacity needs among the project staff with particular focus on”
• Market systems development,
• Gender inclusivity,
• Human rights and advocacy,
• Business resilience to environment and climate change and
• Digitization in project management and implementation.

Professional qualifications of the Team members

• Master’s degree related to business development and at least 10 years’ experience in supporting development of enterprises
• At least a master’s degree and 5 years’ experience in natural resource management
• At least a degree in social science and 10 years’ experience in human rights in programming
• A master’s degree in information and communication technology and at least 5 years’ experience in digital work in programming
• Individuals who have experience working is such arrangements will have added advantage

go to method of application »

• The project has two major components: Waste Management implemented in Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Kwale, Nairobi, Homabay and Kisumu Counties, and Agriculture and Services implemented in Machakos, Makueni, Nakuru, Nyandarua, West Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma and Kakamega Counties. A total of 29,740 direct project participants are targeted to benefit from the project activities composed of 80% women, 20% men and 40% among them youth. It is also planned that a total of, 20,818 viable enterprises will be developed sustainably so as to improve beneficiary average incomes by more than 100% and create 31,227 jobs. To achieve desired outcome objectives, a combination of strategies including a communication strategy will be used during implementation.

OBJECTIVE AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

• The main objective of the assignment is to develop a comprehensive communication strategy for the BIRE Project to enable the Hand in Hand Eastern Africa to effectively engage with its various stakeholders. The communications strategy will provide a comprehensive communication framework for the entire project within the agreed-upon period of time. The strategy will serve the following purposes:
• Strategic Communication Planning and Crisis anticipation: Develop a comprehensive communication strategy for the entire project aligned with project objectives, target audiences, and stakeholders' needs. This includes identifying key messages, communication channels, and tactics to effectively disseminate project information and engage with stakeholders in all the project areas while anticipating and mitigating communication crisis areas. This will also include developing a monitoring and Evaluation framework for the communication strategy as well as the action bearers required to implement the strategy developed.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach: Implement proactive stakeholder engagement initiatives to foster dialogue, build trust, and manage expectations among both Internal and external stakeholders—Internal stakeholders include the direct project beneficiaries, implementing staff, and management while the External stakeholders include the national government, County governments, HiH Network partners, donors and other partner organizations
• This will involve organizing consultation meetings, workshops, focus group discussions, and community events to solicit feedback, address grievances, and promote participation. Collaborate with the Hand In Hand EA and The BIRE Project donors (HiH Sweden and the Embassy of Sweden) on communication drives to maintain a point of contact for project’s Internal and external stakeholders.
• Knowledge Management and Reporting: Manage the collection, analysis, and dissemination of project-related information, data, and knowledge products to internal and external stakeholders within the applicable policies and regulations.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

• The main objective of this communication strategy is to provide a Deliberate and sustained communication for enhanced visibility and acceptability of the BIRE Project
• To increase the level of awareness of the BIRE project and HiH among stakeholders
• To promote positive perception and behavior change among stakeholders of the BIRE project
• To strengthen mechanisms for crisis communication during the project implementation period
• To ensure provision of timely, high quality and effective communication with
• Stakeholders during the project implementation period as per the set guidelines and rules.

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITY

• The key task of the communication consultant is to develop a comprehensive, practical and context specific communication strategy for the BIRE project

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• The lead consultant should have the following desired qualifications and experience:

QUALIFICATIONS/COMPETENCE OF THE CONSULTANT

• HiH EA requests consultant firms to submit proposals to respond to this Terms of Reference as outlined above. We expect the firm to demonstrate the skills and experience outlined below (or equivalent):
• The lead consultant must have a minimum of a Master's Degree in Communication, Mass Media, development studies, Public Relations, or a related field from a recognized institution; additional higher education qualification will be an added advantage
• A minimum of ten (10) years of professional experience in communication work in the corporate development and/or Public Benefit Organization (PBO) and demonstrate prove of previous similar work.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing successful public communication strategies and campaigns;
• Demonstrated experience in the preparation and implementation of public communications plans for development projects;
• Outstanding communication skills both in written and spoken medium with a strong command of English and Kiswahili languages;
• Strong interpersonal and team skills;
• High level of reliability and integrity; and
• Membership to a relevant professional body will be an added advantage.