Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Program Officer - Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock (GIRL) Program
Kapenguria, West Pokot County
Program / Department Summary: Mercy Corps implements high-quality, analytical development work in very difficult places.
We have been operating in Kenya since 2008 and currently implement development programs across the Central, Rift Valley and Northern regions of Kenya.
We were recently awarded a livelihoods focused 3-year Nike Foundation program working in the West Pokot and Turkana (Kenya) and Karamoja (Uganda) regions.
The project, called Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock (GIRL) aims to empower pastoralist girls in the West Pokot region to improve their livelihoods and personal agency, as well as increase the food security and adaptive capacity of their households and the resilience of their communities. Mercy Corps is looking for a qualified Kenyan to fill the position of Program Officer for the GIRL program.
General Position Summary: Reporting to the Program Manager in the Kapenguria Field Office, this position is focused on community and adolescent girl engagement, including the identification, recruitment and retention of girl training participants; the establishment of partnerships with key community members (elders, religious leaders, government officials) and the execution of livelihood development activities.
He/she will be locally hired and based in the Kapenguria area.
He/she will be responsible for day-to-day field work in implementation of activities, mobilization, formation and monitoring of girls livelihoods/education cohorts.
Essential Job Functions:
- To work closely with all the program staff in implementation of the program.
- To engage community members (community representatives, teachers, religious leaders, government officials and gatekeepers) to form an Advisory Committee to support and inform program activities
- To organize community events to sensitize communities on the GIRL program
- To assist in the creation of technical curricula, basic education (numeracy & literacy) and financial literacy
- To recruit and train mentors to deliver technical curricula to girls
- To identify and recruit girls in the community to participate in livestock/producer groups
- To identify and engage local animal health workers to provide training and technical assistance to livestock/producer groups
- To monitor and track the success and failures of livestock/producer groups
- To collect program data accurately and forward to the office in a timely manner.
- To support community mapping activities, market assessments and base-line/end-line evaluation activities
- To prepare accurate and timely monitoring and field reports and other project documentation as required.
- Maintain proper project/program files.
- To represent the organization in meetings at the grass root level.
- 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.
- Perform any other duties as assigned by his/her supervisor or representatives
- Accountability to Beneficiaries: Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Organizational Learning: As part of Mercy Corps' agency-wide Organizational Learning Initiative, all team members are responsible for spending 5% of their work time in formal and/or non-formal professional learning activities.
Supervisory Responsibility: None
Accountability Reports Directly To: Program Manager, West Pokot
Works Directly With: All Program staff in Kapenguria – West Pokot County
Knowledge and Experience:
- Minimum 1 year’s experience working with NGOs/CBO’s in civic engagement, livelihoods and education
- Degree in Community Development, Economic Development or related field or diploma with over 3 years’ experience;
- Commitment to working with adolescent girls vulnerable groups in need, regardless of race, tribe, religion or gender;
- Understanding of working with local partners;
- Good problem solving, written and oral communication skills;
- Strong written and spoken English
- Pokot language skills strongly recommended.
- Ability to work without constant supervision and as part of a mixed team;
- Good knowledge of MS Office software such as Excel, Word, and Access; Success Factors: The ideal candidate will have the ability and curiosity to work comfortably and effectively in the cultural, relatively poor infrastructure of West Pokot County. S/he will be an excellent communicator, have a strong sense of humor, multi-tasker, and able to work difficult and often stressful environments
The email subject line must clearly show the job title and location they are applying for.
Applications without the right subject heading will be automatically disqualified.
Please do not attach any certificates.
(Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We will only get in touch with shortlisted candidates.)
NB: Mercy Corps does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process.
