Job Description

About Self Help Africa and the Project:

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an international NGO dedicated to the vision of an economically thriving and resilient rural Africa. We have 50 years of experience working with smallholder farmers, farmer associations, cooperatives and agribusinesses across Africa to help farmers grow and sell more food, improve diets, diversify incomes and make their livelihoods more sustainable and resilient to external shocks. SHA also builds awareness of issues affecting smallholders and represent their interests at policy and institutional level.

SHA is a core member of The Gorta Group which is composed of a group of innovative organizations driving sustainable economic and social change across Africa. Comprising Self Help Africa, Partner Africa and TruTrade, the Gorta Group combines expertise in market-based solutions to poverty and rural development; climate change mitigation and resilience; trade facilitation and farmer and worker rights; underpinned by an inclusive ethos that specifically targets women and youth. In August 2021, United Purpose joined the Gorta Group, which operates as Self Help Africa (SHA), bringing together two organizations with proud histories of assisting those in greatest need. United Purpose, formerly Concern Universal, has worked for more than 40 years as a leader in community-led development and grassroots innovation. SHA now has over 700 staff worldwide, as a result of the merger, and a global turnover of over €40m. We are currently implementing a portfolio of 80 projects in Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia funded by a variety of institutional and private donors including the European Union, Irish Aid and World Food Programme. In 2020, we supported close to eight million people in rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil and Bangladesh.

SHA-Ethiopia currently seeks to recruit a project manager/team leader who will provide guidance and other technical support on the Rural Resilience Initiative (R4) project implemented in 16 woredas of Amhara region financed by WFP.

The goal of the R4 project is to improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods of over 54,000 smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate-related shocks. This will be realized by achieving four inter-related outcomes/components:

• Component 1) Risk Reduction – improved natural resource management and disaster risk reduction through asset rehabilitation and creation.

• Component 2) Risk Transfer – Assist farmers in coping and stimulating faster recovery to extreme climate events;

• Component 3) Risk Retention – strengthen financial literacy, savings capacity of food insecure households; and

• Component 4) Prudent Risk Taking – Enhanced smallholder access to microloans/credit and technical assistance to diversify and increase their incomes

Job Purpose:

The zonal Cluster Coordinator will be responsible for overall project planning, coordination, supervision of project staff as well as facilitation of smooth delivery of the project at the zonal cluster level against the approved annual regional work plans and budget allocations (which are an integral part of the R4 project project annual work plan). As zonal Cluster Coordinator, s/he applies the project strategy and drives the project team to achieve the agreed targets and project milestones in his/her cluster of zones according to SHA rules and procedures.

He/she will be responsible for the implementation of the R4 project in one of the two project clusters zones of Amhara region (Cluster 1. South Gonder and East Gojam Zones or Cluster 2. South Wolo and North Shewa zones).  He/she will guide, train, direct and support project staff in the smooth running of all project activities within his/her designated geographical area (cluster zones) in accordance to SHA principles and guidelines. He/she will be responsible for regular project reporting to the R4 project manager/team leader. In close coordination with project manager/team leader, he/she is also responsible for planning, organizing, directing, budgeting, implementing, and reporting all project achievements in his/her cluster of zones. He/she is responsible for managing office facilities in his/her cluster of zones. The Cluster Coordinator shall liaise with local government bodies and represent SHA at the wereda and zonal level. He/she will coordinate trainings for the zone, conduct supervisions, and organize review meetings. He/she will also participate in planning, supportive supervisions, monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Key Responsibilities:

Specific duties include, but are not limited to the following:

Managing staff

• Assign tasks to project teams and assist with schedule management in her/his team

• Ensure that respective project staff implementation plans are aligned with project priorities in his/her cluster of zones

• Organise, supervise and coach project field staff in his/her cluster of zones

• Ensure all team members (consisting of  consisting of project officers, Community Development Facilitators (CDFs) and volunteer field agents/community facilitators) clearly understand and carry out their duties in accordance with personal work-plans, SHA principles, core values, and the Code of Conduct that include accountability to affected populations (AAP);

• Ensure staff adherence to SHA and WFP core values and point out failures that need corrective measures.

Project Management

• Coordinate/oversee and follow-up all project tasks and actions within his/her designated geographical area (cluster zones)

• Coordinate the proper implementation of project activities and fund utilization as per Detail Implementation Plan (DIP) or other project documents.

• Ensure all the key performance indicators (KPI) are kept at green as per the required standard.

• Promote women & youth participation and leadership in the project intervention

• Monitor project progress and handle any issues that arise

• Ensure standards and requirements are met through conducting quality assurance tests

• Coordinate delivery of training, and/or technical assistance to project beneficiaries

• Contribute to project management, monitoring and evaluation, learning, work plan development, communications and report writing in consultation and collaboration with the Project Manager and project team

• Follow all project activities and take proactive measures in case of issues & problems

• Support the facilitation of all project approaches, trainings, and community-based dialogues and events for field stakeholders & beneficiaries, to support sound implementation of R4 project activities.

• Verify accuracy of data collected for tracking of indicators in the project;

• Monitor groups and individual project target beneficiaries application of knowledge and skills transfer from trainings for attitude and behaviour transformation, changes in production and income levels;

• Ensure gender, nutrition, environmental and other cross-cutting aspects are mainstreamed in all project activities;

Communication and Information Management

• Act as the point of contact and communicate respective zonal cluster project status to the PM/team leader and SHA technical advisors team

• Establish and maintain good working relations with government partners at zone and district level as well as other collaborators in this project;

• Provide on-going feedback, including handling of project performance review and feedback provided by SHA country office, donor and other relevant stakeholders

• Write case studies, sharing of good practices, and documenting the entire lessons learned using all possible communication medias

• Provide regular reports and plans including status updates, monthly and quarterly plans, and performance reports as well as any required information upon request to project manager and SHA technical team

• Assist project manager/ team leader

• Perform other related duties as required 

Key Relationships:

Internal

• R4 Project Manager (Line Manager)

• R4 Project Team,

• SHA Ethiopia Head of Programmes

• SHA Country Director (Head of Mission)

• SHA Ethiopia technical team

• SHA Head Office technical team

External

• Project Donor

• Local Government Authorities

• Other project partner organizations

Department: Programmes

Contract Type: One and half years fixed term contract

Reports to: Team leader

Required Qty: 2

Job Requirements

Qualifications/Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Master’s degree in project management, agriculture, rural development, development studies, Economics, Food Security, Disaster Risk Management, or other related fields 

• At least seven (7) years of working experience in at least one of the R4 project components with demonstrated success improving smallholders food security, nutrition and livelihoods.

• Proven work experience as a Project Coordinator or similar role

• Demonstrated ability in supervision

• Experience in facilitation of learning process, networking, and knowledge management

• A good understanding of project cycle management approaches and tools

• Proven experience in capacity strengthening of smallholder farmers, farmer groups, cooperatives/ unions

•  Experience and demonstrated skills in interacting with partners and allies, government, and stakeholders

• Practical experience of planning, designing, implementing, and coordinating development projects

• Conversant to the concepts and practices of food security, resilience and livelihood

• Knowledge of key methodologies of gender mainstreaming and other project cross cutting themes

• Experience in team management and coordination

• Excellent communication skills and facilitation experience

• Basic experience and knowledge in budget tracking and financial management

• Commitment to international and humanitarian NGO codes, standards, and practices

• High level integrity and high standards of personal conduct,

• A strong commitment to the aims, objectives, and values of the SHA Ethiopia Country Programme

• Very good level of spoken and written English

• Very good working knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and general IT skills

Desirable

• Experience in team management and coordination;

• Practical experience in gender mainstreaming (such as gender analysis & gender auditing).

• Direct experience in similar project management.

• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of development programmes/projects and in knowledge management and communication will be positively considered  

How to Apply

Interested applicants can apply using THIS LINK

Any candidate offered a job with Self Help Africa will be expected to sign Self Help Africa’s Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

Specific roles may require police vetting.

Self Help Africa strives to be an Equal Opportunities Employer. Women candidates are highly encouraged