Community Engagement and Information Assistant at the International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Community Engagement and Information Assistant

Requisition ID: req24023
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Protection and rule of law
Employment Category: Regular
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No
Position Reports to:  Protection Case Management Officer, primarily based in Maiduguri

Contextual Background

• The IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when the organization responded to flooding in Kogi state. In February 2014 the IRC moved into Adamawa State in NE Nigeria to provide humanitarian interventions through a multi-sectoral, integrated approach for conflict affected populations.
• IRC Nigeria now operates a country office in Abuja and field offices in Mubi and Yola of Adamawa State, Maiduguri and Monguno of Borno state and Damatru of Yobe State. Currently, IRC Nigeria implements programs primary health care, nutrition, environmental health, women’s protection and empowerment, protection, child protection, education, food security & livelihoods

Job Overview / Summary
The community engagement and information assistant position will:

• The IRC is looking for one Community Engagement Assistant to help its community engagement initiative to move communities From Response to Resilience challenge in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
• We will implement this challenge whereas supporting the native integration of internally displaced individuals wishing to reside inside Maiduguri completely.
• As Community Engagement Assistant, you’ll help the Community Engagement Officers to collaborate with Maiduguri’s communities, making certain that the challenge is successfully carried out on schedule and to most profit for Maiduguri’s residents, in tune with their wants and preferences.
• You will help the implementation of the Area Based Approach challenge, together with the institution and oversight of community-based suggestions and grievance mechanisms, mobilizing native communities, and organizing group engagement periods.
• The Community Engagement Assistant shall be primarily based in Maiduguri and reports to the protection case management officer.
• The Community Engagement Assistant shall perform every other duty as required by supervisors.

Major Responsibilities
Program Management, Technical Quality, and Strategy:

• Work as a part of a staff to design, plan, execute, and monitor neighborhood-based actions, making certain that communities can freely and safely voice their wants and preferences. 
• Help to plan and perform group mobilization, consciousness creation, and knowledge dissemination actions.
• Assist the Community Engagement Officers in planning, organizing, and implementing capability constructing trainings on the group degree.
• Complete weekly experiences on challenge actions, together with good high quality exercise images, documentation of suggestions from group engagement periods, and the proactive sharing of classes realized.
• Assist in conserving information of all community-based actions
• Coordinate referral pathways between consortium companions and different IRC sectors, making certain focused help is offered to extraordinarily susceptible people.
• Assist in planning, coordination, execution and monitoring of the capacity building and information dissemination activities such as training, production of IEC materials, information dissemination planning etc.
• Take lead in mobilizing target communities for protection and other IRC-related activities.
• Engage community members in design, planning, executing, and monitoring of community-based protection activities.
• Be the link between IRC Protection staff and the target local communities.
• Establish, oversee, and manage community feedback mechanisms in target locations.
• Hold community meetings, dialogue sessions with key stakeholders to identify community needs and concerns.
• Establish good working relationship with relevant stakeholders such as camp officials, local community leaders, traditional leaders, and government partners etc.
• Ensure that information collected on target beneficiaries is disaggregated by age and sex while considering gender and diversity.
• Organize and budget for all community engagement-related activities in consultation with the Protection Manager.
• Provide a measurable development plan including on-the-job learning with the aim of Research, Learning and Analysis of context and issues.

Coordination & Representation:

• Assist in planning, coordination, execution and monitoring of the capacity building and information dissemination activities such as training, production of IEC materials, information dissemination planning etc.
• Establish good working relationship with relevant stakeholders such as camp officials, local community leaders, traditional leaders, and government partners etc.
• Work closely with Protection Action Group members, community leaders, and other joint Community Volunteers.
• In coordination with other Protection staff, take part in identification of new target locations and conduct assessments.

Administrative Support:

• Provide direct administrative help to the Governance staff together with copying, dissemination of paperwork, aiding the preparation of procurement-related paperwork, monitoring buy and fee requests, and so on. 
• Collect info, compile information, produce experiences, and manage data records.
• Support the event and upkeep of data administration techniques for sharing information collated to different sectors throughout the IRC, and to exterior stakeholders
• Coordinate with IRC HR and Logistics groups as mandatory to arrange journey and administrative wants
• And all different duties as assigned by the supervisor. 

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to:  Protection Case Management Officer, primarily based in Maiduguri
• Position instantly supervises n/a
• Indirect Reporting: Legal Officer primarily based in Maiduguri
• Other Internal and/or exterior contacts:
• Internal: Supply Chain and Finance
• External: Community Leaders and Community Members, government partners.

Qualifications

• University Degree in Social Work, Law, Psychology, or a related field.
• Must be female with Knowledge of native languages Kanuri and Hausa is compulsory. 
• Demonstrated experience using international human rights standards in protection programming
• Excellent communication skills, cultural sensitivity, flexibility, ability to improvise, team player.
• Experience in using community-based and participatory approaches.
• Experience in community mobilization and awareness creation.
• Experience in working in remote and hard to reach areas with limited amenities
• 2 years’ experience implementing protection programming, including experience in emergency or post-conflict project management
• Experience with group engagement and participatory processes, together with earlier facilitation of group work with related populations, energetic participant of sectoral/social teams, and expertise with capability constructing or coaching workout routines.  
• Good communication abilities (written and verbal), cultural sensitivity, flexibility, potential to improvise, staff participant. 
• Able to unravel complicated issues by way of a reciprocal and consultative strategy
• Ability to reside and productively work below stress whereas keep a humorousness.
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.

Computer / Other Tech Requirements:

• Full skilled competency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint
• Ability to Travel: % of time if applicable.

Standards of Professional Conduct

• The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way - Code of Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons, and several others.

Gender Equality:

• RC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply

Note

• IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability.