International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Vacancy for a Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) Officer
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian network, reaching 150 million people each year through its 190 member National Societies. The
organization acts before, during and after disasters, crises and health emergences in order to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. IFRC’s work is guided by seven Fundamental Principles
(humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality) and by Strategy 2020, which voices the organization’s collective vision and determination to move forward in tackling the major challenges that presently confront humanity. The Africa Regional Business Group is organized through cluster offices covering the National Societies in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, West Coast, Sahel and Central Africa as well as country offices in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria,
Somalia. The IFRC, in its commitment to build strong National Societies and to support scaling up of National Societies’ services to the most vulnerable populations, has established presence in Nigeria since 2013.
We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:
Job Title Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) Officer
Ref No: IFRC-A-CEA-008
Location: Abuja (with frequent travel to field)
Classification Level: TBC
Immediate Supervisor’s Title: Disaster Management Delegate
Technical Manager’s Title: Regional CEA Senior Advisor
Reporting to: The Disaster Management Delegate, the Community Engagement and Accountability Officer
Job Purpose
- Under oversight of the Disaster Management Delegate - or the CEA
Delegate, if in place - and technical supervision of theRegional CEA
Senior Advisor for Africa, the CEA Officerwill support the
implementation of approaches and activities to enhance community
engagement, communication and participation within the of the Nigeria
Complex Crisis Operation (NCCO).
- The CEA Officer will support theNRCS-IFRC operation team to
integrate effective and appropriate participation and feedback,
behaviour change communication and ‘information as aid’ activities
within the NCCO.
- The post-holder will work closely with the NRCS community
engagement team, building on the previous beneficiary communication
work.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
The CEA Officer will:
- Support the process of carrying out consultations with
communities in the operational areas to ascertain information needs and
trusted and accessible communication channels
- Support all programme sector teams to set up and manage
mechanisms for sharing relevant, timely and appropriate information with
communities about the operation, such as beneficiary selection
criteria, processes for distributions and changes in operational plans
- Identify and utilize appropriate communication channels for providing life-saving and recovery information to communities as part of ‘information as aid’ activities
- Build the capacity of NRCS to integrate CEA in its way of working through providing the skills and knowledge to mainstream CEA tools and approaches into regular programmes, including via trainingand mentoring
- Work closely with programme sector teams and key external stakeholders to drive and advocate the roll out of appropriate technology and innovation for CEA (with a focus on the use of existing platforms and messaging systems)
- Support evidence-based learning by assessing and monitoring levels of community engagement through research, impact surveys, perceptions studies and case studies.
- Lead in training frontline staff and volunteers on essential CEA
aspects, including complaints handling skills and ensuring that
community feedback loops are closed
- Support all programme sector teams to increase levels of
engagement and accountability to people and communities, through the
establishment of appropriate feedback mechanisms
- Support the programming teams in the process of establishing community resilience committees
- Support health and WASH teams to establish innovative and
effective behaviour and social change activities to encourage
communities to adopt safe and healthy practices as part of social
mobilization
Duties applicable to all staff:
- Actively work towards the achievement of the Federation Secretariat’s goals
- Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles
- Perform any other work related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager
Position Requirements
Education:
- Professional qualification in communications or equivalent experience
- A university qualification in a relevant area such as
communication, behaviour change communication, community engagement or
community media
Experience:
- Two years’ experience in community engagement initiatives,
beneficiary communication, risk communication, or social mobilisation
activities in development programmes or operations
- Experience with behaviour change campaigns
- Experience with monitoring and reporting tools
- Experience of working for the Red Cross/Red Crescent
- Good understanding of the humanitarian environment, specifically complex crisis situations
- Solid experience in delivering communication and community
engagement capacity building efforts with local organizations, including
on accountability tools and feedback mechanismsin complex and delicate
situations
- Experience working withcommunication channels such as radio, TV, SMS, cinema/drama and complaints and response mechanisms
Knowledge and Skills:
- Good understanding of - or training in - current developments in
the field of communication with communities, behavioural and social
sciences, or community engagement and accountability, community media;
- Ability to analyse feedback and translate into recommendations
- Ability to convey complex topics in a simple fashion
- Good knowledge of the region and capacity to practice political and cultural sensitivity
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and networking skills
- Fluent in written and spoken English.
- Written and spoken Hausa
- Good understanding of disaster management issues
- Ability to work under stressful conditions, meet deadlines and travel extensively to support field operations
- Strong written, presentation, facilitation and training skills
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Curriculum Vitae
and Cover Letter (with 03 referees professional email-addresses + phone
contacts) to:
[email protected] quoting the
Reference Number which is underlined on the subject title.
Note
- Only selected applicants will be contacted.
- No hand delivered applications will be accepted.
Application Deadline 15th June, 2017.