Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) is an international development charity and the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales that stand beside people living in poverty. Through local Church partners, we help people directly in their own communities, and campaign for global justice, so that everyone can reach their full potential.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Programme Officer – Peacebuilding and Governance

Location: Nigeria
Contract Type: Fixed-Term contract: 18 months.
Hours of Work: 35Hours per week

Position Description

• This role contributes to CAFOD’s commitment to empower local partners and communities to be at the forefront of peacebuilding and governance response. The purpose of the Peacebuilding and Governance Programme Officer’s role is to support selected national and local NGOs to strengthen their ability to prepare for, influence and implement quality peacebuilding and governance programmes. This includes supporting the delivery of Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Dutch MFA) funded project in Nigeria. This includes strengthening and accompanying local organisations across the following areas:
  • Development of MEAL tools
  • Community participation and engagement
  • Managing relationship with partners involved in the project (leadership and governance)
  • Systems updating and safekeeping.
  • External engagement (including fundraising, collaboration, advocacy, and communications)
  • management of resources (tracking of partner budgets and reporting)
• The Programme Officer – Peacebuilding and Governance is responsible for developing, implementing and representing CAFOD’s peacebuilding, governance and climate change Programme in Nigeria. As part of this, the post-holder is responsible for managing the implementation the Joint Interreligious Strategic Action Project (JISRA project).

 Job Profile

• The PO – Peacebuilding and Governance will work directly with CAFOD Programme Manager and partners mainly in Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau states and the FCT in managing and implementing peacebuilding and governance project within the CAFOD’s global and country strategic plan with focus on IEPM. These partners include DIWA/ DIN, JPRM and WIC. He/ she will also work with selected Caritas agencies and other partners. He/she will support partners to lead and coordinate their peacebuilding, governance and gender work with CAFOD and other donors.
• The PO will champion result-based programme management including design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of project with government and civil society organisations. The PO will provide ongoing mentoring, advice, and technical support to partners to strengthen their capacity.
• The post-holder will design, coordinate, and facilitate dialogue sessions, develop MEAL tools, and source specialist technical support as required. He/she will support partners to roll out intra-religious and inter-religious training with faith leaders, women and youths. He/she will seek and act upon opportunities for collaboration on peacebuilding, governance matters gender, and climate change within CAFOD, with Caritas Internationalis member organisations (CIMOs) and other key stakeholders (INGOs, FBOs and CSOs). As partners are currently implementing JISRA programme in Nigeria the post-holder will also be responsible for providing field level operational support and accompaniment to partners using a ‘learning by doing’ approach to coordination, monitoring and capacity strengthening.
• He/she will follow up on the recommendations arising from partnerships in course of the implementation of the Country Programme Action Plan and in liaison with colleagues and partners, ensure that gender will be integrated as a crosscutting issue in all activities under the programme.
• The post-holder will be based in Abuja and will travel frequently within the country. Within CAFOD the post holder will work closely with programme staff in Nigeria and the International Programme Group. The post-holder is required to demonstrate experience and expertise in working with partners and knowledge of above-mentioned thematic programmes areas.

Key Responsibilities
Provide Accompaniment and Capacity Strengthening Support to Partners (50%):

• Manage and coordinate the JISRA partners to develop, implement, review and report on their annual workplan and budget for Nigeria.
• Encourage partners to take on the leadership of the project, FORB/donor’s work within Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau states and the FCT.
• Identify opportunities for exchange and knowledge sharing.
• Support selected partners to improve organisational MEAL systems, procedures and practice and incorporate these within their JISRA programme.
• Develop and use monitoring frameworks and tools, including records of change, to review, adapt and share learning and support learning reviews as required.
• Work with CAFOD’s SADI focal points to support partners on safeguarding, including complaints handling.
• Facilitate JISRA project planning workshops and support overall implementation of project in Nigeria.
• Work with CAFOD’s programme staff to integrate key thematic initiatives including environmental stewardship, livelihoods, peacebuilding and governance, protection mainstreaming, gender and inclusion.
• Facilitate monitoring and evaluation of various governance projects
• Prepare project documents, document lessons learnt, progress reports and other project briefs that will be needed for improvement and development
• Coordinate joint evaluations and reviews of the various governance projects
• Take active part in sector meetings and other governance fora and brief the CR, PM, Unit members and development partners as appropriate
• Lead and support partners on the development of peacebuilding, gender and climate change funding proposals.

Lead and support effective relationships with partners (20%):

• Develop, nurture and manage relationships with CAFOD’s partner organisations in line with the principles and standards set in our Partnership Policy, guidance and tools, and in agreement with the Programme Manager; This includes partnerships arising from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs funded project.
• Work with the programme manager and partners to regularly assess the quality of the relationship, ensuring that effective communication channels are in place, and that any shortcomings are addressed;
• Invest in partners’ capacities, by jointly identifying needs, developing plans to strengthen capacities, identifying sources of support, and allocating resources.
• Support partners in accessing the tools and support required to successfully implement JISRA project;
• Organize (and where relevant accompany) partners’ visits.

Internal and external representation (15%):

• In co-ordination with the Country Representative and the Programme manager develop, nurture and sustain relationships and effective communications with relevant stakeholders, partners, local government, state and national networks and other agencies working in Nigeria on peace-building, governance and climate change, as well as other sectors to ensure multisector integration and collaborative complementarity.
• Represent CAFOD in JISRA governance structures, and other coordination meetings where applicable;
• Communicate with other teams within CAFOD to ensure that the programme, including the JISRA and other projects is well understood, and that information is available for fundraising and other communication, including publications, media briefings, education, etc. This may involve participation in sessions/events with Supporters, communities of practice, working groups, etc., as agreed with the relevant manager.

Support to International Programmes (IP) and systems upkeeping (15%):

• Work closely with IP staff in Nigeria and globally to share programmatic expertise and learning, coordinate support to partners and identify opportunities for partners to put learning into practice.
• Provide technical support to partners and CAFOD staff in Nigeria and globally in peacebuilding, resilience and any other area of expertise, such as gender and governance.
• Actively participate in relevant team and thematic meetings
• Effectively use CAFOD’s programmatic management information systems to ensure programme and project information is up to date.

Job-specific Competencies

• Proven successes in working with local organisations in capacity strengthening, particularly in advocacy on peacebuilding and governance related matters.
• Proven experience in designing and facilitating participatory learning processes.
• Proven experience of successfully implementing peacebuilding, governance, gender, and resilience programmes.
• Sound understanding of peacebuilding and governance programme quality and ability to skill up rapidly in new areas.
• Proven experience in financial management.
• Understanding of and ability to influence others to incorporate programme quality in their work, including accountability, safeguarding, environmental sustainability, gender, inclusion and protection mainstreaming.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills.

Desirable Criteria:

• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• Understanding of the local context and ability to speak local languages.
• Able and willing to travel for up to 4 months annually within Nigeria and overseas (usually 1-to-2-week trips). This may involve occasional travel at short notice and to potentially insecure and difficult environments.

Salary
NGN13,608,886 per annum.

Application Closing Date
23rd November 2023.