The International Rescue Committee (IRC),a humanitarian agency providing relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of oppression and violent conflict. 

POSITION : Livelihoods Officer, ERD

Scope of Work

• Be a core member of the team responsible for the technical implementation coordination, monitoring and evaluation of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) livelihoods program, called “Rescuing Futures that will support young people” in Adamawa State in Northeastern Nigeria. Supported by Citi EMEA and the IRC, vulnerable host community members are expected to have access to improved livelihoods opportunities, and use those opportunities to contribute to the development goals of their communities.
• This will be done through training and community engagement sessions, learning events, and start-up grants to successful program participants.
• There will also be a focus on stakeholder engagement to the wider business and humanitarian communities.
• The project will support male and female youth to undertake income generation through self-employment.
• Working through employment and business development service providers, the IRC will support access to job counseling, legal counseling, job referral, life skills, vocational training, on the job training and microenterprise - all coordinated through IRC’s partnerships approach.
• Perform overall his/her role for the Program under the supervision of the Urban Livelihoods Manager.
• Responsible for selection of beneficiaries for IGA activities, capacity building training and developing business plans.
• Coordinate local partners, in close coordination with Economic Recovery and Development Urban Livelihoods Program Manager and Coordinator in Adamawa State.

Responsibilities

• With the support of the Project Manager, contribute to preparation of monitoring tools (PDM) and evaluation design/plan for food security programs, including supporting the analysis of monitoring information to assess process and progress against objectives.
• Regular monitoring of business and on spot guidance for improvement in the business.
• Ensure distribution plans are developed timely and carried out distributions according to the plan.
• Support regular field visits to monitor progress and quality of activities and provide timely feedback and necessary support to IRC staff and local partners.
• Within the context of a longer term strategy to livelihood support and vulnerability reduction, Participate to the production of technical support materials and guide program teams on the delivery of mechanisms that will ensure effective implementation of emergency food security & livelihood interventions as well as early recovery.
• Supervise the selection process of beneficiaries for IGA activities.
• Lead in preparation of TORs for the beneficiaries/ business holders.
• Cross verification of assessed beneficiaries and conduct social & technical feasibility for selected beneficiaries.
• Take lead in technical trainings and business plans of the beneficiaries.
• Participate in workshop and meetings and provide technical support to Through the directives of the Humanitarian Project manager, provide close supervision and monitoring to the implementation of IGA project related activities in the field

Staff Management:

• Directly supervise the Livelihood Assistants and providing ongoing leadership to the team and oversee implementation and coordination of activity plans to ensure targets are met.
• Support work plan development and reporting to ensure accurate monitoring and documentation of activities.
• Ensure project staff understands and follows IRC and donor Policies and Procedures.

Coordination:

• Internal - closely work with and share information with other sectors in IRC and coordinate with
• Logistic to timely receive project materials.
• Assist the Program Manager closely with finance department to ensure program vendors payment and training cost.
• External - local partners - assist in the development work plan, ensure smooth implementation of quality program and ongoing support for partner capacity building.

Monitoring & Evaluation and Reporting:

• Support regular field visits to ensure quality and timeliness of all activities implemented under his/her supervision.
• Assist the senior program officer and maintain a good coordination with vendors to ensure timely stocks available and vendors respect to the agreements signed with IRC.
• Assist in close with Program manager with M&E, ensure development and sharing of necessary reporting formats and matrixes timely with local partners.
• Under the supervision of Urabn Livelihoods Program Manager draft post distribution monitoring tools and train staff and local partner staff on applying them in the field.
• Provide inputs for design of M&E system and to staff under supervision and local partners.

Human Resources:

• Supervise Livelihoods Assistants.
• Support the out capacity building plan.
• Develop staff performance objectives and conduct periodic reviews and evaluations.

Grants Management & Reporting:

• Support the EUTF grant, and develop and maintain work, spending and procurement plans.
• Participate in Grants Opening, Mid-Term and Closing meetings.
• Prepare internal reports within agreed deadlines using IRC and donor formats, as required.

Logistic and Finance:

• In close coordination with finance and Program Manager, manage adherence to donor and IRC grant compliances at all time.
• Ensure timely submission of payment requests and supporting documents to logistic and finance and timely payments to vendors.
• Assist in the timely submission of distribution and transport plans to logistic.
• Support with logistic on the status of purchase requests and ensure timely delivery of materials.
• Ensure expenditure plan for the project and do necessary revisions for Sector coordinator’s approval.

Skills

• Good written and spoken English.
• Coordination experience with different partners and stakeholders.
• Most importantly, commitment to IRC values and principles
• Extensive knowledge and experience of food security issues, and/or a Degree in Business Management and/or related field, natural resource management, nutrition or similar (which may include cash based or market interventions).
• A minimum of 2 years relevant work experience, of which a substantial part should involve recent livelihood and food security work.
• Proven practical experience in food security assessments, food and cash based interventions and delivering field based training IGA .

Work Environment

• The situation in Yola - is calm at the moment but remains tense and unpredictable; concerns include criminality. There is active conflict in many parts of the country and a possibility for further expansion of the conflict and violence into other areas and other states.

Specific Security Situation/ Housing:

• The security situation in the NE continues to be volatile at level 3 (orange). Security level as it’s one of the three states of emergency (SoE) in the NE of the country. The candidate should be prepared to implement programming in insecure environments.
• 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.

How To Apply
Candidates should send their cover letter and resume to:: IRCNigeria.Recruitment@rescue.org with position applied for as the subject