Program Officer-Social Cohesion-Kampala(Internal Advert)

Program Summary

Mercy Corps with funding from the Hilton Foundation will address the needs of urban refugees and vulnerable host community members to improve their economic wellbeing and address issues, which limit the integration of refugees within host communities. The program will focus on addressing the interrelated gaps that hinder effective service delivery and local integration. The overall goal of the program will be to strengthen social cohesion and livelihoods in refugee-hosting divisions in Kampala. This will be achieved through three interrelated outcomes:  

• Refugees and host communities participate collectively toward a shared vision of sustainable peace and common development goals. Interventions will focus on building linkages between refugee leaders and local authorities, as well as fostering connections between youth, women and men in refugee and host-communities.  
• Financial Inclusion is enhanced for refugees and host communities in the divisions of Kampala, interventions will focus on building the capacity of micro-entrepreneurs to further develop and increase their income potential – improvements in understanding of legal regulations and taxation laws, access to microfinance.
• Micro entrepreneurs are supported to develop their businesses to increase income and improve food security. Interventions will focus on building technical skills for existing and future entrepreneurs, supporting product innovation in businesses, which can build ties between host and refugee communities and social impact in communities, and enabling development of urban farming both to increase access to nutritious food at lower costs and as an income stream.   

General Position Summary

The Program Officer will be responsible for assisting in the implementation of activities to ensure participants including refugees and host communities have a smooth pathway to livelihoods. He/She will work directly with the Team Leader to identify new opportunities for peace building, conflict mitigation and re-integration activities under the Hilton program. The officer is to ensure close interactions with host community members and local governance structures to promote awareness and facilitate the establishment of sustained community based schemes for promoting social cohesion.

Planning, developing and implementing activities

• Design proper strategies, detailed work plan and approaches to effective implementation of social cohesion initiatives in informal settlements in Kampala.
• Build effective working relationships with relevant stakeholders including; KCCA, refugee led associations, faith-based institutions, grass root community structures (LCs) with regard to peace building and social cohesion initiatives.
• Participate in relevant coordination platforms and forums to share learnings and leverage on proven approaches to inform implementation.
• Facilitate participatory needs assessments/situation analysis, problem analysis and planning exercises to enhance the participation of women and other marginalised groups (including refugees) in the target locations.
• Engage and conduct community stakeholders’ sensitization on the program activities and approaches. Mobilize targeted beneficiaries/participants to fully engage in the program to realize the intended objectives.
• Participate in all strategic planning meetings and activities, gathering and sharing relevant information in relation to peacebuilding and social cohesion with all relevant actors.
• Make routine field visits within the program areas across the five divisions of Kampala to ensure effective implementation of program activities.
• Promote and contribute to the integration and mainstreaming of gender and other pertinent cross-cutting issues into programme implementation.

Documentation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

• Prepare and submit timely weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports and work plans that will be indicative of program progress during implementation.
• Maintain a proper filing system of all social cohesion initiatives implemented in the program.
• Liaise with partners to identify human impact stories of program participants, contribute the research and learning agenda activities of the program and develop these into success stories.
• Work closely with the M&E Officer to capture accurate data for measuring output and impact of the program; and to ensure accurate and timely flow of information from the field.
• Keenly analyze implementation approaches to identify constraints to program success and provide timely recommendations to inform decision-making processes.
• Ensure data protection policies are adhered to at all times.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Organizational Learning

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve – we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Supervisory Responsibility: Program Assistant

Reports Directly To: Team Leader

Works Directly with: Support teams (Finance, HR & Operations), NGOs, KCCA, RLOs and other partners.

Ethics and Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, community based development, public administration, development studies or other relevant fields from a recognized university.
• Minimum of 3 years work experience with a local or international NGO working with marginalized communities preferably in peri urban or urban settings with focus on peacebuilding, conflict mediation, or working with ethnically and religiously diverse communities.
• Proven experience in capacity building, coordinating activities, developing plans and drafting reports.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills and capacity to maintain relations with community leaders. Experience in building and maintaining strong/productive relations is required.
• Proficiency in computer use particularly Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is preferred.
• Strong interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills in English is a requirement. Knowledge of other languages including Swahili, Arabic and French is an added advantage.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, strong leadership and proven team building experience, ability to meet deadlines and work independently is required.
• Willingness to spend much time in the field and work closely with program target groups.
• Possession of a valid driving permit class A and willingness to ride is an added advantage.

Success Factors

The successful Program Officer will take a deep personal interest in humanitarian and development assistance. S/he will be creative and flexible; contributing to developing and encouraging new and innovative solutions, but at the same time will not have any difficulty in adhering to systems and procedures. S/he will strictly follow all protocols related to safety and security, and holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Mercy Corps’ values.

Closes: 16th July 2021