PRACTICAL ACTION
ABOUT US
We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.
We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.
OUR AIMS
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims are to:
• Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living
• Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
• Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
• Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimizing their impact on lives and livelihoods.
PRACTICAL ACTION IN KENYA
In Kenya, Practical Action has a long history of addressing systemic barriers that prevent people from accessing energy that transforms their lives, helping communities and government make cities healthier and safer, making agriculture and markets work better for small holder farmers and supporting communities and government to become more resilient.
We use a mix of programming with communities and consultancy services with shapers of policy and practice to achieve our aims.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Practical Action is implementing a 2-year project globally and in Kenya to Create the Enabling Conditions for Eliminating Open Burning of Waste, through regional roadmaps and city pilots. This is a consortium project, where Practical Action Kenya is leading on the delivery of a city-level action plan to eliminate open burning of waste, implementation of selected actions, delivery of a citywide behaviour change campaign and feeding into the regional Africa roadmap. We will be involved in national and regional engagement to encourage commitments to adopt and implement the roadmap and action plans. Core to our role in the consortium is our ability to support informal waste collectors and recyclers, engage with city-level planning, and ensure that the roadmaps and their implementation are focused on benefiting low-income communities and informal service providers.
The Project Officer will have the primary responsibility of working with informal waste collectors and recyclers to improve rates of waste collection and recycling; supporting community actions to reduce waste dumping and burning; and planning and delivering a behaviour change campaign to reduce open burning of waste.
ACCOUNTABILITIES
Leadership and Strategic Alignment
▪ Play a role in contributing to Practical Action’s change ambitions and the Strategic Business Plans.
▪ Bring experience from community engagement to inform the theory of change systems map, analyzing the nature, causes and scale of waste management and open burning problems.
Strengthening Profile, Generating Funding and Managing Relationships
▪ Represent Practical Action in the Project area to local government, local communities, NGOs and other actors when requested to do so.
▪ Participate in local coordination / networking meetings as required.
▪ Support effective lesson learning, information management and lesson sharing within Practical Action and externally through different medium.
▪ Develop and maintain professional links with development agencies, government bodies, county governments, technical and economic specialists, universities and other professional institutions as required by the project.
▪ Develop informal networks to assist in the planning and review of work as appropriate
▪ Support Fund raising initiatives for Practical Action in waste management
Delivering Quality
▪ Directly implement the project interventions and ensure the active and meaningful participation of informal waste workers and community groups.
▪ Ensure the timely, quality delivery of activities designed and delivered.
▪ Support the implementation of behaviour change campaigns involving all relevant local stakeholders and informed by local understanding of the drivers for open burning of waste and poor waste management practices in general. Support the production of clear and quality reports that demonstrate good accountability.
▪ Work effectively with the Project Manager and other teams to ensure that the project is implemented according to contract (in terms of budget, activities, and time frame) and that any amendments are cleared in a timely manner.
▪ Support the project’s effective and systematic monitoring and evaluation and ensure findings are recorded and escalated to guide the continued successful implementation of other projects and inform the development of other new initiatives.
▪ Ensure sharing between team members, colleagues, and peers – both internally and externally – thus ensuring that the project is contributing access to relevant knowledge and lessons learning.
▪ Support the identification and analysis of trends, threats, and risks in the area of waste management, open burning of waste and behaviour change, building this into research and learning from the project.
▪ Ensure gender and inclusion is considered within every activity.
▪ Engage the community and stakeholders during reflections, reviews and evaluations (using PLA tools), ensuring the voices of the most vulnerable are heard.
▪ Actively participate in team reflections, identifying learnings and challenges and contributing ideas for adaptive for increased impact
▪ Support accountability with communities and stakeholders including the running of feedback and response mechanisms
▪ Work with partners (and at times building their capacity) to implement the activities.
▪ Contribute to ensuring safeguarding in the project
PERSON PROFILE
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:
Experience & Knowledge
▪ Bachelors of Arts in Urban & Regional Planning, Community Development, Urban Water and Sanitation or Waste Management, Social Science/Development studies or any other relevant subject.
▪ 3-5 years relevant working experience in urban community engagement, supporting the informal sector, waste management, behaviour change programmes, urban planning or upgrading with low-income communities.
▪ Ability to work with Urban informal sector and community groups.
▪ Proficient in communicating with different stakeholders i.e. Urban low-income residents, businesses and landlords, youth government representatives etc.
▪ Good communication, facilitation, and representation skills
▪ Ability to work with, support and influence others.
▪ Ability to innovate, initiate and accept challenge.
▪ Good writing, speaking and typing skill in English is mandatory.
▪ Demonstrated experience of integrating gender and diversity.
▪ Knowledge and skill in developing IEC/BCC materials and delivering behaviour change campaigns.
Essential
▪ Experience working with multi-faceted teams both directly and remotely providing timely support when required.
• Fluency in English, Swahili and other local languages
Desirable
• Existing strong relationships and networks within the change ambition area of interest
• Knowledge of monitoring, evaluation and learning strategies Specific to waste management e.g., waste quantification and composition exercises
• Knowledge of gender and safeguarding best practices
A detailed job description can be accessed through this link- https://practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/JD-Project-Officer.pdf
How to apply
If you are ready for an exciting challenge with an organisation whose mission and values are particularly relevant in these rapidly changing times, please forward your application, curriculum vitae and cover letter as a single document in PDF to: Practical Action, Kenya Office by email: [email protected] no later than 8th November 2023 indicating ‘Job Title in the subject line of the email e.g. Project Officer. All information/data given will be in the strictest confidence and will only be used for recruitment purposes.
Practical Action is an equal opportunities employer, and we encourage applications from under-represented groups. We stay committed to cultivating an inclusive and diverse working environment and believe that people from different backgrounds or cultures give us different perspectives, and the more perspectives we have, the more successful we will be. By building a culture where everyone feels heard, respected, and valued we give everyone working with us the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
We are committed to safeguarding and protecting children and vulnerable adults and as such candidates will be subject to pre-employment checks.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted