State Associate Project Officer – Abia State, Nigeria

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization with 34 member states hailing from different continents around the world. International IDEA aims to support sustainable democracy worldwide, doing so, inter alia, by working with both new and long-established democracies to strengthen the institutions and culture of democracy. Located at the interface of research and practice, International IDEA serves as a forum for dialogue and uses comparative experience and analysis to identify good practices for democracy-building. It also produces knowledge tools and practical guides for democracy support. The Institute maintains a global network of experts, provides training materials, and offers strategic advice to democracy actors at the international, regional, and national levels. The Institute is headquartered in Stockholm with field offices in Africa and West Asia, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Based in Abia State, Nigeria, International IDEA seeks to appoint:

STATE ASSOCIATE PROJECT OFFICER

The State Associate Project Officer will be responsible for supporting the planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting, and communication of the project in the state.

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Supports the State Project Coordinator in the design, management, and oversight of state plans, strategies, and processes;
• Coordinates and manages relationships with related partners and stakeholders, including efficient follow up with partners on tasks and expectations, and liaison with state focal persons on agreed actions;
• Plans, organizes, and manages related events and activities at the state level;
• Supports the State Project Coordinator, the Monitoring and Evaluation team, and other programme staff to develop, prepare, deliver, and monitor the activity implementation plan and records and measures progress against programme performance indicators;
• Supports and actively monitors timely delivery against activity schedules, targets, and milestones on all relevant and associated interventions and assignments;
• Ensures the collection, collation and analysis of participants and stakeholder feedback for all related interventions and events to ensure quality and effectiveness can be assessed and recommend improvement;
• Supports knowledge management processes and activities, including the development of summary reports and stories of change that feed into the quarterly impact reports, newsletters, and other knowledge management products;
• Ensures safe and accessible project documentation including, building, and managing folders containing contracts, budgets, activity reports, data, deliverables, and contact lists, and makes regular updates to existing documentation as may be required;
• Supports the State Project Coordinator with the development of consultants Terms of Reference and oversees consultants’ delivery and inputs, including the review of consultant deliverables against ToR’s to ensure agreed outputs and outcomes are delivered;
• 1Maintains cordial, and professional relationships with Government and CSO partners and state focal persons to ensure that activities are implemented according to plan at the state level; Works with and supports consultants, focal government personnel and CSOs to deliver and manage high quality inputs for the RoLAC II Programme at state level;
• Liaises with support teams to manage arrangements for consultants and visitors including booking travel, accommodation, and such other support they may require;
• Provides administrative and logistic support to consultants and beneficiaries;
• Supports financial and technical reporting to internal/external clients and stakeholders, ensuring reporting standards are in accordance with client and programme standards;
• Actively builds professional networks and information channels that maintain an excellent understanding of relevant developments, stakeholders, and opinion formers in the development sector to support the creation of high-quality programmes and events;
• Carries out other duties and responsibilities as related to the post that may be assigned from time to time.

Finance administration

• Manages all administrative aspects to ensure timely procurement in line with established organizational policies and guidelines. Quality assures and provides feedback to the Procurement Officer on the quality of services and items procured; Ensures appropriate branding of all capital equipment procured for the project, in accordance with organizational and EU branding and visibility guidelines;
• Provides financial support to the State Project Coordinator and Finance team, including detailed budgeting for planned events, raising advances, issuing payments to workshop participants, processing of workshop claims, and retirement of advances in a timely manner;
• Monitors expenditure against workplan and projects to ensure expenditure targets are met.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

• Supports the State Project Coordinator, the Monitoring and Evaluation team, and the Communications team in gathering data and evidence to consolidate monthly, quarterly, annual and such other strategic programme reports;
• Supports the planning and implementation of M&E reflection sessions including documentation of lessons learned to improve quality of activities being planned for implementation.

The State Associate Project Officer must possess and be able to demonstrate:

• University degree (or equivalent) in social science, political sciences, law, international development, or other relevant discipline;
• A minimum of five (5) years professional experience in Rule of Law and/or any of the three thematic areas (Criminal Justice, Access to Justice, anti-corruption), within Nigeria is essential;
• Experience of working with government agencies and civil society organizations in Nigeria is considered an asset;
• Experience of working on EU projects, as well as familiarity with EU processes and systems considered an advantage;
• Experience of working in an international context, e.g., in an intergovernmental organization, considered an advantage.
• Requires good knowledge, excellent skills, and experience in at least one of RoLAC II’s thematic areas (the Criminal Justice, Access to Justice, Anti-corruption), Democracy Development, parliamentary work, and project management;
• Will contribute to assigned projects in different aspects of the project life cycle; will draft various documents (briefs, reports, concept notes, info-notes etc.) and will support the projects vis-à-vis all internal and external stakeholders;
• Driven and motivated, can work independently and within a small team, to produce high-quality deliverables in a timely manner;
• Adds value to team-based activities in his/her unit; collaborates with other stakeholders and partners in the projects as required; shows initiative;
• Follows internal procedures to ensure high standards of performance and compliance with Institutional guidelines;
• Has the intellectual ability to switch context and keep tight deadlines if necessary;
• Can be expected to travel to any geographical area involved in their projects;
• Acts in accordance with International IDEAs core values; Respect, Integrity, and Professionalism;
• Integrates a rights-based approach, gender, and inclusion perspective in all activities.
• Excellent knowledge in written and oral English is required; Knowledge of another widely spoken language in an International IDEA priority region (Arabic, French, Portuguese) would be an asset.