Technical Advisor I -- Social Cohesion & Justice, WARO

Job Description

Job Description

Job Title: Technical Advisor I – Social Cohesion & Justice, WARO

Job Type: Regular, Full Time

Job Location: International Telecommuter

Reports to: DRDPQ, WARO

Salary Grade: 9

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

With the launch of the Agency Vision 2030, CRS has reaffirmed and strengthened its commitment to ensuring that all people live in just and peaceful societies throughout the world. CRS drives towards this goal through high quality programming that seeks to achieve strengthened social cohesion through people-to-people and multi-stakeholder engagement to transform violent conflict, and approaches that ensure greater justice through improved governance including more accountable, safe, equitable and inclusive civic participation, systems and structures. A key approach in the Vision 2030 is to increase impact through integration SC&J across CRS’s core development and humanitarian programmatic areas, including agriculture, health, emergency response, and youth.

Job Summary:

The Technical Advisor I for Social Cohesion and Justice will provide technical direction and support to West Africa Country Programs (Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea Bissau) to ensure high quality programming across all project phases–design, implementation, evaluation of results and documentation of learning and best practices. S/he will also support the regional Sahel Peace Initiative program by providing technical direction on social cohesion programming and layering. The TA I for Social Cohesion and Justice will ensure high technical quality of West Africa programming in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines and industry best practices, and work in close coordination and collaboration with WARO Regional Technical Advisors for various sectors (agriculture, health, gender, WASH, MEAL, HRD, etc) and with relevant Senior Technical Advisors in Headquarters (STAs Governance, Youth, Gender, Social Cohesion, Justice and Peacebuilding).

Primary functions:

The Technical Advisor is responsible for providing technical leadership in articulating and advancing the Social Cohesion & Justice technical sector in the West Africa Region building on the agency’s experience and best practices and implementing innovative approaches. Currently in West Africa, CRS is implementing People to People (P2P) peacebuilding approaches with funding from USAID/CMM in Senegal, Liberia and Guinea; in Mali and Niger CRS is supporting community infrastructure in cross-border zones with wrap-around social cohesion activities supported by PATRIP foundation; in USAID/FFP programming in Niger, CRS has strong experience and success with community-level governance approaches. CRS is currently scaling up social cohesion and increasing advocacy to prevent the worsening of the conflict in the Sahel, in close collaboration with the Catholic Church in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire under the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI). Opportunities for CRS expansion in the sector in West Africa are increasing through advocacy for greater funding, as are opportunities to ensure learning and strengthening of best practices across country programs and regions.

The Technical Advisor will provide technical leadership and support for both “stand-alone” social cohesion and peacebuilding activities, as well as supporting the integration of social cohesion in multi-sectoral development and emergency response and recovery programming in the region including the Sahel Peace Initiative. The Technical Advisor will be responsible for the following core functions:

• Provide technical solutions and assistance to West Africa Country Program teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and application of high-quality approaches and interventions, sharing of best practices, tools and M&E, to ensure high-quality programming in the sector;
• Provide strategic leadership of the Social Cohesion/Peacebuilding Priority Area for the West Africa 2030 Vision, ensuring alignment with the Agency Vision 2030 Goal Area 1 and lead regional engagement with the Strategic Change Platform as appropriate;
• Contribute to, and in some cases lead, the development of the technical design for proposals. Support the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of project concepts and full-fledged proposals. As needed, act as a technical writer on proposal development teams. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.
• Provide technical assistance to the Sahel Peace Initiative coordinating closely with the SPI Project Manager, and other CRS divisions working on this initiative such as M2 and MarCom.
• Lead the development and implementation of a regional learning agenda for the sector in West Africa, in-line with the WARO and Agency Vision 2030 through the collection and analysis of program data, and the capture and sharing of lessons learned and evidence from specific projects to facilitate improvements in decision-making and contribute to the Social Cohesion & Justice Goal Area
• Support capacity strengthening initiatives in Social Cohesion & Justice programming for staff and partner through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and coaching.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions, participate in forums to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work;
• As needed, support the development and contribute to the implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools and best practices in social cohesion and justice that effectively engage partners, donors, and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in International Relations, International Development, Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution, or a related field required.
• Minimum of three, preferably five years relevant work experience with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of two years relevant field-based experience Social Cohesion and Justice programming.
• Demonstrated knowledge of technical principles and concepts in Social Cohesion & Justice. General knowledge of other related disciplines, such as youth, gender, governance and multi-sectoral programming to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience in project design and proposal development. Experience in writing content for proposals.
• Demonstrated experience in leading capacity strengthening efforts with staff and/or partners
• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation and analysis.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding and experience with partnership principles.

Required Languages – Ability to work in French language required.

Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 30 %.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical, political and cultural settings
• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: West Africa Country Program staff including Peacebuilding Project Managers/Focal Points, Heads of Programs, and Country Representatives; WARO Staff including Peace in Sahel Project Manager; APIMA Migration Project Manager; WARO Regional Technical Advisors; HQ Technical Advisors

External: Catholic Church and Caritas partners; key working groups and coalitions focused on peacebuilding and peace in Sahel; key donors including USAID; National Government partners and other stakeholders

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

About the Organization

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS' relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

With the launch of the Agency Vision 2030, CRS has reaffirmed and strengthened its commitment to ensuring that all people live in just and peaceful societies throughout the world. CRS drives towards this goal through high quality programming that seeks to achieve strengthened social cohesion through people-to-people and multi-stakeholder engagement to transform violent conflict, and approaches that ensure greater justice through improved governance including more accountable, safe, equitable and inclusive civic participation, systems and structures. A key approach in the Vision 2030 is to increase impact through integration SC&J across CRS's core development and humanitarian programmatic areas, including agriculture, health, emergency response, and youth.