Job Description
Job Title: Technical Advisor II- Strategic Learning lead, DFSA, Niger
Job Type: Regular, Full Time
Job Location: Niamey
Reports to: Chief of Party, DFSA Project
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.
Job Summary:
The Strategic Learning Lead (SLL) promotes a culture of coordination, collaboration and continuous learning across all activities in the Food for Peace “Girma” project. The SLL works closely with the DCOP/Food Security Technical Coordinator and Monitoring and Evaluation Lead to include active, intentional, and adaptive learning exercises within and across its multi-sectoral activities and to improve peer-to-peer learning, knowledge sharing and application, activity-based capacity strengthening, evidence and data utilization, and collaborating, learning and adapting (CLA).
The SLL organizes and implements an appropriate system that captures, analyzes, exploits and disseminates learning elements useful for the Girma project, takes the lead in collecting best practices and lessons learned, and organizes relevant reviews of program activities at the team level. The SLL promotes an evidence-based results approach to disseminating best practices, working closely with the ICT4D team and Program Quality (PQ) staff.
The SSL provides technical advice, guidance, and support to Girma implementation issues with a focus on Strategic Learning in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices in order to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Her/his technical knowledge, advice and guidance contributes to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ programming is across the globe.
Roles and Key Responsibilities:
- Contribute to the development and implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in CLA that effectively engage partners, donors and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
- Organize After-Action Review sessions with teams to collect lessons learned and prepare related reports for lessons learned and overall learning within the DFSA program.
- Supervise the Social and Behavior Change (SBC) unit and ensure that research is effectively used to design SBC communication approaches.
- Analyze the results achieved against the planned objectives as well as the means and methods used at the project level.
- Produce the necessary reports at a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
- Coordinate with local partners, GoN, RISE partners, USG, international donors, multilateral organizations and private sector investments to eliminate duplication, share best practices and lessons learned, and ensure integration of program activities in the DFSA zone.
- Provide technical solutions to regional and CP teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply program design and implementation standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and M&E, ensuring high-quality implementation.
- Contribute to capacity strengthening initiatives in CLA programming for staff and partner through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and mentoring and coaching to CP staff.
- Contribute to knowledge management and learning through collecting and analyzing program data, evaluating strategic projects, assisting with measuring program impact, capturing and sharing lessons learned and best practices, and research and internal reports.
- Establish and maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions. Participate in forums in the area of CLA to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.
Basic Qualifications
- A master’s degree in communications, economics, agricultural/development economics, statistics, biostatistics, nutrition, applied sociology, anthropology, or another relevant subject. PhD preferred.
- Experience working with large donors, USAID/FFP preferred.
- Strong conceptual knowledge about theories of change, logic model, food and nutrition security indicators, M&E plan, data quality assurance, data utilization and gender integration into M&E.
- Minimum of five years and preferably at least seven years of work experience in Learning and Coordination with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of three years of working for programming interventions in multiple countries.
- Experience on innovative learning practice including Internal Change Management for CLA, Evaluative thinking and Adaptive management
- Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in CLA. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
- Demonstrated experiences to create an environment conducive to learning, incorporating the Agency’s Evaluative Thinking framework and resources
- Demonstrated expertise to Capture and Document Lessons Learned, Success/Failure Factors, Promising Practices, and Best Practices
- Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training applying adult learning principles and practices.
- Experience with program monitoring and evaluation, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation.
- Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
- Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
Required Languages - French and English fluency, including excellent oral and written skills.
Travel - Up to 50% to field locations.
Supervisory Responsibilities: Social Behavior Change (SBC) Advisor, Capacity Building Officer, Private Sector Lead.
Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.
