Job Overview / Summary

• The IRC is seeking a Governance Officer to lead Governance programming in Mubi, Adamawa / Damaturu, Yobe. Governance programming seeks to amplify the voices of people whose lives have been affected by conflict and crisis.
• We support them to regain control of their future by championing their right to influence the issues and programming that affect their communities.
• To achieve this, we: (1) Strengthen the ability of people affected by conflict and crisis to have a voice in how decisions are made in their communities; (2) Enable governments, civil society organizations, community representatives, and the IRC to respond to their voices and provide effective and inclusive services; and (3) Promote communications between leaders and the people they represent so that actions are meaningful and lasting.
• As Governance Officer, you will work with Governance staff based in Maiduguri and cross-sector staff based in Mubi / Damaturu to organize and plan capacity development activities for government, civil society, and community representatives.

Major Responsibilities
Overall Project Quality and Strategy:

• Oversee the successful delivery of the project and overall governance programming within the field office.
• Liaise with staff from other IRC sectors to ensure relevant support, tools and resources are being provided and integrated into project activities.
• Ensure activities are in line with the principles of social accountability, disaster risk management, resilience, and community led development.
• Oversee the development and implementation of community-led disaster risk management plans within 1-2 communities, ensuring active participation and inputs from a diverse range of community members.

Plan and Support the Facilitation of Capacity Development Activities:

• Together with Advocacy Manager and Health Governance Manager, develop and implement capacity building approaches and activities, including for accountable leadership, good governance, and other technical and operational capacity needs.
• Keep good relationships with local authorities and other beneficiaries/participants of the capacity development activities.
• Manage logistical and financial aspect of the activities and set-up the working environment for successful capacity developments and trainings.
• In collaboration with the M&E Officer, ensure the monitoring of the trainings.

Health System Strengthening:

• Conduct a thorough capacity and gap analyses of State, Municipal, and Local level health actors to better understand where and how the project can support health system strengthening.
• In collaboration with the Mubi-based health team, develop action plans to respond to gaps identified.
• And all other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to:  Advocacy Manager, based in Maiduguri
• Position directly supervises:  n/a
• Indirect Reporting: Governance Coordinator, based in Maiduguri

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: Supply Chain and Finance
• External: Service provider, Traditional and Community Leaders, Local Government Authorities, Government Ministries/Agencies

Qualifications

• Over two years of professional humanitarian/development experience; Experience in capacity building and conducting trainings required.
• Experience with community engagement and participatory processes. Knowledge of disaster risk management concepts a plus.
• Experience with health system strengthening programming highly preferred.
• Strong presentation skills and writing ability.
• Strong interpersonal skills, autonomy, proactivity, and solutions orientated.
• Able to solve complex problems through a reciprocal and consultative approach
• Prior experience working with government actors and/or community leaders is required.
• Strong program/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills.
• You have a solid work ethic and desire to work every single day for the improvement of the lives of the people we serve.
• Excellent relationship-building, interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively represent IRC at forums and with donors.
• Strong negotiation skills essential with experience in conflict resolution desirable.
• You have a positive attitude towards work, and are a self-starter, highly motivated, inspired, and collaborative.
• You promote teamwork, thrive in a multi-cultural environment, are flexible, and handle pressure with professional grace.
• You don't shy away from a challenge and are excited by the idea of piloting a new way of working in humanitarian contexts.
• You are patient with difficult processes and take time to collect feedback even if it slows down your work plan.
• Fluency in spoken and written English and Hausa is required. Additional fluency in Kanuri is preferred.
• Full professional competency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

Working Environment:

• The IRC is a team-work environment and requires a person who will work with colleagues from many cultural backgrounds, understand and contribute to the organization’s goals, work well as a member of a group/team, and respect the thoughts and opinions of others in the team. The security situation in North East Nigeria continues to be volatile with security level currently at 3 (orange), though subject to change