Deputy Team Leader at International Alert: (Deadline 31 December 2022)

Title of post

Deputy Team Leader

Reports to

Team Leader (Functional manager, based in DRC) and Programme Manager (hierarchical manager, based in Rwanda)

Management responsibility

Functional management of senior project officer (based in DRC); functional and hierarchical management of senior project officer (based in Rwanda)

Job location

Kigali – Rwanda

Grade

2.2

Duration of contract

1 year with possibility of renewal

Type of position

National

Project Summary: Strengthening Access to Justice in the Great Lakes Region – Uhaki bila Mipaka

International Alert is leading a consortium with two national organizations, iPeace and Pole Institute, to implement a regional project on Strengthening Access to Justice in the Great Lakes Region – Uhaki bila Mipaka, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Kigali. It is being implemented in both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda around 5 border points. It has started on December 1^st, 2022 and has a four-year duration.

The project seeks to contribute to improved access to justice to reduce tensions and strengthen stability in the Great Lakes Region. In order to do that, the project will respond to the immediate needs of cross-border populations while working to improve strategic structural problems through the promotion of dialogue and regional cooperation. The project will directly improve access to justice by equipping cross border communities with the information and access they need as well as providing them with legal aid support and building the capacities of actors in the justice sector. The project will also work with authorities and civil society locally to find mechanisms to efficiently resolve disputes and support authorities at the border who face these challenges every day. At the highest level, the project will work with governments and policy makers from both countries to create a space for dialogue which will be a critical first step towards the harmonization of justice related policies and improved cooperation in the long term. The project combines improved governance of justice with peacebuilding, building of social cohesion and conflict prevention in the Great Lakes region.

Job purpose

The Deputy Team Leader assists the Team Leader in management of technical and programmatic aspects of the EKN-funded ‘Strengthening Access to Justice in the Great Lakes Region – Uhaki bila Mipaka’ project. The aim of this post is to oversee implementation of the project activities and to provide technical assistance to the team leader to establish and maintain effective and adequate communications and coordination with other actors working on access to justice in Rwanda and the region.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Contribute to the effective management and implementation of the project

• Assist the Team Leader in the management of the project and act as a technical adviser of the project in the domain of access to justice on Rwanda’s selected borders with DRC;
• Assist the Team Leader in the planning and organisation of activities on the side of Rwanda;
•  In collaboration of the Senior Project Officer, be the project focal point for all activities being implemented in Rubavu, Rusizi, and Bugarama;
•  Accompany partner organisations in the planning and implementation of activities against the workplan and the project strategy in collaboration with the Team Leader and ensure that partners adhere to the terms and conditions of their contracts on the project;
•  Provide technical assistance to staff employed by partner organisations and accompany them in the implementation of activities, ensuring that the project’s results are sustainable, that partners’ capacities are strengthened and that the project has greater impact;
•   Plan trainings in collaboration with the Team Leader and participate in their execution;
• Work closely with the Team Leader to accomplish all relevant activities pertaining to the project.

2.  Support the Team Leader in the establishment and implementation of appropriate systems and procedures for the implementation of the project and lead on some elements of strategy development

•  Ensure that project partners respect and apply all of Alert’s administrative, logistical and financial systems, as well as those of the donor, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands, and respect the laws of Rwanda, specifically labour laws;
• Coordinate and organise activities using a community and participatory approach to achieve the expected results of the project;
• Actively contribute to the development of the project’s strategy and activities to ensure that these are conflict and gender sensitive, for example:
• Ensure that the principles of inclusion, representation and participation of women, youth and people with disability are taken into account in the implementation of every activity in the project;
• Ensure that gender and conflict sensitive approaches are integrated into all activities through the participatory identification of beneficiaries
•   Technically accompany the staff of partner organisations as they implement project activities to ensure that these contribute to the overall objectives of the project and are aligned with the project strategic direction;
•  Undertake regular security, political and social analysis in the cross-border regions and share this analysis with the Team Leader, together with recommendations on how to adapt project’s activities/strategy to the context.

3. Planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation

• Oversee partners programmatic evaluations and identify potential capacity building needs of partners, make clear recommendations to the Team Leader, organise appropriate training sessions that respond to these needs.
• Develop and oversee implementation of the localization plan with partners together with the project team
• Collect and give constructive feedback on partner organisation’s activity reports and develop reports based on the context and other data collected from the field; submit these reports to the Team Leader in a timely fashion.
• In collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation team, oversee data collection of partner and the project team against the indicators of the project; make recommendations on how project activities and strategy can be adapted based on the results of these indicators. Ensure data collected is reliable.
• Participate in and accompany different types of evaluation undertaken during the course of the project.
• Participate in the development of the annual project report in collaboration with the team.

4. Contribute to the internal and external coordination of the project, and strategic advocacy activities  

• In collaboration with the Team Leader, set up governance structure for the project, and ensures practical relationship building and coordination with consortium partners
•  Ensure good relations and cooperation with state authorities at sector, district, and national levels, with different communities and more specifically project’s beneficiaries and other key actors to the project to ensure that they engage actively in the access to justice processes implemented as part of the project.
•  In collaboration with the Team Leader, identify and support the organisation of strategic advocacy activities and initiatives

5. Contribute to wider organizational goals within Alert

• Participate actively in the management processes of the Rwanda team, including team meetings, sharing of information, context analysis, and strategy development.
•  Participate and contribute to other Africa Programme activities and events in the Great Lakes and beyond, including regional meetings, and also promote cross-learning and help create linkages between different country programmes, particularly between Rwanda and DRC.
•   Stay up to date with and participate in wider organizational discussions and processes e.g. by attendance at Home Weeks, strategic thinking, the development and pursuit of thematic programming, representation and communications.
•  Contribute to advocacy, communications and networking activities, as and when necessary.

Travel requirements

The job is based in Kigali with regular travel to the other main operational project offices located in Goma and Bukavu, and project areas (5 targeted borders between DRC and Rwanda). Occasional regional and international travel to participate in advocacy events and to take part in Alert’s annual meeting

Person specification

 Essential requirements

• Hold an advanced degree in Law, Public Administration, Political Science, international relations or a similar domain.
• At least 7 years of professional experience in programme management (strategy, planning, reflection, implimentation, monitoring, evaluation).
• Technical expertise on access to justice and proven experience on access to justice programming.
•  Knowledge and experience of gender and conflict sensitive approaches and its practical application
•   Be capable of cultivating and maintaining open, non-discriminatory and professional relationships with communities, public administration and representatives of other organisations implementing projects in the same cross border regions targeted by the project.
•   Demonstrate strong professional integrity and respect the principles of the organisation. Have a commitment to equality and justice, and a high degree of loyalty to the organisation.
• Demonstrable capacity to work in an objective and apolitical manner.
• Be capable of developing good interpersonal relationships and of working in a multi-disciplinary and diverse organisational culture.
•  Excellent Kinyarwanda, French and English language skills.
•  Know how to respect deadlines, strong capacity to organise workloads and in managing multiple urgent priorities concurrently.
•  Knowledge of the following programmes: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the internet.
• Capacity to work under pressure and with autonomy while still in line with the ethics of the organisation and in maintaining a high quality of work.
• Capable and willing to take proactive decisions and to adapt when necessary.
• Capacity to manage conflicts tactfully, strong capacity in communicating diplomatically with others and in facilitation.
• Capacity to respond to needs in an independent manner and with a minimum of technical supervision.

Desirable requirements

• Substantial professional experience in the supervision of justice-related community projects.
• Have skills and direct experience of facilitating various training workshops and the development of training modules.
• Be methodical and pay attention to detail, know how to organise your work, especially in respecting priorities and deadlines.
• Have direct experience in the implementation of projects that use a gender-based approach.
• Be practical, know how to identify problems and propose alternative positive solutions that benefit all concerned and fall within deadline.
• A good understanding of written and spoken of regional languages such as Swahili.
• Have experience in developing written activity reports related to project implementation.
•  Excellent knowledge of other Microsoft office products and a good understanding of IT.
•  Commitment to the approach and values of Alert, in particular in responding to the needs of populations affected by conflict
•   Ability to think strategically