Senior Project Officer/Senior Economic Strengthening Officer at Catholic Relief Services (CRS): (Deadline 5 May 2023)

Senior Project Officer/Senior Economic Strengthening Officer at Catholic Relief Services (CRS): (Deadline 5 May 2023)

Job Title: Senior Project Officer/Senior Economic Strengthening Officer

Department: Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD)

Band: 8

Reports To: Ngoma Cluster Coordinator

Country/Location: Rwanda (Ngoma District) with Field Trips 

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.

Country Background:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been working in Rwanda since 1961. CRS Rwanda’s key programing areas include agriculture, early childhood development, economic strengthening, justice and peace building. To achieve this, CRS collaborates with the government of Rwanda, donors, the Catholic church, private sector, and civil society organizations. CRS Rwanda has an annual budget of over $8 million USD and is comprised of over 80 staff.

Job Summary:

The Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) activity will promote nurturing and responsive care practices, especially in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and early childhood development (ECD) for caregivers and children. Specifically, the activity aims to improve health and nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and adolescents and improve infant and young child feeding practices. It also aims to address child development gaps and significant unmet physical rehabilitation and assistive technology (rehab/AT) and social inclusion needs for infants and children. The activity will focus on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages and district level capacity development, as well as address issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with Government of Rwanda priorities.

As member of INECD project team, you will facilitate the achievement of project objectives through coordinating and reporting on all Economic Strengthening and Food security project activities for the successful implementation of the CRS Saving Internal Lending Communities/Private Service Provider (SILC/PSP) model and food security activities. You will provide technical guidance and advice to staff and implementing partner(s) advancing Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable.

 Your coordination and relationship management skills will ensure that the project for which you are responsible applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve.

Roles and Key responsibilities:

• Organize and lead the implementation of all assigned project activities in SILC/PSP and food security related activities as outlined in the detailed implementation plan in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, and donor requirements.
• Collaborate with program staff at cluster level to ensure effective coordination of SILC/PSP and food security activities with other aspects of the program through different Components/ approaches planned to be implemented.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with implementing partners, and support partners to achieve program targets.
• Provide periodic training refresher pieces of training or additional pieces of training related to ES component throughout the life of the project.
• Support accountability through contributing on the evaluation of project activities and guiding partners in their efforts to build on project experiences. Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
• Provide effective supervision to support partners in SILC/PSP implementation including PSP certification process and establishment of PSP networks.
• Conduct field visits in the assigned district/cluster and make informative reports with specific recommendations on key gaps identified to ensure improvement of quality services delivery.
• Consolidate and compile project reports related to ES and Food security components in analyzing SILC data in the SAVIX MIS, agriculture data and narrative reports from partners at cluster level.
• Support partners to organize financial linkages between savings groups and formal financial institutions.
• With the Economic Strengthening Advisor and Agriculture advisor, represent CRS economic strengthening and agriculture programming to key stakeholders, including in the government, community, and among other economic strengthening and agriculture actors and counterparts in Rwanda.

Basic Qualifications Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred in the field of Business, Finance, Economics, Rural Development, agronomy, agricultural economics, Development Studies, or related field.
• Minimum of 4 years of work experience in project support, ideally in the field of microfinance, economic strengthening, Economic development, and livelihood.
• Must have 2-3 years of experience in organizing and facilitating Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) training or another community-based micro-finance model.
• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning, and community engagement.
• Demonstrated experience in training design, development of training curriculum, delivery and mentoring in subject matter relevant to this position.
• Staff supervision experience a plus.
• Experience in monitoring projects, collecting, and analyzing SILC data using Savings Groups Information Exchange- Management Information System SAVIX-MIS
• Experience with the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of food security activities.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Rwandan nationality

Required Languages – Working proficiency in English and Kinyarwanda. French is a plus.

Travel – The position is field based. Less than 10% time is anticipated for travel to Kigali.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners and with GoR/MOH, District officials.

• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented
• Attention to details, accuracy, and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning, and community engagement.
• Experience in monitoring projects, collecting, and analyzing SILC data using Savings Groups Information Exchange- Management Information System SAVIX-MIS
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

 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.

• Personal accountability
• Acts with Integrity
• Builds and Maintains Trust
• Collaborates with Others
• Open to Learn
• Strategic Mindset
• Develops and Recognizes Others
• Leads Change

 Supervisory Responsibilities: None

 Key Working Relationships:

 Internal: Economic Strengthening Advisor, Agriculture Advisor, Program staff at the cluster level, MEAL Advisor, Project DCOP, COP, and Finance staff

External:  INECD consortium and local partners technical staff, district staff, other Saving and agriculture practitioners in the project implementation area as well as financial services providers.

***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 and encourages applications from women, youth, and people with disabilities.

How to apply

Interested and qualified candidates should complete the attached application form, Self -Declaration Clause and submit them together with one page Cover letter plus updated CV (maximum three pages) all in/as one document – via email only to: [email protected] not later than Friday May 05, 2023, at 5:00pm.

Please, include below statement in your cover letter:

“By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics.”

Also include your full names and title “Senior Project Officer/Senior Economic Strengthening Officer” in the subject line. Due to anticipated high interest in this post and the expected number of applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Kigali April 22, 2022

Kumud Chandra 

Acting Country Representative

CRS/Rwanda Program

Attachment

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