Program Officers (Yobe) at Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges. Its experts focus on building inclusive educational systems, transitioning communities from conflict to peace, developing sustainable economic growth, engaging youth, promoting transparent elections and more. Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Officer

Job ID: 2021-1866
Location: Yobe
Category: Program Management
Slot: 2 Opening

Overview
Creative Associates International Inc. is a dynamic and fast-growing professional services firm that specializes in international development in the areas of education, democratic transitions and stabilization in post-conflict environments. Based in Washington, DC, the firm has a field presence in 30 countries worldwide with a strong and diverse portfolio that includes global contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other clients including the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense. The firm has earned a solid reputation among its clients and missions worldwide and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contracted Creative Associates International to implement the Northeast Connection activity to strengthen the resilience of communities vulnerable to violent extremist infiltration and conflict. By targeting communities not yet under the control of violent extremist organizations (VEOs), this activity will seize the opportunity to mitigate the grievances that make communities vulnerable to violent extremism, while building social cohesion within and across communities in northeast Nigeria.

In addition to helping northeastern Nigerians create a stronger foundation against the violent extremist and conflict threats, the activity is designed to develop local capacity to respond to emerging threats. In order to enable flexible and adaptive management of the activity in a complex environment, the activity includes a focused effort on research and analysis of the threats and coordination around programmatic opportunities and responses.

Job Summary

• The Program Officer (PO) will be responsible for designing and implementing a portfolio of small grants in a specific geographic or thematic area, to be determined by the Program Manager.  The PO will work with in close collaboration with Senior Management (including USAID) and community stakeholders and contribute to identifying, prioritizing and designing activities that will respond to community development priorities in order to further the objectives of the Connection program.
• The PO, working with a small multidisciplinary team and will be charged with oversight of project activities to ensure that all tasks are completed within timeframe and budget parameters defined during project design. The PM will be tasked with the programmatic and administrative closeout of all activities, including final reporting, request and delivery of goods and services (in concert with procurement staff), disbursement of funding (in concert with finance staff), and disposition of any project inventory.
• The PO will serve as a point of contact for local-level actors and community stakeholders to ensure that all activities fit within a strategic and coherent portfolio. The PO will be expected to report daily to and receive guidance from Senior Management.
• The PO will be expected to liaise with various levels of stakeholders, including government officials, civil society organizations and community actors; the selected candidate must be able to maintain good relations with all associated parties.
• In addition, the Program Officer will be expected to collaborate with Program Managers, Program Officers, and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) unit to share lessons learned and jointly design program strategy.
• The Program Officer will report to the Program Managers. This position will be based in Yobe.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the oversight of a portfolio of projects, under the close supervision of the Program Manager.
• In concert with senior management and Program Manager advise on programmatic design of new projects, including identification of potential local partners and beneficiaries, monitor implementation to ensure timely completion and adherence to budget and administrative and programmatic closeout throughout the portfolio of activities.
• Take an active role in the program’s learning process by feeding information in a timely manner on political and security developments in the PM’s target area.
• Develop activity-level Theory of Change (TOC), thinking strategy about the contribution of each activity to the overall program objective.
• Coordinate with Government of Nigeria (GoN) officials, community stakeholders and civil society actors to ensure coherent and strategic programming as part of a unified project endeavor.
• Establish community-level project oversight committees to ensure community buy-in of activities.
• Help set up transparent management and oversight mechanisms and work to incorporate as wide a range of project beneficiaries, GoN and other important stakeholders as possible.
• Utilize program database for project development and management, including updating information on projects and activities per week.
• Comply with all Creative and USAID procedures and policies with regards to ethics and compliance, grants management, HR, finance, procurement, operations and security.
• Perform other tasks, as assigned.

Qualifications

• University degree in a related field is required
• At least 2 years of general work experience is required.
• Ability to work under short deadlines and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Attention to detail and the ability to function well in a team.
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Experience in working with communities to implement grassroots development projects preferred.
• Prior experience in grants management with international-funded projects is highly desirable.
• Proficiency at using Microsoft office: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc. is required.
• Fluency in Hausa and / or Kanuri is required.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online