Plan International recruits 01 Project Officer

Project Officer (National Position)

Location: Ganta, NI, LR

Company: Plan International

Plan International is a leading girls and children’s rights organization. Plan strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We motivate our people and partners to:

empower children, young people and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion and vulnerability

drive change in practice and policy at local, national and global levels through our reach, experience and knowledge of the realities children face

work with children and communities to prepare for and respond to crises, and to overcome adversity

support the safe and successful progression of children from birth to adulthood

Plan operates in 77 countries around the world. It brings its support to millions of children, their families and communities, mainly in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and South America. It implements projects in the Health, Water and Sanitation, Education, Child Protection, Sustainable Livelihood, and cross-cultural communication. Child sponsorship forms the basis of our work with children. Worth to mention, Plan International global ambition is to support 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive!

As part of its commitment to support Plan International Federation reach 100 million girls so to learn, lead, decide and Thrive, Currently Plan International Liberia is developing a new country strategy which will focus on reaching 1.4 million girls and children all over the country and with a strong commitment to work with all partners at various levels to put an end to early marriage and Female Genital mutilation (FGM)!

Moreover, Plan International Liberia is committed to ensure that Child Protection and Gender transformative practices are key integral part of all its work including the organizational structure and staffing.  Accordingly, women are strongly encouraged to apply for this post!

Summary of the position:

 Reporting to the governorate Program Unit Manager (PUM), the Project Officer (PO) is entitled to facilitate and monitor the implementation of Plan’s programs in tandem with the approved annual plan of the program unit and the overall country strategy of Plan International Liberia. Through working together with the PU’s leadership team, the PO retains final accountability for timely and quality delivery of Plan’s programs ensuring that they are significantly contributing to lasting and positive changes in the lives of disadvantaged girls, children and local communities.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Leadership role in the PU

Work together with Plan staff and project stakeholders in developing activity plans, reports, and other monitoring and implementation tasks.

Represent Plan in a “front line” role, effectively and efficiently communicating the PU’s programs objectives, activities and methodology to the relevant stakeholders.

Program Implementation

Facilitate the implementation of the PU’s programs within the communities ensuring that they contribute to improving the lives of the most marginalized girls and children.

Facilitate, guide and monitor the implementing partners and provide continuous feedback to the PUM.

Develop the required community friendly tools enabling the marginalized children and families to actively engage in all phases of the project cycle.

Develop the required reports and respond to the donor’s queries to inform quality programming.

Sponsorship

Follow-up and monitor sponsorship activities and communication through volunteers and ensure that sponsored families are actively participating in the program activities.

Ensure the quality implementation of the ten-commitments of sponsorship and in tandem with Plan International Liberia KPIs.

Ensure that the local community partners and volunteers are capable of delivering sponsorship communications with the maximum level of quality.

Home visits

• Conduct home visits to Sponsored families as the approved home visit plans approved by the Program Unit Manager.

Facilitate the quality and timely response to all NOIs and in line with the SP approved guidelines.

Networking and Influencing!

Create opportunities for community based informal groups to form networks/ coalitions with the overall purpose of influencing local decision makers and lead their own development.

Budget management and asset management

Team up with the PUM and other PU staff in developing the budget for the POs within the relevant communities.

Develop a detailed action plan including the burn rate of the planned activities under a specific project.

Ensure that Plan’s assets donated to project stakeholders and local partners are well-utilized.

Monitoring and verification

Monitor the correct implementation of project activities, including distributions, renovations, training, etc. and participate in verification exercises to validate that targets are being met.

Others:

Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Minimum Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge

A degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies or related discipline, or equivalent.

Understanding of community development principles and strategies including rights based programming.

Experience of project management.

Skills:

The incumbent must demonstrate the following skills:

Facilitation skills.

Report writing skills.

Good communication, presentation and problem solving skills.

Good level of English language.

Behaviours

Willingness to learn and work under stress.

Positive attitude and strong belief in empowering communities.

Strong commitment to children’s poverty and gender equality.

Positive attitudes, self- assertiveness and capacity to inspire others.

Decision making skills.

Influence and communication and able to communicate concerns to managers and teams

Striving for high performance: Plans and commits to deliver quality outputs in each aspect of their work.

Decision making and risk management: Sound judgment and decision making in complex situations, alerts others to risks inside and outside the programme.

 Behaviours (Plan International’s values in practice)

We are open and accountable

Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.

Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.

Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.

Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.

Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people.

We strive for lasting impact

Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.

Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.

Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.

Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.

Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.

Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.

Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential

We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace

We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Location:           Nimba County

Reports to:        Sponsorship Support Manager

Grade:                C1

Closing Date:    24th June 2019

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy.

As an international child centred community development organisation, Plan International is fully committed to promoting the realisation of children’s rights including their right to protection from violence and abuse. That means we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with.