Governance Advisor (Young Professional)

CARE Nederland is looking for a

Young Professional* - Governance Advisor 

based in South Sudan 

* This Young Professional position will be financed by a donor who has created a special Youth Zone Programme. This Youth Zone Programme is only accessible for people with an EU-nationality. The maximum age allowed for this programme is 32 years when applying for the position.

Duration: approximately 10 to 12 months, starting as soon as possible

Introduction

CARE Nederland (CARE NL) in collaboration with CARE South Sudan is in the process of implementing a learning trajectory (LWT) on governance, financed by PSO[1]. In this process we aim to generate truly creative and innovative learning, together with CARE country offices (COs) and partners, which can strengthen governance processes in (post) conflict countries in relation to peace building. Secondly, we are interested in the relationship between governance and peace building. This learning trajectory will be implemented together with CARE South Sudan, the Regional Management Unit (RMU), local partners and PSO. The Governance Advisor will play a lead technical role in this learning trajectory.

Through the CARE South Sudan country office, CARE NL works on increasing the capacity of local non-governmental organizations and grassroots activists on the themes governance and peace building. Our capacity building work is aimed at increasing the knowledge of local Civil Society Organization’s (CSO), as well as increasing their ability to integrate these issues in their programming. This is part of CARE’s efforts to achieve sustainability of its programmatic results and of the results achieved by its local partners.

Job description

The Young Professional will be a crucial part of a CO team (specifically based within the Program Quality and Learning Unit). This is partially because local CSOs do not have sufficient logistic capacity to house new staff, and partially due to the fact that the Young Professional would work with different CSOs and will therefore need to remain an impartial policy-broker between them. The Young Professional will also be part of a larger network of Young Professionals, which will be coordinated by a Governance Advisor, based in the Netherlands. The Young Professional will provide technical support to the CO team throughout the whole research and programming process – working with selected local CSOs and strengthening their capacities; ensuring that lessons learnt are translated into the programming of the local CSOs and CARE office; playing a key role in the refinement of the overall governance strategy of the local organizations and CARE team; liaising and reporting to other CARE International members, ensuring the experiences and knowledge of local CSOs are translated into CARE’s broader governance agenda. The Young Professional will report directly to the Program Quality & Learning Coordinator of CARE South Sudan.

Location

The Young Professional will be based at the CARE office in Juba (South Sudan) with frequent travels to the program areas of CARE South Sudan. When the Young Professional is in the program areas, he/she will be supervised by the Programme Coordinator of that area.

Tasks

Job Responsibility #1: Governance -40 %

• Assess governance capacity of the Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and NGOs that CARE works with via leading the technical process of regular contextual analysis for the LWT;
• Design and implement a tailored capacity building program for each of the impact groups, comprising of training, workshops, technical assistance and governance strategy design and implementation;
• Develop capacity of local organisations on drawing lessons from context analysis and other action research;
• Update staff and partners continuously on evolving insight on governance to enhance conceptual clarity and awareness of CARE’s and others’ best practices in governance programming;
• Provide input for joint monitoring tool kit for governance and apply it. Support local organizations until they are confident and committed to apply them also in the future;
• Provide input to develop joint sets of indicators on governance and apply it. Support local organizations until they are confident and committed to apply them also in the future;
• Organize periodic refresher training for CARE and partners on governance;
• Provide input for the development of amethodology for context analysis on governance;
• Facilitate implementation of the context analysis. The analysis will be done as much as possible jointly by CARE NL, COs and local partners. During the process reflection sessions will be organised to capture learning on the process;
• Take part in/ facilitate selected (action) research on relevant themes;
• With the input from local partners draft and implement pilots on governance,in those areas where the context analysis and earlier more general research on governance points out interesting room for innovation and joint learning;
• Make a translation from lessons learnt in context analysis and governance research already carried out, to joint programmes and the Programme-shift in CARE COs;
• Participate in the development of project proposals and ensure that governance issues are identified and included in their design and implementation.

Job Responsibility #2:  Integrating governance and peace building – 40%

• Support to local partner organisations and CARE staff in improving the quality and integration of governance programming specifically in program/project DME and capacity building initiatives in conflict-affected contexts;
• Assist local partner organisations in linking to international networks with regards to peacebuilding;
• Preparation of guidance materials on the integration of peacebuilding in field programming in conflict-affected contexts;
• Preparation of a set of indicators that measure the integration of peacebuilding in field programming in conflict-affected contexts;
• Assist local partners and CARE South Sudan in integrating peacebuilding in their analysis and programming framework including strategic plan and p2P.

Job Responsibility #3:  Communication and PCM 20 %                      

• Generate and share activity report within the CO as related to governance;
• With the input from local partners and the CARE South Sudan CO share information with other Young Professionals, other CO’s in the region, the RMU and local partners in other countries through the official communication channels;
• Attend and co-organize regular workshops and conferences on related subjects;
• Co-organize exchange visits between the different countries in the region;
• Attend all general team meetings and give occasional presentations of the progress of the LWT to other staff during these meetings;
• Responsible for the (financial) administration of the LWT. Including planning, reporting and documentation. Budget holder is the Program Quality and Learning Coordinator;
• Responsible for monitoring of the LWT (using outcome mapping).

Expected results

• CARE South Sudan and selected local partners have increased their learning on governance and have included governance initiatives in their programming and program-shift. Ensure the mainstreaming of governance;
• CARE South Sudan and local partner organizations have improved their skills on how to conduct context analyses and have conducted joint (action) research on governance through knowledge development; knowledge application; knowledge sharing; and knowledge maintenance;
• CARE South Sudan and local partner organizations have jointly and successfully implemented pilots on governance through the LWT initiative;
• CARE South Sudan and local partners have improved the capacity to integrate peacebuilding in field programming in conflict-affected contexts;
• Guidance materials on the integration of governance in field programming in conflict-affected context are prepared; these materials may include guidelines, technical briefs, and capacity building modules. The materials that will be prepared will de defined in discussion between CARE South Sudan, CARE NL and local partners;
• A set of indicators that measure the integration of governance in field programming in conflict-affected context is prepared;
• CARE South Sudan has received support on good quality governance based analysis and programming framework.

Requirements

• EU-nationality (see note * in the first paragraph of this vacancy text);
• Maximum age of 32 years when applying for this position (see note * in the first paragraph of this vacancy text);
• University degree in a relevant educational background, with expertise in capacity development of local organizations;
• Minimum of 2 year and maximum of 3 years of experience within the NGO sector, preferably working on governance;
• At least 6 months field experience, preferably in a post-conflict setting and/ or working with (a) local organization(s);
• Experience with Project Cycle Management;
• Fluent in written and spoken English;
• Basic knowledge of French is a preference;
• Culturally sensitive;
• Strong analytical and facilitation skills;
• Good communication skills, good writer;
• Strong personality, self-starter, team player;
• Willing to live in an isolated area, with basic living conditions;
• Very flexible attitude;
• Can handle stress well;
• Motivated, has an ambition to build a career in development cooperation.

How to apply
Please send your motivation letter (maximum 1 page) and CV in English to Ms Simone Langenkamp of CARE Nederland by e-mail: recruitment@carenederland.org  

Please mention the name of the position (Young Professional South Sudan) in the subject line.

The deadline for applying is 27 April 2011. Please note that CARE Nederland may proceed with the application procedure before this date if suitable candidates have applied.

We do not appreciate acquisition in reference to this advertisement.