IMPACT Deputy Country Coordinator at ACTED

ACTED has been committed since 1993, to immediate humanitarian relief to support those in urgent need and protect people’s dignity, while co-creating longer term opportunities for sustainable growth and fulfilling people’s potential. ACTED, headquartered in Paris, France is present in four continents and our teams intervene in 37 countries towards 14 million people, responding to emergency situations, supporting rehabilitation projects and accompanying the dynamics of development. Over 5,000 staff are dedicated to implementing and developing our projects.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: IMPACT Deputy Country Coordinator

Location: Borno

Country profile

In North East Nigeria (NEN), the ongoing crisis continues to have a profound impact on the population, leading to displacement both within and out of the region and high rates of unmet needs among internally displaced persons. The conflict additionally exacerbates prior unmet needs among non-displaced and host communities. While the primary driver of the conflict remains violent conflict, including ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province), JAS (Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad) and associated armed opposition groups (AOGs), other underlying factors, such as climate change, poverty, and disease outbreaks, exacerbate need and further complicate aid delivery.
Against the backdrop of this protracted crisis, the humanitarian situation in Northeast Nigeria remains one of the world’s most severe. Out of the Northeast’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) state’s total population of 13 million people, an estimated 7.9 million need humanitarian assistance. Borno state remains the epicentre of the crisis, containing over 80% of the region’s over 2 million internally displaced persons. Major incidents throughout 2019 have led to continued mass displacements and severely affected the provision of humanitarian assistance in the region.
The sudden influx of arrivals added strain to the existing infrastructure of the humanitarian community, resulting in high rates of unmet needs, overcrowding in camps, and exposure to protection risks for vulnerable groups. The congestion status of the camps has resulted in over 60% of IDPs residing outside of camps within host communities, further complicating service delivery. The intensity of needs within Maiduguri and the instability of the security situation in more remote regions has resulted in increased focus on populations in accessible areas; however, populations in the less accessible areas are presumed to have even greater needs.
These hard-to-reach areas are estimated to contain around 971,000 persons. Extraordinarily little is known about the specific conditions and needs of the populations living in these areas, but they are presumed to have little mobility, limited essential services, and little or no access to humanitarian aid. The same threats that severely limit the ability of humanitarian actors to conduct thorough assessments also immediately affect the population living in the region. REACH’s Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) assessments in the Hard-to-Reach areas of Borno state have found that people in these inaccessible areas lack of access to basic services including health facilities, access to livelihoods and have decreased access to foods, access to improved water sources and access to humanitarian services.
As such, the needs for evidenced-based Humanitarian Aid and information on populations in both accessible and inaccessible areas is paramount to a coordinated response. REACH has been present in Nigeria since 2017, providing a growing evidence base for humanitarian response planning through sectoral, multi-sectoral and area-based assessments as well as information management services. In 2019, REACH is looking to continue to provide the humanitarian community with relevant and reliable information to strengthen strategic programming and needs-based targeting in Northeast Nigeria.
As an initiative deployed in many vulnerable and crisis-affected countries, REACH is deeply concerned by the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on the millions of affected people we seek to serve. REACH is currently scaling up its programming in response to this pandemic, with the goal of identifying practical ways to inform humanitarian responses in the 20+ countries where we operate, including Nigeria.

Background on IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction, and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.
IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

About the Job

IMPACT is seeking an experienced candidate, who has previously designed and implemented mixed-methods assessments – ideally in a humanitarian setting.
The candidate should be capable of synthesizing qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial information to write clear, engaging reports conveying the results of the monitoring assessments.
The candidate should also be comfortable representing IMPACT and the consortium in multi-sector meetings and able to coordinate and liaise with external partners on technical issues.

Functions

Under the direct line management of the IMPACT Country Coordinator, the IMPACT Deputy Country Coordinator (DCC) is responsible for overseeing the operational and programme management of all IMPACT country projects.
The role will involve oversight of all Research Cycles (projects), line management of and project management support to all Project Focal Points (Research Managers and/or Senior Assessment staff), project and grants development and management, including liaison with and reporting to donors, operational oversight (financial, logistical, team capacity and team structures), Human Resource management (recruitment and staff welfare), external engagement (external representation, partnership development and maintenance), strategy development, through contextual understanding both of the crisis and the coordination structure, as well as upholding team morale. This person will join the IMPACT Nigeria Senior Management Team.
The position will be based in Maiduguri with travel to Abuja, current field locations and new project locations.
In his/her mission, the REACH Assessment Officer will be hosted by ACTED and will fall under the responsibility of ACTED’s Country Director and his/her delegates. S/he and will fully abide to ACTED’s Security, HR, Administration and Logistics rules and regulations.

The IMPACT Assessment Officer’s responsibilities include:

Oversight of all REACH Nigeria Research Cycles (Projects) and team management
Direct line management of all project focal points and bilateral management of Field Managers
Overseeing that Research Cycles are designed and implemented according to:
In line with the REACH Nigeria strategy and information needs of humanitarian actors.
IMPACT’s guidelines and quality standards, and in accordance with technical direction from Specialists
Lessons learned and input from relevant stakeholders (OCHA, clusters, working groups, NGO forums, etc.);
Realistic timelines identified through supporting project focal points in periodization and in setting and meeting deadlines by identifying staff capacity, operational requirements, and any bottlenecks.
Humanitarian milestones/external deadlines.
Keep track of progress and delays of all Research Cycles and ensure that delays or identified challenges for specific assessments are reported in writing and orally in a timely manner.
Ensuring that Project Focal Points are provided the programme management training, support, and resources required to manage their Research Cycles effectively and independently. This includes:
- Regular follow-up and check-ins to project plan and identify any challenges or bottlenecks.
- Supporting in building and maintaining external relationships as relevant.
- Supporting project focal points as line-managers in developing strong and healthy teams and maintaining staff welfare.
Provide Field Managers with support to oversee Field Teams as well as:
Identifying capacity together with Field Managers and delegating data collection tasks accordingly to Field Teams (Project Officers and Enumerators).
Ensuring the welfare of Field Teams, particularly regarding the security of enumerators inside Nigeria, in line with our internal Duty of Care policies.
Ensuring capacity building and skill identification of Field Teams.
Together with the Country Coordinator, ensure that all team members and hubs are kept up to date on key activities, plans, and achievements.
Review REACH Nigeria information products in coordination with the SMT, to ensure that products are of high quality, user-friendly, and effectively inform target audiences, before being sent to IMPACT HQ for validation.
Oversee Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) processes and support focal points in following these, including training FPs on M&E, ensuring that M&E matrices are being accurately filled out in a timely manner, and that M&E is used to inform future project priorities.
Together with the rest of the SMT, ensuring a good work environment and taking active steps to ensure staff welfare. This will include building strong professional relationship, having good visibility of issues in teams through regular check-ins, as well as maintaining a professional, respectful, and supportive tone in the office.
Under the supervision of the Country Coordinator and with support from project focal points, lead in the development of proposals.
Lead on donor reporting, including tracking of deadlines, delegation, and follow-up of tasks to project focal points, review, and writing of reports.
Ensure that M&E processes are followed and that findings are reported accurately.
Maintain REACH Nigeria’s strong relationships with its existing donors through regular meetings to brief on project progress, key developments in the Nigeria context and coordination structure, findings from assessments, concerns with regards to information gaps, as well as development of new grants as needed.
Under the supervision of the Country Coordinator, support with the creation of a fundraising strategy through strengthened engagement with new donors and partners.
Together with the Country Coordinator, support the REACH Finance Manager in budget follow-up, mainly through expense forecasting together with project focal points and REACH Field Managers.
Follow established processes to manage operational spending, particularly staff allocation tables and enumerator allocation tracking sheets. This will include seeking to improve processes and identify opportunities for strategic expansion of projects and coverage.
Support with training project focal points how to conduct expense forecasting and to engage in budget follow up.
Together with the FLATs team ensure logistics, financial, administration, security, and HR processes have been appropriately implemented and coordinated with the relevant ACTED departments
Together with the Country Coordinator, support the REACH Finance Manager in budget follow-up, mainly through expense forecasting together with project focal points and REACH Field Managers.
Follow established processes to manage operational spending, particularly staff allocation tables and enumerator allocation tracking sheets. This will include seeking to improve processes and also identify opportunities for strategic expansion of projects and coverage.
Support with training project focal points how to conduct expense forecasting and to engage in budget follow up.
Together with the FLATs team ensure logistics, financial, administration, security, and HR processes have been appropriately implemented and coordinated with the relevant ACTED departments
Together with the rest of the SMT, identify and address capacity issues across all REACH Nigeria teams and put in place mitigation measures should capacity issues arise.
Together with the Country Coordinator, identify needs for staff recruitment.
Drafting of ToRs together with the SMT and project focal points, liaison with HR at IMPACT Headquarters, conducting interviews, or supporting project focal points to conduct strong interviews.
Together with the Country Coordinator, ensure that appraisals, contract renewals, and recruitments is done in timely manner to minimize gaps on the team.
Conduct regular check-ins with project focal points, as well as with those managed by project focal points, to identify skills and interests on the team, as well as any issues influencing team/staff welfare.
Together with the Country Coordinator, maintain team morale, a strong team spirit, and monitor staff welfare, as well as ensure team cohesion across various country bases.
Under the supervision of the Country Coordinator, ensure that REACH Nigeria maintains its strong relationships and position as a key information actor in the Nigeria response through regular engagement with representatives within the Nigeria coordination structure, key NGO forums, and other IM actors.
Together with the Country Coordinator and project focal points when relevant, identify, develop and maintain partnerships with relevant actors, such as other IM actors, clusters/working groups, NGOs, and representatives of relevant NGO forums.
Support the Country Coordinator in REACH Nigeria advocacy work; largely revolving around raising awareness of key findings with regards to the humanitarian situation in Nigeria and situating these within wider conversations in the Nigeria response, in order to ensure that key findings are heard and used to inform response strategies and implementation, and that the response is based on reliable information.
Represent REACH and present findings at relevant key platforms/meetings.
Closely follow the social, economic, and political situation in Nigeria as well as humanitarian coordination developments and key issues in the Nigeria humanitarian response.
Together with the rest of the SMT, Country Coordinator, and Project Focal Points, regularly review REACH information products for relevance, user-friendliness, effectiveness, timeliness and to ensure that they sufficiently inform the target audience.
Together with the SMT, support the Country Coordinator in strategy development and implementation through conversations with external actors, context monitoring, and conversations with focal points.
Together with the Country Coordinator, ensure that project focal points are trained and able to situate their projects within the wider Nigeria context and support them in thinking strategically about their project.
The REACH DCC will maintain the strictest confidentiality on all data collected and related processes. He/she will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of any information and data belonging to IMPACT and its partners, or collected during his/her assignment with IMPACT.
The staff member is responsible for ensuring that all relations with the communities we work are conducted in a respectful and consultative manner. Due attention must be paid to ensuring that communities are adequately consulted and informed about REACH programme objectives, activities, beneficiary selection criteria, and methodologies. This is the responsibility of every REACH staff member.

Requirements and Qualifications

Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master’s degree in relevant discipline required.
At least 4 years of relevant working experience in humanitarian, development, or related settings, including at least 2 years in a programme management role.
Excellent team management, coordination, organisational and planning skills required, including ability to manage large workloads, oversee multiple teams and effectively meet deadlines, through an excellent ability to multi-task and prioritise;
Experience with external engagement (donors, partners and other key stakeholders) required;
Familiarity with the humanitarian coordination system required.
Understanding of processes involved in conducting assessments required;
Excellent communication and drafting skills required for effective reporting;
Excellent analytical skills required.
Experience managing multiple budgets an asset.
Ability to work independently and manage people remotely required;
Demonstrable ability to work under pressure and meet competing deadlines required;
Solution-oriented, flexible, and open-minded, including ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment required;
Good understanding of the Nigerian context – past experience in the region is desirable;
Fluency in English required.
Ability to operate Microsoft Word and Excel required.
A sense of curiosity, the drive to improve the humanitarian sector, and ability to see the big picture.