Project Manager at Search for Common Ground (Search)

Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict – away from destructive approaches towards cooperative solutions. With more than 600 staff worldwide, Search implements projects in more than 30 countries across the globe.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Project Manager

Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Duration: 6 months

Position Summary
Search for Common Ground seeks a professional, motivated, and creative Project Manager that will work with Search’s program teams to design and implement Search strategy for the project and ensuring that the project addresses real needs and contribute to the organization’s national, regional and global strategies. The position entails project logic and strategy development and management; team leadership and management; project development and management; financial, operations, and administration oversight for the project; security management; stakeholder and representation.

The position requires an experienced conflict transformation, peace building or development expert, conversant with project management cycles and compliance requirements of UN Women funded grants. The position holder must be a planner and experienced conflict and context analyst capable of steering various project activities in the Middle belt to respond to real peace, security and conflict transformation needs. The Project Manager must have good diplomacy skills and capable of negotiating with challenging stakeholders. The position holder advises the Country Director on project needs, strategies, staffing issues, local context and dynamics.

This position holder will share his/her time between Maiduguri and Yobe with visits to the field. S/he will work under the direct supervision of the Head of Office NE. The position holder will supervise State project coordinator, Project Officers, and interns.

About the Project

The overall objective of the UN Women project ‘Protection, Empowerment and Resilience Building (PERD) of Women in Borno and Yobe States’ is to empower communities and build resilience through promoting socio-economic behavior change to address the root causes of gender-based violence (GBV) and improve access to formal and informal judiciary systems, as well as economic empowerment opportunities for women.

As a component of this program, the proposed project has the following two specific outcomes, and related outputs and indicators:

Outcome 1: Women and girls’ safety increased through community-based actions to mitigate risks, and prevent and respond to incidents of GBV in Borno and Yobe states.
Outcome 2: Targeted women in Borno and Yobe states have improved livelihood and access to income generating activities (IGA).

Roles and Responsibilities

Develop and implement a costed work plan for the project;
Coordinate and arrange all logistics for various meetings, and workshops, including invitations, venue, participants travel and accommodation;
Work closely with the Design, Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning (DMEL) Manager to monitor and track project’s progress and draw out results, success stories and lessons learned;
Work closely with the Communications team to capture the stories and highlight the outcome and results of the project;
Work with the community theatre groups in the state to produce participatory community theatre production in each of the target LGAs
Ensure that the project meets all its deliverables on time and the expected results are of high quality;
Develop and nurture relations with relevant state, NGO, religious bodies and other stakeholders at the national, regional and state level;
Analyze the context within the scope of the project and provide inputs for regular context updates;
Writing and producing reports that include but not limited to context updates, monthly reports, quarterly reports, success stories, and case studies;
Provide support to SFCG’s other projects and programs where relevant and necessary
As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.

Qualifications
Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science, Arts, Development Studies or related field;

Required Experience:

At least 5 years of working experience with INGO on Women, Peace and Security area.
At least 3 years of professional experience in project cycle management, coordinating project activities, outreach, and/or advocacy;
Substantial experience working in the peace building and conflict transformation field, experience of inter-religious work will be an added advantage;

Other Relevant Requirements:

Proven interest & commitment to humanitarian and development principles and a demonstrable understanding of conflict/post conflict development contexts
Experience in data collection, analysis, and report writing
Excellent in communication (oral and written)
Ability to plan, organize work, communicate and reports effectively (both in writing and verbally)
Proven ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines; team player, effective communicator, successful negotiator, creative and analytical thinker, active learner, able to work in a multicultural environment
Excellent communication skills, calm, with a good sense of humour
Excellent sense of confidentiality
Excellent listening and empathy
Proven commitment to accountability practices
Ability to function effectively under stressful conditions such as heavy workloads, and deadlines.
Excellent Microsoft Office applications skills (Excel, Word, Power point, Emails, Skype, Web researchers).