Hivos East Africa is looking for a junior project officer (JPO) who will play a critical role in the implementation of the Rural Women Cultivating Change program in Kenya. Are you enthusiastic in gender, agriculture or climate justice and eager to use your skills and talent in amplifying the voices of rural women?
As the JPO, you will work closely with the program officer in a range of tasks, from project implementation to supporting the lobby and advocacy goals of the program. In addition, you will support program in the delivery of its administrative and logistical aspects. The officer will have the overall responsibility of assisting the program on the planning and execution of all administrative tasks. The JPO will make necessary follow-up on administrative matters involving various project activities.
Job context
Implemented in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia, the Rural Women Cultivating Change project aims to shift the cultural attitudes and structures that limit young and adult rural women (particularly women small holder farmers, female heads of households (FHHs) and survivors of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV)) allowing them to take control of their own lives, advocate for themselves and others and take leadership within communities and beyond. Using gender transformative, participatory agroecological, women leadership approaches and reinforcing interventions aimed at preventing SGBV, the project focuses on the intersection between women’s rights and climate adaptation in order to better support sustainable and equitable resource management, agricultural production and access to markets. It further alleviates poverty through reduced personal and collective vulnerability to social, economic and climate shocks.
The project targets remote rural regions of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania where farming is the primary occupation and principal use of women’s labour, to undertake work at the intersection of women’s rights and climate adaptation. The Project targets a number of areas, including North Wollo Zone of Amhara Region in Ethiopia; Baringo, Nakuru, Laikipia and Kitui counties in Kenya; and Morogoro and Gairo District Councils of Morogoro, Babati and Mbulu District Councils of Manyara and Mwanga and Same District Councils of Kilimanjaro Regions in Tanzania. The Project works in collaboration with women’s rights organizations (WROs) and agricultural based organizations to support climate adaptation, increase food security, enhance gender equality, reduce sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and improve livelihoods for rural women.
Responsibilities
Program implementation
- Contribute to planning and implementing the RWCC work plan, including supporting lobby, advocacy and policy influencing efforts at national and county levels.
- Represent Hivos in relevant project related meetings for strategic positioning.
Assist in preparation, filing, compilation and dissemination of documents relating to the program.
Operations and logistics
- Maintains logistical and administrative activities and corresponding systems for internal and external communication.
- Organizes and keeps track of meetings, organizes periodic and one-off events.
- Performs a variety of logistics tasks such as organizing travel and events.
- Processing information: is in charge of entering program-related financial and other data and processing it into standard systems.
- Assist in the documentation (financial, administrative and technical), archiving and distribution of documents on P drive.
- Provides administrative support as needed in implementation, monitoring and evaluation, in collaboration with the rest of the team and shares possible synergies.
- May conduct research, compile data and prepare papers for consideration and presentation.
- Ensure timely external communication and support in relationships with consultants or external facilitators.
Procurement support
- The JPO is responsible for the following-up of the deliverables and payments of the consultancy contracts implemented.
- Supporting program team in procuring of goods and services such as consultancies, flights, accommodation and conference
- Reviewing, preparing and ensuring approval of contracts, invoices, purchase requisition and other documentation necessary for the relevant processes.
- Perform other relevant duties as requested by the Program Officer or Program Manager
Relevant experience
- 3 years professional experience in program coordination or management of women’s rights, human rights, agriculture or related fields.
- Clear understanding of gender, human rights, and issues surrounding empowerment of women and girls in climate justice and food security.
- Demonstrable experience in handling administrative and operational aspects of a program.
- A proactive, open-minded team player with a positive attitude, who enjoys working in a dynamic environment.
- Supportive of the goals of Hivos and alignment of the Hivos Values.
- Familiar with working with financial administrative systems.
- Skilled in organizing and planning.
- Experience in supporting the organization of events, preferably also online.
- Ability to think and act creatively and ‘outside the box’ to solve problems
- High level of integrity.
About Hivos
Hivos is an international development organization guided by humanist values. Together with citizens and their organizations, we aim to contribute towards just, inclusive and life sustaining societies where people have equal access to opportunities, rights and resources. We work in partnership with others in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America on three impact areas: Civic Rights in a Digital Age; Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Climate Justice.