System Strengthening Senior Officer at International Rescue Committee

Job Overview/Summary: The IRC seeks a system strengthening senior officer to support efforts to integrate system strengthening approaches across sectors in the Kenya country program to amplify the work done to enable change at varying levels, from better access to services and inclusive services within communities, to improved refugee-related policies and more targeted and effective service delivery from national, regional, and global actors. This will require expertise in strengthening the ability of people affected by conflict and crisis to have a voice in how decisions are made in their communities; enabling governments, civil society organizations, community representatives, and the IRC to respond to their voices and provide effective and inclusive services; and promoting communications between leaders and the people they represent so that actions are meaningful and lasting. As such, the role will entail identifying and strengthening, local governance, community engagement, conflict-sensitivity, government and Civil Society engagement and peacebuilding. This position will be based in Nairobi and report to the Governance and system strengthening coordinator. The ideal candidate for this position should have strong knowledge and experience in identifying and being able to work with the local governance, civil society organizations, county administration, Local partnerships and peacebuilding/social cohesion and civic engagement. 

Major Responsibilities:

• Support in the design of an integrated governance and system strengthening strategy in support of the country program strategic plan
• Be able to conduct assessments on the context, political economy and identify promising entry points and better inform program design and implementation.
• Develop curriculum for system strengthening and train teams on roll out and implementation
• Conduct needs assessments on the knowledge and capacity in the country office around systems strengthening, civil society strengthening, social accountability, conflict-sensitivity and other related governance themes and support the integration of those themes into sectoral programs.
• Work closely with the Governance and system strengthening coordinator, country program senior management team and the Technical Advisors in the Governance Unit on proposal development, programming and implementation approaches.

Programme Growth & Technical Oversight

• Support with proposal development within the Governance and system strengthening sector, including through designing, and writing quality proposals, while supporting system strengthening initiatives within other sectors and through partners by integrating governance approaches in proposals for sustainability of system strengthening activities.
• Support with county assessments, conducting partner capacity assessments and building the capacity of partners
• Provide technical oversight to the implementation of governance and system strengthening projects by supporting the implementation teams with developing their implementation strategies, procedures, work plans and donor requirements to achieve project deliverables.
• Manage and provide technical support to program staff, including through regular field visits, and develop their capacity through adequate training, mentoring, and technical support in strengthening programming across all contexts
• Assist in the development of annual program budgets and spending plans; provide technical support to the partners and field teams for the program’s budget management; and work with the grants unit to ensure all program activities are implemented in compliance with IRC and donor requirements.
• Provide technical support toward integration of governance and system strengthening indicators into project M&E frameworks and use of context and conflict-sensitivity indicators working closely with the MEAL team.
• Ensure the integration of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion into programs.

Coordination and Networking

• Represent IRC Kenya in external governance related forums; actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders in Kenya including government actors and civil society organizations
• Coordinate with other program teams to strengthen joint planning and implementation of projects, ensure integration across sectors, and identify gaps for system strengthening
• Coordinate with the Feedback & Compliant Response teams and strengthen quality of implementation and eventually identify areas of strengthening the feedback mechanisms
• Participate in the working groups across sectors to understand the larger context and use the knowledge to improve on IRC country program systems
• Work closely with the county government to have IRC’s representation in development of CIDPs.

Reporting Line: Governance and System Strengthening Coordinator

Working relationship:  Country Senior Management Team, Governance Unit, Grants, Technical Coordinators for programs, ProL, Operations and other support functions.

Qualifications

• Degree in Development studies, Policy, Governance, Economics, Public Administration, Business Administration, Law or Social Science or equivalent
• Minimum 3 years of experience in working with local partners, government, and civil society organizations
• Experience working in a humanitarian context or humanitarian projects
• Previous experience and capacity to conduct Political Economy and Conflict Analysis, engage Civil society and Government ministries

Skills and Competencies

• Strong program management skills, including assessment, planning, budgeting, and monitoring skills.
• Strong track record engaging civil society at various levels and diverse organizational stakeholders, developing and implementing appropriate and targeted learning and capacity sharing activities.
• Technical skills in systems strengthening, civil society strengthening, gender equality, peacebuilding/social cohesion, and civic engagement.
• Demonstrated strong proposal and report writing skills.
• Solid knowledge of standards for the technical area/field, operational processes and work and task flow.
• Ability to work with multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams
• Excellence in oral and written communication skills in English. Knowledge in spoken Swahili will be an added advantage
• Good organizational, interpersonal, time and people management skills.
• Relevant computer software skills (including, at a minimum, the standard applications in MS Office)
• Ability to plan work and work with minimal supervision and without compromising on deadlines or quality.