Ward Development Assistant

Job Title: Ward Development Assistant

Reports to: Officer – Sub County/Cluster

Location: Sololo/Uran/Obbu, Turbi/Bubisa, Maikona, North Horr, Dukana, Illeret, Loiyangalani, Laisamis/Loglogo, Korr/Ngurnit Wards

Contract details: Fixed Term contract

Job Purpose:

To develop capacity for community led- development and resilience through community initiatives, and influencing decision making and accountability in service delivery at village and ward level governance structures.

Main duties & Responsibilities:

Technical:

Community mobilization and engagement

• Map out every six months communities located within the ward
• Conduct community entry and mobilization in target Programme areas within the ward
• Engage various target groups including men, women, youth ,persons with disability among other vulnerable groups to promote equity and inclusion
• Conduct training and skills reinforcements of Community Facilitators (CFs)/Community Resource Persons (CRPs) on community conversations approaches
• Provide backstopping to CFs/CRPs in facilitating community dialogues using CC technique(including couple’s dialogue approach)
• Facilitate communities to identify project beneficiaries, validation of the beneficiaries and supervise flow of project benefits to selected beneficiaries
• Coordinate the utilization of community dialogues in community organized structures (Organized community groups) within the ward

Basic service delivery and accountability

• Facilitate communities(including service delivery committees) to conduct dialogues to address socio-economic barriers that hinder service delivery and access
• Facilitate communities to develop, document and implement action plans to enhance service delivery and access
• Facilitate communities to develop village/Ward and sector plans informed by community’s needs and priorities
• Interact on a monthly basis with relevant ward level officers in charge of County government basic service provision including: water, agriculture, livestock production, animal health, human health, public health, environment and natural resource management amongst others
• Link communities to service providers for technical direction/advise during concern identification, action planning and budgeting
• Facilitate communities to organize and hold stakeholders forums for harmonized service delivery
• Provide back stopping to communities to conduct social accountability/audits of services and development of improvement plans
• Provide backstopping to communities to identify service delivery gaps and develop petitions

Citizen participation

• Work closely with Citizen participation officers to sensitize communities on their political, social and economic rights and role and provide timely information on citizen participation events.
• Work with the village and Ward Administration to facilitate communities to identify development priorities and develop plans
• Facilitate communities to participate in County and National Government decision making processes – annual planning and budgeting, policy development, validation and approval forums etc
• Link communities with respective Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) to lobby for community priorities integration in annual County plans

Community resilience

• Facilitate communities to identify risks/hazards and develop community early warning and early actions including community seasonal/risk mitigation calendar and develop/implement disaster risk reduction and contingency plans
• Facilitate communities to participate effectively in disaster preparedness and response

Monitoring, reporting and documentation

• Collect data on community engagement including community action plans, petitions and databases
• Monitor dialogue process, documentation, implementation of action plans and follow up on petitions
• Identify change, successes, best practices in community engagement process and report to the Officer for documentation and development of case studies

Coordination

• Participate in coordination and stakeholders’ forums e.g. sector meetings, International days commemoration etc.

Responding to Emergencies:

• Participate and contribute as necessary towards Concern’s Emergency response as and when necessary
• Comply with Concern’s health, safety and security guidelines during emergencies

Accountability:

• promote and ensure compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) commitments and quality criteria
• ensure that all staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Concern’s Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that information about Concern’s commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities
• ensure that the CRM is functional, effectively implemented and accessible in all programmes’ locations, enabling safe reporting of both programmatic and sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns ensure that complaints are welcomed, managed and responded to in a timely, fair and appropriate manner; ensure that sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns, are handled with utmost confidentiality and that the safety of the complainants and those affected is prioritized at all stages.

Person : Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Diploma in community development, social sciences or any other relevant field
• 2 years’ experience in implementing community based projects
• Excellent experience in community mobilization and engagement using participatory approaches including gender appropriate approaches, Community Conversations approach is an added advantage
• Must have a working knowledge of Project Cycle Management
• Strong written and oral communication skills in Kiswahili and English
• Strong analytical, negotiating and networking skills
• Experience riding motorcycle is preferable.

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Concern’ is the trading name of ‘Concern Worldwide’, a company limited by guarantee, registered number 39647; registered charity number CHY 5745, registered in Ireland, registered address is 52-55 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Follow Concern online: www.concern.net