Program Officer - Economic Governance at Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa

Search closes: 28th September 2018

Reporting To: Program Manager: Economic Governance

Overall job purpose

The Program Officer’s core duties will entail provision of technical support in identification and fostering of effective grant making relations in a dynamic, creative and committed manner with a focus on OSIEA’s Economic Governance programming in the Eastern Africa region. The program officer will particularly focus on food security and land rights programming in the region.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide a bold vision for innovative work that will add value to the existing efforts in the region by identifying grant-making, operational, and advocacy strategies on food security and land rights in Eastern Africa.
• Support the program in conducting relevant legal and policy analyses for internal and external audiences.
• Support in the identification of capacity and institutional development opportunities in partner organizations (grantees).
• Support network/coalition/alliance building for joint advocacy with grantees and constituents targeting governments, donor agencies, service providers, and the general public.
• Oversee administrative duties within the program and supervision of consultants.
• Develop partnerships with the rest of the program staff in the identification and evaluation of emerging and key development trends and priorities in a particular region.
• Scan the external environment to ensure program relevance.
• Engage with civil society actors, attend meetings, solicit and evaluate grant proposals, follow-up with grantees and potential grantees. Conduct site visits as necessary.
• Coordinate meetings, conferences, partnerships.
• Participate in writing, editing or commissioning reports and advocacy documents on the Economic Governance programme.
• Conduct advocacy in collaboration with grantees and constituents targeting governments, donor agencies, service providers, and the general public.
• Represent OSIEA at key functions and meetings related to the Economic Governance program.
• Reporting and budget management (portfolio reviews, monitoring program budget and expenditure etc.)
• Participate in program learning, knowledge generation and management.

Person specifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
• Eight years of relevant work experience on human rights and social justice.
• Substantive knowledge and at least 5 years’ experience working on land rights and food security in Eastern Africa.
• Experience in grant making
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
• Ability to manage several simultaneous projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Integrity, team work, diplomacy and professionalism will be essential.
• Extraordinary initiative, creativity and capacity to think strategically.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with a diverse array of people.
• Strong organizational skills and close attention to detail.
• Willingness to travel as needed.

At OSIEA, all employees are expected to work at integrating the organizational values into the performance of their duties and tasks on a daily basis and by participating in in-house working groups designed to uphold the values and foster healthy inter-office communication.