Program Officer at Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW)

About the project

COVAW with support from Voice Global has been implementing a project on Gender Responsive Budgeting in Kwale County titled Tupo. Tusikizwe (We are here. Listen to us). The implementation of the project started in September 2020 and has been ongoing. The objectives of the project are:

• To enhance understanding of the normative framework on budgeting at county level,
• To enhance understanding on gender responsive budgeting and utilization of gender responsive budgeting principles,
• To enhance the capacity of women and girls to analyze the Kwale county budget estimates against their needs,
• To recommend actions to enhance responsiveness to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and economic empowerment of adolescent girls and young women
• To enhance the capacity of girls and women to lobby for the uptake of their priorities

About this role

• COVAW is looking for a Program Officer who will be responsible for implementation of the project in Kwale County.

Duties and responsibilities include:

• Work in conjunction with the Program Manager to lead the implementation of the project in Kwale County.
• Capacity building of Community-Based Organizations(CBOs) on Gender Responsive Budgeting, Citizen Led Accountability(CLA) practices and advocacy and communications.
• Capacity building of Disabled Persons Organizations (that are women led) on advocacy and communications and how to effectively engage with the county assembly to lobby for their needs.
• Conducting awareness raising sessions on Social Accountability & Civic Education
• Conducting advocacy meetings with Kwale County Government
• Organizing and conducting learning and reflection sessions
• Plan, coordinate and conduct community, school and county activities.
• Identify, support and work with schools, community activists and community based organisations, county leaders on community mobilization approaches that address gender based violence
• Design, plan and conduct community, national and media campaigns towards achieving project goals.
• Establish referral systems for cases of violations against girls.
• Design and produce a range of information, education and communication materials to support awareness raising activities and campaigns.
• Develop project work plans and monitoring tools to guide accurate implementation of project objectives and organisational strategic goals.
• Maintain up to date documentation of all project activities and expenditures for internal monitoring.
• Prepare accurate and timely reports of all program activities and of all financial expenditures reports in accordance with donor requirements and COVAW policies.
• Manage project budgets in adherence to donor and COVAW rules and policies.
• Represent COVAW in meetings and forums with partners and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to COVAW's values and principles.
• Flexibility and willingness to travel, work long and irregular hours, including on weekends and holidays.
• Undertake full operational responsibility over COVAW's assets in use.
• Perform all other duties as assigned and as related to the project*.*

Performance standards

• Adherence to all relevant project rules and policies.
• Adherence to timelines and deadlines.
• Outputs and outcomes of the projects achieved and documented.
• Activities implemented as planned.
• Project rated successful by evaluators.
• Accurate, timely and high quality progress reports.
• Comprehensive, timely, accurate and quality documentation maintained.
• Project funds utilized in cost effective manner that demonstrates value for money and fully accounted for in line with donor rules and organisational policies.
• Display innovativeness and creativity in implementation of program.
• Enhancing team work and mutual respect between colleagues and project partners.

Required qualifications and competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Community Development, law or related social science.
• Five years work experience in project leading and coordinating program operations and community engagement.
• Financial management and basic procurement experience.
• Experience in managing a team.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work with diverse people and cultures.
• Self-starter, able to work independently but able to consult effectively, prioritize and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Strong interpersonal and analytical abilities.
• Ability to work in the field, under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Computer Literacy (including excel skills).