The Organisation

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

ROLE PURPOSE

Plan International is a rights-based and girls-focused organization that strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We motivate our people and partners to empower children, young people, and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion, and vulnerability; drive change in practice and policy at local, national, and global levels through our reach, experience, and knowledge of the realities children especially girls face.

The European Union (EU), in partnership with Plan International Liberia (Plan) and the Center for Justice and Peace Studies (CJPS), formed a partnership to implement the EU Civil Society Empowerment for Human Rights and Democracy project. CJPS is a Liberian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with a focus on building a more just society with and through young people to reduce multi-dimensional poverty through the promotion of youth participation in decision-making processes, strengthening of community bodies, creation of awareness on existing policies, and promotion of good governance at all levels.

In line with the objective of the call for proposal, the proposed action aims to strengthen and empower national CSOs, CBOs, and grassroots organizations, including those representing young women and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and decision-makers to engage meaningfully as active participants in advancing good governance and democratic rights for all in Liberia.

Through three specific objectives, the action aims to create an enabling environment that fosters inclusive civic engagement and facilitates open dialogue between rights holders and duty bearers. The action embeds a rights-based approach, a gender transformative approach, and a participatory approach while contributing to the fundamental values of the European Union (EU).

The project will strengthen the capacity of targeted groups through the Training of Trainers (ToT) approach and financial support to third parties who will address the identified needs of the key target groups to engage in the Human Rights and Democracy (HR&D) sphere. As a result, increasing awareness about the target group’s social and political rights, gender equality, and the importance of increasing the participation of women, youth, and PwDs in decision-making while serving as active agents of change. Additionally, increasing awareness will strengthen the existing coalition and encourage coordination and engagement between civil society, government, duty bearers, and other stakeholders at district and county levels to ensure future support and the sustainability of initiatives. Wider society and the population of 81,758 individuals are the final beneficiaries of the action, reachable through advocacy, awareness raising, community sensitization, and community engagements. They will benefit from greater civil society engagement in and governance of HR&D in Liberia across the two counties. They will benefit from a ‘multiplier effect’ of empowering local actors and being provided with material resources to implement community-level actions. They will be represented through grassroots activism via existing community structures, benefitting from an enabling environment that promotes inclusive dialogue in the HR&D sphere in Liberia.

Dimensions of the Role

The Project Officer will be based in the Bomi field office and will be responsible for the implementation of activities, provision of training, and capacity building. He/She will support and ensure the implementation of all activities per the partner organization’s detailed implementation plan.

Under the technical supervision of the project team leader, the Project Officer will play a vital role in ensuring the implementation of the EU Civil Society Empowerment for Human Rights and Democracy project activities on a full-time basis. The key focus will be the establishment, organization, and management support of target groups (CSOs, CBOs, and grassroots organizations, including those representing young women and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and decision-makers). He/she will provide support and leadership roles in executing critical tasks relating to the project. The Project Officer will also be the key person responsible for engaging community beneficiaries to ensure the quality implementation of the project. He/she will liaise with all functional parts of the project to deliver quality; this includes providing supportive roles in the community entry, identifying beneficiaries and target communities, and maintaining the project’s relationship with the local stakeholders. Other specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Leads the implementation of the project’s activities in the field and target communities;
• He/she is responsible for leading on planning project’s activities, delivering and reporting at the field level;
• The project officer will also ensure that the activity’s report is drafted with quality.
• He/she will serve/liaison (face) of the project at the community level and will engage with relevant stakeholders in the communities including Government line ministries and sector actors.
• As an implementer, the project officer will ensure the continuous involvements of project participants and other key stakeholders in all project activities as required;
• Support the implementation of all project-related activities such as the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) framework including data collections (baseline, midterm, and final evaluation preparing success stories), monthly, quarterly, and annual plans, and report writing;
• He/she will support any other project activities as may be required

Accountabilities

The Project Officer is trusted to provide updates on the day-to-day activities of the project at his/her assigned locations. He/She shall execute these functions by relating to others in the team, supervisors, and senior management. His/Her direct administrative and technical reporting line is to the Project Lead; however, he/she shall also seek technical support and report all data to the MERL Manager.

The Project Officer shall also represent Plan International at community and district levels in relation to the project where necessary.

General Responsibilities

• Play supportive roles in the activities implementation at the field level
• Provide updates on the progress of the project on the field;
• Ensure quality implementation, monitoring, and supervision in coordination with other functional areas of the project.
• Play the liaison role between all stakeholders and actors at the field level.

Core competencies

• The ability to consolidate and document the fundamental components of a project: scope, schedule, resource requirements, budgets, risks, opportunities, and issues; and quality requirements into a Detailed Implementation Plan
• The ability to secure the provision of resources needed for projects from internal and external providers, agree on contracts for the provision of goods and services, monitor compliance (including Plan, donor, and national), and manage deviation from contracts.
• The ability to identify and monitor risks, plan and implement responses to those risks, and respond to other issues that affect the projects
• The ability to prepare and maintain an overall schedule for resource use (other than finance) in a project, which avoids bottlenecks and conflicting demands. Resources are the things required to carry out project tasks; these could be people, equipment, office space, fleet, warehousing, etc.
• The ability to prepare and maintain schedules for activities and events for projects, taking account of critical path dependencies and resource requirements
• The ability to determine the activities required to achieve project requirements and the best means of satisfying requirements within the context of the project objectives and constraints
• The ability to establish and manage governance structures that define clear roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities for governance and delivery of projects and that align with organizational practice
• Become the gender inclusion and safeguarding focal point to lead the standards for the implementation.

Technical expertise, skills, and knowledge

• Good level of proficiency in Windows Excel and quantitative analysis
• Ability to design simple work plan, revise work plan and produce progress report at all times
• Demonstrated ability and capacity to explain the project
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Fluent in oral and written English
• Experience in a non-governmental organization or in the United Nations (desirable).

Essential

• University degree in Social Sciences, Health, or related field;
• Minimum [3] years of experience in monitoring and evaluation

Please click the link to view and download the full JD

Location: Tubmanburg, Bomi County

Type of Role: Fixed Contract

Reports to: Project Team Lead

Grade: 12

Closing Date: 4 March 2024

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.