Background
The Life & Peace Institute (LPI) is an international and ecumenical centre that supports and promotes nonviolent approaches to conflict transformation through a combination of research and action that entails the strengthening of existing local capacities and enhancing the preconditions for building peace. LPI envisions a world where peace, justice and non-violent relations prevail through people’s active work and commitment. LPI has been active in making contributions towards achieving this goal since 1985. LPI works with a variety of local and regional partners in the Horn of Africa region, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and in the Great Lakes region.
In 2014, LPI signed a host agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia for the opening of a regional office, to engage in continental and sub-regional policy affairs and also to effectively facilitate and oversee its projects in the Horn of Africa Region out of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2017, LPI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Federal and Pastoral Development Affairs in recognition of the Institute’s work in Ethiopia. One major project grant awarded to the regional office of LPI is USAID’s Conflict Mitigation and Management (CMM) award for work on Ethiopian University Campuses. Starting in the fall of the 2016, the Sustained Dialogue project will run for four years at a number of universities in two regions. The implementation on the universities will be managed by a local civil society partner of LPI.
LPI is seeking applications for the position of Project Coordinator to oversee the Sustained Dialogue project, manage the grant from USAID, and provide technical support and accompaniment to the local partner. You will be a peacebuilder at heart with an affinity for university students and you understand the realities of campus life in Ethiopia. You excel both at grants and project management as well as peacebuilding/conflict transformation as an area of practice. You are driven by seeing tangible change on the ground, keen on new technologies and approaches, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and a great communicator.
Purpose of the position: The Project Coordinator is responsible for the achievement of the Sustained Dialogue project’s expected results with the available resources, established plan and deadlines.
Primary tasks and responsibilities
The Project Coordinator will carry out the following responsibilities.
Programme implementation
• Coordinating LPI’s efforts and grants around The Sustained Dialogue project supported by USAID. He/she will lead the LPI Ethiopia’s effort n this regard and will be responsible of and kept accountable for the implementation of the SDEC project as defined in the project plans and approved by donor agencies. Her/his main tasks will consist of making sure that the following elements are an integral part of the implementation of the project:
o Oversees the Sustained Dialogue project from beginning to end, ensuring executive approval from the his/her supervisor for key decisions.
o Nurturing existing partner relationships, developing new ones and overseeing engagement and disengagement processes with partners.
o Technical support to other staff and partners in research, dialogue and action initiatives.
o Overseeing LPI’s grants to partners under the Sustained Dialogue project; e.g. receives all narrative reports from partners, ensures compliance with contractual deadlines and formats, and writes report appraisals to partner organizations.
o Oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the project and take a lead on narrative reporting to donors.
o Sharing LPI’s knowledge and experience within LPI and with partners, scholars and practitioners.
o Promoting coordination with and between local and international actors active in similar or complementary fields.
In addition, the following key tasks and responsibilities:
• Keeps the project (including sub-grants) on track vis-a-vis narrative proposals, activity plans and budgets.
• Supports the assessment of organizational capacities, identifies partners’ needs and furnish technical support in identified areas
• Manages and keeps up to date performance monitoring systems including program activity and output tracking
• Develops work plans based on clear expected results/outputs that can be tracked. The plans have to be presented to the Country Manager, for review and approval.
• Receives all reports from partner organizations, ensures compliance with contractual deadlines and formats, and writes report appraisals to partner organizations.
• Writes all the Sustained Dialogue project narrative reports to donors, ensuring accuracy with deadlines and reports formats and liaise closely with LPI’s finance unit to complete financial reports
• Based on field visits monitoring & evaluation data, detects opportunities and threats to the SDEC project. Advises on adjustments to project plans and ensures that they are effectively implemented.
• Based on monitoring & evaluation data, leads the process of learning from the experiences of the project. Ensures that this learning is documented.
• Maintains a solid and up-to-date understanding of the situation in Ethiopia, the regions where the project takes place and the university campuses it focuses on; and proactively manages changes in projects’ scope; identifies potential crises and devises contingency plans.
• Manage security arrangements and preparations for operations in the project including field missions. Ensures that approval from the Head of Office is obtained before field missions - final responsibility for security management lies with the Head of Office.
• Ensures AML-CTF compliance of all operations and engagements in the project.
• Ensures that the Ethiopia Country Manager, at any time, has full knowledge of the status of the projects’ implementation.
• Executes other tasks assigned by supervisor.
• Travel: domestically, up to 30%
Finance and administration
• Ensuring the administrative management and compliance of the project to donor requirements.
Compliance with internal policies and procedures: He/she adheres to all LPI policies and guiding principles, including but not limited to the code of conduct.
Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position. The employee accepts that this job description may be changed by his/her supervisor, as the need may require. Any change to this job description will be in force starting from ten (10) days after decision.
Experiences and skills:
· MA degree in one of the following disciplines: peace- and conflict studies (preferred), social sciences, political science, international relations, or other related fields
· A minimum of 3 years working experience from peacebuilding practice (preferably in Ethiopia or the Horn of Africa) and demonstrated understanding of peacebuilding issues and people-to-people peace programming
· Track record of strong grants management (preferably, USAID grants experience)
· Proven analytical skills and ability to write high-quality, engaging reports
Experience in the monitoring and evaluation of programme performance and impact, including data collection, analysis and visualization
· Strong problem-solving skills, can-do attitude and proclivity to take on challenges with ease
· Commitment to LPI’s values and principles (see life-peace.org)
· Experience of, and willingness to travel widely, often at short notice
· Ability to work in English and Amharic is essential; in addition, proficiency in Afaan Oromo is preferred.