Livelihoods Specialist

Job Description

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality, and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis.  These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world.  Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe.  Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us.

CARE seeks a Livelihoods Specialist for the anticipated USAID-funded Ethiopia Feed the Future Highlands Resilience Activity (HRA). This program is expected to be a five-year, $60M cooperative agreement. The program will support the graduation of Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) clients by linking them with new on-farm, off-farm, and employment opportunities. The Livelihoods Specialist will lead the project’s livelihoods team and guide the implementation of the off-farm, nutrition, climate change, and adaptation, youth employment, and gender and social transformation pathways.

Responsibilities  

• Serve as the livelihoods lead for the project, providing technical assistance and capacity strengthening to facilitate the development of quality, gender-sensitive, accountable, and impact-focused interventions on livelihoods and resilience with particular attention to core DRM, nutrition, youth, wage employment programming and Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development activities.  
• Work alongside colleagues to support and promote a livelihoods response: develop implementation plans, technical guidelines, and learning tools; identify and resolve challenges; promote learning and quality improvements throughout the project.
• Provide technical support and strengthen capacities of program teams and partners (public, private, non-profit) to ensure project activities are effectively delivered and continually improved.
• Serve as the subject matter expert on issues pertaining to livelihoods, ensure that global best practices and innovations are shared and integrated into the project as appropriate.
• Ensure strong linkages and integration with other program components and activities.
• Contribute to project activity monitoring, including quarterly and annual reporting.
• Provide management and supervisory support for a team of advisors.
• Ensure integration of cross cutting expertise in all program activities (conflict sensitivity; gender; youth and environment and climate change).

GENDER EQUALITY

• Be observant of any misbehavior regarding gender, and report it to the responsible person.
• Produce sex disaggregated data at HH, community, project, program and organizational level as   appropriate.
• Uphold gender and diversity values of CARE whenever dealing with staff, communities and partners

This position is subject to USAID approval as well as project award and funding. This position will be based in Addis Ababa. 

Job Requirement

Qualifications   

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Agricultural Economics/Agriculture, Rural Development, Economics, or related fields preferred.
• Minimum 5 years demonstrated experience with USG or other similar development projects focusing on livelihoods (preferably with experience related to on-farm, off-farm and employment livelihoods), resilience and vulnerable households, with understanding of the Ethiopian context.
• Proven management experience at a senior level.
• Specific technical experience in 3 of the 5 core technical areas (DRM, nutrition, youth, wage employment programming and MSME development).
• Demonstrated ability to work and coordinate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders, including national and local government, donors, community-based organizations, and the private sector.
• Spoken and written proficiency in English.
• Ability to build relationships with private sector actors and quickly establish credibility and relevance.
• Knowledge of livelihoods ecosystem as well as the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia is an advantage.
• Ability to translate technical information for non-technical audiences; communicate complex ideas clearly and facilitate learning and reflection activities.
• Strong negotiation, influencing and networking skills.
• Strong project management and budgeting skills.
• Understanding of quality monitoring and evaluation and basic understanding of statistics.
• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and PSEAH (safeguarding) as evidenced in previous management positions and programming.
• Experience applying development approaches that promote gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and youth engagement.
• Willingness to travel to program areas as required and as the security situation allows.