Save the Children,Community Engagement Officer Jobs in Rwanda

CLOSE:
04/03/2016
POSITION
ANNOUNCEMENT
Rwanda
Country Programme, Kigali Rwanda
 
BACKGROUND:
Save the Children is the
world’s leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120
countries. We work together, with partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way
the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their
lives. Save the Children works in
thirteen districts in Rwanda with a current staff complement of approximately
134 staff. 
SC Rwanda Country Office seeks to hire qualified,
co

mmitted and experienced national
to fill the following position: 

Position: Community
Engagement Officer
Place of Work: Burera
District, with occasional travel to Kigali and Gicumbi
Reports to: Programme Operations Director
Staff directly reporting to this post: None, Education Coordination and Partnerships Manager 
PURPOSE OF POSITION:
The Community Engagement Officer for the Advancing the
Right to Read Education Signature Programme will support activities that aim to
strengthen and increase families’ and communities’ support for a culture of
literacy through availing opportunities for children to develop and practice
their reading skills outside of school. The key purpose of this role is to
increase community and parental involvement to support improved student
literacy outcomes. 
KEY AREAS OF
ACCOUNTABILITY:
1. Project Implementation: 
·        
Lead on the establishment and development of good
working relationships with the local community, mapping of sites for community
book banks in an equitable manner;
·        
With support from the Advancing the Right to Read
Education Signature Programme team, collaborate with local communities and
local leaders in the implementation districts to establish community book banks
for children’s books and ensure their effective management;
·        
Liaise with community and local leaders to establish
children’s reading clubs at village level, select and build capacity of the
reading clubs leader and establish management mechanisms for the reading clubs
established
·         Conduct regular field visits to Burera and Gicumbi
districts to offer ongoing advice, mentoring and support to reading club
leaders to enable them to fulfil their respective roles in implementation of
the project
·        
Support in the organization of literacy promotion
events at district and national levels.
·        
Prepare and submit weekly and monthly work plans and
reports in accordance with the agreed schedules with the Education Coordination
and Partnerships Manager;
·        
Highlight early to the Education Coordination and
Partnerships Manager any potential constraints to implementation of project;
·        
Support staff from other components in the Advancing
the Right to Read programme in the establishment of linkages between community
and schools in promoting children’s literacy.
2. System Strengthening, Capacity Building and
Innovation:
·        
Lead the process of awareness creation for local
authorities around community based literacy
·        
promotion and work with them to integrate literacy
messages into umuganda and to support other activities at the community level;
·        
Ensure effective collaboration with the local leaders
and community members in setting criteria for selection of Reading Club
leaders/volunteers;
·        
Lead on piloting of innovative ideas, for example
‘Umuganda Literacy’ in implementation areas, engage with local leaders to
advocate for the same and facilitate the roll out;
·        
Lead and facilitate the training of Reading Club
volunteers and offer ongoing mentorship and coaching to support out-of-school
activities relating to reading, including reading buddies and reading
festivals;
·        
In collaboration with other partners, support the
inclusion for literacy promotion related indicators in District imihigo
(performance contracts);
·        
Lead the organization of literacy festivals and any
other literacy promotion events at community level;
·        
Collaborate with parents and other community
stakeholders on reading club monitoring and general oversight and establishing
reading club management committees;
·        
Lead on capacity building for creation of reading
materials from locally available resources;
·        
Collaborate with the Rwandan Children’s Book
Initiative and Rwandan Publishers and Booksellers Union on options for
increasing access to purchasing of low-cost books in areas of implementation. 
3. External Representation:
·        
Sensitize relevant stakeholders at District and Sector
levels (District Authorities, Sector Authorities, Parents Committees and
Communities, and Children) about the literacy promotion interventions the
project provides in their communities and encourage them to use them
effectively;
·        
Represent Save the Children in relevant Sector and
District meetings as required. 
4. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and
Learning:
·         Monitor progress against the project’s MEAL plan
through use of project MEAL tools;
·         Ensure that accountability (Complaints and Response)
mechanisms are functioning in project implementation areas;
·         Support planning and data collection for project
evaluations and ensuring that findings are used to inform programme decisions;
·         Document lessons learned and ensure learning is shared
across the Education Signature Programme and used to inform project
improvements. 
5. Child Safeguarding:
·         Understand the provisions of the Child Safeguarding
Policy, Code of Conduct and Local/Country Procedures and conduct oneself in
accordance with the rules of the Child Safeguarding Policy, in personal and
professional lives – which includes reporting suspicions of child abuse.
·         Ensure that all project activities carried out are
considered in relation to prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and
handling of serious complaints in line with the child safeguarding policy.
·         Promote the message of child safeguarding to
colleagues in other organizations and government ministries, children in their
own and beneficiary families, and community members in general and be vigilant
about observing possible child abuse/harm in their personal and professional
lives.
·         Responsible for ensuring adherence to the established
Child Safeguarding mechanisms and procedures, including child risk assessments
for every project activity including children before commencement; 
General:
·         Comply with Save the Children policies and practice
with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal
opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
·         Perform other duties, as assigned by the Education
Coordination and Partnerships Manager
Additional job responsibilities
·         The job duties and responsibilities as set out above
are not exhaustive and the Post holder may be required to carry out additional
duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience 
SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)
Accountability:
·        
Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing
resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
·        
Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on
their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way
they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and
applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
·        
Creates a managerial
environment to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding
Ambition:
·        
Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves
and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and
encourages their team to do the same
·        
Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global
scale
Collaboration:
·        
Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds
and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external
partners and supporters
·        
Values diversity and different people’s perspectives,
able to work cross-culturally.
Creativity:
·        
Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
·        
Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an
entrepreneurial approach
Integrity:
·        
Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds
trust and confidence
·        
Displays consistent excellent judgement 
QUALIFICATIONS AND
EXPERIENCE
·        
University degree (preferred) in education,
development/social studies or related disciplines
·        
At least three (3) years of relevant experience in
working with local communities, local NGOs/CBOs and local governments
·        
Knowledge of the local education system as well as
local government system
·        
Experience in facilitating trainings of trainers
·        
Proven experience of working in child focused
programming, especially with a major focus on literacy development
·        
Excellent interpersonal and written and oral
communication skills including strong communication (written and spoken) in
Kinyarwanda and in English
·        
Excellent planning, management and coordination
skills, with the ability to work with minimum supervision
·        
Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and
remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure
·        
Good attention to detail, strong analytical and
problem solving skills
·        
Good computer skills
·        
Commitment to Save the Children values
How To Apply 
Interested candidates should send an application
letter plus updated Curriculum Vitae in English, including 3 names of
professional referees to HR-Rwanda@savethechildren.org. The deadline for
receiving applications is 4th
March 2016
Please mention “Community Engagement Officer “as
subject of your mail.
*Note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *