medica mondiale is a German based feminist women’s rights organisation supporting women and girls in war and conflict regions. medica mondiale provides psychosocial and legal counselling and trauma sensitive medical consultation, and enhances protection – both through its own projects and in co-operation with local
women’s organizations. At a political level, medica mondiale actively advocates the enforcement of women’s rights and interests and demands consistent punishment of crimes as well as effective protection, justice and political ownership for women survivors of sexual and gender based violence.
For our Programme in Liberia we are offering the position of a Psychosocial Advisor / Trainer (female)
Background
Since 2006, medica mondiale has been working in rural areas of Liberia to implement a comprehensive programme to tackle the consequences of sexualized and other forms of gender based violence against women and girls through a multi-sectoral, interdisciplinary approach, contributing to their protection and empowerment and reinforcing their access to justice and the health system. One major programme is the Recovery and Empowerment Programme for survivors of sexualised violence that interlinks the following main areas of action: Recovery for survivors of violence through supportive psychosocial counselling; trauma sensitive reproductive health education; social and political empowerment; setting up community based protection networks through community mobilisation and the establishment of protection focal points; promotion of structural changes at a political level through advocacy towards equal rights, protection, and justice for women. This programme is part of the Reintegration and Recovery Programme (RPP), a development programme of the Republic of Liberia, co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Development Bank. Within the framework of RRP, medica mondiale works in partnership with Welthungerhilfe (infrastructure and agricultural programmes) and IBIS (education).
In addition, medica mondiale has set up a project focusing on Ivorian refugee women and girls (Support to Ivorian Refugees and Host Communities, SIRHC) residing in host communities in Southeast Liberia, where mobile teams are providing assistance to sgbv survivors and women at risk: They are offering psychosocial and Reproductive Health counselling for women and girls survivors of SGBV and or post conflict trauma, with special focus on sexualized war violence; are raising the awareness on SGBV in the communities and are training Focal points (Community Volunteers) for the reporting of SGBV cases as well as in basic supportive counselling skills and the referral pathway.
Project Setup
medica mondiale operates in three south-eastern counties of Liberia: Grand Gedeh, River Gee and Sinoe, with its main field office in Zwedru. The duty station of the Trainer will be in Zwedru, however the position requires frequent travel to all field locations. medica mondiale has approximately 70 staff in Liberia (both technical and support). In addition, medica mondiale works with approximately 50 focal point women in communities (called community volunteers) and nine coordinating staff of the community volunteers, called district counsellors.
Position summary
The psychosocial advisor and trainer is responsible for increasing the capacity of medica mondiale’s technical staff as well as the community volunteers and district counsellors. A training manual has been developed and tested for this purpose which covers the topics self-awareness, gender and violence, basic helping skills, advanced helping skills, facilitating change in communities and ethical principles of professional helpers. A training program / calendar exists. Most staff has already received training but continuous refreshers are required. The psychosocial advisor will work closely with and mentor her national counterpart. The psychosocial advisor will also respond to training requests from partners and other organizations and design trainings which fall within medica mondiale’s area of expertise. She will conduct Training of Trainers and document all trainings. The psychosocial advisor will also provide coaching to psychosocial counsellors from both projects. She will monitor the peer support system amongst all staff that provide psychosocial services to survivors of violence and make sure that adequate self-care mechanisms are in place to increase the resilience of the staff. The psychosocial advisor will oversee the quality of psychosocial services with medica mondiale’s quality management tools and assist staff in increasing their capacity to offer high quality services. She reports to the Head of Mission in Liberia and the Senior Program Manager in Cologne. She possesses strong leadership and interpersonal skills and a passion to build local capacities. She has an in-depth understanding of programmes focusing on sexual and gender based violence and awareness raising, is able to analyze contexts from a political and feminist perspective and has an empowering and inclusive approach.
Key responsibilities
 Provide regular trainings to medica mondiale’s staff, and beneficiaries in Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Sinoe, and Monrovia
 Upon request and in close coordination with Head of Mission, provide trainings, including ToTs, to other agencies and partners
 Ensure the high quality of medica mondiale’s services and reinforce a women-centred, feminist and empowering approach towards staff and beneficiaries
 Provide coaching to all staff offering psychosocial services to survivors of violence
 Fulfil reporting requirements on time and in high quality
 Identify areas for improvement and provide recommendations to the Head of Mission
 Coach and mentor the Liberian counterpart and build her capacities as a trainer
 Reinforce teambuilding processes and ownership
 Give strategic input on the further development of medica mondiale Liberia’s peace component and awareness raising programme
 Represent medica mondiale within Liberia and internationally, upon request
Experience/knowledge and skills
 Substantial relevant experience in designing, adapting and conducting trainings, with focus on sgbv, counselling survivors of violence, behaviour change, peacebuilding, non-violent communication, teambuilding and self-awareness
 Profound knowledge of the different forms and consequences of violence against women and sexualized war and post-war violence, of women’s rights and trauma-work
 Profound knowledge of counselling women survivors of violence
 Ideally a background as clinical or community psychologist
 Strong leadership skills; proven experience in supervising and coaching staff
 Didactic skills to develop local capacities, to motivate and to ensure participation and ownership
 Communication and negotiation skills
 Excellent command of the English language combined with strong writing skills
 Stress-resilient and able to work in remote areas with limited infrastructure
 Experienced working in conflict and post conflict areas
 Work experience in rural African settings; regional experience in Liberia or West Africa would be an asset
Personal Skills
 Feminist background and a clear commitment to work with a women centred and empowering approach
 High degree of cross-cultural competence; respect for different nationalities, ethnicities, and religions
 High level of accountability to survivors of SGBV, the Liberian team, the Head Office of medica mondiale, partners, donors, and identification with medica mondiale Liberia’s mission and vision
 Flexible, creative and innovative
 Analytical skills
 Approachable and communicative
 Self aware
We offer
 Integration into a highly motivated and committed team
 Unique field experience in South-East Liberia
 Contract from March or April 2012 to December 2012, extension possible
 Salary and benefits based on medica mondiale’s salary scale for international assignments
 Insurance, travel cost refund, etc.
Start: May/June 2012 Up to: End of 2012, with possibilities for extension
Closing date of this posting 09.04.2012
Further information on medica mondiale and our projects can be found on our website: www.medicamondiale.org
How to apply:
Please email your application (CV, cover letter and references not exceeding 2MB) as well as your salary expectations to recruitment@medicamondiale.org
Closing Date: Monday, 09 April 2012