Citizen Participation Lead – Mogadishu, Somalia

Overview

Creative Associates International (Creative) is a fast-growing, social impact company that specializes in the areas of education, economic growth, democratic transitions, and stabilization in post-conflict environments. Based in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this global development organization has a field presence is more than 25 countries and a strong client portfolio that includes the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department. Since its founding in 1977 by four enterprising women, Creative has earned a solid reputation among its clients and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike. 

Creative is seeking a Citizen Participation Lead for the USAID Local Governance and Reconciliation Activity (LGRA), a 5-year program to promote more effective and legitimate local governance that offers a credible alternative to Al-Shabaab rule in southern Somalia.  Under the supervision of the Chief of Party, the Citizen Participation Lead will be responsible for leading the planning and implementation of activities related to increasing engagement between government, citizens, and civil society including members of the private sector to encourage citizen participation in decision making, with an emphasis on women, youth, and historically marginalized communities. This will include providing a broad range of technical support and capacity development to district councils and civic actors and strengthening the capacity of district government officials and institutions, particularly in preventing and managing conflict and increasing the participation of citizens in decision making at the district level.  

Responsibilities

• Provide a broad range of technical assistance and capacity development to civil society organizations,  district government officials, private sector, or other stakeholders;   
• Lead identification of and engagement of civil society partners in target communities;  
• Lead engagement with private sector actors, as well as tribal and religious leaders as relevant;  
• Lead the identification of strategic approaches to citizen input and participation in decision making processes; multi-stakeholder dialogue, government/civil society engagement, and government responsiveness to citizen needs;  
• Support the Chief of Party in the development of the project strategic framework and work plans for the program implementation to ensure the achievement of the program goals;  
• Facilitate interaction, collaboration, adaptation, and collective action between diverse stakeholders and leverage stakeholder networks to facilitate development of citizen priorities and context-appropriate conflict resolution mechanisms;  
• Support the collaboration of civil society and media to raise awareness of citizen priorities;  
• Engage women, youth, and excluded groups in district-level governance systems;  
• Document lessons, implementation successes, challenges, and adaptation and share them with through regular program reports; and  
• Deliver technical presentations on program achievements to implementing partners, civil society organizations, government officials, donor, and other organizations.