Technical Adviser – Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience – Mogadishu, Somalia

About the role:

This is an initial two-year contract with opportunity to extend. It is a new role with unaccompanied terms based in Mogadishu, Somalia with frequent travel to Hargeisa and Baidoa and significant time spent in Nairobi, and with a salary of Grade 4 �44,133 – �49,038.

You will be the overall technical adviser on all climate, environment and resilience related approaches and activities for Concern Worldwide in Somalia. You will liaise closely with the Dublin-based Desk Officer for Somalia, the global Climate and Environment Adviser, the global DRR Adviser and other technical advisers.

You will report to the Programme Director and will work directly with Concern’s Programme Coordinators, Programme Managers, the Somaliland Coordinator, the Grants & information Manager, the M&E Manager, the Somalia Cash Consortium Manager, and their respective teams. As this is a cross-cutting role, you will work with all departments and sectors, especially those working on climate-and resilience-related programmes. In addition, you will liaise closely with the BRCiS consortium led by NRC; the government Ministries or Departments responsible for Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources, Water & Irrigation, Resilience, Disaster Management; and other relevant external stakeholders.

We would like you to start as soon as possible.

Purpose of the role:

The purpose of this position is to advise and guide Concern’s programmes in Somalia [1] on designing for resilience and incorporating environmental protection and sustainability, including climate change adaptation, into all activities and approaches. This will include actively supporting teams with – and being directly involved in – awareness raising, assessments, analysis, capacity building, project (re-)design, proposal development, M&E, advocacy messaging and documentation of success/learning.

It is expected that you will improve the impact of Concern’s own programming on building resilience to shocks and stresses, strengthening adaptation to climate change and protecting/regenerating the environment, ensuring alignment with the Somalia National Development Plan (NDP). You will raise Concern’s profile in the area of climate, environment and resilience amongst other actors, including by representing the organisation in key forums and platforms both in-person and online. You will spearhead Concern’s work as BRCiS technical lead on Early Warning Early Action (EWEA) in collaboration with the Resilience Programme Coordinator, ensuring that the consortium is equipped and able to take this workstream and agenda forward within the wider stakeholder environment and to build on Concern’s successes in community-based EWEA. You will also explore opportunities to collaborate with key climate/environment focused donors, actors, NGOs, UN agencies, academic institutions and private sector entities.

A key aspect of this role will be to provide close support to the national Resilience Programme Coordinator, strengthening their technical and coordination capacity. You will also be expected to provide cover during the Coordinator’s leave.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic and Technical Work:

Resilience

• Provide technical guidance and support to strengthen, build upon and expand Concern’s current Resilience programmes in Somalia and to position Concern both within the existing consortia and with external/new partners, for future collaboration and donor funding. This includes providing effective technical inputs to the design, development planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and management of resilience programmes (BRCiS and Irish Aid) as well as any other programmes with resilience goals.
• Lead the Early Warning Early Action technical workstream within the BRCiS consortium on Concern’s behalf, building on Concern’s prior experience in building community-based systems and bringing in aspects of systems strengthening, collaboration with government and other stakeholders, coordinating with other EWEA initiatives and commissioning research and pilots as needed.
• Support integration and consolidation of Concern’s EWEA work across sectors (Resilience, Livelihoods, Health and Nutrition, Durable Solutions) in collaboration with other Technical Advisors and Programme Coordiinators, with a view to building a comprehensive and useful approach.
• Keep abreast of new developments in the resilience field, and – in line with Concern’s organisational position – train programme teams on these issues so they are up to date and able to adapt programmes to new thinking/approaches.
• Research, adapt and write evidence-based technical program guides, manuals, and other resources to improve and innovate on resilience programmes, with a particular focus on remote roll-out and training using technology interactively.
• Collaborate with all sectors/departments to promote integrated programming, avoid redundancy, and integrate gender equality, inclusion, context flexibility, community feedback, conflict sensitivity, partnership, and ICT into all activities.
• Assist with and technically oversee the development of high quality concept notes, proposals, reports and briefing papers that are in line with Concern and sector strategies and meet donor requirements.
• Gather, collate and write up lessons learned, and develop learning briefs on the resilience programmes, in consultation with technical and sector leads at country and head office.
• Support the sectoral teams to continuously and jointly review the resilience strategy and approaches to appropriately address and accommodate shifting and/or emerging field contexts in a holistic manner, incorporating environmental protection and climate change adaptation. Propose innovative approaches to address emerging shocks or stresses, or address identified gaps, relevant to the fragile context of Somalia.
• Support technical capacity building of field staff through technical updates, training opportunities, exchange visits, literature sharing and other initiatives
• Communicate regularly with in-country colleagues through phone, email, online meeting platforms, etc. Provide remote support and conduct regular field visits to assess quality of programs, deliver technical support and trainings, provide strategic guidance and recommendations, and engage in knowledge sharing.
• Regularly provide updates, briefings and responses to information requests on the resilience programmes in Somalia, including emerging issues, challenges, successes and any relevant contextual developments for many audiences, including Concern colleagues, donors, the media, UN agencies, inter-agency networks, and new recruits. Ensure sign-off is obtained through the appropriate channels before making any external communication directly.
• Participate in the recruitment of in-country staff and consultants, as required. This includes supporting the preparation of job requisitions, job descriptions, terms of reference, and participating in interviews.

Environment and Climate

• Assess the level of knowledge and understanding of, and attitude towards, the extent and importance of environmental degradation and climate change amongst programme and partner staff, and identify gaps or areas that require further explanation or clarification.
• Using the findings from the assessment above, develop and roll out a series of awareness raising sessions on environmental and climate change related subjects, that are relevant to the context in Somalia, the work Concern does as well as regional and global priorities.
• Review project and programme concept notes/proposals and strategies and provide inputs to ensure the activities included adequately promote environmental protection, sustainability and climate change adaptation.
• Lead environmental assessments as needed within different Areas and/or programmes in Somalia, including developing/adapting tools, methodologies, training teams, collecting data, analysing data, and writing up the findings. Work with the programme teams and Programme Director to ensure the findings and recommendations are incorporated into future programme design.

Coordination and networking:

• Participate proactively in Mogadishu/Nairobi/regional-level resilience, environment/climate and other relevant sectoral meetings, and engage with UN agencies, other NGOs, academic institutions and other key actors within the resilience field, developing and maintaining positive relationships across the various networks.
• Develop strategies and plans that contribute to raising the profile of Concern as an expert organization in resilience and climate programming in general, as well as in specific approaches – for example Graduation, women’s economic empowerment, EWEA and watershed management.
• Maintain on-going consultations and interactions with Concern’s head office Technical Advisors as well as with other Resilience/Environment/Climate Advisors in Concern Country Programmes on emerging sectoral trends and best practices from other countries.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E):

• Work closely with the M&E teams in Concern, partners and Consortium Management Units, to create and periodically adapt technically sound monitoring and evaluation guidelines, frameworks and indicators for the respective resilience programmes, in line with the changing context and emerging evidence.
• Review all Concern Somalia project/programme logframes and monitoring frameworks and provide inputs to ensure their impact on the environment and adaptation to climate change of the activities are appropriately captured.
• Work closely with the BRCiS CMU in design, implementation, analysis and interpretation of resilience surveys, assessments, reviews and evaluations.
• Manage any internal reviews or evaluations of the resilience programmes
• Ensure reviews or evaluations of other programmes in Concern Somalia adequately include environment and climate change considerations.

Advocacy and Communications:

• Coordinate advocacy and communication activities relating to Concern’s resilience programming in Somalia, in line with relevant donors’ communication guidelines and internal policies.
• Produce briefing papers and other publications, coordinate approval with the appropriate stakeholders, and ensure wider dissemination to influence practice and policy and promote the work of Concern Worldwide.

Other:

• Together with other programme teams ensure inequality, risk and vulnerability are analysed, mitigated against and responded to during the overall planning, implementation and management of the resilience programmes.
• Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and Somalia programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization.
• Support the development and implementation of the country strategic plan in the context of the National Development Plan and Resilience Pillar priorities.
• Any other ad hoc duties as may be assigned by your line manager or the CD that are consistent with the nature of Concern operations.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential

• Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level or above, in international development,/relations, business, economics, environment, climate action or other field relevant to community resilience
• Proven experience (at least 6 years) in senior programme management, advisory and/or leadership positions working with INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, other civil society groups, donors
• Experience with major international donor guidelines and environmental standards, particularly the World Bank, FCDO, EU, USAID
• Strong experience working on resilience, climate adaptation, EWEA and disaster risk reduction in humanitarian and development settings and an ability to innovate in problem-solving
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills, including for reporting, proposal-writing and advocacy purposes
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills with an ability to distil complex concepts into real-world examples
• Strong coordination skills, both internal across programming sectors and support teams, and externally with implementing partners
• Experience of working in or, ideally managing, a consortium model of working
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, INGO and Government structures and to represent the organisation at national or international level fora
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing interactive and clear trainings and capacity building
• Solid experience in providing remote advice, guidance, mentoring and training to staff and partners, including with translation
• Thorough understanding of gender, equality and protection issues
• Experience in the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems
• Knowledge of key tools used by donor agencies, such as logical frameworks, results chains, theories of change, results-based management and financial administration systems

Desirable

• An understanding of accountability as applied within humanitarian and development programming; familiarity with the Core Humanitarian Standard and its application.
• An understanding of programme participant protection policies and international humanitarian standards
• Experience of working in Somalia

To Apply: all applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short-listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

If you have any concerns about our recruitment process and need particular assistance – for example if you have a visual impairment or are neurodivergent – please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Concern has an organizational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy accessible here. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behavior expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Your Personal Data

During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation.

For additional information, please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

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Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

[1] Currently WASH, Health & Nutrition, Livelihoods, Education, Social Protection (cash – Concern is lead agency) and integrated programming under Emergency, Resilience and Durable Solutions.

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