Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistant at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistant

Job Identification: 1053
Location: Jos, Plateau
Job Schedule: Full time
Job Category: Livelihood and Food Security
Level: Grade Level 4 Step 1 (Nigerian National)
Reports to: Livelihoods and Food Security Coordinator
Travel: 50% (with travel to LGA’s project)
Project Number: NGFM2024
Commencement: 1st May, 2021
Duration and type of contract: 12 months

Job Description

• NRC initiated country operations in Nigeria in June 2015 in order to respond to the critical and increasing needs in the country. NRC currently has a full team based in Yola Area Office, Field Offices in Borno and Adamawa states and a coordination office in Abuja. NRC is currently providing services across various sectors namely; Shelter and Non-Food Items (NFI); Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion (WASH); Livelihoods & Food Security (LFS); Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA), Education and Camp Management Camp Coordination (CCCM) in order to address identified humanitarian needs.
• The food security program includes wider livelihoods complex responses, which recognizes that conflict and violence have affected people livelihoods, coping capacities while insecurity and tension has further worsened their vulnerabilities. The provision of support in form of resources and income opportunities will address the financial needs of conflict-affected families and can thereby improve the purchasing power for productive assets, food, and NFIs vital for maintaining good health and peaceful coexistence among different individuals. This combined with agriculture and food production is expected to mature further peaceful relationship among conflict communities in return this will supplement sources of income, and food diversity and therefore reduce food costs whilst protecting households from risky coping mechanisms.
• NRC is looking for a Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistant for our Jos – Plateau State Office in east-central Nigeria. The purpose of the Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistant position is to day-to-day implementation of the food security project.
• The Livelihoods and Food Security Technical Assistant reports to the Livelihoods and Food Security Coordinator – Jos.

Generic Responsibilities (max 10)

• These responsibilities shall be the same for all positions with the same title. The responsibilities shall be short and essential. Details belong in the Work- and Professional Development Plan.
• Adhere to NRC policies, tools, handbooks and guidelines
• Assist with the implementation of the support function portfolio according to plan of action
• Prepare and develop status reports as required by management
• Ensure proper filing of documents
• Promote and share ideas for improvement of the support function

Specific Responsibilities

• Together with LFS Officers, the Technical Assistants will be responsible for the implementation of livelihoods and food security activities on the field-Agriculture, Income Generation Activities, (IGAs), Cash for work (CfW) activities and livestock production and management.
• Conduct livelihoods assessments to determine most viable income generating activities.
• Coordinate the food security activities according to strategy, proposals, budgets and plans
• Supervise, train and develop team of good community facilitators, community volunteers, and survey enumerators
• Coordinate with and support stakeholders and partners in training of beneficiaries on small scale business, income generating activities, CfW, livestock production & management and FFS
• Involve and inform communities and community leaders about the activities, aim and objective.

Critical Interfaces:
By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• Strategy and Project Planning: Livelihoods and Food Security Coordinators, Project Manger
• Area Operations: Finance Officer, Logistic Officer, security officer, Access Officers, Protection Officers

Scale and Scope of Position:

• Staff: Non- but will lead Community facilitators, community volunteers, and survey enumerators
• Stakeholders: Community leaders, traditional and religious leaders
• Budgets: None
• Information: GORS, Agresso, and Intranet
• Legal or compliance: NRC Terms of Employment, NRC Security policy, NRC Code of Conduct.

Competencies
Competencies are important in order for the employee and the organisation to deliver desired results. They are relevant for all staff and are divided into the following two categories:

Professional Competencies:
These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Context / Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• B.Sc / HND in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Social Sciences or related
• Work experience from plateau context preferred
• Minimum of two years in related position
• Experience and understanding of Selection, Planning and Management (SPM) of Income Generating Activities (IGAs) both farm and off farm.
• Experience in beneficiary skills trainings and distribution of conditional business grants or small business startup kits.
• Experience in agricultural livelihoods (crop and livestock production), value chain addition and Cash for Work
• Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Knowledge of the context in plateau state.
• Ability to work under pressure, independently and with limited supervision
• Highest standard of ethics and integrity
• Ability to work in insecure environments
• Communicating with respects
• Ability to speak one additional local language preferred.
• Candidates from Plateau State preferred,

Generic Professional Competencies:

• Experience from working as a Project Officer in a humanitarian/recovery context
• Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
• Some knowledge of English

Behavioral Competencies (max 6):
These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, and the following are essential for this position:

• Handling insecure environment
• Planning and delivering results
• Empowering and building trust
• Communicating with impact and respect

Performance Management:
The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description
• The Work and Development Plan
• The Mid-term/End-of-trial Period Performance Review Template
• The End-term Performance Review Template
• The NRC Competency Framework.

Application Closing Date
1:00 AM: 23rd March, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks.