Community Facilitators at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons based on need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on agriculture, HIV and health extractives and governance, and peace building programming.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Community Facilitator (Temporary Assignment)

Advert Ref Code: CFADOLSMILE2017
Locations: Abuja, Lafia, Makurdi, Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Gboko
Report To: Technical Specialist (Gender and Child Protection), SMILE
Duration of Assignment: 1 November 2017 - 30 April 2017 (Six Months)

Project Background

• CRS Nigeria is currently leading a USAID funded Orphans and Vulnerable children (OVC) Umbrella Grant Mechanism known as Sustainable Mechanism for Improving Livelihoods and Household Empowerment (SMILE) project in consortium with ActionAid Nigeria and Westat.
• The project is designed to scale-up care and support for vulnerable children and caregivers in 5 states of Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Edo and FCT. The project is implemented in collaboration with the Ministries of Women Affairs and Social Development and Civil Society Organizations to ensure a coordinated provision of quality services in a sustainable manner, in the five states.
• For the SMILE project, a goal of improving the wellbeing of vulnerable children and their caregivers can only be robust by identifying existing gender disparities and opportunities for advancing gender equitable access to services both with the beneficiaries as well as with institutions providing interventions.
• To this end, the SMILE project seeks to address negative gender norms while also effectively facilitating HIV prevention among its adolescent beneficiary population.
• Furthermore, recognizing that children under the age of 5 in developing countries are exposed to multiple risks which detrimentally affect their cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development, the SMILE project seeks to integrate Early Childhood Care Development (ECCD) into its OVC programming with the aim of increasing access of enrolled vulnerable children (state the age bracket here) especially in rural communities to high quality integrated early childhood care and development (IECCD) services and support.
• This will require the support of consultants as community facilitators, for the monitoring of the implementation of its Adolescent Girls Intervention, Gender Norms Sessions and ECCD in SMILE scale-up and sustained support plus Local Government Areas clustered as follows:
• Benue:
  • Cluster 1: Makurdi, Gwer-west, Konshisha (Resident in Makurdi)
  • Cluster 2: Gboko, Buruku, Tarka (Resident in Gboko)
  • Cluster 3: Logo, Ukum (Resident in Ukum)
  • Cluster 4: Kastina-ala, Ushongo (Resident in Katsina-Ala)
• Nasarawa:
  • Cluster 1: Doma & Obi LGAs (Resident in Lafia)
  • Cluster 2: Lafia & Nasarawa LGAs (Resident in Lafia)
  • Cluster 3: Nasarawa Eggon & Karu LGAs (Resident in FCT)
• FCT/Edo
  • Cluster 1: Bwari, Gwagwalada (Resident in FCT)
  • Cluster 2: AMAC, Uromi (Resident in FCT)

General Function:

• The community facilitators would be responsible for working closely with specific SMILE CSO partners working in the respective LGAs, for the implementation of the project’s Adolescent Girls Intervention, Gender Norms Sessions and Early Childhood Care and Development.
• They will facilitate adherence to quality standards of a full range of services provided by community volunteers, adolescent girls club mentors and ECD teachers/caregivers’ to the beneficiaries.
• Prospective candidates should be resident within the LGA cluster applied for or State capitals close to such LGAs.

Specific Responsibilities
The community facilitators will:

• Participate in a pre-engagement training on SMILE gender, adolescent and ECCD programming
• Support the implementation of the SMILE gender norms, adolescent girls’ intervention and ECCD including:
  • Conduct validation of identified ‘safe’ spaces for Adolescent Girls Clubs
  • Conduct step-down trainings for community volunteers on the implementation of home visits for parent-adolescent communication skills training
  • Conduct monitoring and supervisory support visits to SMILE gender norms sessions, adolescent girls’ intervention and ECCD pilot communities
  • Develop monthly and quarterly activity reports.
  • Develop end of intervention report
• Participate in any other related activity as required/assigned

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Technical Director/Deputy Chief of Party; Technical Specialist (Gender and Child Protection); Operations Research Manager; Senior Program Managers.
• External: SMILE CSO partners; community volunteers, adolescent club mentors, ECCD Teachers/caregivers

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences (e.g. Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, Social Policy, Economics, etc.), Public Health, Public Policy, Public Administration, or International Development.
• Knowledge of gender issues and early childhood development.
• Previous experience in the development sector and/or OVC program(s)
• Knowledge of the impact of gender issues on adolescents is an asset.
• Analytical, methodical and precise style of writing.
• Skilled in MS Office including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills in English; Fluency in at least one of the major languages used in the target communities preferred.
• Ability to work effectively with children, youths, civil society partners and communities.
• Female candidates are preferred for this position

Disclaimer Clause:

• This Scope of Work is not an exhaustive list, rather it is intended to be indicative of the skills, efforts, duties and responsibilities associated with the position.

Equal Opportunity:

• “CRS is an equal –opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, etc. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply”.

Statement of Commitment to Protection:

• ‘’CRS’ recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation

Application Closing Date
19th October, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's/Resume to: ng.recruitment_health@crs.org using the reference code for this position (i.e CFADOLSMILE2017).