Service Delivery Specialist at Plan Nigeria

Plan - Working in 50 developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, Plan's stated Global Strategic Goal (2011-15) is to reach as many children as possible, particularly those who are excluded or marginalised, with high-quality programmes that deliver long-lasting benefits. Plan aims to achieve this goal by working in partnership with others and through high performing teams whose behaviours reflect the corporate values. Plan has a global income of around $800m.

Plan USA took ownership of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) in November 2012. As part of this it also acquired an operating entity in Nigeria (CEDPA Nigeria). This entity is now being transitioned to Plan International Inc., which will lead to the establishment of Plan International Nigeria.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Service Delivery Specialist

Job Grade Unit/Department: Deputy Country Director's Office
To Whom the Job Holder Reports to: Senior Gender Advisor (Line manager)
Field Based/Location: Bauchi, Sokoto and Rivers
Level of Child Protection: Medium

Job Purpose

• The Local Service Delivery Specialist will function as a member of a team implementing the USAID funded local governance and civil society program in Nigeria.
• The Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) program has been implemented since 2009 to build partnerships between civil societies, state and local governments and the private sector to improve state and local governance capacity in Bauchi, Sokoto and Rivers states, and to build the capacity of local governments to be more responsive to community needs.
• The Local Service Delivery Specialist will be responsible for working with CLGAs to develop Service Improvement Plans (SIP's), working with state actors and other stakeholders in engaging policy development and implementation, ensuring that gender considerations are addressed throughout program activities and contributing to the community mobilization and advocacy portfolio which aims to engage communities in demanding improved services.

Core Roles and Responsibility:

• Design and implement concepts notes and implementation plans on engagements with State MOAs, LGAs, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders through participatory and gender approaches that ensure improvement in service delivery as they relate to education, health, water and sanitation and economic growth.
• Design strategies to strengthen partnerships that match State, LGA, private sector and civil society services with articulated community needs in education, health, water and sanitation and in collaboration with other USAlD Implementing Partners.
• Contribute to the development or/and review of state wide and LG polices, laws and implementation guidelines to improve sector financing,coordination and regulation for eflctive service delivery.
• Conduct gender disaggregated beneficiary assessments to identify the public service needs of different constituencies and initiate public private partnerships for effective service delivery.
• Promote, conduct, design community based activities to improve service delivery by engaging beneficiaries and Local governments in the design of service improvement activities
• Identify ways to improve service delivery by addressing gender considerations
• Work collaboratively with other members of the LEAD technical team on local governance processes, the budget process, ICR strategies, improving access to basic education and reading, CSOs/CBOs engagements for effective service delivery in the LGAs.
• Work closely with other USAID Implementing Partners to identify and implement strategies in areas of collaboration for improved service delivery in the health and education sectors.
• Contribute to project reporting and documentation,
• Represent PLAN on LEAD engagements with partners and communities to ensure strong acceptance and implementation support for activities.

Key Results & Criteria for Success:

• Identify key activities for the project to undertake to advance women's participation in service delivery decision making or building the skills and competencies of LGA officials to conduct their work in a more gender sensitive and socially inclusive way
• Building the capacity of CSOs, community women and gender champions to productively engage in service delivery decision making. This would demand designing capacit9 building activities and advocacy strategies
• Developing training materials (or make revisions to existing materials) that reflect state of-the-art practices in gender and social inclusion;
• M&E systems to capture the impact of gender related activities on project outcomes;
• Developing staff capacity in gender and social inclusion;
• Preparing quarterly and final reports;
• Creating project levels systems and protocols to ensure that gender and social inclusion is integrated into the project's operational systems;
• Engage with genderand social inclusionthroughoutthe pro jectactivities.

Primary Linkages for this Post
Internal Plan's CMT members, Plan/LEAD Senior Gender Advisor (in terms of technical advice, support and coordination), Management Support Coordinator.

Leadership Behaviors:

• Ability to maintain strategic vision and link with everyday work.
• Clear and effective communication that builds relationships in order to influence others.
• Proactively organizes and manages performance.
• Accountability and responsibility for own decisions.
• Promote team work and cooperation.
• Demonstrate high degree of professionalism and integrity.
• Confident in taking initiative and exploring new opportunities.
• Assertiveness and shows cultural sensitiveness.

Qualifications and Experience

• A multidisciplinary background, with 3 years Master's degree and or Bachelor's degree with five years' experience working in civil and local governance, community based interventions and gender
• Multi-sector (education, health, WASH, economic growth) experience and extensive background in the areas of participatory and gender needs assessments
• Three - four years previous experience in mobilizing communities effectively and leading advocacy efforts

Skills Specific to the Post Holder:

• Strong communicating, organizational and writing skills
• Project management skills and ability to work with diverse teams.
• Experience working on a USAID project
• Bilingual -preferably Hausa speaker.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders,
• Energetic and motivated individual, with a proven track record of undertaking similar assignments
• Strategic and critical skills but also focused on operational results and "getting things done"
• Commitment to continuous learning; willingness to keep abreast of new developments in security
• Able to work independently but also collaborate closely within teams
• Ability to establish and sustain strong working relationships with Plan colleagues and in the broader community/context
• Culturally and socially sensitive
• Computer: MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook.

Challenges/Changes:

• Typical office environment
• Regular local travel to programme countries (25% of time).
• Occasional interaction with women and children in field visits

Application Closing Date
9th March, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their applications and CV's to: [email protected]

Note: Only shortlist applicants will be contacted.