Graduate Field Assistant, Market 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 on the basis of 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.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Field Assistant Market

Job Ref Code: FAM181018
Location: Kaga, Borno State, Nigeria (with frequent travel to the field)
Band: 4
Department: Programs
Reports To: Market Officer

Project Background
In its ninth year, the crisis in Northeast (NE) Nigeria shows no sign of abating. The economic system of the NE region has been severely disrupted, with serious impact on agricultural and income generating activities resulting in reduced purchasing power at the household (HH) level and market demand. Years of violent conflict have displaced 1.7 million people in the three most affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The vast majority live in host communities or informal settlements. Borno hosts over 1.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and remains the state most affected by the conflict-induced humanitarian crisis. As the security situation across the NE evolves, there is also an increasing rate of returns. An estimated 1.3 million IDPs and refugees have returned, with 547,385 in Borno.

Through a second phase of Emergency Food Assistance and Nutrition Support to Conflict Affected Families in Borno State, CRS will scale-up lifesaving support to a total of 32,500 individuals, in Borno over a 9-month period. CRS will continue to provide monthly support to meet the immediate food survival needs in 2 LGAs in IPC Phase 3 (Magumeri, Gubio) and where needs remain high and displacement is ongoing. This includes CRS’ current caseload and an additional 4,500 HHs in Magumeri and Gubio LGAs, who meet CRS’ selection criteria.

Primary Job Responsibilities

• Under the leadership of the Market Officer (MO), and with guidance from the Borno Program Manager, the Market Assistant (MA) is responsible for the daily project activities in her/his geographic location, while maintaining relationships with vendors and beneficiaries.

Specific Job Responsibilities
The MA’s specific responsibilities will include the following:

• Undertake market visits at the point of disbursement to ensure that progress is made as per project plan
• Assist MO in e-voucher distribution process as well as extend support to beneficiaries and vendors, as necessary
• Ensure that feedback from beneficiaries on project implementation is regularly documented, shared and addressed through the appropriate channel
• Facilitate and actively engage in data collection activities such as PDM, price monitoring and ensure that quality standard is maintained where data is collected by market CMs
• Conduct regular monitoring of project implementation and report on challenges for timely action
• Provide support during beneficiary identification, registration and verification using standard tools
• Support MO to ensure community sensitization across all interventions is conducted before e-voucher disbursement
• Assist the market and MEAL team in card distribution for project beneficiaries
• Assist procurement/MEAL officer for identification of vendors and market actors to participate in the e-voucher activities
• Carryout regular vendor training and refresher activities
• Support Mo to plan and facilitate meetings with stakeholders and beneficiaries and sharing project information with relevant local authorities
• Any other task assigned by supervisor

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Community Development or any other relevant field
• At least 1 years’ experience in project implementation preferably with an NGO
• Proficiency in MS office application such as word, excel, PowerPoint and outlook
• Demonstrated experience in data collection
• Proven experience in group discussions and other participatory methods
• Demonstrated commitment to gender responsive programming.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, oral and written communication skills in English
• Ability to speak local languages - Kanuri and Hausa - is a must
• Team-oriented and strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and to organize and prioritize a variety of initiatives
• Willingness to travel about 70% of the time.

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Market Officer, Program Managers, MEAL Assistant, Program Officers
• External: Local partners, Enumerators, external consultants and other key stakeholders
• Travel: Willingness to travel about 70% of the time.

Application Closing Date
5PM, 31st October, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download the "Application Form" below and send with a detailed Resume as one document in PDF to: [email protected] indicating position being applied for and the Job Ref Code as the subject of the application.

Click here to download Application Form (MS Word)