Conflict Adviser at International Alert

International Alert is one of the world's leading peacebuilding  organisations, with over 30 years of experience supporting communities,  advising governments, organisations and companies on how to build  peace. Alert works with people in conflict-affected and threatened areas  to make a positive difference for peace; to improve the substance and  implementation of international policies relevant to peacebuilding; and to  strengthen the peacebuilding sector.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Conflict Adviser

Location: Bauchi (State Capital)
Grade: 3.2
Reports to: Nigeria Country Director, with technical dotted line to Alert Senior Conflict Adviser
Management Responsibilities: Conflict Specialist (2)

Job Purpose

• International Alert is part of a consortium with DAI US for the implementation of a five-year governance and service delivery improvement programme funded by USAID in the five states in Nigeria: Adamawa, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe, and Sokoto.
• The purpose of this job is to provide conflict sensitivity technical assistance to the implementation of the overall governance programme including the mainstreaming of conflict sensitivity into the programme cycle and the implementation of programme activities.

The post holder will:

• Provide strategic leadership within the DAI-managed Programme Coordination Unit / Technical Delivery unit to ensure that conflict analysis is influencing programme design and implementation
• Provide conflict sensitivity technical assistance to project components across all five states
• Support the integration of conflict analysis into the political economy analysis of the programme
• Act as one of the focal points for technical support and training across the implementation team, among partners and with external stakeholders in conflict sensitivity, conflict analysis, peacebuilding and social cohesion processes;
• Manage two Conflict Specialists to implement the same deliverables
• Ensure effective and systematic communication and coordination with International Alert West Africa programme on context analysis, programme delivery and programme development opportunities

Duties and Responsibilities
Provide strategic leadership within the DAI-managed Programme Coordination Unit / Technical Delivery unit to ensure that conflict analysis is influencing programme design and implementation:

• Oversee the management of the Conflict Assessment Framework (CAF) including the oversight of data collection, transcription, analysis and report writing.
• Build in system for programme to update conflict analysis on a quarterly basis alongside its PEA
• Provide alignment between conflict and gender analysis where applicable.

Provide conflict sensitivity technical assistance to project components across all five states:

• Manage and support the Conflict Specialists and work closely with DAIled programme team to ensure systematic monitoring of context in each of the five focal states
• Support capacity building of all delivery teams to recognize conflict insensitivities in their work with partners (state government, CSOs, media, etc) and assist their programme adjustments in a conflict sensitive manner

Support the integration of conflict analysis into the political economy analysis of the programme:

• Collaborate with the S2S PEA Adviser to update PEA every 3 to 6 months in each focal state with conflict-relevant information

Ensure effective and systematic communication and coordination with International Alert West Africa programme on context analysis, programme delivery and programme development opportunities:

• Contribute to Alert West Africa knowledge management and learning;
• Participate in organisation-wide events and discussions on related topics / projects
• Identify adequate case studies of change and impact influenced by our Alert intervention

Travel requirements:

• The location of the position is Bauchi; however, travel to the five focal states should account for 30% of the assignment.

Person Specification
Essential Requirements:

Talents:
At Alert, we have introduced Talent Management to our business model as we believe talented people are crucial to the success of our work. We believe all individuals are talented and success comes in matching the right talents to the right roles. For this role, the skills, qualifications and experience listed below are important, but we believe that to be great in this job you are likely, first and foremost, to have a talent for:

• Logical thinking which supports the translation of complex ideas into practical programme proposals.
• Collaboration and teamwork that builds on colleagues’ knowledge and expertise to maximise learning, strengthen programme teams’ skills and confidence and improve the quality of Alert’s programming
• Pursuing new business opportunities with an entrepreneurial spirit and determination

Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in International Relations, Social Sciences, Social Development or a related field
• Demonstrable understanding of conflict and peacebuilding issues, and their practical application in specific contexts
• Significant experience of managing field-based peacebuilding projects or programmes (at least 5 years)
• Sound knowledge and experience of applying conflict-sensitive approaches to development and / or humanitarian programmes including delivering trainings on these issues
• Proven success in designing strategies and projects, project planning and impact monitoring
• Considerable experience in working in partnerships with other organisations and / or supporting local offices
• Experience in providing mentoring and support to a range of actors
• Excellent report-writing, research, editing and oral presentation skills
• Excellent communication, networking and inter-personal ability
• Excellent strategic, analytical and problem-solving ability
• Strong project and programme management
• Proficiency in English

Desirable Requirements:

• Post-graduate qualification on conflict-related studies
• Experience will be focused on Nigeria, with special attention paid to expertise on one or more of the five focal states
• Knowledge of participatory research methods including USAID CAF methodology

Application Closing Date
3rd January, 2021.