Consultant Facilitator at International Alert - 2 Openings

International Alert (Alert) is an international peacebuilding non-governmental organisation working with people directly affected by conflict to find peaceful solutions towards a world where people resolve their differences without violence and can build a more peaceful future for their families and communities. Alert works in over 30 countries and territories and has offices in 18 countries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant Facilitator

Locations: Bauchi and Yobe
Employment Type: Contract

Terms of Reference

• Consultant Facilitator; Capacity-building for community leaders, local authorities, and security forces on peace building in Bauchi and Gamawa LGAs of Bauchi state and Gujba and Damaturu LGAs of Yobe State

Background

• International Alert (Alert) is an international peacebuilding non-governmental organisation working with people directly affected by conflict to find peaceful solutions towards a world where people resolve their differences without violence and can build a more peaceful future for their families and communities. Alert works in over 30 countries and territories and has offices in 18 countries.
• Since 2009, about fifteen million individuals have been influenced by the Boko Haram conflict, and the coming about of the military operations within the Northeast of Nigeria.
• The human, social, and financial misfortunes of the strife, and the ventures required for the recuperation, peacebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast are overwhelming.
• Damage to markets, farmlands, education and health facilities, the loss of job opportunities and the physical and psychological impacts of the crisis are all negatively affecting an entire generation of the North-eastern part of Nigerians.
• The conflict has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with increasing food insecurity and destruction of social services, infrastructure and the environment, all of which has exacerbated already existing socioeconomic disparities.
• This is not just a problem affecting the North-East of Nigeria, but ultimately the economic stability and social fabric of the whole country, with spill over impact in the region.
• International Alert (Alert) and Taimako Community Development Initiative’s (TCDI) work in Yobe and Bauchi States has highlighted that the exclusion of young people from decision-making on peace and security, local governance, and development is a key cause of fragility globally.
• Evidence shows that when young people are marginalised from local and national development gains, they are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks, social instability, and conflicts.
• Young men and women between ages 18 and 35 are habitually excluded from development programmes and activities and are less likely to be involved in governance and decision-making processes.
• This results in furthering their economic, social and political marginalization and thereby further limits their capacity to participate. Young people are also likely to have multiple levels of salient identities, including overlap with other typically excluded demographic groups including women, indigenous, disabled, LGBTQI, refugee, ethnic minority, migrant, and economically impoverished.
• As a result of this marginalisation and exclusion, young people are often unaware of their human rights and the rights applicable to them due to their age.
• As a result, Alert and TCDI have designed the “Matasa ku taso: Youth Arise!” project to address the challenges of youth exclusion and conflict in Yobe and Bauchi States.
• This will be done through creating opportunities for young people to have more say in decisions that shape their lives, thus reducing grievances, addressing their basic needs, and rebuilding the fractured trust with community leaders, state authorities and security forces.
• Such trust is the foundation of long-term stability, as it encourages collaboration between different stakeholders in preventing and responding to conflict triggers.

Context

• In Yobe and Bauchi states, the conflict context has been driven and influenced by youth exclusion. Violent conflict has further impoverished the population and particularly affected young people who were already economically vulnerable. With regards to youth involvement in decision making in Yobe and Bauchi states, there is a clear gap between youth potential and actual participation in all spheres of public life, from the economy to governance to peace and security.
• Low levels of education and lack of economic opportunities, alongside elite capture, nepotism and endemic corruption are barriers to entry into the formal working sector and decision-making structures.
• This has resulted in a breakdown in trust between young people and decision-makers, whether traditional leaders, government authorities, or security forces. "While many youths have demonstrated good leadership, skills, hard work and perseverance despite the high levels of poverty, unemployment, lack of opportunities in political, social, and economic space, many others are engaged in negative vices such as radical extremism, joining criminal gangs, political thuggery, drugs, and theft.
• In Yobe state, in particular, Boko Haram has found a fertile recruitment ground among youth, taking advantage of their deep frustration and grievance toward a society that blocks their pathways to fulfilment, as well as a lack of education and lack of mobilising power as youths.
• The activities of the insurgent group have created an unprecedented security and humanitarian crisis in the state, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands more. Responses by security forces have often been heavy-handed and violating civilian rights with arbitrary arrests, torture and unjustified killings.
• In Bauchi state, while the risk of Boko Haram activity has receded over the past few years, there is a high rate of gang-related violence and conflict in many areas. For example, the ‘Yan Sara Suka’ are a notorious violent youth gang, responsible for a spate of thefts, abduction and rape of girls, cutting and maiming of individuals.
• To build the desire for peace and address current gaps, International Alert will carry out capacity building for community leaders, local authorities, and security forces on peacebuilding. Key individuals in communities, within security forces and in local government agencies identified through stakeholder analysis will be targeted with training activities.
• These leaders are instrumental to supporting community-level and local government level social cohesion and are saddled with governance responsibilities.

The specific objective of the training is to:

• Improve the skills and capacity of community leaders and security forces in peaceful conflict resolution, conflict analysis, gender and conflict sensitivity
• Enhance peaceful co-existence and social cohesion in communities

Scope of Work

• The consultant will build the capacity of community leaders, local authorities, and security forces on peaceful conflict resolution methods, conflict analysis, gender and conflict sensitivity in Bauchi and Gamawa LGAs of Bauchi state and Gujba and Damaturu LGAs of Yobe State.

The specific aims and objectives of this training/workshop is to:

• Build the capacity of community leaders, local authorities, and security forces on peacebuilding
• Enhance community-level and local government level peaceful co-existence and social cohesion

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum qualification of a Master’s Degree or equivalent in Peace and Conflict Studies, Law, international Development, and any relevant discipline.
• 5 years’ experience of conducting training and or working on governance and the SDGs, including governance programming
• Experience in conducting and / or coordinating applied research and in facilitating and consolidating learning, including at country level on peacebuilding
• At least 3 years’ experience in security and justice governance sector
• Familiarity with the conflict context of Yobe and Bauchi states
• Experience in training, policy development, and program management
• Proven ability to effectively engage with and build capacity of youths and state government stakeholders
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills and ability to communicate in local languages such as Hausa

Competence:

• Good understanding of interlinkages between peace, justice and inclusion
• Strong facilitation skills
• Strong interpersonal communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Organizational and planning skills
• Proficient in computer skills

Timeframe
The implementation period for this assignment is expected to be from 28th March – 8th April 2022 (10 days)

Payment and Deliverables

• Payments will be authorized based on approval by International Alert Senior Project Officer and Alert’s Finance and Operations unit, following completion/presentation of the following deliverables:
  • Completion of the outline of the expected capacity Building workshop in accordance with the desired objectives outlined under the scope of work.
  • Development and submission of training activity report for Bauchi and Yobe States
  • Submission of fully completed invoice to Alert
• International Alert will make the payment by electronic transfer to the consultants’ bank account to be provided by the consultant upon submission of all supporting documents including workshop report.

Supervision:

• The Consultant will work closely with International Alert ‘Matasa Ku Taso’ Senior Project Officer, Project Officers and Northeast Programme Manager.

Application Closing Date
5pm,10th February, 2022.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Expression of Interest, indicating your experience, technical and financial proposals to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.

Note
Interested and qualified consultant(s) / firm(s) are invited to submit their proposal(s) comprising of:

• A technical proposal with evidence that they meet the consultancy requirements and methodology for performing the assignment. The technical proposal should also evidence relevant services undertaken in the past three (3) years, indicating the scope and magnitude.
• A financial proposal, including all applicable taxes.
• Registration and other relevant statutory documents
• Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted in one document. Alert will only respond to entries with detailed financial and technical proposals.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• If you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, you can assume your application has been unsuccessful. Please do not send follow-up emails or calls.
• International Alert is an equal opportunities employer. All applicants will be judged strictly based on merit.