Capacity Building and Training Officer at Search for Common Ground (Search)

Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful transformation of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - moving away from destructive approaches and towards cooperative solutions. With more than 700 staff worldwide, Search implements projects in more than 30 African countries, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and North America.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Capacity Building and Training Officer - A Community-Centred Approach to Transforming Criminality and Violence in the Niger Delta

Location: Bayelsa
Employment type: Full-time

Position Summary

• We are seeking an experienced Capacity Building and Training Officer for an anticipated 18-month project funded by the European Union.
• The project will be implemented in consortium with co-applicants with the overall goal of fostering inclusive community security approaches to address the systemic drivers of violence and criminality in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States. 
• The role is expected to provide support to the Capacity Building and Training Coordinator. Overall, the role of a Capacity Building Officer is to facilitate the growth and development of individuals, partner organizations, and communities by identifying their needs, designing effective interventions, and supporting them in acquiring the necessary skills and resources to achieve their goals.
• This position holder will report to the Capacity Building Coordinator and be functionally managed by the Head of Office. The position holder will be based in Bayelsa State.
• The Capacity Building Officer is expected to bring on board some level of experience and skills in training in conflict transformation, conflict resolution, conflict sensitivity, and do no harm (DNH) principles along with human rights.
• The candidate will have skills in supporting training for government actors at the local and state level that includes security personnel in the Common Ground approach to conflict resolution and human rights; the candidate will also have experience working with different stakeholders and supporting dialogue processes.
• Overall, the role of a Capacity Building Officer is to facilitate the growth and development of individuals, partner organizations, and communities by identifying their needs, designing effective interventions, and supporting them in acquiring the necessary skills and resources to achieve their goals.
• This position holder will report to the Capacity Building Coordinator and be functionally managed by the Consortium Coordinator and Head of Programme Implementation.
• The position holder will be based in Bayelsa State. The position holder will work with the project teams to design, review, update, and roll out capacity building and training activities related to mitigating conflict-related issues in the Bayelsa.
• S/he will build synergy and collaborate with project teams to allocate human, material, and financial resources to effectively utilize our internal capacity to maximize our inputs, outcomes, and results.
• The anticipated project will bring together four leading peacebuilding and development organizations in the Niger Delta, in a consortium aimed at providing a holistic, community-centered approach to addressing core drivers of criminality, violence, and conflict in the region, with a specific focus on the empowerment and inclusion of youth in the security of their respective communities in the Niger Delta.
• The consortium partners will leverage existing relationships with the action’s diverse target groups, including at-risk youth, local communities impacted by oil production and oil bunkering, state security actors, the private sector, journalists and media actors, key civil society organizations, and policymakers at the state, regional, national, and international levels, to secure broad-based buy-in and participation in the action.
• Overall, the project will seek to initiate a shift in the way that relevant actors think about and approach issues of oil bunkering, criminality, and security in the Niger Delta in favor of more bottom-up, human-centered perspectives.
• This institutional and social shift is necessary in order to sustainably reduce the prevalence of oil bunkering and other forms of criminality and violence in the region in the long term.
• The design of the action centers around four activity streams, each addressing a systemic driver of division, violence, and criminality in Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta States:
  • Stream 1: will foster intra-community collaboration around issues of social exclusion, lack of economic opportunity, and environmental degradation.
  • Stream 2: will build trust and collaboration between communities, the government, and security actors for more participatory, community-centered security operations. 
  • Stream 3: will leverage arts- and culture-based approaches to foster social cohesion between divided communities, both online and offline.
  • Stream 4: will facilitate policy change to institutionalize community-centered security approaches at the local, state, regional, national, and international levels.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Need Assessment: Conduct thorough assessments to identify the existing capacities, strengths, weaknesses, and gaps within the communities. 
• Strategy Development: Designing comprehensive capacity-building strategies and plans based on the identified needs, goals, and available resources.
• Training and Workshops: Developing and delivering training activities, and workshops, and to build the capacity of individuals and groups in specific areas such as leadership, human rights, conflict transformation, Common Ground Approach, Dialogue sessions, and other themes.
• Resources Development: Collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to create training materials, toolkits, manuals, and other resources that support capacity-building initiatives.
• Coaching and Mentoring: Provide guidance, support, and mentoring to individuals or teams to help them improve their skills and performance.
• Partnership and Collaboration: Establishing and maintaining partnerships with relevant organizations, institutions, and experts to leverage expertise, resources, and networks for capacity-building initiatives. 
• Monitoring and Evaluation: Develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess the effectiveness of capacity-building interventions and make necessary adjustments to improve outcomes.
• Knowledge Management: Creating systems to capture and disseminate knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned from capacity-building activities within the organization and communities.
• Sustainability Planning: Assisting organizations and communities in developing long-term stability plans to ensure the continuation of capacity-building efforts beyond the initial intervention.
• Reporting and Documentation: Compiling progress reports, documenting activities, and preparing presentations to communicate the impact and outcomes of capacity-building initiatives to stakeholders and funders

Reporting:

• Write all training reports highlighting, lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations including success highlights, feedback from participants, and recommendations for the following stages of Search’s program (sent to line supervisor).
• Carry out a feedback session in communities after months of training implementation, to gauge how effective the training had been and how participants are using the training learning.

Educational Qualifications

• A Degree in Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, Peacebuilding, Conflict Management, or a relevant field;
• Additional education in conflict management, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution 

Required Experience:

• At least 3 years’ experience as a trainer, one of those years should be in the non-profit and NGO sector in relevant topics (as per above mentioned list) for a diverse range of audiences (from communities to authorities); 
• Have facilitated/ co-facilitated at least 10 trainings to key stakeholders that include: security, local and state-level actors, and community leaders with excellent command of trainees in relevant fields;
• In-depth knowledge of the Niger Delta region. 

Other Relevant Requirements:

• Good knowledge of the local languages will be an asset.
• Knowledge of civil society organizations, government agencies, private sector companies, and international development agencies, with experience working in partnership within some of these sectors;
• Written and verbal communications skills including the ability to synthesize complicated policy issues into digestible products and to deal with both elite and popular media and specialist and non-specialist audiences;
• Experience of partnership building, with experience in influencing stakeholders and establishing and maintaining strong partnerships;
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and strong interpersonal skills;
• Commitment to Search’s aims and a clear understanding of the links between policy, lobbying, campaigning, and how policy change can be achieved through effective advocacy;
• Organizational skills and attention to detail;
• Ability to respond flexibly to opportunities and requests sometimes with little notice;
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a rapidly changing environment;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism and solves problems in collaborative ways

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrate integrity and promote Search values and ethical standards;
• Promote the vision, mission, and strategic objectives of Search;
• Demonstrate capacity to adapt to a multi-cultural context, tolerance, and respect for issues related to gender, religion, race, and nationality;
• Proficiency in the use of MS Office 
• Demonstrate capacity in developing concept notes and Terms of Reference for hiring consultants.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.