Community Mentor and Private Service Provider at Mercy Corps - 80 Openings

Mercy Corps - Since 2012, Mercy Corps has been working in the most marginalized regions of Nigeria to deliver urgent, lifesaving assistance and build the resilience of communities. In 2019, our work impacted the lives of more than 984,000 people across the country.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Community Mentor and Private Service Provider

Location: Lagos
Employment Type: Contract
Slot: 80 Openings

GIRL-H Program Overview

• Girls Improving Resilience through Livelihoods and Health (GIRL-H) was a three-year (October 2020 to December 2023), 10-million-dollar program that was implemented in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria (and South Sudan from 2024).
• The program improved the well-being of adolescent girls, boys and young women by increasing their access to skills and knowledge, health resources, formal education, and economic opportunities.
• GIRL-H also fostered an enabling environment by working with communities to transform unhealthy social norms and create opportunities for girls to access education and economic opportunities.
• GIRL-H secured a one-year bridge funding (January to December 2024) that will consolidate on the work done in the last three years.
• The program will focus on four key pillars including Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), Financial Inclusion (FI) and research and learning.
• Key to GIRL-H is a robust learning and research agenda that reaches across three countries to contribute to the evidence based on what works to secure access to opportunities for adolescent girls within the most marginalized communities and to better understand their contribution to household resilience.
• This evidence and learning will be shared to elevate Mercy Corps’ influence in the adolescent girl space and to bolster fundraising efforts to scale the model.

General Position Summary, Rationale and Responsibilities for Community Volunteer

• The Community Volunteer will serve on the GIRL-H program as Community Mentor and Private Service Provider (PSP) and will be responsible for providing support and guidance to GIRL-H participants who seek a safe and inclusive environment.
• The position of Community Volunteer requires strong communication, basic financial literacy, and interpersonal skills, as they will need to build professional and healthy rapport with the program participants and establish a trusting relationship among the group members.
• The Community Volunteer is someone who has some understanding of the unique challenges faced by marginalized and underrepresented participants and implementing communities, and should be able to offer culturally sensitive advice and resources to participants.

The Community Volunteer will be based in the local government area (LGA) of implementation and support the GIRL-H Program as follows:

• Mobilize participants for registration into the savings and internal lending communities (SILC) groups.
• Enroll and verify participants using agreed/approved tools.
• Mobilize participants for any GIRL-H-related activities.
• Conduct program monitoring and post-distribution monitoring (PDM).
• Support and train groups on the SILC methodology.
• Support and facilitate the formation of cooperative groups.
• Support with data collection.
• Other duties as assigned.

Location of Assignment for the Community Volunteer:

• The Community Volunteer will be residents and familiar with Alimosho, Epe, Kosofe, Shomolu, Ojo LGAs of Lagos State - to ease their engagements with the community stakeholders and participants, and to enable them to speedily respond to support needs of the participants as they arise.

Number of Community Volunteers to be Engaged:

• The GIRL-H Program in Lagos State will engage the services of a total of eighty (80) Community Volunteers with the following breakdown: Alimosho LGA -16 persons, Epe - 16 persons, Kosofe – 16 persons, Shomolu – 16 persons, and Ojo – 16 persons.

Working Hours and Contract Duration:

• Each Community Volunteer will be expected to work for 9 hours per day, two (2) days a week, eight (8) days a month.
• The total duration of engaging each Community Volunteer will be six (6) months.

Level of Efforts (LoE) and Reporting:

• The Community Volunteer’s tasks will be coordinated by Mercy Corps’ Lagos-based GIRL-H’s Program Officer and supported by the Program Assistants.
• All assigned tasks must be completed in line with the contract and approved workplan. The contract period for each Community Volunteer is six (6) months and expected to fall between March to September 2024, except when an amendment is made.

Payment Terms:

• The Community Volunteer will be paid monthly based on the LoE completed in the respective month.
• The Community Volunteer will complete a monthly timesheet that must be approved by the GIRL-H Program Officer in Lagos.
• In addition to the completed and approved timesheet, the GIRL-H Program Officer will prepare and obtain approval for Payment Request to process the monthly payments.
• Mercy Corps Nigeria will process payment upon receipt of the completed and approved timesheet and payment request within 10 working days.
• Mercy Corps Nigeria will deduct 5% WHT from the monthly gross payment, in line with government regulations.

Qualifications and Selection Criteria

• Qualification of SSCE / WAEC Certification and above.
• Evidence of coordinating Safe Spaces and providing mentorship to adolescents.
• Resident in the LGA where he/she will be expected to work.
• Experience working in the community of assignment with good understanding of the local dialect and basic English language.
• Experience with stakeholders mapping and mobilization for program activities/engagements as required.
• Possess a degree of flexibility to work and available to respond to comments and questions in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Previous experience working with Mercy Corps, or its implementing partners is an added advantage.
• Proven skills in the use of mobile smart devices for data collection is an added advantage.
• Two years and above track record of conducting and/or contributing to research is an added advantage.

Application Closing Date
1st March, 2024.