Conflict Sensibility Advisor at Field Support Services Project (FSSP) Nigeria

The Field Support Services Project (FSSP) is a GAC-funded bilateral development project. Its purpose is to provide administrative, technical, logistical, and financial management support to Canada’s international development assistance program in Nigeria to maximize the development results and impact of its program.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Conflict Sensibility Advisor

Location: Abuja (FCT) 
Employment Type: Part-time

Background

• Global Affairs Canada (GAC) recognizes that all Canadian-funded projects and implementing partners have an impact where they are operating and should weigh their potential role when implementing activities, particularly in conflict-affected contexts, like some parts of Nigeria.
• A greater coordination across the humanitarian-peace-development (HDP) nexus is needed in this context for various reasons: the protracted nature of the crisis in the North East, which is in its 14th year; the deteriorating security situation and worsening humanitarian indicators in the North West and in parts of North Central, which are not currently covered by the Nigeria Humanitarian Response Plan; and the shrinking levels of humanitarian funding.
• To ensure that GAC-funded projects do not lead to unintended negative impacts and go beyond “doing no harm” to maximize opportunities to build and strengthen peace for sustainable impacts, GAC encourages partners to adopt a conflict-sensitive approach in programming, policy and decision making. Thus far, GAC has observed in proposals and concept notes by partners in Nigeria that there is a gap in understanding of how to effectively address the `peace` element of the HDP nexus approach, without which the sustainability of any project in conflict-affected settings is at risk.
• The Field Support Services Project (FSSP) is a GAC-funded bilateral development project. Its purpose is to provide administrative, technical, logistical, and financial management support to Canada’s international development assistance program in Nigeria to maximize the development results and impact of its program. The FSSP will contract the services of a Conflict Sensitivity Advisor for a period of six months to provide technical assistance to GAC’s current and potential partners on conflict sensitivity.

Objective, Responsibilities and Deliverables
Objective:

• The objective of the Conflict Sensitivity Advisor mandate is to support Canada’s international development assistance program in Nigeria in applying a conflict sensitive approach to help ensure effective and resource efficient programming that prevents/mitigates the risk of negative impacts (including on women and girls), with the goal of contributing to better and sustainable development results in Nigeria. The Advisor will achieve this through strengthening GAC partners’ knowledge and capacity to effectively integrate gender-sensitive conflict analysis into their programming (design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting).

Responsibilities / Deliverables

• Develop an assessment and a guidance document (that includes best practices/recommendations and concrete examples of how to integrate conflict sensitivity in Nigeria-focused projects at different stages: design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting—and the risks/impacts of not doing so). This deliverable entails having meetings with GAC partners who work across different sectors to better understand where the gaps and challenges are in doing this, as well as meetings with local experts on conflict sensitivity integration in Nigeria-based programming.
• Design and conduct a workshop with GAC partners to socialize the draft assessment and guidance documents. The workshop would be designed based on the challenges/needs/gaps identified by the partners/local experts; and it would serve as a validation process of the draft documents (which can be adjusted afterwards as needed). It would also include concrete exercises/activities, in which partners practice applying the knowledge and skills they gain during the workshop.

Required Qualifications and Competencies
Education:

• Graduate Degree (master’s degree required; PhD or equivalent would be an asset) in Peace and Conflict Studies, International Development, Gender Studies, Peace Building, or other related fields. Candidates with combined degrees will have an added advantage.

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum of 8 years of cumulative experience as senior specialist or senior program management positions in development work related to conflict, peacebuilding, or identity-based and religious communal conflict in Nigeria.
• Applicants must meet the minimum education and experience requirements to be shortlisted.

Required Skills and Experience:

• At least five years’ experience directly related to conflict sensitivity and Do-No-Harm approaches, including experience in mainstreaming these concepts into development and humanitarian programing.
• Experience in conducting gender-sensitive conflict analysis and experience in applying such analysis to local development and humanitarian contexts.
• Experience in conducting training on Conflict Sensitivity and Do-No-Harm approaches.
• Excellent understanding of underlying causes of different conflicts and its causes and consequences in Nigeria, based on evidence.
• Demonstrated knowledge/understanding of Nigeria’s political, social, and economic aspects of conflicts.
• Prior experience in an international development institution (public, NGO or private) is preferred. Ability to function effectively in multidisciplinary teams is essential.
• Demonstrated ability in producing clear, high quality analytical written work on conflict sensitivity in development and humanitarian topics.
• Strong interpersonal, cross-cultural and communication skills; and
• Commitment to teamwork and ability to build constructive and effective relationships.
• (Asset: Demonstrated experiences in the design and/or implementation of development and humanitarian programmes).

Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of Nigeria’s political, social, and economic situation regional, national, and local government level including knowledge of different conflicts in Nigeria.
• Ability to deliver quality reports or assessments in a short time.
• Good facilitation skills and ability to generate ideas from, and build consensus among, a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Client oriented; and
• Demonstrated ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and a professional commitment to promote a culture of social cohesion and social inclusion.

Application Closing Date
30th April, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Application letter and CV in a single file to: [email protected] using the job title as the subject of the mail.