Program Officer, Anti Corruption and Accountability at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Officer, Anti Corruption and Accountability

Job Code: 20000426
Location: Abuja (FCT)
Job type: Full-Time
Grade: P2/P3
Directorate: Political Affairs
Line Supervisor: Head, Democracy and Good Governance
Institution: ECOWAS Commission
Department: Political Affairs peace ad Security
Supervising: NA
Agency: ECOWAS Commission
Division: Democracy and Good Governance

Role Overview

• Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Head of Democracy & Good Governance Division, the officer’s main tasks and responsibilities will be to support the work of the Division in promoting the Anti-corruption and Accountability Agenda in ECOWAS Member States as articulated in the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.

Role and Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and implementation of programs meant to support and strengthen Member States' institutions to prevent and combat corruption and corruption-related activities.
• Organize training programmes for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and anti-graft institutions in Member States on corruption prevention; assist in monitoring programs and their implementation, and review relevant documents and reports.
• Identify problems and issues to be addressed and initiate corrective actions; liaise with relevant stakeholders and ensure follow-up actions.
• Research, analyze, and present information gathered from diverse sources with a focus on corruption risk assessments and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Provide support and expertise for the coordination of policy development on anti-corruption, including reviewing and analyzing issues and trends, and preparing evaluations or other research activities and studies.
• Organize and prepare written outputs such as policy and programmatic reports, background papers, analyses, report sections, studies, and inputs to publications relevant to the division’s work.
• Provide backstopping to consultative meetings, conferences, workshops, etc.; identify participants, and prepare documents and presentations.
• Collaborate and coordinate with partners, Member States' anti-corruption institutions, and other relevant entities such as CSOs on anti-corruption matters, with a focus on integrity and accountability.
• Serve as the Desk Officer to the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA); coordinate the Annual General Meetings, workshops, and capacity-building needs of the Network.
• Monitor and review best practices, methodologies, and programmes in anti-corruption.
• Assist the Head of the Division in reporting on the division’s activities.
• Perform other relevant duties as required or assigned by the supervisor.

Academic Qualifications and Experience

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in Law: preferably in International Law or Criminal Law, Political Science, Development Studies, Social Sciences from a university of recognized standing.
• At least three (3) years of progressively responsible professional experience in one or several of the following areas is required: working within or providing advisory services to anti-corruption bodies; investigating and/or prosecuting corruption cases in an anti-corruption agency, law enforcement, prosecution services or the judiciary.
• Experience in anti-corruption, compliance, law enforcement, or governance. Strong communication, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating technical assistance programmes for anti-corruption and/or governance related work in international organizations or non-governmental organizations.
• Work experience at the international level including within the ECOWAS sub region or similar international organizations, particularly in servicing intergovernmental bodies.

 Age Limit: Be below 50 years old. This provision does not apply to internal candidates.

Key Competencies:

• Ability to lead in the execution of tasks, contacting colleagues and contributors as needed making decisions to ensure tasks are completed as expected.
• Ability to guide own work by setting and monitoring goals with strong personal initiative and commitment to ECOWAS.
• Ability to model and advocate for compliance, good work ethics, flexibility, and persistence to get job done coupled with an ability to influence positive teamwork and cooperation.
• Ability to lead small teams to carry out semi-routine work including assigning work, training, and checking work.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to engage with clients in positive exchanges that establish mutual expectations and understandings and reduce uncertainties and conflicts.
• Ability to keep a client informed on matters of relevance to expectations, establishing “bring forward” systems and introducing other procedures/techniques to ensure that service standards are maintained.
• Ability to make decisions based on guidelines, procedures and precedents and maintain confidentiality and discretion with clients/stakeholders.
• Good judgement and demonstrated ability to be assertive – rather than passive or aggressive when interacting with clients.
• Well-developed problem-solving, critical thinking and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to perceive the moods and feelings of others, and to understand the attitude, interests, needs, and perspectives of others.
• Well-developed ability to relate well with people from varied backgrounds, open to understanding diverse cultural differences especially within west Africa.
• Ability to listen attentively to people’s ideas, requests, and concerns and to explain to others the need for diversity management in everyday workplace practices.
• Ability to factor in diversity when providing services, responding to requests, recognizing, and releasing preconceived notions and stereotypical views of certain groups and individuals.
• Basic understanding of the ECOWAS organization mandate and its functions.
• Ability to explain the functional area assigned to and the contributions it makes to the organization and its mandate.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS semi-routine procedures, processes, and practices as it relates to assigned responsibilities and information systems.
• Ability to apply ECOWAS standards in emailing, reporting, correspondence, etc. and to contribute to implementing associated changes as directed.
• Ability to carefully review and check the accuracy of information in work reports provided by management, management information systems or other individuals.
• Good knowledge of office monitoring indicators of relevance to own work (e.g. travels, purchases, accounts, meetings, etc.) and ability to provide brief reports or updates.
• Ability to edit, check, track and review documents prepared by others and reorganize data or information according to instructions using latest technology.
• Efficiently retrieves, inputs, edits, formats, transmits, and links electronic file data used for analysis and understands basic data management operations.
• Ability to condense information and/or produce concise summary notes to help others with decision-making, problem solving and/or assessment work.
• Proficiency communicating orally and in writing in English and French languages.
• Demonstrated computer skills to communicate using tools such as email, Skype, word processing, excel, social media, etc. and to write and format documents appropriately for presentation, the web, proposals, reports, and other documents.
• Ability to proofread, edit and revise documents to ensure documents are grammatically correct, follow standard conventions for punctuation and mechanics and formatted in accordance with ECOWAS communication standards.
• Ability to relay/redirect complete and accurate messages to appropriate persons/departments.
• Fluency in one of the three ECOWAS official languages (English, French & Portuguese)
• Ability to organize information or materials for others, solving minor problems and checking for completeness and compliance to standards or instructions.
• Knowledge of techniques to prioritize tasks in fast paced workplace with frequent interruptions and moving deadlines and adaptability/ flexibility to meet work expectations.
• Understanding and adherence to the policies, procedures and guidelines required to support the ECOWAS planning cycle at the individual and organizational level.
• Good initiative with an ability to identify what needs to be done and act before being asked or required to.

Annual Salary
UA 44,142.33 / USD 69,647.7. 

Application Closing Date
31st July, 2025.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their filled job application form with three (3) professional references, resume (CV) and a cover letter to: b54poanticorrupandaccountability@ecowas.int using the job title as the subject of the email.

Click here to download the application form (Docx.)

Note
Assessment method:

• Assessment of qualified candidates may include a written exercise and a competency-based interview.

ECOWAS Work Environment:

• ECOWAS provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and a healthy work-life balance.
• We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore, we encourage women to apply for positions that suit their competencies.
• Individuals from minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are also highly encouraged to apply.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of ECOWAS’s workforce.

Disclaimer:

• Selection and appointment will be subject to background and reference checks and other administrative requirements.
• ECOWAS does not charge for any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing in connection with application or recruitment processes and does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.