Economic Empowerment Officer

Job Details

Position: Economic Empowerment Officer              

Background:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world's leading crisis response agencies, providing life-saving assistance and supporting recovery and reconstruction for people hit by war and natural disasters globally. Active in public health, education, livelihoods, women's empowerment, youth development, and protection and promotion of legal rights for the vulnerable and displaced, IRC aims to accompany people on their journey from harm to home

Scope of Work :

The Economic Empowerment Officer will be responsible for leading efforts to support small business holders and support in developing their businesses plans, distribution of startup grant, acquire skills and gain access to finance. She will also responsible for mobilizing the community, leading trainings on business and life skills, leading the formation of VSLAs, and providing ongoing support to these community savings groups 

 Responsibilities:

•  Developing detailed activity plans in line with program objectives, ensuring that those plans are implemented and any expected delays and/or modifications are communicated and raised in a timely manner with line Manager.
• Support small business owners to develop business plans, including providing feedback in the IRC cash grant application process.
• Provide training sessions and Business Development Services/business coaching to micro-entrepreneurs/ERD program beneficiaries.
• Contribute to development of program related documents including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for microenterprise support, as needed.
• Supervise the selection process of beneficiaries, review business plans and conduct social & technical feasibility for selected business.
• Ensure effective mobilization of communities to participate in VSLA and business skills training activities.
• Identify new Community Based Trainers (CBTs) and train them on VSLA methodology and principles; Plan with and supervise CBTs in training VSLA groups on methodology and principles.
• Conduct regular monitoring and visits to VSLAs, collect data from VSLA groups on a monthly basis and enter it in the database.
• Support monitoring and evaluation for business skills training and business support activities
• Project related reports as required by line manager.

Coordination & Representation:

• Maintain respectful and constructive relations with partner organizations, local authorities and humanitarian actors.
• Attend field level meetings when required and providing detailed reports to the line Manager if necessary.
• Close coordination with Food Security & Agriculture (FSAC) cluster and Cash & Market working group (CMWG).

Other duties:

• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable implementation of the IRC programs.
• Raise Purchase requests as and when required.
• Work constructively within the team and take initiative on new tasks.
• Promptly report concerns or incidents to the IRC management and liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for the ERD program.
• Coordinate with the M&E staff and the wider ERD team as necessary to identify program quality issues. Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.

Requirements (Qualifications, Skills and Abilities)

• University Degree in Economics, Business Management, Marketing, Accounting or a related field.
• Four years overall and two years relevant experience  in  implementing  community  development  projects including, savings  and  lending  and  income  generation  activities.
• Previous experience in the areas of microfinance, business planning or business management is a plus.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills and proficiency in computer knowledge.
• Ability to work under pressure, multi-task and meet deadlines.
• Good written and spoken English and Arabic skills

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation

How To Apply

Interested candidates should send their CVs in English to aden.recruitment@rescue.org not later than 10 January 2019 putting the job title as the email subject to be considered.

Qualified women are especially encouraged to apply. IRC is an equal opportunity Employer. Only short listed candidates will be contacted