Somalia: Technical Adviser - Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience

May 10, 2024 | Concern Worldwide
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Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

About the Role 

This is an initial two-year contract with opportunity to extend. It is a new role with unaccompanied terms based in Mogadishu, Somalia with travel to Hargeisa and Baidoa and time spent in Nairobi. The position is at Grade 4 on Concern’s salary scale (€45,347 - €50,509 depending on candidates’ experience).

The Technical Advisor will be the overall technical adviser on all climate, environment and resilience related approaches and activities for Concern Worldwide in Somalia. They will liaise closely with the Dublin-based Desk Officer for Somalia, the global Climate and Environment Adviser, the global DRR Adviser and other technical advisers. 

The Technical Advisor will report to the Programme Director and will work directly with Concern’s Programme Coordinators, Programme Managers, the Somaliland Coordinator, the Grants & information Manager, the MEAL Manager, the Somalia Cash Consortium Manager, and their respective teams.  As this is a cross-cutting role, you will work with all departments and sectors, especially those working on climate-and resilience-related programmes. In addition, you will liaise closely with the BRCiS consortium led by NRC; the government Ministries or Departments responsible for Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources, Water & Irrigation, Resilience, Disaster Management; and other relevant external stakeholders.

Concern Worldwide would like the o start indicatively in May (middle to end of the month).  Concern Worldwide is open to negotiating the starting date with the selected candidate.
 

Purpose of the role

The purpose of this position is to advise and guide Concern’s programmes in Somalia on designing for resilience and incorporating environmental protection and sustainability, including climate change adaptation, into all activities and approaches. This will include actively supporting teams with – and being directly involved in – awareness raising, assessments, analysis, capacity building, project (re-)design, proposal development, M&E, advocacy messaging and documentation of success/learning. It is expected that you will improve the impact of Concern’s own programming on building resilience to shocks and stresses, strengthening adaptation to climate change and protecting/regenerating the environment, ensuring alignment with the Somalia National Development Plan (NDP). You will raise Concern’s profile in the area of climate, environment and resilience amongst other actors, including by representing the organisation in key forums and platforms both in-person and online.

A significant part of the job will be to spearhead Concern’s work as BRCiS technical lead on Early Warning Early Action (EWEA) in collaboration with the Resilience Programme Coordinator, ensuring that the consortium is equipped and able to take this workstream and agenda forward within the wider stakeholder environment and to build on Concern’s successes in community-based EWEA. You will also explore opportunities to collaborate with key climate/environment focused donors, actors, NGOs, UN agencies, academic institutions and private sector entities.

A key aspect of this role will be to provide close support to the national Resilience Programme Coordinator (managed by the Programme Director), strengthening their technical and coordination capacity. You will also be expected to provide cover during the Coordinator’s leave.
 

Key Responsibilities

Strategic and Technical Work:

• Provide technical inputs to the design, development planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and management of resilience programmes (BRCiS and Irish Aid) as well as any other programmes with resilience goals.
• Lead the BRCiS Early Warning Early Action technical sub-workstream building on Concern’s previous experience in setting up/strengthening community based EWEA systems. This will include: organising and leading regular workstream meetings; developing national and regional contacts and participating in national and regional fora; maintaining technical links and keeping up-to-date on technical developments; developing minimum standards; preparing formal guidance; providing technical advice; ensuring capacity building of consortium partners and downstream partners; conducting field monitoring; documenting best practices and lessons learnt; working with the consortium Value for Money adviser: and identifying/applying adaptive management to ensure high quality programming between partners.
• Support integration and consolidation of Concern’s EWEA work across sectors (Resilience, Livelihoods, Health and Nutrition, Durable Solutions).
• Keep abreast of new developments in the resilience field, and – in line with Concern’s organisational position - train programme teams on these issues so they are up to date and able to adapt programmes to new thinking/approaches.
• Research, adapt and write evidence-based technical program guides, manuals, and other resources to improve and innovate on resilience programmes, with a particular focus on remote roll-out and training using technology interactively.
• Collaborate with all sectors/departments to promote integrated programming, avoid redundancy, and integrate gender equality, inclusion, context flexibility, community feedback, conflict sensitivity, partnership, and ICT into all activities.
• Assess the level of knowledge and understanding of, and attitude towards, the extent and importance of environmental degradation and climate change amongst programme and partner staff, and identify gaps or areas that require further explanation or clarification.
• Using the findings from the assessment above, develop and roll out a series of awareness raising sessions on environmental and climate change related subjects, that are relevant to the context in Somalia, the work Concern does as well as regional and global priorities.
• Lead environmental assessments/screening as needed within different areas and/or programmes, including developing/adapting tools, methodologies, training teams, collecting data, analysing data, and writing up the findings. Work with the programme teams and Programme Director to ensure the findings and recommendations are incorporated into future programme design.

 For the full list of responsibilities, visit the original job posting.

Coordination and networking:

Participate proactively in Mogadishu/Nairobi/regional-level resilience, environment/climate and other relevant sectoral meetings, and engage with UN agencies, donors, other NGOs, academic institutions and other key actors within the resilience field.
Develop strategies and plans that contribute to raising the profile of Concern as an expert organization in resilience and climate programming in general, as well as in specific approaches – for example Graduation, women’s economic empowerment, EWEA and watershed management.
Maintain ongoing consultations and interactions with Concern’s head office Technical Advisors as well as with other Resilience/Environment/Climate Advisors in Concern Country Programmes on emerging sectoral trends and best practices from other countries.


Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E):

Work closely with the MEAL teams in Concern, partners and Consortium Management Units to ensure that climate, environment and resilience are considered in all results frameworks, that relevant indicators are measured and outcomes and impacts are evaluated.
Work closely with the BRCiS CMU in design, implementation, analysis and interpretation of resilience surveys, assessments, reviews and evaluations.
Manage any internal reviews or evaluations of the resilience programmes
Support programme/MEAL meetings to review and analyse MEAL data, advising on implications for programmes and adaptations if needed.

Advocacy and Communications:

Coordinate advocacy and communication activities relating to Concern’s resilience programming in Somalia, in line with relevant donors’ communication guidelines and internal policies.
Produce briefing papers and other publications, coordinate approval with the appropriate stakeholders, and ensure wider dissemination to influence practice and policy and promote the work of Concern Worldwide.
 
Other:

Together with other programme teams ensure inequality, risk and vulnerability are analysed, mitigated against and responded to during the overall planning, implementation and management of the resilience programmes.
In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E); 
• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed; 
• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. When emergencies strike and Somalia programme responds, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving humanitarian objectives.
Support the development and implementation of the country strategic plan in the context of the National Development Plan and Resilience Pillar priorities.
Any other ad hoc duties as may be assigned by the line manager or the CD that are consistent with the nature of Concern operations.


Skills and experience will include:
 
Essential

• Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level or above, in international development,/relations, business, economics, environment, climate action or other field relevant to community resilience
• Proven experience (at least 6 years) in senior programme management, advisory and/or leadership positions working with INGOs, NGOs, CBOs, other civil society groups, donors
• Experience with major international donor guidelines and environmental standards, particularly the World Bank, FCDO, EU, USAID
• Strong experience working on resilience, climate adaptation, EWEA and disaster risk reduction in humanitarian and development settings and an ability to innovate in problem-solving
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills, including for reporting, proposal-writing and advocacy purposes
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills with an ability to distil complex concepts into real-world examples
• Strong coordination skills, both internal across programming sectors and support teams, and externally with implementing partners
• Experience of working in or, ideally managing, a consortium model of working
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, INGO and Government structures and to represent the organisation at national or international level fora
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing interactive trainings and capacity building and breaking complex concepts down into understandable messaging
• Solid experience in providing remote advice, guidance, mentoring and training to staff and partners, including with translation
• Thorough understanding of gender, equality and protection issues
• Experience in the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems
• Knowledge of key tools used by donor agencies, such as logical frameworks, results chains, theories of change, results-based management and financial administration systems
• Experience working and living in protracted and complex crisis-affected countries – i.e. hardship locations whereby, due to volatile security, movements are restricted.

 
Desirable

• An understanding of accountability as applied within humanitarian and development programming; familiarity with the Core Humanitarian Standard and its application.
• An understanding of programme participant protection policies and international humanitarian standards
• Experience of working in the Horn of Africa region, especially Somalia.

Concern would also like:

All applications should be submitted through its website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date. CVs should be no more than 4 pages in length. Concern is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, or age. Female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.

Applications will be short listed on a regular basis, and Concern may offer posts before the closing date.