Nigeria: Food Security Program Manager

Jan 10, 2018 | Cooperazione Internazionale
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COOPI Cooperazione Internazionale is a humanitarian, non-confessional and independent organization founded in 1965 in Milan, Italy. For more than 50 years we have been dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty and to supporting populations affected by wars, socio-economic crises or natural disasters in their path to recovery and sustainable development.

Since the declaration of state of emergency in the Nigerian federal States of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa, the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency has led to multiple displacement crises, with communities fleeing their area of origin to take refuge in camps or host communities.

In September 2014, COOPI began operating in north eastern Nigeria in response to the humanitarian crisis, established its operation in Bauchi State and later expanded to Yobe State considering the heightened presence of IDPs in the LGAs of Fika, Damaturu, Potiskum, Geidam and Yunusari.

Recently, COOPI initiated a Food Security and Nutrition intervention in Kaga LGA (Borno State) and establishes a presence in Maiduguri to launch an Education and Protection projects. COOPI is currently operating in 5 LGAs in Yobe State, reaching about 25,000 individuals among IDPs and host communities with a multi-sectoral intervention covering nutrition, food security and child protection. COOPI has recently developed a cash & voucher based response system in Nigeria to address the food insecure communities while integrating this approach with a nutrition component – community outreach, referral system, IYCF campaign and appropriate therapeutic services addressed to malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Given the unfolding large scale emergency in the north eastern Nigeria, COOPI plans to scale up its current operations in Yobe state and reach newly accessible areas, in addition to areas receiving Nigerian returnees from Niger, with its multi-sectoral services including food security, cash transfer programming, nutrition and protection.

ROLE PURPOSE

He/she is responsible for the project’s execution, in technical, economic/financial terms, and in terms of resources management on field, in compliance with COOPI and the donor’s procedures. He/she ensures the expected results attainment in budget management.

RESPONSABILITIES

  • Activity planning and management: in cooperation with the project staff, he/she plans and monitors the activities’progress, in compliance with the contract signed with the donor and with COOPI and the donor’s procedures.
  • Administrative and financial management: in collaboration with the Project Administrator/Administrative Coordinator he/she plans all expenditures to make. He/she regularly monitors all made expenditures. He/she supervises accounting and the project cash safe/bank account management and, where there was no dedicated staff, he/she directly manages the accounting and the project cash safe/bank accounts, making use of the instruments made available by the organization (Merlino). In cooperation with the Project Administrator and in coordination with the Administrative Coordinator he/she prepares the Purchases Plan. He/she ensures the organization and donor’s procedures respect when purchasing goods and services.
  • Reporting: in coordination with the Head of Mission ad with the Administrative Coordinator, he/she ensures the preparation, in compliance with the deadlines, of all financial and narrative reports – interim and final – expected by the project. He/she is responsible for the preparation of all formal communication and contract modifications requests (ex. budget modification) of the projects he manages.
  • Staff Management: In coordination with the Head of Mission and in compliance with the country’s rules/laws and with the COOPI’s regulation in the country, he/she selects the local staff to be employed in projects, and manages any other project’s expatriate staff. By making use of the organization’s tools he/she evaluates the local staff employed for projects and he/she participates to the evaluation of his/her own project, upon request by his/her direct supervisor. He/she coordinates and supervises the work done by all the project staff, in compliance with the organization’s security procedures. He/she is responsible for the initial and continuous training of the local staff under his/her responsibility.
  • Goods management: he/she is responsible of the correct management of all goods purchased for the project, both irectly and purchased by other offices/field offices8. For all goods purchased by the project he/she updates the inventory, in cooperation with the Administrative Coordinator.
  • Institutional relations: In relation to the project of his/her competence, he/she communicates with the donors’ officers, the local authorities which are competent in the aspects related to the project, the project’s partners  and beneficiaries, in compliance with the organization’s guidelines.
  • New projects’ writing: upon request by his/her direct supervisor, and cooperating with the project staff, he/she elaborates, writes and prepares all necessary documents to present new projects, in accordance with the organization’s processes and procedures.
  • Advanced degree in Food Security, livelihood or related field or equivalent work.
  • Minimum 3 years experience in the humanitarian field as project or programme manager or in a similar position. Demonstrated experience in food distribution or related field.
  • Experience of working within an insecure environment with responsibility for security planning, monitoring and management.
  • Strong analytical and practical problem-solving skills;
  • Strong supervisory abilities, and demonstrated capacity of teamwork and of coordination with the relevant actors;
  • Very good inter-personal and writing communication skills;
  • Ability to organize work efficiently and deliver assignments in a timely manner often under time constraints;
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English;
  • Computer literacy, with high proficiency in the use of standard office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
  • Valid driving license.

PROFILE OF THE CANDIDATE

Duty station: Yobe State (this is a non-family duty station)