VACANCY
WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION (LIU LA AMAI M’NDALE) PROJECT

1. PROJECT OFFICER

With financial support from the Embassy of Iceland, the Project will be implemented by a consortium of Oxfam in Malawi and Centre for Civil Society Strengthening (CCSS). Oxfam in Malawi is the lead and grant holder. The ‘Liu la Amai mu M’ndale’ project will enhance the inclusion and influence of women and young women in political party leadership and decision-making positions. This will be done through engagement with key political parties, political party officials and gatekeepers (religious and traditional leaders) in dialogues. The project will review and transform existing political party guidelines and policies on women’s participation, candidate selection procedures, and regulations restricting meaningful participation of the target groups for 6 political parties represented in parliament, to ensure women and young women’s inclusion in positions of leadership.
The project will be implemented in Nkhotakota and Mangochi for 12 months.

Oxfam, therefore, seeks to recruit a suitably qualified and experienced Project Officer to be based in Lilongwe, Malawi, for a fixed term of initial 1 year, based on the terms below:

Job Purpose
To coordinate the implementation of the Liu La Amai M’ndale project.

Key Responsibilities

Project Development, Management, and Implementation:

• Provide day to day project management and coordination oversight for the Liu La Amai M’ndale project in close collaboration with consortium members, key project stakeholders and partners.
• Oversee project joint planning with all consortium members, project stakeholders, including partner staff, other CSO’s, district and national level government structures.
• Provide leadership and oversight on project Implementation and coordination at all levels and linking it to the national level.
• Provide specialised advice and specific skills to teams with a key focus on women and young women in political party leadership and decision-making positions.
• Support staff and partners to strengthen their skills and capacity in promoting young women and women’s political leadership programming for the delivery of the Liu La Amai
• M’ndale project.
• Develop staff and partner capacity in planning and delivery of the project.
• Write and/or contribute to internal reports for country, region, and external donor reports.
• Ensuring Gender and Women’s rights priorities are sufficiently addressed in the project.

Partnership Management:

• Facilitate setting up of systems and procedures for better management of partner organisations, especially for monitoring and reporting.
• Closely work with the sub-grant receiving partners to mutually agree on detailed operational plans, budgets, indicators for measuring achievements as well as monitoring, evaluation and learning in line with the project plans.
• Identify any emerging opportunities for wider partnerships and influencing in the gender, community development and social welfare, and youth and sports sectors.
• Undertake regular and mutually agreed review visits to partners and provide guidance on enhancing the quality delivery of the project.
• Work with internal staff and external staff to identify capacity building and training needs of partners and take initiatives to get them addressed.
• Be proactive in linking organisational development advisors to partners and vice versa in supporting partners programme implementation.
• Bring up major concerns about partners’ operations to the notice of senior leadership for remedial action.
• Draw up and implement partner capacity enhancement plans in a consultative manner.

Resource Management

• Manage Oxfam in Malawi’s various resources under leadership of the Programme and Policy Manager.
• Ensure that project resources are being utilised in the most cost-effective manner.
• Ensuring adherence to Oxfam policies on Anti-Fraud, Theft and Bribery are adhered to.

Reporting and Work Programming

• Make regular monitoring visits to partner organisations and project implementation sites to review progress of work and provide strategic inputs and help to ensure that programme obligations for annual and monthly planning and reporting are properly met.
• Provide regular updates to the Programme and Policy manager on project progress and the internal and external environment affecting the project.
• Contribute to promoting women political leadership programming in Malawi.

Programme Quality and Learning

• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation Accountability and Learning team to ensure that the MEAL Framework is effectively adopted by the project and its partners.
• Ensure participation of partners in programme review and learning exercises led by Oxfam or jointly undertaken by several partners.
• Lead in documenting good models on promoting young women and women political leadership for influencing policy and practice in Malawi and for sharing with other stakeholders.
• Ensure that there is a strong and well-coordinated M&E system for the project.
• Ensure that all learning and innovative experiences from the project are captured and shared to all stakeholders both at district and national level.
• Support partner monitoring processes involving both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Support preparation of TORs for evaluations, programme reviews and assessments.
• Oversee the development and implementation of a simple but robust complaints and feedback mechanism for the project.
• Ensure a safe programming plan is in place and implemented for the project.

Representation, Networking and Alliance Building

• Represent the project at various external fora as required.
• Actively participate in programme meetings as a member of the programme team.
• Build and foster national alliances and networks that enhance sharing, learning and collaboration among relevant organisations and individuals.
• Adopt a proactive approach to undertaking relevant lobbying, campaigning, and advocacy work to increase other peoples’ understanding of programme issues and to influence their approach and decisions in support of Oxfam’s work.
• Represent Oxfam and consortium members in different forums to advance the women political leadership agenda i Malawi.

Funding and Donor Management

• Ensure compliance with back donor requirements especially, timely submission of quality descriptive and financial reports.
• Facilitate compliance with donor grant requirements, provide input into donor reports and support the management of donor visits as appropriate.
• Lead in drafting high quality reports according to donor contract agreements.

SKILLS AND COMPETENCE

Education

• A Bachelors’ Degree in Gender and Development studies, Education, Women’s Rights, Political Science and Social Development, and any other relevant fields. A Master’s degree will be an added advantage.

Experience

• At least 5 years’ experience in planning, developing, and managing women empowerment projects.
• Demonstrable experience, skills and knowledge in advocacy and policy influencing within the women political leadership, gender, and development sectors.
• Demonstrable skills in effective communication, report writing and facilitation.
• Solid conceptual and analytical skills related to young women and women political leadership programming.
• Ability to work on own initiative, manage complex workload and deliver outputs and reports at agreed deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively with staff that do not have direct reporting lines to the post-holder.
• Experience in delivering projects in a partnership approach.
  Experience working in a consortium is an advantage.
• Previous experience in handling donor funded projects.
• Understanding and appreciation of the importance of gender and women’s rights programming.
• Ability to demonstrate initiative and drive towards achieving results without being in direct control of programme operations.
• Awareness of development issues in different settings of Malawi and Southern Africa Region.
• Awareness of own strengths and areas of weakness, and evidence of self-managed learning
• Willingness and ability to work and travel over long hours.

Our offer

At Oxfam, we believe that every aspect of our work can lead to a positive outcome. If you have the same opinion, together with the ability to meet the challenges involved, these roles offer scope for immense personal fulfilment – as well as outstanding opportunities to develop your career.

Oxfam is committed to providing a competitive compensation package based on a 40-hour work week.

How to apply
If your qualifications meet the requirements, and believe in Oxfam values- please apply by visiting our website at: http://www.oxfam.org.uk
using the number and Link below
INT10353 – https://jobs.oxfam.org.uk/vacancy/project-officer-int10353/20944/description/

The closing date is Friday, 23rd May 2024.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted – those that applied earlier should not re apply.

Oxfam is an equal opportunities employer; we are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation.