Project Summary: Strengthening Access to Justice in the Great Lakes Region – Uhaki bila Mipaka
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International Alert is leading a consortium with two national organizations, iPeace and Pole Institute, to implement a regional project on Strengthening Access to Justice in the Great Lakes Region – Uhaki bila Mipaka, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Kigali. It is being implemented in both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda around 5 border points. The project started on December 1st, 2022 and will run for four-years.
The project seeks to contribute to improved access to justice in border regions to reduce tensions and strengthen stability in the Great Lakes Region. The project will respond to the immediate needs of cross-border populations while working to improve strategic structural problems through the promotion of dialogue and regional cooperation. The project will directly improve access to justice by equipping cross border communities with the information and access they need as well as providing them with legal aid support and building the capacities of actors in the justice sector. The project will also work with authorities and civil society locally to find mechanisms to efficiently resolve disputes and support authorities at the border who face these challenges every day. At the highest level, the project will work with technical justice institutions on both sides of the border to explore ways of improving collaboration on cross border justice issues. The project combines improved governance of justice with peacebuilding, building of social cohesion and conflict prevention in the Great Lakes region.
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Job Purpose
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The purpose of this position is to support and supervise the implementation of the activities of the project Strengthening Access to Justice in Rwanda. The Senior Project Officer will work under the supervision of the Deputy Team Leader and in close collaboration with the Program Manager and Country Director of Alert Rwanda and the project team in DRC, and ensure good coordination between the activities of the different pillars of the project.
The Senior Project Officer works with the Alert M&E team and the Alert Operations and Finance team to ensure proper support and guidance to the consortium partners, as well as compliance with Alert and donor rules and procedures in implementing the project.
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Duties and responsibilities
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1. Contribute to the effective management and implementation of project activities
- Support partners and the whole consortium in the development of common approaches/methodologies. Support the partners’ staff members and accompany them in the implementation of activities.
- Support the team leader and deputy team leader in project management and act as a technical advisor to the project.
- Assist the team leader and deputy team leader in the planning, organisation, implementation and monitoring of project activities carried out by Alert Rwanda according to the strategy defined in the project.
- Ensure the coherence of the interventions with the members of the consortium.
- Contribute to the administrative and financial management of the project, respecting and implementing the administrative and financial policies and procedures of the project and Alert in DRC.
- Participate actively in project team meetings.
- Take the initiative to coordinate project activities in the absence of the deputy team leader.
- Plan training sessions in collaboration with the deputy team leader and participate in their execution and co-facilitate them according to the field of expertise.
- Regularly monitor the activities planned in each pillar with the team leader and deputy team leader to ensure a high level of quality in the implementation of activities and strategies.
- Work closely with the deputy team leader to accomplish any relevant tasks.
2. Contribute to internal and external project coordination and strategic advocacy
- Contribute to ensuring good relations and cooperation with the authorities at local, territorial, provincial and national level, the different public services concerned, as well as with the members of the project consortium.
- Participate in the relevant coordination mechanisms and ensure that the project team and members of the project partners respect and apply Alert’s administrative, logistical and financial procedures, as well as respecting the laws in force in the DRC, particularly with regard to labour law.
- In collaboration with the security officer, carry out regular analyses of the security and political/social context in the project areas and share them with the team leader.
- In collaboration with the team leader, identify and accompany the project in advocacy actions and develop communication products on the impact and results of the project.
3. Planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of Rwanda-based partners
- Participate in brainstorming and planning sessions with partners as often as necessary and contribute to recommendations for the adaptation of project strategy based on the results of the sessions.
- Identify and communicate to the Deputy Team Leader, the Team Leader, the Programme Manager and Country Director the capacity building needs of partners and organize related training sessions.
- Contribute and ensure that partners’ narrative and financial reports are submitted on time and comply with Alert and donor rules and procedures.
- Collect and give constructive feedback to partner organizations’ activity reports and draft background reports or other data collected in the field, and submit them to management in a timely manner. Assist partner organizations in the drafting of their reports.
- Ensure that the data collected and transmitted by partners is reliable.
- Carry out field visits as often as possible to ensure the effective implementation of activities by the partners and according to the ToR previously validated by the Alert’s Country Director.
- Support the team leader and deputy team leader in monitoring the project budget.
- Support the team leader in the collection of data related to the project indicators by the partners’ members and in the analysis of the collected data (in collaboration with the M&E team).
- Support the work of capitalisation of experiences and documentation of changes (case study) according to the indicators defined by the project.
- In collaboration with the M&E officer, collect monthly success stories and lessons learned and share them with the project M&E officer.
- Participate in and support the different types of evaluation to be carried out during the life of the project (in collaboration with the M&E team).
4. Contribute to the mission and objectives of International Alert
- Actively participate in Alert team meetings in Rwanda and elsewhere as required.
- Coordinate with other members of the project consortium in Rwanda in collaboration / harmonisation with the deputy team leader.
- Ensure good relations and cooperation with local/provincial and if necessary national authorities, communities and other stakeholders to actively engage in the process of peace building, and access to justice.
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Travel requirements
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The job is based in Kigali with regular travel to the other main operational project offices located in Goma and Bukavu, and project areas (5 targeted borders between DRC and Rwanda). Occasional regional and international travel to participate in advocacy events and to take part in Alert’s annual meetings.
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Personal specifications
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Essential requirements
- Be of Rwandan nationality.
- Hold an adavanced degree in law, Political Sciences, Public Administration, International Relations, International Development, social sciences, or a similar field.
- Perfect command of French and English are strongly required.
- At least 5 years of experience in peacebuilding and/or development, including access to justice programming.
- Proven experience in cross-border initiatives .
- Be familiar with the notions of conflict sensitivity and gender relations and their applicability.
- Ability to cultivate and maintain open and non-discriminatory professional relationships with border communities, public administrations and representatives of other operational organizations in the project delivery environment.
- Demonstrate strong personal integrity and know how to enforce that of the organization.
- Have a sense of fairness and justice, and a high level of organizational loyalty.
- Demonstrated ability to work objectively and apolitically.
- Able to develop good interpersonal relationships, and to work in a multidisciplinary environment and cultural diversity.
- Good ability in writing different documents.
- Be sensitive to the gender approach and a good understanding of the practical application of this concept.
- Ability to meet deadlines, strong ability to organize work and manage urgent competing priorities.
- Proficiency in the following software: WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, OUTLOOK and Internet.
- Ability to work under pressure and autonomy while maintaining the ethics of the organization and maintaining the quality of work.
- Able and willing to make proactive decisions and adapt them when necessary.
- Ability to tactfully manage conflicts, strong diplomatic communication and facilitation skills.
- Ability to perform duties independently with minimal technical support.
Desirable
- Substantial professional experience in supervising projects focused on access to justice, social cohesion and community development.
- Have capacity and direct experience in facilitating various training workshops and writing training modules and reports.
- A good knowledge of written and spoken regional languages such as Swahili.
- Have direct experience in the execution of projects using a gender-based approach.
- Be methodical and perfectionist, know how to organize your work in particular by respecting priorities and deadlines.
- Have a practical mind, know how to identify problems and propose alternatives of positive solutions for all concerned, and in a better time.
- Experience in written reporting of project activities.
- Excellent command of other Microsoft office products. Good IT knowledge.
- Commitment to Alert’s approach and values, particularly regarding the needs of conflict-affected populations.
- Ability to think strategically.
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