Head of Peace Consolidation and Inclusion

Introduction

The Danish Refuge Council (DRC) helps refugees and internally displaced people all over the world: we provide emergency aid, we fight for their rights and we strengthen their chances for a better future. We work in areas affected by conflict, along displacement routes and in countries where refugees are settling. In cooperation with local communities, we strive to find responsible and sustainable solutions. We are working for a successful integration and, to the extent possible, for the fulfillment of the wish to return home.

DRC was founded in Denmark in 1956 and has since grown into an international humanitarian organization with over 7,000 staff and 8,000 volunteers. Based in Copenhagen (Denmark) and present in forty countries, the Danish Refugee Council is a non-profit, politically independent, non-governmental and non-denominational relief organization.

Our vision is a life of dignity for all displaced people. All our efforts are based on the following values: humanity, respect, independence and neutrality, participation, honesty and transparency.

context

DRC has been present in West Africa since 1998. The DRC Regional Office for West Africa (hereafter: WARO) is based in Dakar, Senegal, and covers six countries outside Senegal: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Led by the regional director, the regional office oversees, supports and provides strategic guidance to the national DRC offices in the region.

A multi-country grants and operations department has been created since February 2021 with multi-country and cross-border projects and grants held at the regional level. The position of Head of Peace Consolidation and Inclusion is a new position. The portfolio of this position is made up of multi-country and multi-annual programs (including in consortia) which operationalize the triple nexus in strategic partnerships with local / international actors and integrate multiple sectors (economic recovery, protection, consolidation of the peace). These projects are currently being deployed in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in Liptako Gourma and may include other countries in the future.

Objective of the position

The Peace Consolidation and Inclusion Officer for multi-country operations provides technical leadership for DRC multi-country operations in the Central Sahel in terms of peace consolidation, social cohesion and inclusion with the multi-country project documents, the 2020-2022 regional strategy, the 2020-2025 DRC strategy, the technical standards of the DRC and the Humanitarian Disarmament and Peacebuilding sector.

A key member of the multi-country operations department, the Peace Consolidation and Inclusion Officer is the line manager of the gender specialist, conflict analyst and rural engineer. He / she works closely with technical experts and operational teams in countries, at the regional office and at headquarters, and will develop day-to-day operational synergies with the Emergency Mediation Coordinator.

The missions in the countries of intervention will represent from 30% to 40% of the working time of this post.

Responsibilities

Technical leadership of regional projects in the field of peace, social cohesion and inclusion initiatives

• Develop and develop the technical frameworks of regional projects in terms of peace, social cohesion and inclusion initiatives in close coordination with the country teams and the technical referent at headquarters
• Provides technical support remotely and during field missions, and organizes the establishment of communities of practice between country teams
• Develops and deploys a framework and tools for monitoring and evaluation adapted to peace, social cohesion and inclusion initiatives of multi-country projects and supports operations for quality control
• Is the hierarchical manager of the rural engineering engineer of the regional office who technically supervises the construction of community social and health infrastructure within the framework of regional projects (in conjunction with the rural engineering engineers and architect of the DRC missions concerned)
• Support or ensure the production of analyzes, case studies and strategic presentation documents
• Collect, use and disseminate lessons learned to strengthen the quality of programs
• Ensures the technical quality of narrative reports in coordination with country teams
• Contributes to the recruitment, definition of objectives and technical evaluation of regional project managers in countries. Ensures the existence of training plans for DRC teams and partners in his field of technical responsibility, and their implementation. Organizes training of trainers and training.
• Develops intersectoral programming and synergies

Conflict analyzes and conflict sensitivity of multi-country operations

• Defines the most appropriate strategies to improve the conflict sensitivity of DRC’s and our partners’ multi-country operations, and position DRC as a recognized expert in the field at the regional level. Leads the deployment of this strategy.
• Ensures that conflict sensitivity is taken into account in the activities implemented by DRC and partners, as well as at key moments in multi-country project cycles (context analyzes, design and planning, reporting and reviews of projects, interim and final evaluations)
• Organizes training of trainers in conflict sensitivity with DRC and partner teams, and ensures the qualitative deployment of training in the field
• Develops the terms of reference for conflict analysts and their identification (recruitments, consultants). Technically and operationally supervise conflict analysts. Oversees the conduct of localized conflict and conflict sensitivity analyzes with conflict analysts, country teams and partners
• Supervises and guarantees the quality of the establishment of internal analysis committees at the local level within the framework of multi-country projects and their evolution based on the lessons learned
• Contributes to the reflections, initiatives and publications of the Analysis division of the DRC regional office

Technical leadership to country teams for their support to initiatives of youth groups, women and other under-represented groups in favor of peace, social cohesion and inclusion

• Ensure that country teams organize an appropriate assessment of the capacities of groups and networks of young people, women and other under-represented social groups at local, national and regional level to promote their initiatives for peace, social cohesion and inclusion
• Ensures that country teams and partners provide quality technical assistance to these groups and networks enabling them to analyze the dynamics of conflict and exclusion and the policies in place, to define action plans in terms of ” field and advocacy initiatives, and to implement them to promote peace, social cohesion and inclusion
• Ensures that quality technical assistance is provided by country teams to CSOs, partners and DRC teams on social and political empowerment, leadership and advocacy of youth, women and under-represented groups
• Develops innovative initiatives with the country teams to effectively promote the ideas and initiatives of these groups and networks in favor of peace and social cohesion (innovation fund, hackaton, etc.)

Technical leadership to country teams in supporting local media to promote peace, social cohesion and inclusion

• Defines with country teams and partners strategies for monitoring local media and social media narratives, and for working with local media for the promotion of peace and social cohesion. Facilitates the deployment of strategies
• Technically supervises country teams to strengthen local media in conflict-sensitive communication and the fight against rumors and stigma
• Ensure that countries organize trainings on monitoring local trends to local associations, organizations / institutions, local listeners’ clubs and groups active on social networks (especially women and young people)
• Ensures coordination in intervention areas with other peace actors who also support listeners’ clubs and local media

Advocacy for peacebuilding, social cohesion and socio-economic inclusion

• Organizes with country teams the mapping and analysis of actors and advocacy platforms at local, national and regional level
• Ensures with country teams and partners the capacity building of these actors and platforms to promote peace, social cohesion and socio-economic inclusion
• Supervises the organization of meetings between the populations and the sub-regional authorities
• Contributes in its technical field to the establishment of strategic communication channels with diplomatic circles and donors

Multi-year partnerships

• Ensures the framing, quality and support of partnership approaches in the implementation of multi-country projects across its entire field of technical responsibility
• Organizes with the teams the updating of the mapping and analysis of local and international actors in connection with its technical field. Ensures with country teams the development of new multi-annual strategic partnerships and the strengthening of existing partnerships at local, national and regional level with civil society, international NGOs and reference institutions
• Supervises with country teams the strengthening of operational synergies with other peace actors in the countries of intervention of multi-country projects

Gender mainstreaming in multi-country operations

• Technically and operationally supervise the gender specialist of multi-country projects and ensure the establishment and mobilization of gender focal points in the countries
• Ensure that the gender specialist leads a community of practice with teams and partners in terms of disaggregation of data by age and sex and consideration of gender in multi-country operations at each stage of the project cycle :
• Gender analyzes and identification of obstacles and barriers
• During project writes
• During the definition of modalities for the implementation of project activities, and measures promoting participation and inclusion
• In the MEAL plan, reports, during project reviews and during field monitoring missions
• At the level of baseline, intermediate, endline and final evaluations
• Defines with the gender specialist a training strategy for DRC teams and partners of multi-country projects on taking gender into account in operations. Organizes the deployment of this strategy

Management: *

• Lead a team made up of the gender specialist, the conflict analyst and the rural engineer.
• Monitor recruitment and replacement needs
• Ensures good work organization and regular information sharing
• Is responsible for setting objectives, conducting performance interviews and identifying support measures
• Participate in any disciplinary processes for members of his team

Publications and external communications

• Defines the terms of reference for regional studies and publications within the framework of multi-country projects (perception studies, conflict analyzes, training manuals, etc.) with the teams and the technical referent at the head office.
• Mobilizes the internal and external resources required for studies and publications, supervises their implementation and guarantees their technical quality
• Provides articles for external communication

Support for programmatic and strategic development

• Support the development and adaptation of strategies for multi-country operations within its scope of technical responsibility at regional and country level
• Identifies fundraising opportunities (regional or national), leads the technical development of project proposals and participates in donor negotiations on its area of ​​responsibility.

Representation

• Communicate on DRC projects with various partners and stakeholders
• Represent DRC at regional coordination meetings and forums (and national if necessary) and with donors and regional partners (and countries if necessary)

Qualifications required

The success of this mission requires that you listen to teams and partners, be able to provide remote technical management and know how to show leadership to achieve the objectives of multi-country projects but also to support local partners in charge of many activities. In addition you must be (or have):

Required

• Advanced master’s degree or higher in social, political, legal or economic sciences, project management, international development, peace and security studies (conflict studies), or in any other field relevant to the position
• At least 5 years of prior experience in the areas of community security, reduction of armed violence, conflict prevention, social cohesion, dialogue and restoration of trust between users of the public service and administrations / institutions, prevention of violent extremism, support for the role of young people and / or women in peace and security issues
• Minimum 3 years of experience in a senior technical advisory role, ability to provide technical leadership and support remote management teams
• Ability to plan and conduct research and analysis on conflict, peace and social cohesion
• Justify a conclusive experience in the autonomous management of partner and donor relations and representation functions
• Experience in quality assurance, capacity building and training
• Ability to work independently and under pressure, and proactively find solutions
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Fluency in English and French
• Excellent computer skills: Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Desirable

• Knowledge and previous experience in Sahelian contexts.

Skills and qualities required

In this position, you must demonstrate the five essential skills of the DRC, namely:

• Strive for excellence: you focus on achieving results while ensuring an efficient process. You strive to produce precise, thorough and professional work with optimal use of time and effort.
• Collaborate: You cooperate with and involve relevant parties, actively seeking their opinion and sharing key information with them. You support and trust others, while encouraging comments.
• Take the reins: You take responsibility and prioritize your work according to DRC’s vision and overall goals. You take the initiative when faced with a challenge or an opportunity and you are looking for innovative solutions.
• Communicate: You write and speak effectively and honestly while adapting your style and tone to the situation. You actively listen to others and involve them in dialogue.
• Demonstrate Integrity: You uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to DRC’s values ​​and code of conduct, including protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment .

As well as :

• Ability to work in a team and good sense of humor

General regulations

• The employee must follow the DRC’s instructions for security, confidentiality and ethical guidelines, including the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Accountability Framework
• The employee must not exercise any other remunerated activity during the term of his contract with the DRC without receiving prior authorization to do so.
• The employee must not engage in any activity that could adversely affect the DRC or the implementation of any project during the term of the contract with the DRC
• Employee must not give media interviews or post photos or other material related to the project without prior permission
• The employee must return all equipment borrowed for the project to DRC after the end of the contract period or upon request