Community Mobilization Coordinator - PLANE, Kano

CONTRACT LENGTH: 1 Year

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: 

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE: 

The incumbent will be responsible for leading the design, integration, and implementation of SBC strategies within the PLANE project to complement advocacy and community mobilization efforts, aiming to shift harmful social norms and promote positive behaviours around education, particularly for girls and marginalized children.

S/he will lead on education advocacy and community engagements and support the design and implementation of the programme within the right based programming approach. 

Generally, s/he shall provide technical support, capacity building and technical oversight to community mobilization Officers and Assistants; networking and partnership building at state level; and shall promote Girl Education Campaign across the State.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 

This role will manage, coordinate and mobilize all advocacy, and community engagements for PLANE project, through collaborating and closely working with the Education Manager and Coordinator, GEDI Coordinator, MEAL Coordinator, Child Protection Coordinator, Advocacy, Campaign and Policy Manager/Learn, Deputy Director/s of Program Operations, Programme Manager, Field Manager– ensuring that there is an effective and coordinated team spearheading SCI Nigeria’s influence towards an accelerated positive change for all children, specially girls, to access quality, safe, inclusive, uninterrupted and free education.

S/he will work closely with the Community Mobilization Officers and Programme Manager on the implementation of the advocacy and community engagements. S/he will ensure during proposal development that sustainability of the projects are well articulated, and the project implementation are directed using both National and Sub-national advocacy and community engagements strategies as appropriate. S/he will also be expected to contribute to the design, review and implementation of wider SCI Nigeria Advocacy, Campaign, Media and Communication Strategy and the CSP. 

S/he will coordinate and oversee the Community Mobilization Officers to ensure monthly, quarterly and annual advocacy reports that feeds into CO and donors report. S/he will work closely with CO ACCM Unit to develop relevant materials, such as but not limited to policy briefs/briefing messages, concept notes, guidelines and undertake actions to create enabling environment and promote increasing government and community commitment and action on children’s rights to education. 

Reports to: PLANE Program Manager 

Staff reporting to this post: Community Mobilization officers

Direct: 2

Indirect : Nil

Role Dimensions: Community Engagement and Participation,  communication and coordination with stakeholders, Advocacy and policy influence, technical support and capacity building

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY : 

Advocacy and Community Engagements 

• Develop, coordinate and manage Advocacy, SBC and Community engagements plans, in order to influence relevant stakeholders and achieve required changes at State and local government levels.
• Lead on the development and implementation of SBC strategies and messaging to address social norms and behavioural drivers affecting school attendance, especially among girls and vulnerable groups.
• Lead Advocacy and community engagements at the state, local government and community levels on Universal Basic Education, develop key messages for influencing state policy reviews, processes and discussions.
• Champion, promote, coordinate and manage the implementation of out of school children Campaign Strategy in collaboration with Advocacy, Campaign and Policy Manager learn.
• Lead on the development of SBC materials and tools (e.g., talking points, posters, radio scripts, community dialogue guides) in collaboration with the CO ACCM Unit and MEAL
• Mobilize and build capacities of community mobilization officers and assistants, towards delivering advocacy and community engagements strategies through strengthening knowledge and skills/capacities to incorporate, align and integrate advocacy and community engagements into their area of work
• In collaboration with the MEAL Coordinator, s/he shall track, measure, monitor and evaluate the quality of integration and implementation of advocacy and community engagement in the implementation of the project. 
• Shall contribute to the development of annual work plans, budgets, reports and document case studies and success stories on the PLANE project. 
• Ensure maximum visibility of Save the Children according to the branding guidelines both internally and externally across relevant platforms. 
• Ensure that children are at the heart of advocacy and community engagements activities, and they are an integral part of Save the Children’s campaigning work.
• Ensure proper documentation and dissemination of major activities, successes and learnings related to PLANE.

Strengthen Networking and Partnership

• S/he shall represent SCI Nigeria in state-level forums related to education, SBC, and community mobilization, advocating for the integration of behaviour change into government and partner strategies 
• Work with Media and Communication team, Education Manager, Safeguarding officer and Programme Manager to develop case studies for the project and ensure that these meets Save the Children Child Safeguarding Policies (SP)
• In collaboration with the CO Media and Communication Manager, Advocacy, Campaign and Policy (ACP) Manager/learn, s/he will identify story ideas on lessons learned and experiences for development of success stories and other communication materials.
• Explore opportunities to communicate about PLANE project deliverables and its impact internally and externally, with a wide variety of state and national level stakeholders using innovative methods.
• Produce reports, advocacy messaging and presentations for internal and external audiences, as directed by the line manager or ACCM Director.
• Act as SCI Nigeria’s representative at state and local government levels as required, mainly in events relating to education advocacy, and community engagement. 
• Develop and maintain a professional network for governance issues within project state and within SCI Nigeria.
• Identify and support community champions, role models, and peer influencers to reinforce positive behaviours and mobilize communities for education.
• Work with partners, CSOs, traditional/religious leaders, school authorities, parents’ associations to promote sustainable behaviour change and ensure community ownership.
• Build the capacity of CSOs and support the development of strong civil society engagement in reducing out of school children.
• Contribute to the bi-weekly ACCM country wide coordination meeting and produce stories and case studies for publication in the monthly Jebb times.
• In collaboration with Advocacy Campaign and Policy Manager Lean, Community Mobilization and Engagements manager, organise events on education issues, including symposiums, trainings, high-level seminars and conferences for the dissemination of important information, learning, reports, research and messages.

Others

• Participate in all ACCM activities, meetings, annual review workshops and trainings, including SBC strategy development, learning sessions, coordination meetings, and reviews.
• Contribute to SCI Nigeria’s evidence base on effective SBC in education through documentation, reporting, and storytelling.
• Carry out any other duties related to SBC, advocacy, and community engagement as assigned by the Programme Manager, Field Manager, ACP Manager/Learn, or ACCM Director.

Safeguarding Responsibilities:

• Ensure safe programming guidelines are followed to reduce the risk of unsafe practices, strengthen prevention measures and identify and mitigate risks in program implementation.

Fraud, bribery and corruption policy statement:

• Ensure to act professionally, fairly and with integrity in our work and relationships in all the areas of work. Takes moral, legal and ethical responsibilities extremely seriously and put in place effective systems to protect against fraud, bribery and corruption in the cause of work

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Degree/ Postgraduate certificate in Development Economics, Education, Public Policy, Human Rights Law, Development Studies or any related field.
• Desired Number of Years’ experience – 4 (in education/development advocacy)

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Level of IT Expertise Required – Excellent
• Profound knowledge in Nigeria governance and education systems and political terrains
• Ability to write very good position papers and policy briefings
• Experience in designing and implementing Social and Behaviour Change strategies, preferably in education or child rights programming.
• Strong understanding of community dynamics, cultural norms, and the role of behaviour change in improving educational outcomes.
• Strong analytical framework to clearly articulate and communicate our policy positions.
• Ability to be strategic and proactive when required to be able to keep advocacy plans dynamic and aligned to new policy and political developments.
• Ability to clearly communicate and easily relate to state and local government authorities.
• Able to demonstrate positive attitude, diplomatic, negotiator, and team player.
• Experience of working in a multi-cultural environment and respect for diversity
• Comply with the requirements of Save the Children’s commitment to protect children in accordance with the Child Safeguarding Policy
• Building external networks
• Strategic Planning
• Governance and Gender advocacy
• Enhanced voice accountability
• Training and Facilitation

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.