GBLCAREERS

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, by making use of the professionalism of local and international operators, and through our partnerships with public and private bodies and civil society organizations.

Context and background

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 2014 there was a substantial increase in violence related to Boko Haram and the counter insurgency operations, consequently creating acute and largely unmet humanitarian needs, as IDPs are cut off from their homes and livelihoods, basic services, kinship and social ties. In September 2014, COOPI began operating in north eastern Nigeria in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the insurgency, 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.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Child Protection Project Manager will be responsible for the technical aspects of all child protection-related programming for COOPI emergency response in Maiduguri and Borno State, which includes child protection case management, psychosocial support and community based child protection mechanisms, nutrition and IYCF related activities. The Child Protection Manager will be expected to lead on child protection-related assessments, programme design and implementation and coordination with stakeholders, in collaboration with Protection and Education Program Manager and the Head of Mission. As well as this, she/he will oversee the monitoring & evaluation of child protection activities and will be responsible for the development of donor reporting. The Child Protection Project Manager is also expected to build the capacity of the team, mainstreaming child protection across other sector of interventions and ensuring coordination with the Protection Cluster at Maiduguri and Abuja Level.

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.

PROFILE:

• Advanced degree in Protection or related field or equivalent work.
• Five years experience in the humanitarian field as project or programme manager or in a similar position. Demonstrated experience in protection or related field in fragile states, including IDPs, refugees and returnees context.
• 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)