Senior Project Officer Shelter Bannu

Position Title: Bannu Shelter Senior Project Officer
Department: Programming/Emergency Response
Location Bannu, KPK
Reports To: Bannu Shelter Program Manager

Background: CRS Pakistan is currently working in the following sectors: education, drought mitigation, WASH, livelihoods, and protection sectors. Alongside this, CRS continues to work in the areas of emergency response and disaster preparedness & mitigation. CRS main office is located in Islamabad with sub-offices in Sukkur- Sindh Province, Besham- KPK Province and Quetta (Baluchistan Province).

Starting in November 2014, CRS will implement a 6-month emergency response project in Bannu, KPK, that addresses Temporarily Displaced Person’s (TDPs) two main priorities: living in safe and appropriate shelter and procuring essential NFI items to help cope with the cold winter months. CRS and PREPARED will prioritize portability in its approach, providing households with shelter materials and a selection of durable NFIs (blankets, floor mats, etc.) that can be carried back and used in NWA.

In all of its programming, CRS/Pakistan seeks to maximize beneficiary choice, community contribution to relief efforts, and efficiency. For this reason, CRS will adopt market-based approaches for both shelter and NFI activities, relying on a voucher methodology that has proven successful both in the Bannu context and across the country. For this proposal CRS and PREPARED examined the feasibility of direct distribution, vouchers, and cash grants and found that vouchers would be the most appropriate.

Job Summary:

The shelter Senior Project Officer is responsible for working with CRS and implementing partner project teams as well as local communities to promote high-quality implementation and management of the Bannu Shelter Program.

Specific duties and responsibilities include:
Support for Project Start-up and Implementation
Under supervision of the Program Manager, coordinate with PREPARED field staff to promote high-quality project start-up and implementation, including the following areas
- Participate in project planning, providing input as requested into the development of activities, schedules, and documentation procedures.
- Ensure that partner staff have working knowledge and understanding of project objectives, activities, management, and M&E tools including: community mobilization, beneficiary registration and selection, voucher distribution and redemption, construction, quality control and beneficiary feedback mechanisms, and payment support documentation.
- Assist in project implementation and monitoring as needed to ensure that communities understand the project goals, activities, and approaches, and that communities and community leaders are appropriately engaged in the project, that beneficiaries are being selected according to project criteria, are receiving quality materials, and are able to construct shelters according to design.

Support for Monitoring and Evaluation
Coordinate with Program Manager and CRS and implementing partner project teams to ensure that project related information is being collected, managed, shared, and used to promote high-quality project implementation
- Actively support tracking of project implementation to ensure progress of activities is properly documented and taking place according to schedules.
- Support collection management of information for monitoring and evaluation
- Identify challenges in project implementation to the Program Manager and participate in regular discussions with the implementation team for addressing challenges or making improvements to project implementation.

- Provide regular written and verbal updates to the Program Manager in a clear, accurate, and timely manner.

Teamwork and Relationships
- Work closely with CRS and PREPARED staff, community leaders and community members, and vendors to create and maintain a positive working environment aimed at successful completion of project objectives and positive support to project beneficiaries.
- Contribute to the promotion of safety and security for CRS and PREPARED staff as well as beneficiaries, vendors, and community members. Report any information or concerns related to the safety and security of CRS and PREPARED staff, assets, beneficiaries, to the Program Manager.

Note on Emergency Response:

As CRS/Pakistan responds to disaster situations, staff may be called upon to support emergency operations. Willingness and flexibility to perform tasks other than described in this job description and work longer hours than normal as necessary to complete critical tasks is required.

Key Working Relationships
Internal: PM Shelter, Senior M&E Officer, Field Engineer
External: CRS partners, Other NGO actors working in the same field area.

Professional Skills
Graduate preferably MA in social sciences or any relevant field
At least three years of professional experience in any development organization Emergency experience preferred
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, Urdu, and Pashto
Social mobilization skills are essential
Excellent planning and organizational skills
Experience in training and providing technical support to partners/communities
Computer skills in Microsoft office products
Strong team building and management skills
Willingness to spend 80% of time in the field
Physically fit, able to hike to villages for up to 5 hours per day

Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time.