Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Officer

Volunteering Admin Communications & PR

Overview

Coordinate community engagement and conflict prevention strategies.

You have:

• Minimum of 1 year experience in coordination, monitoring, and/or organizing projects implementation in the field.
• Practical experience in project implantation, field monitoring, and basic documentation.
• Strong understanding of peace consolidation and social cohesion, and gender equality in Timor-Leste context.
• Ability to organize and facilitate community-based activities, including trainings, workshops, and awareness campaigns.
• Strong organizational and logistical coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritize effectively.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with a focus on producing clear field updates, meeting notes, and reports.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

The Supporting Communities through Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Strategies (Social Cohesion) project aims to strengthen social cohesion and prevent conflict in Timor-Leste by empowering excluded groups, particularly youth and women, to claim their rights through participation in inclusive community engagement, civic education, and dialogue-based activities. This approach generates deeper insights into conflict dynamics and promotes community resilience through inclusive governance and peacebuilding, contributing to a safer, more cohesive, and inclusive society. Building on the lessons learned from the pilot initiative in Vila Verde, Dili municipality this new project aims to refine and consolidate the tested methodology through its replication in selected rural communities. The pilot initiative in Vila Verde provided joint problem-solving workshops that integrated state institutions with communities to enhance cooperation and reduce intra-community conflict, attended by 580 community members (47% women) from the target community and additional neighbouring communities of Madohi, Manleuana, and Camea. Additionally, the initiative empowered 160 youths (58% women) through capacity-building programs that provided specific economic and market-relevant skills, thereby reducing their likelihood of engaging in violence due to their new employable skills. By adapting the approach to diverse local realities, the project will generate deeper insights into the social fabric and conflict dynamics of more remote communities, where exclusion and mistrust in institutions persist. Through inclusive community engagement, civic education, and dialogue-based activities, the initiative addresses the root causes of violence and weak state-community relations. It aims to strengthen trust between communities and government institutions, promote peace and social cohesion, and enhance youth participation in civic processes. These efforts will reinforce ongoing work by the Ministry of Interior and the G7+ to promote active citizenship, accountable, and gender-responsive governance. The project will also validate a practical, context-specific toolkit that will streamline the implementation of a locally grounded methodology for peace consolidation. This will enable more effective, community-led approaches to conflict prevention and resilience building, while also providing a scalable framework for national use.

The Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Officer is a professional facilitator who will coordinate with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in Baucau and Viqueque municipalities. This will include coordination and mobilization of community groups to build constructive relationships, resolve disputes peacefully, and prevent future violence by addressing root causes of conflict. Key responsibilities include regular coordination and supervision of daily project activities in Baucau and Viqueque, evaluating progress, and ensures adherence to schedules and quality standards.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager of the Social Cohesion project, the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Officer will undertake the following tasks:

• Field-Based Supervision: Ensures effective implementation of social cohesion activities in Baucau and Viqueque by facilitating regular coordination meetings with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant to review progress, address challenges and strengthen collaboration amongst municipalities. Provide day-to-day guidance and technical support to the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant, clarify roles, priorities, and expectations. Promote adherence to project methodologies, safeguarding standards, and gender-responsive practices across field teams.

• Coordination: Serves as the focal point for coordinating day-to-day activities with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in the field, ensuring that all of activities planned and implemented are aligned with the approved work plans, timelines, and budget. Including sup-porting planning and logistical coordination of the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in the field, local communities, women’s groups, community leaders, and other relevant stakeholders to conduct field activities, workshops, consultations, and foster community participation and ownership of project activities. Support the integration of conflict-sensitive approaches, “do no harm” principles, and gender inclusive practices into daily project implementation and coordination processes.

• Monitoring & Reporting: Regularly monitor the progress of activities in Baucau and Viqueque and identify challenges, risks, and lessons learned to be reported to the Social Cohesion Project Manager and project team. Ensure and track project targets are met within the set timelines, and data collection is conducted as per targets and deliverables. This includes supporting harmonization of field approaches, methodologies, and reporting practices to ensure consistency in implementation.

• Communication: Assists in organizing awareness-raising sessions, develop communication material, and campaigns, in coordination with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant, to promote media engagement and outreach. Development and dissemination of communication and visibility materials to highlight project activities, results, and impact at field level. Draft social media content (including Facebook posts, captions, short stories, and updates) in coordination with the project team and following organizational communication guidelines and branding requirements.

• Community Engagement: Builds strong relationships with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in the field, local communities, women’s groups, community leaders, and other relevant stakeholders to foster community participation and ownership of project activities. Represent the project in local coordination meetings when delegated.

• Capacity Building and Conflict Prevention: Assists and ensures the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in the field are implementing the Social Cohesion project in the target communities and involving beneficiaries as per the project document, particularly youth and women. Coordinate and support the implementation of capacity-building activities for community stakeholders, local partners, and field teams to strengthen knowledge and skills related to social cohesion, conflict prevention, gender equality, and inclusive peacebuilding. Facilitate dialogue spaces, community consultations, and participatory activities that promote trust-building, wide-ranging participation, and constructive engagement among diverse groups, including women, youth, marginalized populations, and local leaders.

☒ Accountability ☒ Adaptability and Flexibility ☒ Building Trust ☐ Client Orientation ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning ☒ Communication ☐ Creativity ☐ Empowering Others ☒ Ethics and Values ☒ Integrity ☐ Judgement and Decision-making ☐ Knowledge Sharing ☐ Leadership ☐ Managing Performance ☒ Planning and Organizing ☒ Professionalism ☒ Respect for Diversity ☐ Self-Management ☐ Technological Awareness ☐ Vision ☒ Working in Teams

Skills • Planning and Organization: Strong organizational and logistical coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and prioritize effectively and meet deadlines. • Teamwork: Ability to work in a team-oriented mindset with a focus on collaboration and mutual support within team particularly with the Social Cohesion, Peace Consolidation and Conflict Prevention Assistant in Baucau and Viqueque. • Communication: Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with a focus on producing clear field updates, meeting notes, and back to office reports, while liaising effectively with stakeholders and local authorities. • Monitoring: Basic understanding of monitoring, reporting, and simple data collection tools. • Problem Solving: Strong problem-solving abilities, with a proactive approach to identifying and addressing challenges. • Conflict Resolution: The ability to work with local authorities and communities to address and de-escalate conflicts through respectful engagement and problem-solving solutions.

Experience • Project Team Management: Minimum of 1 year experience in coordination, monitoring, and/or organizing projects implementation in the field. • Project Implementation and Monitoring: Practical experience in project implantation, field monitoring, and basic documentation. • Contextual Understanding: Strong understanding of peace consolidation and social cohesion, and gender equality in Timor-Leste context, with ability to apply conflict-sensitive and gender-responsive approaches in field work. • Strong ability to organize and facilitate community-based activities, including trainings, workshops, and awareness campaigns.

• Timor Leste is half of a tropical island on the Australian continental shelf charac-terized by a rugged mountain chain running east-west that divides the country in-to a generally warmer north coast and a milder south coast.   • Climate: The climate along the coast is relatively warm hot year-round with an annual average temperature of 30°C. There are two distinct seasons: the north-east monsoon season, which runs from November to March, constitutes the rainy season throughout the country. • Health: Public hospital and private clinic provide services to community. Stam-ford clinic in Dili serves as a recommended medical facility for UN staff. There is a national hospital with some international staff and a limited number of other pri-vate clinics in Dili (such as DMC). • Access to office space, equipment, IT support and any other systems and tools re-quired to complete the objectives of the assignment including a host entity email address.  • Access to shared host entity corporate knowledge, training and learning.  • Leave management.  • DSA for official travel, when applicable. • All changes in the Description of Assignment occurring between recruitment and arrival or during the assignment need to be formalized with the United Nations Volunteer Programme.  The contract lasts for the period indicated above.

Food and Water: Most staple foods can be found in the markets such as rice, meat, vegetables, cooking oil, salt and sugar. There is a variety of food ranging from Western to Southeast Asian fare. You can also find several local restaurants with less expensive

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Added 2 months ago - Updated 2 months ago - Source: unv.org