WGPE Senior Officer BO

Job Description

BACKGROUND

Present in Sierra Leone since 1999, IRC supports Sierra Leonean institutions – government, civil society, community-based organizations, and private sector – to provide improved social services, decrease youth unemployment and mitigate gender-based violence. The IRC does this through programs and partnerships designed to improve the lives of women, youth, and children by implementing Health, Education, and Women and Girls’ Protection and Empowerment (WGPE) programming. IRC. IRC has a Country Program office in Freetown, a Regional Field Office in Kenema, Field Offices in Kono and Bo, and a satellite office in Kailahun. IRC will be working through civil society partners in Falaba district, and Karena district in the northern region of Sierra Leone.

The IRC through its WGPE sector will be implementing the “Adolescent Girls Empowerment and Protection Project” (AGEPP) Phase 2 from 2022 to 2024, and its main aim is ‘to support the empowerment of Adolescent Girls through relevant education, knowledge, and skills for obtaining their full potential and inclusive participation in society’. This project will be implemented in Bo District and is a follow-on project from AGEPP Phase 1 (2019-2022). It will primarily focus on adolescent girls over a 3-year period, with the recognition that their empowerment cannot be fully achieved without change occurring within the family and the community. Therefore, this project will also target female caregivers of the girls, male leaders within the community, boys, and the community at large. Using learning from the period of the COVID 19 pandemic, Ebola and other natural disasters that have occurred in previous years, which resulted in increased vulnerability and incidence of adolescent girls to SGBV, teenage pregnancy and FGM, the project will seek to bring about changes that will build resilience in the communities and will allow them to take full ownership of the problems and solutions of their adolescent girls leading to the reduction of early marriage and teenage pregnancy. To be able to achieve this effectively, the project will also explore through research, how climate change affects adolescent girls.

Job Summary Reporting to the Project Manager, the WGPE Senior Officer will be responsible for the day-to-day direct implementation of all components of the project within targeted rural communities in Bo district. S/he will be responsible for establishing and developing informal adolescent girls’ groups, outside of the school setting; Women Action Groups (WAGS) within communities and working with men and boys in the project communities and will carry out on-the-ground facilitation of the IRC’s project interventions with these clients. She/he will be involved in community mobilization, sensitization and advocacy programs, and interface with traditional institutions, religious leaders, community leaders, and local government authorities towards ensuring quality implementation of all the project components at the community levels. S/he will lead collection of reliable monitoring data in the target communities on monthly and/or quarterly basis in a timely manner. As such, the Senior Officer will be based in the target communities and report directly to the Project Manager.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS Position Reports to: WGPE Project Manager Position directly supervises: Mentors in the communities, community facilitators and other project clients. internal: WGPE Senior Program Manager, WGPE Coordinator, Field Manager-Bo, M & E Manager, M&E Officer External: The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs (MSWGCA) – Bo district, Bo District Council, International Non-Governmental Organizations, National Non- Governmental Organizations, the Donor, other key partners and stakeholders.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES Program implementation and quality Work directly on the implementation of the AGEPP Phase 2 in Bo district, and manage associated day-to-day tasks, including: with support from the Project Manager and the WGPE Senior Program Manager, work on the start-up and implementation of Girl Shine groups, Women Action groups, boys groups, ensuring groups are formed in a safe, comfortable, and confidential manner and environment. Work directly with groups and communities across all aspects of programming, including: Community engagement and mobilization Capacity building – training, workshops, and mentoring Awareness raising and behaviour change Support exploration through research on how climate change affects adolescent girls. Provide psychosocial support and well-being for mentors and community facilitators Economic empowerment of older adolescent girls and women Women and girls’ leadership and solidarity building Work with IRC partners With support from the Project Manager, ensure all aspects of programming follow best practice.

Staff Development and Support Actively participate in WGPE capacity building opportunities and share learning and experiences with project partners and the wider WGPE teams Actively pursue professional development opportunities based on performance and development objectives, and liaise with supervisor for support on identifying and realising these where possible

Representation and Advocacy Support the managers on site by representing the WGPE team at any relevant district level and chiefdom level coordination meetings as and when required Advocate for the needs, priorities and interest of women and girls at the community level and district where required in line with WGPEs approach to working with, supporting and empowering women and girls. Other Undertake tasks as requested by Supervisor

Qualifications