Current Vacancies at Search for Common Ground (SFCG), 29th August, 2018

  Search for Common Ground (SFCG) is an international non-profit organization that promotes peaceful resolution of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC and a European office in Brussels, Belgium, SFCG’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict - away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. SFCG seeks to help conflicting parties understand their differences and act on their commonalities. With a total of approximately 600 staff worldwide, SFCG implements projects from 55 offices in 34 countries, including in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. The organization is an exciting and rewarding place to work, with a dedicated and enthusiastic staff that is committed to its mission and values. You will be joining a highly motivated staff with a good team spirit and there will be opportunities to grow in the role. We are recruiting to fill the position below:     Job Title: Country Director Location: Abuja Position Summary

• The Country Director manages the overall program in Nigeria from a programmatic and operational perspective, as well as leading on fundraising and donor relations.
• He/she leads the Leadership and Management Team (comprised of key senior staff) and leads the team in ongoing improvements.
• This position reports to the Regional Director for West Africa and collaborates closely with various Washington and Brussels-based divisions of Search, including the Africa Team, the Institutional Learning Team, Communications, Finance and Operations.
• The position is located in Abuja, with substantial travel to the other field offices as well as other states around the country.

• Report to donors according to contractual deadlines with quality narrative and financial data
• Contribute analysis and programmatic capacities to the implementation of programming in Nigeria and other countries in the region as appropriate
• Stay abreast of the international conflict transformation field to ensure that the program’s work remains innovative and professional
• Be directly engaged in the continuing development of the organization, its mission and its staff, through the sharing of experience and knowledge, particularly contributing to its Institutional Learning efforts
• Strengthen existing funding relationships and identify and pursue new potential donors in collaboration with headquarters in Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium.
• Define programme priorities, plans and long-term strategy (in close collaboration with the Search Regional Director)
• Oversee implementation of funded projects, collaborating with donors, partners, and other staff
• Manage the country program with the highest quality standards and with well-documented results
• Ensure sharing of results across different offices of Search Nigeria, across Search and with external stakeholders.
• Responsible for ensuring lessons are learned and applied to future programming
• Ensure that program planning and management effectively utilize available resources, and respond to gaps with fundraising and/or operational adjustments as needed

• Directly oversee and manage the country Finance Directors, ensuring financial compliance both with Nigerian laws, donor requirements and Search procedures across the organization.
• Maintain regular communication with regional and HQ finance focal points on finance issues and ensure that the organization is ongoingly audit-ready
• Identify potential shortfalls and strategize with the organization’s senior management as necessary to ensure the program’s financial sustainability.

• Develop and manage a team of diverse senior staff members (expatriate, national and third country nationals) modelling effective communication and collaboration
• Participate in the recruitment and selection of highly qualified staff, onboarding and ensuring ongoing staff opportunities for capacity development
• Ensure adequate mechanisms for staff appraisals, staff feedback, and review of HR/operational issues
• Strengthen the capacity of national staff and partners, contributing to Search’s legacy strategy of conflict transformation in Nigeria
• Ensure compliance with Search Operations Manual policies and procedures
• Ensure that country policies, contracts, and disciplinary procedures and processes conform to local labor laws
• Ensure an updated security and evacuation plan is in place for all offices

• Serve as Search's country representative
• Develop and maintain proactive, positive and professional relationships with partner organizations, other NGOS, donors, clients, key government officials, civil society groups, etc.
• Maintain responsible media coverage of program events and issues related to Search mission
• Maintain regular written and oral reporting to Washington and Brussels on key country, regional, program, security and staff issues
• Establish a direct line of communication with other African Country Directors in the region for program guidance toward strategic initiatives and staff cross-fertilization opportunities

• Degree in relevant field (e.g. conflict transformation, security studies, media and communications, sociology, political science, or related fields)

• Experience in managing large projects of at least $5 million, with multiple grants and donors
• At least five years’ experience working overseas, preferably in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Experience in capturing results and overseeing reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems
• Experience in managing multi-cultural teams, preferably in Africa
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills
• A problem-solving approach to challenging situations
• Ability to multi-task while leading a complex team
• Fluent spoken and written English.
• Understanding of the conflict dynamics of Nigeria
• At least ten years’ experience in program management, both programmatically and operationally, preferably on media and/or conflict transformation-related issues
• Experience in managing diverse inter-cultural teams
• Track record in successful fundraising
• Experience with compliance to US government and EU donor rules and regulations

• A Community Mobilizer that will work under the Social Cohesion Project Manager to implement the community sensitization, mobilization and community strengthening activities including psycho-social support to vulnerable populations and community dialogues to support equitable access to natural resources.
• S/he will organize awareness sessions and community-based outreach to sensitize and raise community awareness of the project and its objectives.
• S/he will help monitor and support all program activities in the field, conducting regular meetings with Target groups, psycho-social workers, local community leaders; community based social cohesion mechanism to identify issues and proposing solutions to address them.
• The Community Mobilizer will ensure that project activities are consistent with Search’s programming principles and approaches, draw on relevant best practices and lessons learned, enable children to attain their rights and are compliant with donor regulations.
• S/he will work under the direct supervision of the social cohesion Project Manager. The position will be based in the respective LGAs in Borno state and will include frequent travels to communities.

• The Lake Chad Inclusive Economic and Social Recovery (RESILAC) is a 4-year project developed by Action Against Hunger (AAH) in consortium with CARE and Groupe URD. The project aims to contribute to the economic recovery and to the strengthening of the resilience and the social cohesion of the territories of the Lake Chad basin most impacted by the Lake Chad crisis and the climate change.
• The project targets four regions (i) Cameroon, the Far North, (ii) Niger, Diffa region, (iii) Chad, Lake region and (iv) Nigeria, Borno State. Search for Common Ground (Search) is an implementing partner to AAH in Nigeria to implement the project’s pillar #1 focused on strengthening human capital, social cohesion and collective and sustainable management of natural resources in selected LGAs in Borno state.

• Provide support to the social cohesion Project Manager to prepare work plans and project implementation strategies;
• Mobilize communities (leaders, etc.) and disseminate information about the project to promote community support; Implement community sensitization and awareness activities in the target communities and LGAs as per the project work plan and strategies;
• Hold regular meetings with stakeholders including community based protection mechanism, psycho-social support services, and other organizations serving Target community populations to familiarize them with the projects and its objectives and engage them in the process;
• Engage community-based organizations (CBOs), local traditional and religious structures, government structures involved in Natural Resource Management, and psycho-social support structures in the project activities (such as psycho-social support, community-level research, and community dialogues) as facilitators and interlocutors to the communities and to deepen the community engagement;
• Facilitate community meetings and dialogues to identify key community needs that can be addressed through the project’s community strengthening initiatives;
• Mobilize and facilitate active participation of target populations to participate in planning, monitoring and implementation and evaluation of project initiatives;
• Support the communities to implement and monitor the progress of the micro-projects in the selected communities;
• Support the DM&E teams conducting LGA-level conflict asessments;
• Work closely with psycho-social workers to identify target populations to benefit from psycho-social engagement;
• Collect monitoring data from the field in line with program indicators and submit regular updates, reports and case studies on success stories and lessons learned;
• Prepare activities reports on regular basis and contribute to the period progress reports;
• Keep proper records of field expenditures when appropriate and report on these to the Project Manager;
• Track information and report about other related activities implemented in the LGA as part of the project; and
• Keep abreast of local context and security situation to provide feedback on Search’s weekly context analysis.

• At least a Diploma certificate in any field (but, a university Degree in peacebuilding, social science, security may be preferred)

• At least 1 year working experience in an active and well-connected community-based association/organization ( or a non-profit NGO) as full time staff may be preferred
• The ability and willingness to work across diverse cultural and religious line to foster peace (essential)
• Excellent knowledge of the local context and language i.e. Fulani, Kanuri and Hausa (essential)
• Good reputation as a wide promoter of peace and non-violence and attested by all community stakeholders (essential)
• Outspoken and can engage with all community stakeholders across ethnic and religious lines
• Demonstrates integrity, financial prudence and management;
• Ability to lead a community and also provide support to program participants;
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to community development;
• A demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards and a diverse workplace;
• Ability to prioritize, plan and organize workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities; and
• Understanding of the social, political and economic context of the state and how it impacts on conflict drivers and conflict in the state and targeted communities.

• Highly organized and systematic with excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and oral.
• Excellent cross-cultural communication and working skills, enjoys a multicultural work environment;
• Should be an Indigene of any of the following LGA (Jere, Mongonu, Mafa, Kukawa) in Borno state
• Highly disciplined and of good conduct (essential);

• Interested candidates will send the following items to our employment portal:
  • Current resume
  • Cover letter
  • Writing sample
• Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.