Project Officers x2 at Zambia Red Cross Society

Zambia is currently facing acute food insecurity, shortage of clean and safe drinking water, chronic high malnutrition, and energy deficit, among others. The devastating effects of prolonged dry spells coupled with late onset of the rain season on agriculture production resulted in reduced food availability and access to food, thus contributing to the acute food insecurity conditions affecting 58 districts in the country.

In responding to the situation described above, the National Society, with the support of the International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has launched an Emergency Appeal meant to address the noted vulnerabilities. The response is targeting 57, 064 affected population in the three districts of Limulunga and Kalabo in Western Province and Pemba in Southern Province through the following interventions:

• Livelihood and basic needs support
• WASH

In order to ensure smooth and effective implementation of the planned activities, the National Society is recruiting suitably qualified and relevantly experienced Zambian nationals to fill the following positions that have been created for this purpose.

PROJECT OFFICER – KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Project Officer will ensure effective implementation of priority interventions in compliance with agreed benchmarks and timeframes so as to address the project objectives through related activities which include, among others, to:

• Spearhead the execution of Emergency Needs Assessment on several project components that are a part of this response, including market assessments for cash transfer programming, voucher system, mobile network connectivity, key commodity inventory and weekly pricing trends on the market;
• Conduct frequent field visits in operation areas (80% of time in the field and 20% in the office)
• Overseeing daily operations, including providing technical support to volunteers, staff and beneficiary communities;
• Facilitate beneficiary selection using approved criteria and upload the data on Kobo collect;
• Oversee cash distribution modalities, including confirmation of beneficiary details
• To spearhead project activities for the livelihood interventions, including agriculture support and aquaculture development initiatives;
• Manage an effective communication strategy with preferably daily updates of the emergency operations in the field with Disaster Management Manager at Headquarters in Lusaka, using multiple tools, including Kobo;
• Preparation and submission of weekly operations updates and monthly progress reports to Headquarters
• Any other duties to be assigned from time to time by the Emergency Operations Centre at HQ in Lusaka.

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:

• A college/University degree from a recognized university in Disaster management, Development Studies, Geographical Sciences, Business Administration, Economics, Agriculture, Project Management, Public/Environmental Health or any related Social Science discipline, with at least 2 years’ experience in similar field with international or local NGOs or Government;
• A diploma in the above disciplines with at least 5 years’ experience will be considered;
• Strong IT skills with good application of Mobile Data Collection tools;
• Knowledgeable of Disaster Management and Emergency Operations
• Knowledge and experience in Planning Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (PMER) processes
• Ability to effectively represent the organization and its program at field level and
• Excellent oral and writing skills.
• Ability to work independently and problem-solving skills.

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