Project Officer, Malawi

REPSSI (the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative) is a renowned pan African organisation that has been supporting governments and non-governmental organisations to provide holistic psychosocial care and support to children and their families in East and Southern Africa for over 20 years now. REPSSI works in 13 countries and aims to enhance the psychosocial and mental wellbeing of girls, boys, youth their families and communities to be able to respond to challenges such as HIV and AIDS, conflict, poverty, climate change, environmental disasters and social strife.

REPSSI’s strategy is underpinned by four strategic outcomes:

1. Enhanced health, SRHR, and HIV outcomes for children, adolescents & mothers through MHPSS
2. Enhanced protection and sustainable livelihoods through MHPSS
3. Education and Early Childhood Development is enhanced through MHPSS
4. Disaster risk reduction and enhanced humanitarian response through MHPSS

Job Summary

REPSSI seeks to appoint an experienced Project Officer. The successful candidate will provide technical support for the effective and efficient delivery of projects at national, district and community levels and to ensure that programmes mainstream MHPSS and enhance schools and community competencies to nurture, protect and empower children and youth.

Key Responsibilities

1 Projects coordination and management

• Contribute to the definition of the scope of work of annual set targets
• Provide input into the country plans and implementation schedule with time frames
• Prepare comprehensive schedules for MHPSS capacity building activities in liaison with partners, Finance and Administrative staff and Programme Manager
• Ensure thorough understanding and effective implementation and coordination of the SIDA project and other substantive projects (at national, district or community levels)
• Conduct regular status meetings with national, district and community level stakeholders, keeping the stakeholder’s needs and requirements continuously in check
• Proactively communicate status of project issues and risks to management
• Track progress and review project tasks to make sure that deadlines are met appropriately
• Manage relationships with partners through proactive technical assistance, coaching and mentoring
• Maintain schedules of timelines and target dates, and produce monthly projects implementation status updates
• Ensure that REPSSI’s MHPSS collaborators and partners are practicing the core MHPSS and REPSSI principles of collaboration, child protection, accountability and visibility.

2 Identify, select, develop and manage specific emerging MHPSS knowledge and prospect MHPSS packages

• Participate in the identification and selection of possible partnerships to execute projects and ensure adherence to the implementation models in line with set organisational partnership standards
• In liaison with the Programme Manager, identify the scope of work for external training and capacity building consultants, develop terms of reference and review proposals and manage such consultants’ performance

3 Manage, monitor, review and report

• Participate in monitoring the progress of the project activities through field visits and recommend and agree on any necessary adjustments with the Programme Manager and the partners
• Prepare quality timely implementation project reports
• Evaluate the outcomes of the project implementation as per targets agreed at planning
• Develop success stories, case studies and most significant change cases from project activities relating to the projects being implemented and document best practices
• Manage and monitor MHPSS projects ensuring that the implementation is in accordance with REPSSI standards
• Engage on a day-to-day basis with the projects collaborators and beneficiaries to build the profile for implementation
• Ensure that all project deliverables and outcomes are on schedule, up to the required standard and within budget as per targets agreed at planning, documenting program activities using designated formats, and recommending and agreeing on any necessary adjustments to the management and the partners.

4 Manage project resources and fundraise to ensure programme sustainability

• Participate in monitoring the approved projects budget and expenditure according to approved limits and keep updated financial records
• Working with the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, and the Programme Manager, maintain project activity and budget tracking systems
• Participate in timely development of project concept notes for marketing of REPSSI products
• Take part in the development of good quality proposals
• Working with the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, and the Programme Manager ensure that all donor reports are prepared to quality standards in compliance with agreed donor conditions and requirements.

5 Advocate for MHPSS and communicate project activities

• Develop and maintain close relationships with all relevant government departments and NGO counterparts on programmatic matters at national, district and community level
• Documentpromising case studies from within the country programme
• Raise awareness on emerging issues within Malawi
• Share progress on national programmes with internal and external stakeholders through newsletter articles among other information, education and communication media
• Work with partners to establish relationship with media to enhance coverage for MHPSS
• Ensure that branding guidelines are adhered to in all the national, district and community activities/programmes
• Represent and/or ensure appropriate representation of REPSSI at different project related fora

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• Relevant degree preferably in Social Work, Psychology, Sociology, Development Studies, Public Health or any other social sciences.
• Fluent in English, both spoken and written.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook); ability to use the internet and other digital tools for data entry, research, and problem-solving purposes.
• Ability to work and communicate effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Self-starter with excellent problem-solving skills combined with the proven ability to prioritize and manage time effectively.
• A good understanding of the situation of forcibly displaced children, youth and their families.
• Minimum three (3) years of relevant work experience.
• Practical field experience in Humanitarian and development contexts.
• Practical experience in group training and/or facilitation.
• Experience in programme design, implementation, M&E and research for psychosocial support.
• Experience in conducting field-based baseline assessments.
• Experience in international, regional and/or national networking and knowledge management.
• Work experience with large NGOs, government departments and/or international cooperating partners.
• Only Malawian citizens will be considered for the opportunity.

This is a 3-year contract position subject to availability of donor funding and satisfactory performance.

Remuneration will be commensurate with skills and experience (this is a 60% level of effort position). REPSSI is committed to the principles of employment equity.