Household Economic Security (HES) Analyst and Learning Specialist

About the role

To contribute to the development of a conceptual framework that will broaden the role of Plan WARO (West Africa Regional Office) countries in the area of Household Economic Security programming; to ensure the quality of information produced by country HES programs; to promote the use of good information to improve program effectiveness; and to and to promote a strong learning culture in Plan regionally and globally around HES program issues

The HES Analyst and Learning Specialist works under the supervision of the Regional Advisor for Microfinance and Sustainable Livelihood and in collaboration with members of the WARO Program Team and Regional Microfinance Network to broaden Plan’s HES program work while at the same time insuring relevance, focus and program quality. The position will support and work with the 12 program countries in Plan West Africa. The position has no direct reports and no direct budget management responsibilities.

The Role is a one year role aimed to support the regional office in a critical stage of strategy making and efforts to scale up successful program initiatives.

Main responsibilities

The job role deals mainly with validating and analyzing information: researching and using information to help develop program strategies; ensuring that quality information is produced by program countries; ensuring that good information is used to inform programming decisions; working to ensure overall program effectiveness in the HES domain; and contributing to a learning environment/agenda.

This is a busy and challenging role for a well-organized and motivated staff member with broad knowledge and experience in the HES area (microfinance, food security, value chain and market development, business development, youth economic empowerment, etc.) with a sound understanding of (child) rights based approaches to development. The role requires good analytical and English-writing skills and the ability to embrace change and help bring it about.

Dealing with Problems:

HES is a broad area with many difficult components, and apart from microfinance, Plan has not traditionally performed well in this area. Therefore, working to define a role and strategic direction for WARO countries will require good analytical skills, a realistic sense of “what is possible” and good negotiation skills for dealing with staff who may feel the need to be active in certain areas, but who underestimate the degree of difficulty for Plan. In addition, food security and nutrition is a cross cutting issue that transgresses boundaries of household economic security, child health, Disaster Risk Management and Protection (social protection). The job owner will therefore be required to have a broad understanding of Plan’s other programmatic priorities in the region and the ability to discuss with colleagues leading these other domains to determine where Plan’s food security work is best anchored.

Program documentation, including MIS reports, often suffers from poor writing, shallow analysis and errors. Improving documentation standards and report quality will require a great deal of patience, tact and persistence.

A real culture of learning does not exist in WARO at the moment. Creating one will require the ability to structure learning so as to engage staff and make sure it happens.

Communications and Working Relationships:

• Members of WARO’s Microfinance Network (HES, livelihood, microfinance advisors) to receive program/project information and provide feedback
• Regional Head of Strategy to consult on HES capacity statement and thematic framework
• Regional Head of MER to consult on monitoring, evaluation and research issues
• Regional Gender Specialist to plan and implement gender equality mainstreaming in HES programs
• Regional DRM Specialist to explore the link between Food Security and DRM
• Regional Head of Communications to collaborate on technical documents for an external audience

What are the primary linkages for this post?

• Liaises with members of the WARO Program Team and members of the Regional MF Network at country level

About you

Essential Skills and competencies

• Degree in Finance, Business, Management, Economic/Rural Development, Agriculture or a related field
• Hands-on experience in microfinance with a strong preference for savings-led community-managed models
• Hands-on experience in the areas of food security and/or market/business development
• Sound writing, editing and reviewing skills
• Fluent in English and good English writing ability

Desirable skills and competencies

• Extensive working experience in rural economic development
• Some hands-on experience with youth economic empowerment
• Knowledge and appreciation for the use of ‘value chain analysis’
• A solid understanding of child rights based approaches to programming
• Research experience in component areas of HES
• Able to make judgments and execute work autonomously
• Ability to deliver to tight deadlines and budgets
• Working knowledge of French

Location and Travel

The post is based in the WARO regional office in Senegal and will include occasional travel

How to Apply

Please submit a full CV and a comprehensive cover letter setting out your reasons for applying for the post and outlining the qualifications experience knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role to:- recadmin@plan-international.org

The closing date for applications is Monday 12th December 2011

Please quote reference number WA021

Reference and background checks will be carried out in conformity with Plans Child Protection Policy. Plan operates an equal opportunities policy and actively encourages diversity, welcoming applications from all areas of the international community.