Extractives Advisor, Kenya

For the field office in Kenya, Nairobi, Cordaid is looking for a

Extractives Advisor / expert

Introduction

The objective of Cordaid's Extractives programme is to ensure that the exploitation of extractives (oil, gas and minerals) contributes positively to local community development, to increase the number of companies operating as responsible corporate citizens and to increase good national and transnational governance of the benefits of extractives. To this end, Cordaid supports local communities and civil society to become informed, legitimate and capacitated partners in negotiations with international oil, gas and mining companies and governments. Our work is centered around four main product areas: contextualization, stakeholder engagement, community development agreements, and monitoring and evaluation. We provide grant management, project management, advocacy, training and education, as well as technical advice and consultancy. Cordaid's Extractives team works in South Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Guatemala and Colombia.

Responsibilities and tasks

Strategy Development and Technical Advice

• Play a lead role in the development of strategies on stakeholder engagement and multi-stakeholder dialogue, in particular civil society, government and extractive industry partners;
• Organize and co-facilitate trainings on relevant extractive issues, incl. stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms, revenue transparency and budget monitoring, community development, social, environmental, human rights, conflict impact assessments, community development agreements;
• Provide technical advice and share information on guidelines, voluntary principles and international standards and best practices on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community development in extractives;
• Identify, design and/or manage the development of research and advocacy materials to influence decision-makers;
• Support documentation of human interest stories, lessons learned, best practices and strategic opportunities related to Cordaid / partners' programmes and projects.

Programme Design, Management and Support

• Support the development of short-term projects as well as longer-term collaborative programmes with local and international partner organizations;
• Manage project implementation according to agreed deadlines and budget;
• Provide regular written/oral program progress updates and collaborate in providing reports to project partners;
• Track and report project activities/results, and provide quarterly updates;
• Carry out other project-related tasks as required and assigned.

Capacity Development

• Provide technical assistance on extractives and accompany staff of local partner organizations and community representatives to enable skills-transfer;
• Support local civil society partners in developing proposals, planning and implementing extractives-related projects;
• Provide mentoring, project support and related follow-up;
• Improve learning, linking and coordination to strengthen extractives-related civil society networks.

Networking, Representation and Business Development

• Provide thought leadership and represent Cordaid in extractives-related meetings as a spokesperson and advocate on community-oriented extractives management;
• Build and maintain strategic alliances with Kenya-based, regional and international NGO coalitions on extractives issues, such as the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) coalition;
• Explore potential areas for collaboration and mobilize opportunities and resources to co-create new programs with innovative solutions;
• Translate ideas for advice and collaborative programmes in attractive technical and financial proposals and expressions of interest for bilateral, multilateral organizations and private foundations.

Qualifications

• Academic degree or equivalent in development, governance, conflict studies, law or related fields;
• At least 7 years' relevant work experience, including 3+ years' experience working on extractives issues;
• In-depth knowledge of CSR standards and community development best practices in the context of oil, gas and mining developed by relevant (industry) organizations (e.g. ICMM, IPIECA, IFC);
• Practical experience with providing strategic and technical advice on CSR and community development issues and with facilitation of multi-stakeholder processes;
• Strong project management, analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Experience in working with communities, local civil society organizations, government and extractive industry actors in conflict-affected states in Africa, preferably Kenya;
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time (mostly in Kenya, sometimes also in the wider East African region);
• Be diplomatic, culturally sensitive, result-oriented, innovative and a strong team player;
• Excellent English writing and communication skills.

Specifics of duty station

The Extractives Advisor / expert will be based in Nairobi at the Cordaid Kenya office, with colleagues from different thematic programmes. The Extractives Advisor will report to the Cordaid Country Director in Nairobi as well as the Programme Manager Extractives, and work closely with other extractives colleagues based in South Sudan, DRC as well as at Cordaid HQ in The Netherlands.

Open to international and local candidates, the position is preferably filled by a Kenyan national. Please note this is a senior-level position, we kindly invite only those candidates to apply who meet the above-mentioned qualifications.

Contract information

Initial contract for 12 months, renewable, with a 1-month probation period. Starting date as soon as possible. We offer a Cordaid contract with a competitive salary and benefit package.

Further information & how to apply

Applications based on meeting all the above requirements, along with a cover letter, certified copies of academic/professional certificates, an up-to-date CV, names and contacts of three referees should be sent not later than 21 May 2014, COB to;

The Country Director

CORDAID

P O Box 40278, 00100

Nairobi

Or by email to cordaid@cordaid.or.ke

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted before 28 May 2014.

Tests are scheduled on 30 May 2014, interviews on 5 June 2014.