Graduation Approach Advisor - Niger

Graduation Approach Advisor – Niger

Project Background:

CNFA is currently seeking applications from qualified candidates for the upcoming FY 2025 Niger Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA). RFSAs work to improve and sustain the food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations through multi-year resilience food and nutrition security activities, with a particular focus on the graduation approach as a means of elevating vulnerable and marginalized populations out of extreme poverty. This activity will work at the individual, household, community, and institutional levels to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition and strengthen transformative opportunities. RFSAs are intended to strengthen resilience in populations vulnerable to acute, chronic hunger, and malnutrition; recurrent shocks, stresses, and crises; and to reduce the need for ongoing or future emergency food assistance. This program will reduce food insecurity among vulnerable populations and help build resilience in communities facing chronic poverty and recurrent crises through by implementing the five key components of the graduation approach: mentoring and coaching; consumption smoothing support; savings groups for financial inclusion; training; and livelihoods selection and asset transfer.

Position Description:

The Graduation Approach Advisor will play a critical role in ensuring the activity design aligns with the principles of the graduation approach. This role will provide technical leadership and oversight to ensure high-quality program adherence and implementation of the project’s vision and strategy. They will ensure the project follows the graduation approach’s five components: mentoring and coaching, consumption smoothing support, savings groups for financial inclusion, training, and livelihoods selection and asset transfer. The Graduation Approach Advisor should possess an in-depth understanding of local social protection systems, including adaptive safety and productive safety nets, to facilitate targeted programming for vulnerable and marginalized populations effectively. S/he will ensure that the social dimensions of food security and community resilience are adequately addressed across all activity components and at all levels throughout the project duration. The Graduation Approach Advisor will work closely with the Chief of Party and collaborate with other senior managers and technical leads to achieve project objectives.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Lead and oversee the implementation of the five components of the graduation approach, ensuring adherence to the project's framework and goals.
• Ensure that transfers, livelihood training, coaching and mentoring, are appropriately targeted and tailored to the specific contexts within Niger.
• Apply an in-depth understanding of gender, age, and locally relevant socio-cultural factors in participant targeting and program design.
• Ensure social dimensions of food security and community resilience are addressed effectively across all components of the activity.
• Prioritize social inclusion, particularly of marginalized populations, gender, and youth.
• Lead data collection, analysis, and especially, utilization of information for programmatic objectives in conjunction with other senior staff.
• Ensure that all components of the graduation approach are integrated and create multiplier effects.
• Maintain consistent, high-quality technical implementation among sub-awardees and implementation locations.
• Oversee SLI with external actors, particularly regarding social protection programming.
• Collaborate with other senior managers to ensure that the Activity consistently employs the values of CNFA, ensures the highest ethical standards, emphasizes the importance of communication and teamwork, promotes collaboration with other donor-funded projects and activities, adheres to USAID and CNFA technical guidance, and directly contributes to the attainment of the Activity’s contractual deliverables;
• Other duties as assigned on an ad hoc basis by the COP.

Key Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in a relevant field is preferred, a bachelor's degree is required.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing the five components of the graduation approach.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressively increasing management responsibility in international development projects, including USAID projects, is required.
• International donor experience is required, USAID program experience, particularly with the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) compliance, is preferred.
• Experience managing multi-sectoral projects including agricultural development, natural resource management, biodiversity, livelihood development and nutrition.
• Familiarity with USAID Strategic Learning and Contextualization period is preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in at least one relevant technical field, such as livelihood development, food security, nutrition, youth and gender empowerment, cash vouchers/transfers and/or other consumption smoothing support.
• Commitment to gender and youth integration in food security programming and a proven experience with youth and women’s livelihood projects in extremely poor and rural settings.
• Prior experience working in Sahel region, familiarity with Niger’s social, political, economic, and cultural landscape, and demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with host governments, donors, other donor-funded projects and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.
• Fluency in both English and French are required.

Position and compensation depend on donor funding and the successful awarding of the activity.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or protected veteran status. CNFA takes affirmative action in support of its policy to advance in employment individuals who are minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities.

Only those candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted.

CNFA IS PROUD TO BE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER It is the policy of CNFA to provide equal employment opportunity to all persons, regardless of age, race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, marital status, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, membership or non-membership in an employee organization, veteran status, or on the basis of personal favoritism or other non-merit factors, except where otherwise provided by law. 

REASONABLE ACCOMODATION & CONTACT INFORMATION CNFA provides a reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please contact the CNFA Home Office Human Resources Department via email at accomodation@cnfa.org or via phone at 202-296-3920 if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job with us.