Conflict Advisor

Background:

The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by Increased efficiency of Sub National Government Operations: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation, and hygiene [WASH]); Improved Sub National Government responsiveness to Citizen Needs/CSO Engagement: increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and Improved Sub National Capacity to Manage Conflict: improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary). State2State will achieve this purpose and the objectives by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers, and building on locally-derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

The Conflict Advisor is responsible to ensure the high-quality and timely development, planning, and implementation of State2State’s conflict mitigation, prevention, and reconciliation interventions across the states. S/he will lead conflict technical approaches and interventions and travel to state offices to provide additional technical expertise as required by the evolving reform needs of each state. S/he will use the latest approaches in all areas of conflict for application in states. S/he will serve as a connector by collecting and sharing capacities and knowledge and linking State2State Conflict Specialists, other staff, and partners across states as they identify, test, and refine innovations regarding conflict prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation.

The Conflict Advisor will provide effective and timely technical supervision, quality assurance, and mentoring/coaching to the team and in particular to state-level Conflict Specialists and other state-level specialists on conflict prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation, as may be required.

Responsibilities:

The Conflict Advisor will work closely with long-term staff, principally the Citizen Engagement/CSO Director (CECD), Deputy Chief of Party, Technical Director Public Financial Management (PFM), State Team Leads and Conflict Specialists. S/he will also work as a member of the State2State National Advisory Team and will work closely with the CECD and other advisors in gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), and capacity building. S/he will contribute significantly to State2State’s conflict analysis guided by USAID’s Conflict Assessment Framework (CAF) and DAI’s experience achieving governance and service delivery results in conflict environments. The Conflict Advisor will provide capacity building support, including training of trainers, mentoring/coaching to State Conflict Specialists and other state-level staff on data collection and analysis, including identifying specific actionable recommendations for state and LGA programming; opportunities to leverage other USAID and donor-supported activities; state and LGA rapid-response interventions for building social cohesion; and sentinel indicators to monitor and forecast changes in conflict dynamics.

The Conflict Advisor will work with the project team to design and lead conflict mitigation, prevention and reconciliation trainings at the state-level, including other specific interventions to build capacity to mitigate/prevent/reconcile conflict related to state resource allocation, state service delivery in key/target sectors, with institutions involved in conflict mitigation/prevention/reconciliation, and with local leaders, especially community and religious leaders. S/he will lead state-level staff to design rapid-response interventions to understand and respond to conflict flare ups. S/he will spend significant time in partner states working on conflict programming. S/he will oversee and ensure quality of all state conflict interventions and ensure deeper citizen/government awareness/involvement in addressing conflict.

Other Responsibilities:

• Identify and address gaps in conflict mitigation, prevention and reconciliation capacity of partner states and organizations (including priority Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), partner CSOs, community and religious leaders) through a range of technical assistance, mentoring and peer learning.
• Provide conflict technical support in engaging Short-term Technical Assistance (STTA) consultants and subcontractors engaged by State2State on conflict-related interventions, issues and services.
• Facilitate and participate in periodic onboarding and or catch-up meetings (for updates on their respective consultancies) with STTA Consultants and Sub-contractors engaged by State2State to provide conflict related services.
• Provide periodic conflict technical support (in-person and virtual) to State2State staff in the Bauchi Main Office and across State2State’s six target states [Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Gombe and Sokoto], as may be required.
• Develop/review conflict intervention concept notes including budgets (including Terms of Reference (ToR), where applicable) and reports from the Conflict Specialists and other technical specialists, where applicable.
• Support State2State’s MEL team in planning and conducting periodic learning events of State2State interventions, especially on conflict-related interventions, for necessary scale-up and /adaptation by other State2State partners and or non-partners for State2State’s priority governance reforms and improved service delivery in priority sectors; basic education, primary health care and WASH.
• Carry out other responsibilities as may be assigned by the CECD, Deputy Chief of Party or Chief of Party.

Reporting:

The Conflict Advisor will report to the Citizen Engagement/CSO Director (CECD) as her/his Primary Supervisor and the Deputy Chief of Party as her/his Secondary Supervisor. The Conflict Advisor will manage the Conflict Specialist(s) based in State2State state field offices.

Required Qualifications:

• A relevant degree in social sciences, development studies, or a relevant field is required. Master’s degree preferable.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Computer literacy in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (Microsoft Office).
• Fluency in English, Hausa, and/or other local languages is required.
• At least 10 years of demonstrated experience in the design, planning, and implementation of conflict interventions in Nigeria, especially in mitigation, prevention, peace-building, community cohesion, and capacity building, especially in governance/PFM reforms and service delivery, particularly in basic education, primary health care, and WASH.
• At least three (3) years of effective experience serving in senior program management positions, including direct supervision of professional staff to ensure quality and timely deliverables.

Functional Competencies:

• Experience working for USAID donor-funded program(s), or with civil society and government organizations to drive a reform agenda, preferably governance, and basic service delivery in basic education, primary health care, and WASH.
• Experience in providing conflict intervention services (mitigation, prevention, and reconciliation) to government officials/MDAs and CSOs to drive a reform agenda, especially in State2State’s governance reforms and priority sectors of basic education, primary health care, and WASH.
• Demonstrated effective conflict mitigation, prevention, and reconciliation capacity-building interventions, including training, mentoring, and coaching skills, networking, interpersonal skills, creative problem solving, conflict, and ethical management skills.
• Experience in conflict analysis/assessment guided by USAID’s Conflict Assessment Framework (CAF)
• Demonstrable experience in coordinating and managing conflict mainstreaming in governance programs, especially in State2State’s governance reforms and priority sectors of basic education, primary health care, and WASH.
• Demonstrable experience in the development of conflict capacity-building materials.
• Sound knowledge of current global practices in conflict, especially mitigation, prevention, and reconciliation.
• Excellent communication skills and experience in working with government officials/MDAs, CSOs, short-term consultants, and sub-contractors.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (e.g., MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) and other software that are used in data collection and management.
• Possesses both an ability and a willingness to train and be trained.

Core Competencies:

• Ability to produce high-quality reports as well as other expected outputs and outcomes in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client’s needs.
• Strong organizational and soft skills.
• Ability to work effectively and independently in-person and remotely.
• Excellent written and spoken English, sound judgment, strategic thinking, and the ability to manage competing priorities and people.
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling DAI’s and State2State’s values and ethical standards and fulfills all obligations using the gender and social inclusion (GESI) approach.

Note: This is a local hire position only for Nigerian Cooperating Country Nationals (CCNs).