Liaison Officer | Jigjiga

I.  JOB SUMMARY:

The purpose of the Somali Regional Liaison Officer position is to ensure a cohesive and strategic public and external image of CARE Ethiopia particularly with the Somali Regional Government that is aligned with the country strategy plan and on the groundwork, and to ensure CARE Ethiopia’s capacity to develop and maintain effective partnership working relationships with its key government and other partners and counterparts in the Ethiopian Somali Region.  The Regional Liaison officer is responsible to attend all sectoral regional meetings representing CARE Ethiopia in Jijiga.

S/he will need to have an in depth understanding of all projects operational within the Somali region and be able to represent CARE Ethiopia at all meetings with government and other stakeholders held at Jijiga.  S/he supports the development of strategic relations with key actors (including UN and civil society) for CARE Ethiopia in the Somali region. The Liaison officer will participate in strategic and high-level meetings in CARE Ethiopia to share key concerns and good practices to ensure consistent actions.

II. RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS:

 Job Responsibility #1: Government Relations and Reporting – 40% of Time:  

• Represents CARE Ethiopia at all sector cluster meetings held in Jijiga and share meeting minutes to Senior Humanitarian Program Operations Manager based in Addis Ababa, Humanitarian response Manager based in Filtu and Humanitarian Unit based in Addis.
• S/he is responsible to liaise with Humanitarian Response Manager in Filtu field office and the Humanitarian Unit staffs at Addis level to ensure full knowledge and understanding of all initiatives across all sectors being conducted in Somali region
• Closely and directly work with Somali Government Representatives at Region particularly the NGO desk.  Conducts regular meetings and dialogue to provide feedback on ongoing activities, successes, challenges being faced etc
• Works directly with Humanitarian Response Manager based in Filtu project office to ensure that handover of projects to government and communities is conducted in a smooth, efficient and transparent manner
• Troubleshoots when difficulties arise with counterparts.

Job Responsibility #2:  Give Guidance to CARE Ethiopia on Government Counterpart’s Requirements -20% of Time             

• Provide guidance to CARE Ethiopia for planning and carrying out its development activities according to counterpart-established procedures.
• Stay current on, and carefully review Somali regional government policies and programs and advise the Program Department and Field Staff on the content and implications of these policies and programs for CARE Ethiopia’s work;
• Provides technical support in the area of partnership and institutional linkage during program design. When needed, organizes training for project staff on the content of those programs and policies.
• Ensures that CARE Ethiopia is appropriately represented in all counterpart activities and responds to requests of information from counterparts.

Job Responsibility #3:  Ensuring Government Partners’ Participation in CARE Ethiopia’s projects – 20% of Time         

• Ensures that regional government representatives effectively participate in planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all development activities;
• Meets regularly with counterparts at Somali Regional level to ensure on-going two-way communication between CARE Ethiopia and its counterparts in relation to project progress and mutual requirements/needs at all these levels;
• Participates in field trips with government partners to corroborate project progress, receive technical feedback, and identify obstacles and possible solutions, which include participation and contributions of counterparts and communities;
• Participates in project evaluation exercises and ensures appropriate participation of counterparts.

Job Responsibility #4: Data management and Communication – 10% of Time

• Ensures that relevant data or reports of projects are given to all relevant government sectors on timely basis
• Keeps relevant documents systematically and accessed as needed
• Contacts units and departments in CARE Ethiopia Addis office for timely support
• Provide timely updates and share minutes of every meeting s/he attends

Job Responsibility #5: 10% of Time

• Manage Jijiga based CARE Ethiopia office ensuring conducive work environment, organizational visibility and responsiveness to government offices and others’ communications
• Ensure that gender equality and diversity values are upheld in all her/his roles and responsibilities
• Maintain strategic partnership with GOs and NGOs that directly or indirectly work on gender equality and women empowerment issues
• Perform other duties as assigned.

III. PROBLEM SOLVING (Thinking Environment)

• The level of problem solving this position will face is level one. What has to be done and how to do it are clearly defined and the incumbent will face identical or similar problems;

IV. GENDER EQUALITY

• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender, youth, and social inclusion issues.
• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and PSEAH (safeguarding), as evidenced in previous positions / programming