Governance Officer - A Community-Centered Approach to Transforming Criminality and Violence in the Niger Delta

Location: Delta State, Nigeria. Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful transformation of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict—moving away from destructive approaches and towards cooperative solutions. With more than 700 staff worldwide, Search implements projects in more than 30 African countries, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and North America. Position Summary Search is seeking an experienced Governance Officer for an anticipated 18-month project funded by the European Union. The project will be implemented in consortium with co-applicants with the overall goal of fostering inclusive community security approaches to address the systemic drivers of violence and criminality in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States.  The role is to support the Governance Coordinator in the implementation of activities aimed at building trust and collaboration between communities and government and security actors for more participatory, community-centered security operations. S/he will be based in Delta state and support collaboration between communities and government and security actors. S/he will work closely with the Governance Coordinator during engagement with the Government, communities, and security actors, implementation of early warning, and Conflict prevention activities. The position will report to the Governance Coordinator and will work closely with the Project Manager and other country-level support staff. The position holder will be based in Delta State.The Governance Officer is expected to bring to the role some basic experience and skills in engaging with the Government, Communities, Security actors, and other relevant stakeholders. The candidate will have skills in supporting efforts aimed at transforming criminality, mitigating violence and criminality, and supporting governance and Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) initiatives. The position holder will support engagement with civil society, security, and government actors to institutionalize strategies and approaches that will build community capacity and skills to address social cohesion, lack of economic opportunity, and environment degradation and foster sustainable peace. Additionally, the role will support the Governance Coordinator in ensuring that conflicts identified through the EWER mechanism supported by the Project feeds into multi-stakeholder forums for dispute resolution and higher-level policy change and create open and neutral spaces for stakeholders, community members, and leaders to identify collective solutions.The anticipated project will bring together four leading peacebuilding and development organizations in the Niger Delta, in a consortium aimed at providing a holistic, community-centered approach to addressing core drivers of criminality, violence, and conflict in the region, with a specific focus on the empowerment and inclusion of youth in the security of their respective communities in the Niger Delta . The consortium partners will leverage existing relationships with the action’s diverse target groups, including at-risk youth, local communities impacted by oil production and oil bunkering, state security actors, the private sector, journalists and media actors, key civil society organizations, and policymakers at the state, regional, national, and international levels, to secure broad-based buy-in and participation in the action. Overall, the project will seek to initiate a shift in how relevant actors think about and approach issues of oil bunkering, criminality, and security in the Niger Delta in favor of more bottom-up, human-centered perspectives. This institutional and social shift is necessary in order to sustainably reduce the prevalence of oil bunkering and other forms of criminality and violence in the region in the long term. The design of the action centers around four activity streams, each addressing a systemic driver of division, violence, and criminality in Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta States: Stream 1 will foster intra-community collaboration around issues of social exclusion, lack of economic opportunity, and environmental degradation. Stream 2 will build trust and collaboration between communities, the government, and security actors for more participatory, community-centered security operations.  Stream 3 will leverage arts- and culture-based approaches to foster social cohesion between divided communities, both online and offline. Stream 4 will facilitate policy change to institutionalize community-centered security approaches at the local, state, regional, national, and international levels. The position will be based in Delta State with frequent field travels to Bayelsa and Rivers states.

Roles and Responsibilities

Support the Project’s engagement with Government actors, Securities, Communities, and other platforms including the Peace Architecture platforms.  Support governance-focused initiatives of the project in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States. Support the Governance Coordinator in collaboration with the EWER Team in ensuring that the EW system receives daily SMS/voice incident reports from COs, CRNs, and other stakeholders and such reports are documented on the system and analyzed in real-time and disseminated to actors and communities for immediate response. Support the EWER Team to facilitate early responses from relevant stakeholders. Support the convening of the Project’s Peace Architecture Platforms comprising of the Community level, LGA level, and State level platforms for Early Warning and Early Response Support programmatic and logistical support and assistance to the Governance Coordinator and Head of Programme Implementation. Contribute to the preparation of contractual and noncontractual reports Work with program staff in the development and continuous improvement of systems Provide necessary support to implementing partners and government under the supervision of the Governance Coordinator Provide weekly and monthly progress report to the supervisor and management team

Core Competencies

Demonstrate integrity and promote Search values and ethical standards; Promote the vision, mission, and strategic objectives of Search; Demonstrate capacity to adapt to a multi-cultural context, tolerance, and respect for issues related to gender, religion, race, and nationality; Proficiency in the use of MS Office is required Proficiency in the use of advocacy tools

Education

A degree in conflict resolution, peace studies, peacebuilding, conflict management, or a relevant field;

Required Experience

At least three (3) years of experience in governance, advocacy, early warning and conflict management , or related fields Have supported the implementation of similar Governance, Early Warning, and Early Response initiatives in Nigeria and the Niger Delta Region  Work experience in the Niger Delta region.  Relevant experience working in the non-profit and NGO sector or institutions providing Governance, conflict early warning, and early response services. Experience with engaging Government Agencies, security actors, communities, and other stakeholders; Understanding of the social, political, and economic context of the Niger Delta region and how it impacts conflict drivers and conflict in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states and targeted communities; Knowledge and experience in computers and advocacy tools;

Other Relevant Requirements

Good knowledge of the local languages will be an asset. Knowledge of civil society organizations, government agencies, private sector companies, and international development agencies, with experience working in partnership within some of these sectors; Experience in partnership building, with experience in influencing stakeholders and establishing and maintaining strong partnerships; Ability to work effectively in a team environment and strong interpersonal skills; Commitment to Search’s aims and a clear understanding of the links between policy, lobbying, campaigning, and how policy change can be achieved through effective advocacy; Ability to identify issues and to use sound judgment in applying technical expertise to resolve a wide range of problems; Good knowledge of the political, economic, and social dimensions of the Niger Delta region Ability to work under extreme pressure in a highly stressful environment; Willingness to keep abreast of new developments in the governance and EW/ER field; Basics financial management skills; Knowledge of other languages spoken in the states will be an advantage; Strong command of the English language, with excellent written and oral communication and interpersonal communication skills; A demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards and a diverse workplace; and Ability to prioritize, plan and organize workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities.

To apply: Interested candidates should send the following to our Current resumeCover Letter (which includes expectations of compensation and projected start date) Posting closes 25st August 2023 Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please. Please see our website: for full details of our work.