Back ground

World Vision Uganda (WVU) is a Christian relief, development and advocacy non-government organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. We currently work in 43 districts and have 48 Area Programmes implementing projects in health & nutrition, water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH), livelihoods & resilience, education and child protection. World Vision (WV) is committed to the protection of children and adult beneficiaries from exploitation and abuse and will not employ people whose background is not suitable for working with these beneficiaries. All employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of all applicable background checks, including criminal record checks where possible.

Due to expansion in scope of our programmes, we are now seeking for a qualified and passionate individual willing to share in our vision and join the team in the following role.

Position: Community Mobilization and Engagement Specialist

Report to: Associate Programmes Director

Location: Kampala – National Office

Purpose of the position:

The Specialist – Community Engagement and Mobilization, will lead all field related community engagement and mobilization initiatives including the management and implementation of WVU’s Development Program Approach (DPA). The Specialist will also provide overall technical support for field engagements and mobilization in liaison with other departments like Sponsorship, Advocacy and MEAL for WV Uganda Area Programmes and grants in a manner that meets set standards as well as empower the wellbeing of children, households and communities. This job role will contribute to Child Well-Being Outcomes in line with the World Vision Uganda Strategic priorities, community and donor accountability requirements.

Key Outputs/Responsibilities.

Program Development Approach (DPA) Management

• In collaboration with Technical Program Managers and Regional Program Managers ensures that WV’s Development Programme Approach links well with technical programs and are jointly being implemented with communities and partners within area programmes.
• Contextualizes and is responsible for rolling out principles, standards and guidance on how World Vision Ugandans works with communities and partners to improve and sustain the well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable.
• Ensures that WVU programs are implemented in a way that builds local ownership and sustainability through community and partner engagement, joint planning and implementation, and local advocacy.
• Responsible for contextualization of the Development Programme Approach and ongoing refinement based on learning in applying LEAP 3 and refining Sponsorship Field Operating Model, as all of these are interrelated and need to be mutually reinforcing.
• Provides guidance on equipping local level staff in Development Programming Approach to reinforce their technical depth in engagement with communities and local partners in achieving Child Wellbeing (CWB).
• In collaboration with Technical Program Managers and Regional Program Managers, ensure that WV’s Development Programme Approach links well with Technical Programs and are jointly implemented with communities and partners within Area Programmes
• Develop a Community Engagement Curriculum and guideline that is in line with the core Technical models to facilitate staff to conduct meaningful conversations within communities
• Mentor and coach local level staff in community engagement in general and Development Programming Approach in particular to reinforce their technical depth in engagement with communities and local partners so as to achieve Child Wellbeing Outcomes (CWBOs).

Technical support and leadership in the implementation of the Household Empowerment Approach (HEA)

• In collaboration with Technical Program Managers, completes the development of the HEAA curriculum and rolls it out together with the tools for measuring the impact of HEAA at the program level.
• HEAA curriculum integrates all Technical Programmes implementation at the household level.
• In collaboration with M&E, track the documentation of evidence and learning that support the effectiveness of HEAA and ensures that all required standards and quality assurance standards are met by APs.
• Popularize HEAA in WV Partnership as a promising innovation for community engagement and facilitation
• Document HEAA as WVU strategic initiative that accelerates the realization of the strategy at household level.
• Develop and roll out tools for measuring the impact of HEAA at the program level
• In collaboration with Evidence and Learning Manager, track the documentation of evidence and learning that support the effectiveness of HEAA and ensures that all required standards and quality assurance measures are met by APs
• Establish mechanisms to popularize HEAA in WV international partnership as a promising innovation for community engagement
• Profile HEAA as WVU’s strategic initiative and pursue the process of copyrighting it.

Capacity development of local level institutions to participate in local level advocacy and partnering for the wellbeing of Children

• To catalyze and strengthen the capacity of informal local institutions to participate in local level advocacy and partnering for the wellbeing of Children
• To promote local ownership and sustainability through community and partner engagement, joint planning and implementation so as to ensure that WVU New Area Programs are implemented in line with principles, standards and guidance of the Decision Gate of the context.
• In collaboration with the advocacy unit, Partnership Unit, and RPMs, build capacity of household clusters in local level advocacy standards to be able to participate in networks, coalitions and alliances for the wellbeing of children.
• In collaboration with Partnership Unit and RPMs build and nurture at least one household cluster per AP into a CBO for the wellbeing of children.
• Document lessons from community engagements and household clusters to inform programming.

Strengthen Child Participation and Household Cluster -Led Care for the wellbeing of Children

• Support the Sponsorship teams and Regional Programme Managers (RPMs), to inspire household clusters to mobilize their children to participate in Child Participation and Development Center organized activities for easy targeting of all children for programme interventions
• Liaise with the Evidence and Learning Manager and RPMs to contextualize the Vulnerability Assessment findings to household clusters for effective programme interventions
• Establish among household clusters community led care mechanisms for the wellbeing of children
• In collaboration with the Sponsorship team and RPMs support Household Cluster Sector Promoters for Child Protection to utilize RC Monitoring data to influence household cluster engagements.
• In collaboration with the Faith and Development Manager, support establishment of spiritual nurture activities for children within the household clusters.

Any Other Role

• This will be as may be assigned by the supervisor like participation in SMT, special committees and as may be determined by the supervisor,

Qualifications: Education/Knowledge/Technical Skills and Experience.

• Bachelor’s degree in any development related field (social sciences, development studies, management, education, agriculture or public health). Master’s degree is an advantage.
• 10 years’ experience in blending development in aspects of sponsorship and child protection in project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in a complex program environment
• At least 5 years of experience in managing complex grants and programs with significant experience in overseeing large multi-year government grants.
• Extensive knowledge of development issues and understanding of the community engagement and facilitation best practices
• Experience in project documentation, reporting, program information for donors and the World Vision partnership.
• Capacity to provide solid leadership and decision-making skills for efficient and effective day to day project implementation.
• Ability to work with different partners, local authorities, local organizations and NGOs, to develop and maintain positive relationships.
• Demonstrate well – developed interpersonal skills, excellent communication skills, both verbal, written (in English) as well as negotiation skills.
• Strong understanding of systems design and implementation protocols.
• Demonstrated written communication & analytical skills, including research and the writing of proposals and reports.
• Must have good team-building skills, as well as strong interpersonal and networking skills cross organizationally and with different cultures
• Be a results orientated employee with the ability to handle a heavy work load, manage and satisfy multiple conflicting organizational, donor and other stakeholder demands.
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships with all staff and other key partners.
• Excellent application knowledge of MS Word, Excel, Power Point, Lotus notes and internet applications.
• Strong inter-personal skills, and proven team-player.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities.
• Able to solve complex problems and to exercise independent judgment.
• Must be a committed Christian, able to stand above denominational diversities.
• Willing to attend and participate/lead in daily devotions and weekly Chapel services.
• Perform other duties as required.