Livelihood Coordinator

PLE Livelihoods Coordinator

Job Description

BACKGROUND:

The IRC has been providing humanitarian assistance to refugees in Thailand since 1976, working with refugees and displaced people from Burma/Burma since 1990. The IRC as prime leads the USAID-funded Project for Local Empowerment (PLE), which promotes access to health, education, livelihood, food security and protection services and rights for conflict-affected populations in South East Burma (Burma) as well as those displaced in Thailand. IRC leads the project in coordination with consortium members Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), The Border Consortium (TBC), and World Education (WE), and supports a network of over 35 local partners. The project builds the technical, management, and leadership capacities of local partners to deliver services in four states and two regions in South East Burma, as well as six provinces and nine refugee camps in Thailand.

The PLE mission for Livelihood programs is to facilitate relief and positive economic change for post conflict affected communities, both returnees (IDP/Refugees) and host communities in South East Burma in ways that help to promote social reintegration.

SCOPE OF WORK:

The Livelihood coordinator will provide technical support, guidance, and training on agricultural and non agricultural activities that can improve the economic wellbeing of rural communities in South East Burma . PLE agricultural approach supports communities who rely on agriculture and food systems by

· Improving sustainable production in crop, small livestock farm, fisheries pasture or forests systems and make them more resilient to climatic hazards ;

· Facilitating new economic opportunities for smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs along value chains, especially women and youth

· Providing healthier diets especially for women and children

· Preserving the environment by improving management of natural resources around water, land and forest use.

· Applying conflict sensitive approaches between host communities and returnees in accordance with Sphere Minimum Economic Recovery Standards

He/she will be responsible for working with local partners and enhancing the scope, impact and quality of their agricultural and non agricultural livelihood programs for returnees whilst ensuring they do not undermine host population livelihood strategies. Improved design, monitoring, publication of strategies and tools, staff training and capacity building will be key components in achieving these objectives. The Coordinator will be experienced in the design and implementation of Farmer Field schools (FFS) that will strengthen community based natural resource management and provide returnees and host communities with technical and organizational skills around agriculture, livestock, non-timber forest products and/or fishing appropriate for the location including

· The use and selection of quality seed,

· Improved land management practices around fallow periods and contour farming using suitable tree species - for production of fruits, timber, fuelwood and non-timber forest products - to act as conservation barriers and provide additional income generation.

· Integrated soil and pest management to improve food crop productivity

· Small livestock production

They should be experienced in marketing related as well as production training (improving product quality, enhancing foundation skills such as numeracy and business plan development). They must also be able to work effectively with community leaders and advocate for returnees access to land and reduce the protection threats the beneficiaries may face with the need to secure livelihoods for themselves and their families. To this end the coordinator will play a key role in collaborating with staff from other sectors such as health, education, partner development, food security and emergency cash transfer, child and youth protection and development and women’s protection and empowerment to ensure identified economic opportunities can be directly related to, protection, women’s empowerment as well as food security, and economic outcomes.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

1. PROVIDE ON-GOING DIRECT TECHNICAL SUPPORT

· Be the primary provider of Technical Support and guidance for agriculture and rural livelihoods programming to program and partner staff. This will be done through:

· Regular field visits, deliver technical support to partners’ field staff, provide technical resources, to monitor implementation, and make clear recommendations on ways to strengthen programs and share learning.

· Writing and publishing technical resources for field programs in relation to design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

2. DEVELOP STRATEGIES AND TOOLS:

· With the full participation of field programs, develop/ revise best practice guides, manuals and other technical resources to improve the quality of agriculture and rural livelihoods programs;

· Work with other technical units to support the development of guidance and resource materials, around cross sector issues including food security, gender, protection and land access. which strive to improve livelihoods outcomes

3. Monitoring and Learning

· Work with partners and lead on design, content and implementation of livelihood programs and the development of effective monitoring plans;

REQUIREMENTS:

· Masters / degree in Agriculture, Livestock Production/Animal Health, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Management or Agricultural Economics;

· 5 years related work experience Proven technical expertise in delivering and managing agriculture and rural livelihoods programs, preferably in south east Burma and /or humanitarian or post-conflict settings;

· Proven technical expertise in two or more of the following areas: (i) Agronomy , (ii) Livestock management, (iii) Food security (iv) Natural resource management (v) Post harvest handling and storage, (vi) Agro-Enterprise and Business Development, (vii) FFS and other participatory extension approaches

· Excellent writing and editing skills:

§ the ability to draft and edit reports ;

§ the ability to write and publish technical resources to support design and implementation of agriculture and rural livelihoods programming;

· Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;

· Solid organizational skills: the ability to work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment;

· Flexible work attitude: the ability to work productively in a team and multi-sectoral environment & independently;

· Excellent Computer skills: MS Word, Excel, Power Point, and database software.

· Able to speak Burmese and other ethnic languages (Kayin and Mon) will be an advantage.