Community Visioning Lead 129 views

Job Title: Community Visioning Lead

Location: Bulawayo

Reports To: Deputy Chief of Party

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract

Organisational Background

The Organisation of Rural Associations (ORAP) presents an exciting opportunity for suitably qualified and motivated candidates to fill the vacancy of Community Visioning Lead. ORAP is a leading local NGO involved in development and relief (emergency) work in rural communities in Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Midlands provinces. It exists to fight all forms of poverty among the rural and urban grassroots communities of disadvantaged women, men and youth through the empowerment of people by facilitating their development in their diverse cultural contexts.

Project Summary

The position is under a USAID funded project ‘’ Amalima Loko.” The Project seeks to improve food security through increased food access and sustainable watershed management. Its purposes are P1: Enhanced and inclusive local ownership over food security and resilience planning and development, P2: Watershed management improved, P3: Adaptive and absorptive capacity improved.

Purpose of Position

To provide overall leadership of the community visioning process, guiding relevant programming in the communities to ensure that the activities that are eventually implemented by the project are in tandem with the vision of the community. The job holder will also be a thought leader, driving continuous improvement in the Resilience Food Security Activity by incorporating the learning that is achieved through the refine and implement activities towards improvement and impactful implementation.

Work Environment:

The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically up to 50% of the time in the field.

Duties And Responsibilities

Major Responsibilities

• Engaging with communities in a sustained, collaborative, and participatory process to identify challenges and facilitate dialogue on group and individual aspirations and potential pathways to reach their aspirations in the context of limitations.

• Generating local solutions and strategies for addressing food and nutrition security issues and mobilizing communities to work jointly to address these issues through building on existing cohesion among community members and fostering cohesion where it is weak and ensuring psychological safety of poor and marginalized people to participate, contribute, and feel integrated.

• Working closely with the Food Security Technical Lead to ensure that program implementation meets the needs of the targeted communities and aligns with participant aspirations.

• In collaborating with the Food Security Technical Lead and Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation Lead, engage communities in sustained participatory learning throughout the life of the program to guide any necessary adaptation to the program and address challenges articulated by project participants in their journey to realize development aspirations

Qualifications And Experience

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Education: An advanced degree in social sciences is a requirement.

• Technical skills: Academic and/or direct programming experience and expertise in at least three of the following thematic areas is required: financial inclusion/micro-finance, climate smart agriculture, market systems development, value chain development, small enterprise development, emergency livelihoods programming, cash-based programming.

• Experience: Minimum of 7 years’ demonstrated experience in community visioning and social mobilization with particular experience in facilitating transformational leadership and shared visioning with communities. Strong exposure to working in fragile contexts.

Additional work experience required as a minimum qualification for this position.

• Strong understanding of local cultural practices, social networks, and gender and age dynamics strongly preferred;

• Knowledge of agricultural, livelihood, and/or food security programming is preferred;

• Experience with international donor projects required, experience with USAID and Food for Peace preferred;

• Strong oral and written English skills required, knowledge of local languages (Ndebele, Tonga, Nambya) preferred.

• Track record of success in grant fundraising, including donor relations and proposal writing.

Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

Knowledge of Project Cycle Management (PCM).

Comprehensive report writing skills for both internal and external usage