Project Officer, Anbessa Youth Project

About the Role

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Project Officer, Anbessa Youth Project to support the coordination of Anbessa Youth project activities in Ethiopia. This role will be based in Hawassa, Ethiopia and is offered on a 12 months’ fixed term contract, subject to the availability of funding.

Reporting to the Project Manager and Project Coordinator, the Project Officer will be responsible for aiding with the goal of improving and implementing nutrition educational topics in schools especially when it comes to newly developed fortified products.

You will work with the project manager, project coordinator and operations teams to support the coordination of project activities. Also, you will be involved in core project activities and provide a range support services, including preparation of reports and briefs, coordinating resources, maintaining project documentation, and implementing and monitoring project plans, to ensure project outcomes are achieved on time, on budget, to quality standards and within agreed scope, in line with GAINs Project Management Guidelines. In addition, you will undertake various administrative tasks including organising, coordinating, scheduling and attending meetings with team members, stakeholders, clients and suppliers.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Sourcing, collating and compiling data and information to identify emerging issues; tracking and reporting on project progress against established milestones and deliverables
• Contributing to the drafting of project documentation during the design, planning and end-to-end implementation of the project as per the GAIN Project Management Guidelines (PMG) i.e. results framework, work plans etc.
• Assisting in planning, coordination, and implementation of the pilot test with key project stakeholders, working groups for product distribution and coordination
• Conducting regular field monitoring visits for activities/projects conducted by partners. Following up with partners to ensure timely submission of reports and preparing timely monitoring reports with findings and recommendations
• Maintaining strong partnerships with civil society, INGOs, government entities, private sector and other organisations
• Overseeing all administrative aspects of the procurement process including budgeting, procurement supporting with the drafting of agreements and contracts and logistical arrangements within ethical and procurement standards and guidelines
• Working closely with the project accountant, monitoring the receipt of deliverables and payments to partners, as well as ensuring all project related expenses are properly coded to ensure the accuracy of financial reporting
• Processing timely payments to consultants and other service providers, ensuring compliance with GAIN procurement policy

About You

The ideal candidate will have previous experience with business and project administration systems, including financial administration and project management. Candidates with experience in delivering a wide range of project management and support services, within tight deadlines, limited resources, while managing competing priorities and experience working in multi-cultural or international environment is desirable.

In addition, you will possess thorough understanding of nutrition, food safety, school feeding, food fortification and food security and proven ability to execute administrative tasks in a timely manner.

The postholder will have excellent writing skills, with analytical capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports. You will possess excellent communication skills and fluent in written and spoken English, candidates with knowledge of second language within GAIN’s regional offices is desirable. In addition, you should be highly flexible and be able and willing to travel.

A degree or equivalent recognized international accreditation in a project management and/or bachelor’s degree in business management, food science, nutrition, international relations, sustainable development, economics, development studies, peace and conflict studies or related field. You will be computer literate with good Excel, MS Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint skills and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

About our Offer

The starting salary on offer for this role is from USD 10,704 – USD 12,240 per annum (gross salary), depending on experience.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance.

We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Our Working Culture and Environment

We provide a flexible working environment that includes a combination of home and office working opportunities through our global hybrid working policy. This encourages our staff to have a healthy work-life balance and increases staff motivation, enriches employee wellbeing, and improves performance and productivity.

All of our positions are based in one or more of GAIN’s designated offices as stated on our job advertisements. Successful candidates will be based in one of GAIN’s country offices and must have the existing right to live and work within a reasonably commutable distance of the relevant city / cities in which the role is advertised. Please note, that GAIN does not sponsor working visas and relocations.

GAIN reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment for candidates who are considered to ineligible under the above conditions during or after the recruitment process.

Applicants must be currently based and have the existing right to live and work in the Hawassa, Ethiopia region to be eligible to apply for this position.

This advert closes on 19th March 2024. Early applications are encouraged. GAIN reserves the right to close this advert early should we receive suitable candidates ahead of the closing date.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is committed to equality of opportunity and creating an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. We are keen to reflect the diversity of our society at every level within our organisation and therefore welcome applications from talented and committed people from all backgrounds, representing the diverse societies we operate in.