Vacancy Announcement : Job Title: Institutional Development and Capacity Strengthening Officer

1. About Caritas Africa

Caritas Africa is formally linked to the Catholic Church as one of the 7 Regions of the global Caritas Internationalis Confederation. Africa Region groups together 46 National Caritas organisations in 46 African countries including adjacent islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

It is an International Non-Profit Charity Organisation headquartered in Lomé, Togo; whose function is to promote cooperation and harmonize the work of Caritas members of the Africa Region, in conformity with the priorities determined by the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis (CI).

The purpose of Caritas Africa is to assist the Catholic Church in Africa in carrying out its social-pastoral ministry of spreading charity and justice by assisting the poor and the needy, responding to humanitarian emergencies, promoting community development and resilience and advocating for peace and respect for the human rights according to the Holy Scriptures and the Teachings of the Catholic Church.

2. Position Description

Caritas Africa seeks an Institutional Development and Capacity Strengthening Officer to lead the implementation of the strategic orientation two of its 2024-2030 strategic plan. The overall goal of this orientation is to reinforce the effectiveness and resilience of Caritas Africa Member Organisations. Caritas Africa is therefore desirous to: work closely with Caritas Africa Member organisations to: (1) Promote compliance to Caritas Internationalis Management Standards including safeguarding at the Secretariat and member organisation level (2) Promote women and youth leadership and (3) Take concrete actions towards institutional strengthening and organizational development.

The post holder will: contribute to the development and implementation of Caritas Africa’s improvement plan in accordance to the CIMS assessment, accompany member organisations in the CIMS and Safeguarding processes and conduct routine monitoring and evaluation units. They will actively engage in initiatives to promote women and youth leadership at the Secretariat and member organisation level.

They will report to the Head of Operations/Programmes (to be recruited) and will work closely with the: Chair of the IDCS and Fundraising Committee, the chair of the Safeguarding task force, the Women and Youth Leadership focal points and the CIMS program coordinator of Caritas Internationalis.

3. Key responsibilities

A. Contribution to Overall CA strategy

• Contribute to the implementation of the Caritas Africa’s Organisational Development and Financial resilience strategy to strengthen the organizational and technical capacity of the secretariat and Caritas Africa member organisations.
• Regularly convene meetings of the Institutional Development and Fundraising committee
• Convene meetings of the women and youth leadership forum
• Prepare project narrative reports
• Liaise regularly with other programme officers and finance teams

B. CIMS and Safeguarding compliance at Secretariat and Member organisation level

• • Work with the Caritas Internationalis CIMS program coordinator to accompany member organisations in their initiatives towards compliance to the Caritas Internationalis Management standards, including the 5th Management Standard on Safeguarding (and Fraud prevention);
• Support CI MS assessors to conduct external CIMS assessments
• Based on the results of the internal and external assessments, support Caritas Africa Member Organisations to develop and implement improvement plans for strengthening prevention and response, either through direct support or by mobilizing adequate support (i.e. UN country teams).
• Co-lead on the design of the CIMS & Safeguarding training roll-out plan.
• Lead/support in the delivery of safeguarding regional training against the CI Safeguarding training roll-out plan.
• As requested and appropriate, support Caritas Africa member organisations in conducting investigations of safeguarding violations.
• In coordination with Cartas Internationalis, monitor progress with the process of mainstreaming safeguarding at the level of the Confederation and contribute to the development of internal and external reports on Caritas Internationalis’ overall safeguarding efforts.
• Through coordinated efforts with Caritas Internationalis, contribute to an external network with relevant communities of practice including donors, partners, and sector-specific advocacy groups, actively participating in external forums, and closely tracking trends related to safeguarding.

4. Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline. Master’s degree or advanced certificate in Capacity Development is preferred.
• A minimum of five years of professional experience in designing and implementing technical and organizational capacity building programs.
• Knowledge of Caritas Internationalis Management Standards
• Demonstrated understanding of Safeguarding: policy, prevention, response mechanism and SERA (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning).
• Passionate about promotion of women and youth leadership
• Good knowledge of Ecclesial networks, including Caritas and advocacy actors in Africa;
• Ability to cultivate good relationships of fraternal cooperation with: the local Church structures, the representatives of the sister member organizations of Caritas Internationalis supporting programs of Caritas Africa, the 46 member organizations of Caritas Africa and other partners sharing the vision, mission, work values and principles of Caritas;
• Experience with advocacy team leadership, program design, proposal development, administration and financial oversight, campaigns coordination;
• Proposal development (proposals and reports) writing skills;
• Proficient in security protocols and management of advocacy programs in insecure environments;
• Experience with and enthusiasm for coaching, mentoring and on the job training;
• Proven facilitation, planning and coordination skills;

5. Required Foreign Language

• English/ French language proficiency (spoken and written).
• Ability to communicate in Portuguese is an added bonus

6. Required Travel

• Travel of approximately 50%, Caritas Africa is committed to exploring alternative ways of working to reduce its environmental footprint.

7. Work Environment

• Ability to live and work in disaster affected areas;
• Ability to deploy on short notice (within 48-72 hours) when needed.

8. Disclaimer :

This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

9. Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults :

Caritas Africa recognizes the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect. Caritas Africa and all its staff and volunteers undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Caritas Africa’s committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.

Any candidate offered a job with Caritas Africa will be expected to adhere to the Safeguarding Policy and sign Caritas Africa’s Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

10. Application procedure requirements

• A cover letter (one page) explaining how your experience and skills fit with the person specification;
• A current CV (not more than 2.5 pages);
• Supporting documents or links to documents that demonstrate your experience in institutional development and capacity strengthening.

Email: secaf@caritas-africa.org et recrutement@caritas-africa.org