Citizen Engagement Officer Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI)

SCOPE OF WORK
USAID LOCAL IMPACT GOVERNANCE ACTIVITY
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

1. Project Description

The five-year (2020-2025) USAID Local Impact Governance Activity (Local Impact) will help Zambia build up a sub-national system of governance for devolved service delivery more responsive to citizen needs. The program will engage national and sub-national authorities to expand the capabilities of district-level governance bodies to deliver sustainable development outcomes, increase effective citizen and private-sector involvement in development planning and monitoring, and improve public financial management
and domestic revenue generation.

The activity will work toward three objectives:

• Objective 1: Citizens improve their collective skills to effectively assess service-delivery needs and performance and constructively engage with government.
• Objective 2: The sub-national governance system becomes more responsive to citizen needs, generates, and accountably expends revenue, and improves service-delivery outcomes.
• Objective 3: The program generates learning and facilitates problem solving that supports the development of an effective, financially viable sub-national governance system for devolved services, capable of being scaled up throughout Zambia.

2. Purpose

The Citizen Engagement Officer is a key member of the provincial technical team. Through the development and implementation of evidence-based and context-driven interventions, the Citizen Engagement Officer will support partner districts implement and strengthen citizen engagement mechanisms and anchor citizen and private sector inputs in government planning, budgeting, and performance monitoring of public service delivery. He / She will work with the districts to strengthen the capacity of citizens in social accountability and facilitate interventions that ensure accountable mechanisms are in place so that local resources are used, transparently, equitably and fairly and translated into improved services.

3. Principal Duties and Responsibilities

General duties

• Work closely and coordinate with a four-person team (three technical staff and one driver) based in Muchinga Province
• Follow field office finance and operations requirements (including procurements) in close coordination with Lusaka-based Finance and Operations Team
• Build and manage relationships with province- and district-based Local Impact partners, stakeholders, and coordinate with cooperating partner-funded programs operating at the local level
• Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate citizen engagement activities that involve partner province and district civil service and elected officials. line ministry service providers, traditional leaders, private sector entities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and local citizens (including women and disadvantaged communities)
• Provide logistics for activities, events and assessment exercises in the partner province and districts as needed
• Directly support the Local Impact sub-contractors as needed
  • Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) district mapping activities
  • Geo-Poll district surveys
• Deliver timely, detailed and accurate updates on province and district-based activities that inform trip, activity, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual, and final reports, the annual work plan, and other deliverables
• Work closely with and provide technical support to the Grants Team on: proposal and budget development; the solicitation process; activity implementation; deliverable completion; and monitoring, evaluation and learning for provincial and district level grantees
• Identify and contribute to success stories in partner provinces and districts as required by USAID
• Collect quality data for the project, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP) for quarterly and annual indicators

Civic engagement duties

• Support efforts to build the capacity of citizens, sub district governance structures and CSOs to participate in local decision making, assess service delivery, and hold government counterparts accountable
• Manage awareness and engagement efforts, including strengthening functionality of citizen engagement mechanisms and social accountability for improved citizen-government relations
• Build linkages between communities and organizations working at the grassroots level, and those that are able to influence the actions of local or national leaders and decision-makers within or outside of the government
• Build technical and organizational capacity of CSOs and private sector entities to improve participation in local decision making
• Develop social accountability tools, such as community score cards, citizen report cards, social audits, and public expenditure tracking surveys, at the local level

Other duties

• Provide leave of absence cover for staff as required
• Escalate any issues to his/her supervisor immediately
• Travel to partner districts as required
• Perform any other duties as assigned

4. Place of Performance and Reporting

The Citizenship Engagement Officer will be based in Chinsali, Muchinga Province, Zambia and shall report to the Provincial Manager and will be required to travel to partner districts in the province.

5. Minimum Education Qualifications, Experience and Competencies:

• University degree in any of the following: Public Administration, Economics, Development Studies and Social Work
• 6+ years of relevant experience
• Experience in working on local level civic engagement and advocacy activities on cooperating partner-funded projects (USAID experience preferred).
• Knowledge of decentralization in Zambia, including local level
  • Delivery of essential services
  • Citizen, private-sector, women and disadvantaged community involvement in government decision-making, including development planning and monitoring
• Ability to respond effectively to time sensitive demands & inquiries
• Demonstrated commitment to exceptional customer relations (both internally & externally)
• Excellent organizational skills with a willingness to take initiative and be proactive
• An energetic, forward-thinking and creative individual with high ethical standards and appropriate professional image
• Fluency in English is required