About Catholic Relief Services: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) supporting relief and development work in over 100 countries around the world. CRS carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. CRS’ Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations, serving people on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs.
CRS has worked in Uganda since 1965, initially providing emergency assistance to Sudanese refugees living in the north. Over the years, CRS has expanded its programming to also address development needs in western, central, and eastern Uganda. CRS’ projects in Uganda currently include agriculture, health, microfinance, peacebuilding, and youth. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including the Catholic Church, other faith-based organizations and community entities for maximum impact and sustainability.
Background: CRS recognizes that Homes and Communities are the foundations of family life. But, when disaster strikes, lives are shattered in the blink of an eye. The loss of a home has a grave impact on a family’s well-being, their identity, their security, and safety. CRS recognizes that safe homes are the first step for families to rebuild their lives and restore their dignity. Using shelter as an entry point, CRS’ Homes and Communities (H&C) program aims to demonstrate how empowering communities through management of a local community center, promotion of social cohesion and livelihood skills-building, including training on climate-smart agriculture techniques, can lead to a more holistic, community-centered approach that will increase the resilience of extremely vulnerable host and refugee communities. To strengthen the sustainability of this approach, a Senior Project officer (SPO) – Entrepreneurship is required to support the Community Center Management Association (CCMA) and business skills project participants to manage and grow their income generating activities efficiently and successfully.
Job Summary: The SPO – Entrepreneurship is responsible for the process of managing the high-quality implementation of business skills component focused on enhancing entrepreneurial skills of the Community Center Management Association (CCMA) and business skills participants. S/He will also be responsible for the mentorship and follow-up of business skills facilitators in the community and at vocational institutes, documenting learning from these activities, advocacy, and technical representation on relevant fora. S/He will model CRS’s core values and particularly CRS’s commitment to localization and empowering the community towards achieving self-reliance.
Job Roles and Responsibilities: Under the supervision and guidance of the Project Manager for Community Engagement, s/he will be responsible for: Provide technical coaching to the CCMA for the effective and sustainable management of the Salam Multi-Purpose Community Center (SMCC)
• Regularly assess technical skills and knowledge of the CCMA in governance, leadership, financial management and strategic planning
• Develop and implement capacity building plans for the CCMA based on capacity gaps identified
• Ensure the daily management of income of the SMCC’s income is well organized in a systematic manner and the record keeping is accurate
• Conduct regular analysis of the SMCC’s business health of the SMCC and provide technical guidance to the CCMA accordingly, including developing improvement plans
• Provide technical guidance and continuous mentorship to the CCMA to:
• Review, refine, and adaption of their business model ensuring efficient, secure, and transparent management of income generated
• Develop a long-term strategic plan that includes components on how they plan to fundraise and reinvest to meet the financial targets of the strategic plan Lead the implementation of the business skills component
• Conduct quick assessment of viable business in the local economy, in which will guide participants in innovative decision-making towards economic recovery, building resilience, and improvement of business operations and activities
• Facilitate the process of selection of project’s participants based on set criteria
• Facilitate business skills trainings using CRS’ curriculum
• Provide mentorship and technical support to entrepreneurs with the support of partner staff through regular follow-up visits to the entrepreneurs to see if they are applying the practices.
• Provide mentorship and technical support to community-based business skills facilitators as needed through regular check-ins • Supervise, guide, and coach the partner staff enterprise development officers supporting the business and entrepreneurship components
• Develop workplans with regular reviews to track progress of implementation
• Periodically review and seek feedback on the business skills curriculum and ascertain the relevance within the refugee context Monitoring, evaluation, learning and reporting
• Identify, document, and share learning, challenges, successes, opportunities and recommendations monthly with your supervisor and Program Manager
• Track progress of the business skills trainees and grantees and their business performance
• Facilitate data collection and manage the information flow to your supervisor and Program Manager
• Review tools for data collection related to research on the community center and business skills
• Support the preparation of business skill learners’ enterprises own monitoring plans.
• Consolidate and compile monthly, quarterly, and annual reports, inclusive of success stories and lessons learnt.
• Support the implementation and linkages with other Homes and Communities activities to enhance synergies
• Facilitate and link entrepreneurs to relevant and beneficial trainings on economic development and life skills by CRS or other actors that enable entrepreneurs and their business to grow
• Make sure there is balanced inclusivity and gender representation amongst beneficiaries, and women, youth and persons with disability.
• Coordinate with the Livelihoods team for all decisions related to business skills participants, entrepreneurship activities, SILC and carry out other duties as may be assigned.
• Participate in the settlement working group activities and coordination
• Any other tasks as assigned
Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:
Education and Experience:
• Masters’ degree or first degree in business administration, Agri-business, finance related similar field or undergraduate degree with a combination of multiple years of experience in the same field is required.
• At least 5 years hands-on professional experience in entrepreneurship development for SMEs
• Strong understanding of business and marketing systems within the refugee context in Uganda
• Demonstrated skills in training and capacity building through technical assistance and mentoring
• Good knowledge and experience of working with local partners.
• Good knowledge and experience in networking, building relationships and establishing collaboration with different partners, agencies local and international networks.
• Fluent in written and spoken English language, with demonstratable experience in report writing
• Understanding of safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) principles and good practices
Personal Skills:
• Strong inter-personal communication skills, sound judgment and decision-making skills, and ability to work cross-culturally with multiple stakeholders successfully.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to make sound judgment and decisions and offer innovative solutions • Strong relations management abilities: Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally and strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Good presentation and facilitation skills
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented Desirable Attributes:
• A capacity and desire to pass on skills and information, a confident communicator and willing to work in a collaborative and respectful way with target communities.
• Flexibility and ability to work under pressure and meeting deadlines in changing situations
• Knowledge and understanding of good practices in protection mainstreaming
• Knowledge of the local languages spoken by South Sudanese and host communities living in or near Bidibidi refugee settlement.
Travel Required: The position will be based in Yumbe with occasional travel to Kampala for training and workshops as needed.
Key Working Relationships:
Supervisory: None Internal: CRS and Caritas H&C program staff, Head of Office – Yumbe, Emergency MEAL staff, Sr. Program Manager for Emergencies, Emergency operational support team External: Community Center Management Association, Caritas Arua staff, OPM, UNHCR, Local Government, Refugee community leadership, implementing local and international NGO staff.
Agency-Wide Competencies (for all CRS staff) These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship
Emergency Competencies Each staff member working in emergencies is expected to use the following competencies to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
• Communicates strategically under pressure
• Manages stress and complexity
• Actively promotes safety and security
• Manages and implements high-quality emergency programs Influence Competencies (for all Homes and Communities Staff)
• Effectively communicates the agency’s priorities and leverages local relationships to bring stakeholders perspective to decision-makers, based on job-specific responsibilities
• Understand, recognize and facilitate opportunities for influence at the project/program level
• Strategically represents the technical sector for influence
• Transmits feedback and local perspectives to project manager to reflect/adjust the Homes and Communities strategy and related influence hypothesis
DISCLAIMER CLAUSE: This job description is not an exhaustive list of skills, effort, duties and responsibilities associated with the position. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding related topics.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer
How to apply
NOTE: To apply, please follow these instructions exactly otherwise your application will NOT be considered:
• Email a cover letter and CV only to ug_recruitment@crs.org by September 8th, 2022 at 5:00pm.
• Large files and/or scans of documents will lead to rejection of your application, in the subject line of the email, copy and paste – SENIORPROJECTOFFICERENTREPRENEURSHIP only
• All applications that do not contain this exact subject line will be rejected and not read ONLY SELECTED CANDIDATES THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE NOTIFIED. EOE/M/F/D/V