Economic and Social Participation of Vulnerable Displaced Persons and Local Population in the South Caucasus (EPIC)

 

Job Title: Junior Expert on Social and Community Development (employment contract)

 

Workplace – Mingachevir, Azerbaijan

Duration: 15th August, 2021 – 31th October, 2021; an extension till 31th of December 2022 is envisioned and pending on commission.

 

 

• Background 

 

 

The Economic and social participation of vulnerable displaced and local population in the South Caucasus - EPIC - is a regional South Caucasus programme, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), that has been launched in 2017. 

 

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a service enterprise for development cooperation with international operations and global experience. Owned by the Federal Republic of Germany, the organisation operates as a private-sector enterprise with a development-policy mandate: to make sustainable improvements to the living conditions of people in partner countries world-wide. 

 

EPIC’s social component has started in October 2018 with a focus on the improvement of social participation of displaced in selected host communities, with focus on Azerbaijan and Georgia. In Azerbaijan, the project activities will be implemented in Mingachevir city, Barda and Aghdam districts with the support of the field offices and from the central project staff in Baku and Tbilisi.

 

To reach its aim of improving the economic and social participation of vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDP), refugees and members of the local population in the South Caucasus EPIC project intervenes in the following 5 fields of action:

1. Capacity development of state and non-state actors, in particular of host communities, to promote the economic and social participation of vulnerable internally displaced persons, refugees, refugee-like population, and the local population;
2. Fostering income opportunities of vulnerable internally displaced persons, refugees, refugee-like population, and members of the local population, especially women and young people;
3. Improvement of economic perspectives of vulnerable internally displaced women, refugee women, refugee-like women, and women of the local population, with and without disabilities;

 

• Increasing the opportunities for participation of vulnerable internally displaced persons, refugees, refugee-like population and members of the local population, especially young people and women, and their organizations in their communities;

• Improvement of capacities for dialogue among state and non-state actors and vulnerable internally displaced persons, refugees, refugee-like population and the local community.

 

 

Throughout all project activities, participation and empowerment of women and youth is a priority which is also reflected in the programme’s indicators. This is both applicable to the economic and social empowerment, giving it a cross-cutting character of great relevance across all project’s components. Therefore, activities under the social participation component of the project will be implemented in close cooperation with the implementation of economic activities.

 

The project is looking for a junior expert to support the development, implementation, and monitoring of the activities in Mingachevir City, Azerbaijan. The successful candidate is expected to conduct frequent duty travels to Aghdam and Barda city and to conduct and support activities in these municipalities upon request.

 

 

• Responsibilities:

 

 

The junior expert position will be based in “Avtovaghzal 1” Community Center in Mingachevir. The junior expert will be supporting the project team in:

• identifying and addressing the needs of the regional/local government institutions in Mingachevir, including the executive community and its representatives in the target settlements; representatives of the IDP Committee in Barda, Aghdam, Mingachevir; the target group, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Developing, conducting, and coordinating project activities designed in cooperation with the responsible project advisor, including formulation of activity implementation plans. Activities include, but are not limited to:
• Identification and selection of project beneficiaries.
• Trainings and other capacity development measures for the project beneficiaries, including mobilization activities.
• Management of workshops events, fairs, and similar initiatives for mobilizing target communities.
• Advising and mentoring to the beneficiaries on the development and implementation of social/community initiatives, including support for their community-based organizations.
• Monitoring and reporting on the progress achieved according to indicated formats.
• Involvement and management of interns and volunteers from the communities.
• Managing short-term consultants in implementation.
• Running Mingachevir “Avtovaghzal 1” community center, including:
• Administration.
• Inventory management.
• Assurance of adherence to GIZ guidelines and regulations during implementation.
• Development of a usage concept for the space.
• Holding regular activities with involvement of local beneficiaries.
• Designing and implementing capacity development activities with and for selected beneficiaries.
• Supporting project activities in Barda community centre upon request.
• Participation at workshops and trainings with the GIZ Baku team, including at regional events (requires travel abroad).
• Support project activities across all components in all districts upon request.

 

Required qualifications, competences, and experience:

 

Qualifications:

• A university degree in an area relevant to the project’s objectives, covering the social sciences disciplines related to development studies, development (project) management, migration studies (refugees/IDP), education, sociology, youth and gender studies, conflict management or another relevant field of study.
• advanced (graduate) degree in the relevant fields is an asset.

 

Professional experience:

• At least 2 years in a similar position.
• Experience related to sustainable development or development management. 
• Experience in designing and conducting qualification and skills development activities, community mobilization and development, youth and gender empowerment activities. 
• Working experience with vulnerable population groups, especially with IDP and refugees is considered an asset.

 

Other knowledge, additional competences:

• Work experience in rural districts. 
• Excellent command of Azerbaijani and English; knowledge of German is an asset.
• Willingness to travel regularly within the country, including to rural districts, and occasionally abroad. 
• High working level knowledge of MS Office programs.
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team.
• Strong ability for self-motivation, self-organization, priority-setting. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

 

Qualified candidates are kindly asked to send their CV/Resume and motivation letters by e-mail to: [email protected]

 

Please indicate the name of the position (IDP – Junior Expert Community Mobilization -  Mingachevir) you are applying for in the subject line of the email.

 

Application deadline: 14.07.2021

 

Please be advised that only shortlisted candidates will be invited to the further stages of the recruitment process.