JOB OPPORTUNITY – Project Officer Child Participation

Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) is currently looking for a qualified individual to serve as Project Officer on the Participation First, Children’s Voices Matter project. The Project Officer is expected to take lead in the implementation, monitoring and reporting the quality delivery of the project activities in all the targeted schools, communities, districts, and provinces. The Project Officer is expected to start work in August 2024.

JOB TITLE: Project Officer
Participation First, Children’s Voices Matter!
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programmes
LOCATION:  Choma District, Southern Province
POST TYPE: National
SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Programmes Manager

Staff directly reporting to this post: None
Number of Positions: 1

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

The post holder will have contact with children and young people frequently e.g., once a week or more or intensively e.g., five days in one month or more because they work directly on the project, and they are responsible for implementing the day to day running of the project activities including distribution of food items during meetings/trainings.

ZCEA does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. Therefore, all selected candidate will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

1. THE SCOPE OF WORK:

Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) is a human right, non-governmental, not for profit organisation that protects and promotes children’s rights through advocacy and civic education. ZCEA was established in 1993 to promote and protect children’s rights in line with the basic principles and standards contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). ZCEA’s work is further informed by the International Bill of Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights {UDHR}), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and other major international, regional, and national human rights instruments such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).

Zambia Civic Education ZCEA in partnership with Kindernothilfe is implementing a child-led advocacy project called “Participation first, children’s rights matter!”. The main objective of the project is that boys and girls use their knowledge and skills to monitor and advocate for service delivery by state actors and report to UN human rights charter and treaty bodies.

1.1 The Participation First project seeks to address some of the key challenges that hinder children from actively participating in matters that affect them at school and in their communities. These include the social and cultural norms and values perpetrated by sayings such as “children are better seen”. Such sayings make it clear that children’s contributions are neither wanted nor taken seriously because they are considered immature. In addition, the many chores and lack of role models for women and girls exclude them from participatory processes. Further, the limited implementation capacities and qualitatively inadequate structures, platforms, and continuity contribute to the limited capacities of children to participate. In many cases, children are involved partially, symbolically, or decoratively at events or functions. This scenario is not aligned with the quality standards for child participation as the events are organised by adults, which is contrary to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ACRWC. The feasibility study attested to children in Zambia having limited knowledge of their right to participate in issues that affect them and that they have limited capacity to implement them accordingly.

1.2 The Participation First, Children’s Voices Matter project will promote the right of children to participate in decisions affecting their lives. Children are entitled to the freedom to express opinions and to have a say in matters affecting them. Children can be agents of change and can actively contribute to household, community, and society. Children are not simply a vulnerable group but should be empowered to have a voice in decisions which affect them, rather than being the passive objects of choices made on their behalf. Although children’s rights are frequently directly affected by various factors such as those listed above, children themselves are usually dependent on adults to influence family, community, and government decisions.

1.3 The project is being implemented in eight (8) districts (4 urban and 4 rural) in the four provinces of Central, Copperbelt, Lusaka and Southern provinces in the first two and half years. Thereafter, the project will be rolled out to all the 10 provinces targeting 4 districts each reaching a total of 1000 boys and 1000 girls (in and out of school including children with disabilities) aged 10-17 years. Other target groups include government representatives from line ministries and departments and community representatives and volunteers.

1.4 The incumbent will be responsible for the Participation first, children’s voices matter project which is being implemented in Southern Province (Choma and Sinazongwe Districts). The project runs from 1st August 2023 to 30th April 2026. ZCEA in partnership with KNH is seeking for experienced project officer with 3-5 years of practical work experience to engage in and out of school children aged 10 – 17 years, community members, civic, traditional, and religious leaders and enable them to apply standards of child participation. She /he will work with target provincial and district Government line ministries, human rights commission, civil society organisations, community, traditional and religious leaders to apply standards of child participation, establish functional dialogue platforms between children and duty bearers at school/community, district, and provincial level. She/he will build capacities of children, community members, civil society organisations, line ministries and departments to apply standards for child participation. She /he will also build the capacity of children to monitor, advocate and report on their rights to treaty and charter-based bodies. The project Officer will be accountable for all aspects of the project’s management therefore, thorough knowledge, skills, and experience in all aspects of project management functions and children’s rights advocacy strategies are essential. She/he must have technical expertise in Child Rights Reporting, support children monitor and advocate for the full delivery of child rights treaty commitments and recommendations in Zambia.

2. Core requirements:

A bachelor’s degree in social sciences (preferably Law, human rights, international relations, or any related fields.
Knowledge and understanding of the normative content and implementation procedures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
At least 3-5 years of relevant work experience in human rights or a related field.
Working experience with in and out of school children in a non-governmental organization.
Facilitation skills essential.
Excellent spoken and written skills.
Be computer literate with good skills in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, and other research-related software packages.
Organised and capable of engaging government line ministry officials, stakeholders, and communities simultaneously.
Self-motivated and capable of working with minimal supervision.
Should be living in the target district and willing to travel extensively to all parts of the target districts.
Only candidates based in Choma are encouraged to apply while candidates outside Choma can also apply but will meet their own transport and other logistics if deployed.

3. Additional requirements:

A diploma in Law, Paralegal, Legal Assistant or Project Management will be an added advantage.
Should have an interest in children’s rights and reporting to treaty and charter human rights bodies.

4. Key Areas of Accountability:

Establish and provide technical support to the Child Rights Clubs in primary, and secondary schools and community.
Liaise with focal point persons for Child Rights Clubs and School Councils established in the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Community Development and Social Services at community level.
Ability to manage project budgets according to organisational internal controls and donor specifications.
Participate in the development of project budgets to ensure accurate planning of resources.
Ensure proper utilization, care of finances and accountability of all project resources.
Liaise with appropriate stakeholders to achieve the project objectives.
Disseminate information generated by the project and organisation.
Provide technical support to government departments and partner CSOs on child participation and child safeguarding.

4.1 Key deliverables

Support the Programme Manager to design and develop training, information education and communication materials for both children and adult supporters taking into consideration materials for children and adults with special needs such as the hearing impaired.
Design, prepare and provide training for children and Child Rights Clubs and adult supporters at schools and community level.
Assist the Programme Manager to develop accompanying annual and activity-based budgets.
Spearhead training of facilitators in child rights standards, framework, and programming.
Assist the Programme Manager train children in reporting procedures and alternative report writing.
Organize and participate in project meetings, workshops, trainings, and consultations.
Coordinate production of relevant project materials and reports
Facilitate children’s participation in Ward Development Committees (WDCs) and parent teacher committees (PTCs) at community level.
Facilitate children’s dialogue sessions with child participation committees, district development coordinating committees (DDCCs), provincial development coordinating committees and others.
Support mentoring of children participating in national children’s parliaments.
Mobilise children to analyse and validate monitoring reports to feed into the alternative report to ACERWC and UN CRC.
Assist children develop and finalise advocacy action plans at all levels.
Represent ZCEA in district and provincial coordination meetings and conferences.
Perform any other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor and management.

5. Personal Attributes

High energy results oriented.
Ability to set and surpass goals.
Team player with ability to involve and motivate staff and stakeholders.
Well organised and thorough with close attention to detail and follow through.
Strategic, creative, and progressive thinker
Thrives in a fast-paced working environment.
Focused and calm even under a lot of pressure.
Persuasive, analytical and innovative
Adaptive and flexible
Honest, and committed to organizational values such as zero tolerance to child rights violations and corruption.

6. Level of Effort:

The Project Officer will have a 100% percentage level of work on the Participation First, Children’s Voices Matter project. The Project Officer will work closely with community and district officials to coordinate all activities in the targeted schools, communities, and districts. The Project Officer will be based in the Provincial district-Choma and expected to provide equal level of effort in the other targeted districts (Gwembe, Livingstone, and Sinazongwe) within the province.

7. Contract Type:

This is a full-time contract valid for one-year and renewable upon production of quality deliverables and availability of resources.