Head of Civil Society & Capacity Development Unit

Swedish Committee for Afghanistan

SCA has been working in Afghanistan since 1982 and is presently managing development programmes linked to Strategic Objectives concerning Health, Education and Community Driven Development. with a total annual budget of roughly USD 40 million. The total number of staff is around 5,700 of whom 15 are non-Afghans. The SCA presence in Afghanistan consists of the Kabul Management Office (KMO), five Regional Management Offices and two Liaison Offices. In Sweden SCA has 20 staff working at the Stockholm Management Office (SMO) and around 3,500 members organized in local chapters all over the country.

In the last 10 years SCA has undertaken a change process moving from a primarily humanitarian service delivery approach towards more of a developmental role, putting increasing emphasis on capacity development, rights-based programming and outcome orientation. The mission of SCA is to empower individuals, communities and local organizations, primarily in rural areas and with particular focus on women, girls, boys and vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, so that they may participate fully in society and influence their own development.

Civil Society & Capacity Development Unit (CCU)

The Civil Society & Capacity Development Unit is primarily a methodological unit, providing methods and tools for organizational  capacity development of civil society organisations, enabling local authorities to create the democratic space for civil society organizations, enhancing systems and procedures for grant disbursement to civil society partner organisations, providing technical assistance and advice to SCA programmes and strengthening the competence of SCA staff members working directly on capacity development of civil society actors and local authorities.  Specifically, it works on the following key result areas:

• Development of methods, tools and approaches for organizational capacity development of civil society organisations and the creation of an enabling environment for CSOs by local authorities
• Quality assurance, harmonisation and learning within SCA in regards to organizational capacity development of civil society organisations and the creation of an enabling environment for CSOs by local authorities
• Quality assurance of systems and procedures for grant disbursement to civil society partner organisations
• Competence development of SCA staff members that work with capacity development

CCU also plays a key role in promoting a Conflict Sensitive Programme Approach within SCA operations.

Scope of Work

The head of Civil Society & Capacity Development Unit heads the CCU. She/he has the overall responsibility for the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the unit’s scope of work and to quality assure SCA’s capacity development support to civil society organisations and local authorities as well as systems and procedures for grant disbursement. The post-holder will develop rights and results oriented strategies, proposals, budgets and reports and design and mainstream policies, methods and tools for grant disbursement and organizational capacity development support to SCA’s civil society partner organisations and local authorities’ ability to create the enabling environment for CSOs. Furthermore she/he will contribute to the development of Afghan civil society networks, represent SCA in international and national coordination fora and liaise with relevant authorities, donors and civil society organisations.
Development of strategies for capacity development of partners and the over-all direction of the unit and the CCU and related CDMU staff is also an important part of the work.

Responsibilities

The specific tasks will include:

• Provide technical assistance and adequate training to programmes and strategic guidance to management in regard to all aspects of support to local civil society organisations and local authorities
• Provide tools and methods for organisational development and community mobilization
• Provide systems and procedures for grant disbursement to civil society partner organisations and monitoring project implementation and results reporting with relevant programmes.
• Work closely with the CCU and CDMU teams to ensure adequate capacity is developed within SCA to support local civil society partners and local authorities
• Work with Programme Units in Kabul Management Office and Project Management Units in Regional Management Offices to mainstream, systematize and document SCA policies, procedures and guidelines for working with civil society partner organisations and local authorities
• Provide over-all technical guidance to SCA programmes and other relevant units on CSO capacity development during planning, monitoring results and reviewing reports related to these results
• Work closely with the PMER on reporting donor information requirements relevant to CSO capacity development
• Contribute to the development of Afghan civil society networks and coordinating bodies and their linkages with international networks
• Elaborate work plans and budget for the CCU and supervise CCU local staff
• Perform other tasks within the field of competency as assigned by the Programme Director

Entry Requirements

Qualifications

• Master’s degree, or equivalent, in relevant professional field, preferably in Political Sciences, Development Studies, Social Sciences, International Relations or Economics

• At least five years of relevant work experience with a civil society profile in management positions within NGO or public sector.

Essential competence

• Understanding and practical experience of capacity development of civil society actors and local authorities
• Practical experience of grant disbursement to third parties
• Knowledge on and practical experience on competence development of staff
• Knowledge on and practical experience from working with rights-based approach to development and results-based management principles, in particular outcome analysis and results analysis
• Communicate ideas effectively through oral presentations and written documentations
• Sound understanding of strategy, policy and method development to strengthen emerging civil society actors
• Demonstrated leadership/management skills including staff and budget responsibilities
• Excellent command of English

Desired competence

• Haveparticipated in HEAT-training or other security training 
• Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashtu
• Previous experience from Afghanistan or a similar environment

Please note: SCA is at the moment reviewing the organizational structure of the Unit, which might affect the recruitment of this positions. Therefore, SCA reserves it right that during the recruitment process adjust and amend the position from A Managerial (Manager) position to a Specialist position in the same Unit.

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­­Application information  

• Contractperiod: 2 years with an initial 6 months probationary period  
• Conditions: Non- familyposting. SCA offers a competitive salary, free housing, insurances and other benefits.  
• Dutiesto begin:  February 2020  
• Last date for application: 29 September 2019
• Applyfrom se (Lediga jobb)
• Downloada 1-page letter explaining why you are interested in and suited for this position and your CV (no more than 2 pages) in English.