Position Title: Project Coordinator (PC)
Grade: C1
Number of Vacancies: 1
Person Assigned: To be selected
Project: Gender Responsive School and Community Safety Initiatives
Education and Experience: Master's Degree in Environmental Science/ Studies/ Civil Engineering, DRR/M, climate change, Development Studies, Rural Development, or Sociology with at least three years of experience in a relevant field.
Duty Station: Hands Nepal, Sindhuli at the project office at Kamlamai, Sindhuli with frequent travel to Marin RM and Dudhauli Municipality
Contract type: Annual with the possibility of extension as per fund
Working Area: Project schools and Municipalities of Sindhuli district i.e. Dudhauli and Marin
Responsible to: Directly to the Chairperson of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli, and PC-ResiliencePlan International Nepal, ERO for the project implementation and, reporting.

Background:

Human & National Development Society Nepal (HANDS Nepal) is a non-profitable, non-political, and non-religious NGO based in Sindhuli. HANDS Nepal, Sindhuli is working as an implementing partner of Plan International Nepal in Sindhuli since 2012. Gender Responsive School and Community Safety Initiatives is a regional project of Plan International Nepal that is implementing in Nepal and Bangladesh with the support of Plan International in the Asia Pacific (APAC) Regional Office and Japan National Office. In Nepal, this project is implemented in partnership with HANDS Nepal in 8 public schools and 24 communities of these school catchments of Dudhuali municipality and Marin RM of Sindhuli district, starting from July 2021 for three years. The district has both hills and terai (flat land) which are prone to multiple hazards, the most frequent are landslides, floods, fire, and lightning. Basic facilities in schools are neither sufficient nor inclusive. Poor WASH facilities and the unavailability of menstrual hygiene management corner in most school has exacerbated poor menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. The culture of exclusion combined with the shortage of appropriate WASH menstrual hygiene management (MHM) facilities in targeted schools contributes to high rates of school absenteeism leading to poor education outcomes. Even though the government has plans to roll out CSSF and School Improvement Plan (SIP) in targeted locations, it has not been fully implemented. Similarly, local government has limited technical as well as financial resources for disaster risk reduction. In such scenarios of the district, this project aims to contribute to achieving a gender transformative, safer education and learning environment both at school and community levels that respond to and prepares for multi-hazards risks. To achieve its desired goal, the project will work with girls, boys, male and female community members, Parent Teacher Association (PTA), School Management Committees (SMCs), local government, and media. Through this project, students especially girls are trained and promoted as champions of school safety to influence the government to have greater buy-in on safer and gender-responsive infrastructure and environment in schools. During the 3 (three) years of implementation, the project aims to achieve a gender-transformative, safer education and learning environment both at school and community levels that respond to and prepare for multi-hazards risks. The project expects to achieve three outcomes;

• Strengthened safer and gender-responsive school environment aligning with
• Comprehensive School Safety Framework
• Enhanced community DRM capacities that are gender-responsive, inclusive and integrated with school preparedness initiatives
• Promotion of gender-responsive safe school initiatives at local, provincial, national, and regional levels.

By the end of the project, about 6,980 people including 2,240 students of 8 schools and the catchment areas of 24 communities in the two municipalities will be supported. This project will promote meaningful participation of girls and boys in schools and their contribution towards the planning and decision-making processes of community disaster risk reduction and that will ensure inclusive actions towards leading to lasting changes for them and their communities. The position has to provide overall responsibility of the project lead including technical expertise and project management.

Major responsibilities: The PC will be fully responsible for project planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting including coordination with concerned district-level and local government offices and stakeholders of the project in the supervision of the chairperson and close coordination with PC-Resilience of Plan International Nepal, Eastern Regional Office, Janakpur as authorized by Plan International. Responsible for the project leading at the community, local government, and district level, coordinating and relationship strengthening with government entities, communities, ward, local levels, district, and DRR relevant stakeholders. S/he shall also be responsible for mainstreaming DRM into the development plan and applying computer applications (GIS; mobile mapping, MS Office applications, etc.)

Specific Duties

• Lead as disaster and school safety technical expert of the project entitled ‘Gender Responsive School and Community Safety Initiatives
• Planning and implementation of project activities on overall guidance of Chairperson of HANDS Nepal, Sindhuli, and PC- Resilience of Plan International Nepal as appropriate.
• Closely coordinate with Plan International Nepal, ERO, Janakpur and other development partners, government agencies, INGOs, and NGOs working districts for the effective implementation of the project.
• Organize different meetings, training, workshops, and assessments in project schools and municipalities for gender-responsive school and community safety Initiatives.
• Assess training needs and develop training solely or by using a consultant on gender-responsive safe schools and community
• Conceptualize and contextualize IEC materials on gender-responsive safe schools in consultation with PC-Resilience of Plan International Nepal and Chairperson of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli
• Visit schools, child clubs, communities, and municipalities and provide support to implement safe schools and community initiatives of the projects as necessary.
• Supervision and mobilization of project staff for the program and administer leave, duty visits, and travel claims of the field staff and evaluate their work performance ensuring staff morale is high for the program.
• Orient and support to organize mock drills in schools and communities on a regular basis.
• With the support of construction specialists of Plan International Nepal, lead and mobilize gender and disability-friendly construction activities such as mitigation measures, safe and resilient school buildings, and school infrastructures.
• Lead for formation, strengthening, and operationalizing of community-based disaster management committee (CDMC), Local Disaster Management Committee (LDMC) at the ward and municipal level.
• Lead for conduction of the Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment of schools using digital tools (Mobile based application and web portal) developed by the project after approval from the local government.
• Develop training modules, schedule and deliver training for field staff, local government officials, and concerned stakeholders and meet all the necessary components of the projects for the smooth project implementation.
• With the support of the MERL team of Plan International Nepal, collect and analyze the field data of each project activity by using the Kobo tool and Tarowork for situation analysis.
• Collect and analyze the project data, maintain these data, and prepare quality reports in provided template.
• Ensure reporting in the PMERL system of Plan International Nepal as per requirement.
• Evaluate the progress of a project against the project document and achievement indicators.
• Draft ToR of consultancy services as required for the project and finalize it in consultation with the Chairperson of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli, and PC- Resilience of Plan International, ERO.
• With close coordination with the Chairperson of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli, hire a consultant/consulting firm to perform project activities as per project needs.
• Prepare and send draft project progress reports on a monthly and quarterly basis to Chairperson at Hands Nepal for final review prior to submission to Plan International Nepal.
• Coordinate schools, local government, like-minded organizations, and security agencies relevant to project interventions.
• Work with girls, boys, youths, teachers, parents, SMC, staffs, and elected representatives of local governments
• Plan and organize influencing events for gender-responsive school and community safety.
• As per cash flow, ensure timely submission of program advance from Plan International Nepal and ensure financial report on time with support from the finance officer.
• Ensure compliance with the Procurement Guidelines of Hands Nepal and Plan International Nepal whenever purchases will be made.
• Financial management of assigned projects as authorized by Hands Nepal's management to ensure timely disbursement of payment to staff and delivery of inputs for the project activities.
• Authorize travel claims of project staff for official duty visits and as per the provision made in the project budget.
• Authorize payment vouchers and purchase orders as stipulated in the staff duty matrix table of the proposal.
• Participation in the meeting with development agencies in the area, on behalf of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli as necessary.
• Fully brief the progress of project activities to Plan International Nepal, ERO, and Janakpur staff on visit to project areas and also attend meeting with Plan International Nepal, ERO as necessary and other visitors visiting the project and also facilitate the donor visits.
• Attend staff meetings at the Hands Nepal, Sindhuli on a regular basis and share/discuss the program with Project Team and board members as relevant for the technical expertise to get their professional inputs to the project.
• Keep Hands Nepal well informed on matters that need institutional awareness for any possible action.
• Ensure gender transformative approach, safeguarding policies, anti-terrorism and anticorruption, ICT, and other relevant policies of Plan International Nepal within the project team.
• Give special attention to social, children, Dalits, and women issues for implementing project activities under the Plan-Hands partnership.
• Capture evidence (such as media coverage, visibility materials, and success/change stories) of good practices regularly and as required
• Organize dissemination of lessons learned from workshops and best practices from major project interventions.
• Develop a good relationship with the local elected representatives, government authorities, communities, ward (WDMC), local (LDMC), and district levels authorities, and other relevant DRR stakeholders
• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by Chairperson.

Accountability

• Make sure that field activities are undertaken timely as stated in the project document.
• Make sure that the working morale of field staff is well maintained.
• Make sure that the project activities are not suffered due to shortages of resource materials and lack of technical monitoring.
• Make sure that project progress reporting is on time.
• Make sure that proper coordination is maintained with PC-Resilience of Plan International Nepal, ERO, and project stakeholders including the local community.
• Prepare and submit weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, and final reports of the project and submission in a timely manner as mentioned in the project document including proper data required by the Plan International.

Authority

• Sign bank-cheque as one of the signatories of the project bank account
• Authorize day-to-day payments for the project.
• Make necessary official correspondences with funding agencies, banks and other project stakeholders in the project districts on behalf of Hands Nepal, Sindhuli
• Project resource mobilization for the project outcomes as authorized by the organization.
• Evaluate the work performance of the project staff.
• Take accountability for the project for its results delivery.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

Education:
Master Degree in Environmental Science/Studies/Civil Engineering, DRR/M, climate change, Development Studies, Rural Development or Sociology with at least five years’ experience in a relevant field.

The project coordinator must have excellent understanding of the CCA, DRR, and safe school components, and proven strong coordination skill with local government, partner, and donor agencies. Strong knowledge on Disaster Preparedness and Response Plans (DPRP), SIP, and other legal documents on Disaster Risk Management at the municipal level with their execution and mainstreaming into government system. Strong knowledge of local government rules, regulations, guidelines on disaster risk management of government of Nepal following federal government DM Act, Policy, and Strategy. Sound knowledge of household-level data collection focusing on hazards, vulnerability, exposure, and vulnerability assessment, and knowledge of mainstreaming DRM into development plans.

Experience: Master's Degree in Environmental Science/Studies/Civil Engineering, DRR/M, climate change, Development Studies, Rural Development, or Sociology with at least three years of experience in a relevant field. Experience in using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and remote sensing Extensive experience and expertise in DRR models and methods of training, facilitation and capacity building, project management, and organizational development for staff and communities. Strong report writing skills.

Competencies: Clear understanding of the CCA/DRR and comprehensive safe school framework, gender transformative approach, disaster resilient construction, the education system of Nepal, data management, a good understanding of project monitoring, evaluation, research and learning, a right-based approach, and result-based project cycle management.

Skills:

• Strategic: Analytical, Critical thinking, negotiating skills, Innovative, problem solving, and ability to build effective relations for influencing and teamwork
• Language: Ability to write clearly and concisely in English and Nepali
• Communication: Sound communication skills, managing work relationships (internal/external), coordination, and networking.
• Proven IT skills: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, open access M&E tools, and skill in computer applications (GIS; mobile mapping, MS office applications, etc.)
• Prefer to Two-wheeler driving license holder.
• We strongly encourage to apply by female candidates, and candidates from minority groups, excluded castes and ethnicity, and persons with disabilities, and give priority during the selection process.