Community Engagement Officer

Who We Are

International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1,200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions, protect half a billion, and make justice unstoppable.

We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve.

The Need

For over 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence, we are seeking three (3) Community Engagement Officers to play a key role supporting the design and delivery of IJM Uganda’s community engagement strategy at field level including engagement with the community, local political leaders, local government leaders, survivor leaders, religious and traditional leaders to inform and mobilise them to end violence against women and girls in Uganda. The Community Engagement Officers will support the maintenance of relationships with local leaders including; religious and cultural leaders/institutions, the local council courts and other actors responsible for changing knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and or practices that perpetrate gender based violence and response to violence against women and girls. The Community Engagement Officers will implement initiatives geared towards building capacities of local councils, religious leaders, cultural leaders and survivor leaders to prevent and respond effectively to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The Community Engagement Officers will participate in developing and implementing the community engagement strategy driven by local leaders and survivors of violence in mobilising communities to combat VAWG and demand better service provision by actors. The Community Engagement Officers with support from the Regional Manager, will oversee the support to survivors of violence to become leaders and speak into policy and programs and reduce vulnerability for themselves and those around them. The Community Engagement Officers will support the recruitment and functionality of the Local Survivor leaders in Uganda, including designing recruitment criteria, roles and responsibilities and maintenance of database of all survivor groups/network members. The Community Engagement Officers will support the development of advocacy campaigns, economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood interventions and survivor leadership model driven by survivors to respond to violence against women and girls.

These positions are based in:

• i) Moroto (2) and report to the Project Coordinator, Karamoja
• ii) Tororo (1) and reports to the Senior Manager Advocacy and Community Engagement

These positions are only available for candidates with the right to work in Uganda.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the formation of, nurture and enhance the impact of the local survivor networks.
• Support the Regional Manager in maintaining key relationships with government and non- government actors.
• Lead the implementation of all community engagement activities with religious and traditional leaders at the field level.
• Support the Regional Manager and Senior Manager Advocacy and Community Engagement in engaging with the local Councils leadership, cultural and religious bodies to develop and implement strategies to address harmful practices that perpetuate violence against women and girls.
• Support the development of strategies tools for engaging communities in changing attitudes, norms and behaviors that violate women and girl’s rights.
• Support the review of the curriculum for training of Local Council Courts and coordinate training for the courts.
• Support the design of a mentorship strategy for local leaders through which they can progressively learn and as they continuously work with their communities to effect change in norms or cultures and practices that perpetrate violence against women and girl’s.
• Lead community engagement activities at the local region including community dialogues, community radio activities, and other awareness raising interventions.
• Form and maintain survivor groups and work with survivor leaders to implement initiatives geared towards their empowerment.
• Participate in planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting and ensuring strict adherence to workplans, budgets, and other program commitments.
• Support the Regional Manager in building and maintaining relationships with religious leaders, traditional and cultural leaders and local councils at regional and district levels.
• Participate in development of referral networks and linkages with stakeholders that will empower survivor networks and local leaders to respond to cases.
• Participate in the strengthening of IJM Uganda’s network with church and other faith-based groups at the national and District level to build a faith-based movement to combat VAWG.
• Coordinate linkages between informal (cultural and religious leaders) and formal (Justice, Law and Order Sector) actors in the justice system to provide efficient and effective services to survivors of violence.
• Ensure coordination and linkages between survivor networks and other local level actors such as the Local Council, Parasocial workers, community paralegals, Village Health Teams, Community Development Officers among others.
• Participate in consultative meetings with survivor and local leaders to build consensus on strategies to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.
• Work with survivor leaders to implement campaigns to end violence against women and girls.
• In collaboration with cultural leaders, develop clear policies on VAWG case management; how the cultural institution will handle the cases of abuse, the roles, and a seamless process for reporting and response within the setting of the various cultural institutions.
• Support the building of a network of cultural leaders from various cultural institutions in the region of operation in Uganda who will disseminate the developed policies within their communities and using traditional structures and platforms.
• Support the Regional Manager and Senior Manager Advocacy and Community Engagement in designing and implementing a model for survivor networks’ economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods.
• Ensure safeguarding procedures are upheld across engagements with the communities.
• Participate in the design and dissemination of the developed local leaders engagement tools, policies on VAWG for dissemination across different audiences.
• Identify and document best practices, stories of significant change on VAWG being implemented by Local Council Courts, religious and cultural leaders as well as survivor networks.
• Support and participate in production of effective communication, story-telling and advocacy materials for local, national and international audiences.
• Support and coordinate media engagements for survivor activities and local leaders across the different regions including participating in designing messages, talking points among others.
• Support in designing and implementing training tools for local council, cultural and religious leaders on how to respond to violence against women and girl’s including best practices on trauma informed care.
• Support the design and disseminate user friendly versions of materials for survivor and local leaders use in conducting community awareness and outreach campaigns.
• Participate in the development of a learning agenda for survivor leaders.
• Establish a resource network of trainers from among trained local and survivor leaders for sustained learning and scale-up.
• Plan for and conduct training of local leaders on their first responder role, referral pathway and trauma informed way of handling the survivors.
• Participate in research related to working with survivor networks and local leaders to deliver justice to women and girls.
• Support in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for the survivor network component to ensure achievement of results.
• Track budget for the community engagement component including analysis and gap identification and ensuring component budget is fully spent.
• Document best practices in community engagement, including learnings which can be scaled up in other locations and IJM Programmes.
• Coordinate experience sharing platforms and exchange visits for different cultural institutions and survivor networks to enable sharing of experiences, best practices and learnings.
• Conduct field support visits to monitor and provide technical assistance to survivor networks, local leaders and other community structures and activities.
• Establish among local leaders the various structures that are willing to support victims of VAWG through receiving and responding to cases.
• Map out and establish a referral network and linkages of actors supporting survivors of Gender Based Violence across IJM locations including the Sauti Helpline and other Justice Law and Order Sector actors for ease of reporting and response to cases of VAWG.
• Coordinate with the casework team, referral networks and linkages between local leaders and National GBV actors including the Sauti Helpline and other Justice Law and Order Sector actors for ease of reporting.
• Equip trained survivor network members and local leaders from the local council and cultural institutions with tools for recording and referring cases of VAWG.
• Maintain up to date statistics on cases received and referred by the survivor networks and the local council, cultural and religious leader structures.
• Participate in casework monitoring and evaluation by periodic review of targets, case management best practices and departmental procedures.
• Maintain up-to-date statistics and information on local leader structures and the survivor network members IJM is working with.
• Ensure timely and proper documentation of community engagement and survivor network related activities and services in IJM data management system.
• Participate and support in planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting with strict adherence to workplans, budgets, and other program commitments.
• Participate in planning and coordination of advocacy, survivor networks and community engagement activities.
• Develop concepts, workplans and budgets for community engagement and conduct necessary procurements for community engagement related activities or events.
• Ensure proper coordination and teamwork with other Advocacy and Community Engagement department activities, staff and partners.
• Liaise with local, regional and global colleagues on community engagement activities as assigned.
• Participate in developing internal knowledge and awareness across IJM working with local leaders to end violence against women and girls.
• Participate in IJM programs of professionalism and Christian spiritual formation.
• Ensure to use staff-care resources and tools provided by the office to take good care of physical, emotional and psychological health.
• Ensure compliance with IJM core commitments and values.
• Ensure compliance of budget implementation as per donor requirements.
• Ensure strict adherence to IJM and grant operational, finance, program and human resources policies.
• Ensure strict compliance with all security guidance and tactical plans in all casework and field work operations.
• Ensure commitment to Safeguarding, Zero tolerance to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment, Child abuse and whistleblowing information.
• Adhere to IJM safeguarding code of conduct towards a safe work environment for all.

Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in social work, community development, community psychology and other humanities will be considered. Additional qualifications in project management are an added advantage.
• A minimum of four (4) years professional experience in conducting community and behavioral change work and particularly working with survivors’ groups, cultural and religious leaders to effect change in their communities and vulnerable groups to demand the change they require.
• Demonstrable experience in engaging with cultural and religious leaders to effect change in communities.
• Demonstrable experience in capacity building and mentorship of community groups.
• Familiarity and experience working with justice service providers within the formal and informal justice systems is desirable.
• Experience in safeguarding and safe programming is an added advantage.
• Demonstrable experience in successful networking, building, and maintaining partnerships.
• Experience working with communities in the Karamoja region.
• Proven experience in successful networking, building and maintaining partnerships.
• Possesses a valid driver’s license with no incidents.
• Fluency in the English language both written and spoken is mandatory. Working knowledge of local languages in Karamoja required.
• Excellent Computer literacy with proficiency in MS Word, Outlook, Power Point and Excel.
• Community mobilization, networking and local advocacy skills.
• Knowledge and skills in management of survivor groups, cultural institutions, religious and other local leaders.
• Ability to study community dynamics and apply accordingly.
• Excellent partner engagement and project management skills.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge and skills in implementing Gender Based Violence programs.

Critical Qualities:

• Eager commitment to IJM's Core Values: Christian, Professional and Bridge-Building;
• Self-starter with strong initiative;
• Disciplined with priorities;
• Strong interpersonal skills and self-awareness;
• Exceptional verbal and written communication;
• Flexible, collaborative and eager to support others;
• Effective team player who fosters collaborative environment; and
• Adept at creative problem solving.

Application Process:

Please submit Resume/CV, Cover Letter, and Statement of Faith* in one PDF document to ugandarecruiting@ijm.org by close of business on Friday 2nd August 2024 with the subject line APPLICATION COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER – LOCATION OF INTEREST (MOROTO/TORORO) . Applicants must have the legal right to work in Uganda. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

*What is a statement of faith?

A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship.

What does IJM have to offer?

• Comprehensive GPA/GL and Medical benefits
• Competitive compensation package
• Retirement benefit options
• Paid leave starting at 21 days.
• Professional development opportunities
• Daily, quarterly, and annual community spiritual formation
• Robust staff care resources.

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidates value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes.

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.