Junior EU Aid Volunteer - Program Support Officer in Angola

Junior EU Aid Volunteer - Program Support Officer in Angola

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Angola suffers from a legacy of colonialism and decades of civil war that left behind a shattered country with a destroyed infrastructure. The situation has significantly improved since 2002, when the main opposition parties agreed to a ceasefire. Since then, Angola has intensively exploited its rich natural resources and has profited from oil revenues, causing it to become one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. In contrast to the income from mineral resources, the poverty of the majority of population is striking and devastating. PIN has established its operations in the Bié province in 2006 in, one of the regions most affected by war and poverty, and has been expanding its activities to Huíla, Huambo and Lunda Norte provinces in the past years.

PIN focus on health and hygiene promotion and education, as well as improving access to drinking water and sanitation in both, development and humanitarian settings. Its unique partnership with UNITEL, the biggest telecom company in Angola, is nurturing mHealth program, aiming more than 30 000 women in harder to reach settings on their child welfare, health care and both prenatal and antenatal care through the mobile technology.

Since 2013, PIN have supported local women's groups and NGOs in the fight against poverty and domestic violence, working closely with Angolan local government administrations and referral institutions to underpin better signs of domestic violence and provide relevant care and support.

Since 2012, PIN have expanded its activities and have started to combat child malnutrition. Due to the extremely dry season, poor eating and hygiene habits, and a lack of health services, child malnutrition in Bié reached 15-20%.

Agriculture is the source of livelihood for 85% of Angolans, but, as a result of the war, people’s knowledge and skills vanished. Small farmers grow only few varieties of crops and hunt in the woods in order to get meat. The market is undeveloped due to the poverty and non-existent infrastructure. Therefore, PIN aims to ameliorate the situation through its agriculture and livelihood-oriented program.

Least but not last, PIN has been supporting Congolese refugees in the Northern Angola mainly in accessing safe water and sanitation facilities and working together within UN coordinated relief response to help victims of ethnical violence in DRC Kasai region.

People in Need is a non-governmental organization founded on the ideals of humanism, freedom, equality and solidarity and does not favour any religious views.

 

Operational and security context:

Angola is assessed as medium-high risk country, mainly due to poor condition of infrastructure and potential of instability due to ongoing humanitarian crisis in DRC, influencing all the neighbouring countries. In the context of PIN operations, risks are only limited to the dangers on roads while traveling and small pickpocketing.

 

Tasks:

Program management support

  • Strengthening and support of programs implementation & operations: contributing to quality programming under supervision of PIN Head of Programs (HoP), and working closely together with M&E Officer, Program Managers and Project Officers;
  • Support in achieving PIN and donors’ quality standards, keeping track on committed project outputs and helping different program teams in filling any necessary gap occurred;
  • Contributing towards better PIN Angola know-how and knowledge management;
  • Contributing to better prepositioning of the Country Program towards its main donors and partners;
  • Contribute during the proposals development process – support in data collection, support in building up solid and quality proposal designs and help to prepare high-quality end-results under supervision of HoP

Apprenticeship

Tailor-made apprenticeship will be held in Prague in April 2019

 

Required competences: 

Transversal competences

  • Working with others
  • Autonomy
  • Achieves and communicates the immediate results of the action and the progress made in terms of capacity building
  • Self-awareness and resilience
  • Managing one’s own expectations
  • Working effectively and collaboratively in support of building a team-based culture of work
  • Performing all duties appropriately for a multi-cultural environment, treating all persons with dignity and respect
  • Frequent field trips to offices and country’s capital in a short notice

Specific competences

  • Operating safely and securely at all times
  • Understanding the humanitarian context of the EU Aid Volunteers initiative and applying humanitarian principles

Technical competences

  • Theoretical knowledge and proven practical experience with project / program management, including capacity gap assessment and implementing capacity building activities;
  • Judgment on credibility and accuracy of information from diverse sources, ranging from national actors, including governments to PIN staff and projects

 

Eligibility and exception criteria:

The candidate for EU Aid Volunteers must be a citizen of the EU or a third country national who is a long-term resident in an EU Member State and must have a minimum age of 18 years.

PIN believes in equal opportunities for men and women, is inclusive and encourages all the people to apply.

When coming to Angola, you need to be aware of quite a different living and working environment you might have been used to. Especially for PIN and our offices, we are not located at the main country centers, but in smaller provincial towns. You can do some shopping in small mini markets around the corner, but for replenishing even basic groceries, there is need to go to supermarkets that are a bit more distant. Angola is also post-conflict country, with tragic history of almost 30 years of civil war, which ended quite recently in 2002. Though the peace agreement was signed almost two decades ago, prolonged fighting has left many sectors badly damaged and underdeveloped.

As a former Portuguese colony, Angola is Portuguese speaking country, and better to know “few” words or be quick learner. English doesn’t open you so many doors here.

Angola is a country in the tropical climate zone, so expect periods of rainfall and drought. Though it might get “cold” during the wintertime after sunset, you will probably not be able to build a snowman here. Medical facilities in the provincial towns are somehow acceptable, but it is always better to be prepared in advance with set of recommended vaccinations done (with yellow fever mandatory to enter the country). In case of a chronic medical condition or emergency situation, you must ensure that your medication can be bought and/or delivered with you already, as these are scarce in Angola.

Generally, traveling in and around Angola is safe, though might be not that much comfortable because of distances. Luanda is less safe than other parts, so better to avoid exposing yourself during the night or in unknown places.

 

Minimum requirements: 

Essential:

  • Masters level graduate
  • Up to five years of field experience in development sector, PCM coordination in different countries, preferably with non-governmental organizations
  • Good understanding of relevant development issues
  • Excellent spoken and written English
  • Spoken and written Portuguese to a minimum B1 level on the Common European Framework of References for Languages

 

Desirable:

  • Experience in the design, development, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of projects/programs
  • Short, medium- and long-term planning capacity as priorities change;
  • Excellent planning and reports/analysis/different programmatic documents/papers writing skills;
  • Proven analytical and strategic skills;
  • Proven record of mobilizing resources;
  • Ability to “think out of the box” and identify creative solutions;
  • Ability to take initiatives and make decisions with limited support in complex environments.

Demonstrated ability in the following core competencies

  • Developing and maintaining collaborative relationships;
  • Managing One-self in a pressured and changing environment;
  • Achieving Results

Learning opportunities: 

A structured learning and development plan will be developed for each EU Aid Volunteer. This will include: self-assessment, structured learning and development plan reviews, on-line learning, peer-to-peer support, a two-week EU-run training, followed by PIN induction/apprenticeship. EU Aid Volunteers will also have an assigned Mentor for the entirety of their volunteer placement with PIN.

This is combined with line management in country from an experienced humanitarian professional. Within PIN Angola Country Team, HoP will act as direct supervisor and line manager. Further support will be given by M&E Officer and in collaboration with different programs.

 

Working and living conditions:

Contract:

EU Aid Volunteer Agreement

Volunteer Allowance:

In line with EU Aid Volunteer subsistence allowances:

Whilst in Angola €905.90 per month

Whilst in the Czech Republic €401.64 per month

Accommodation

Accommodation when deployed in Angola will be provided by PIN.

At the end of volunteer placement an allowance of €100/per each month deployed will be provided as a resettlement allowance.

Travel

A return flight will be provided to Angola from the EU Aid Volunteers home country or from the Czech Republic upon apprenticeship completion.

The cost of pre-departure preparations; insurance, medical clearance and vaccinations will be provided.

Line Management and Mentoring

Line Manager whilst deployed – Head of Programs - Angola

Mentor – Mentor based in Prague assigned for the entirety of the volunteer placement with PIN.

 

Shortlisting and Interviews:

Shortlisting and interviews will be conducted between January 5, 2019 and February 8, 2019

 

Interview Process:

Pre-selected candidates will be contacted and requested to record a video-questionnaire. If successful, two rounds of interviews will be carried out (by Sending and Hosting organisations).

Expected date decision on outcome15/02/2019

 

How to Apply:

Please send us your CV in EuroPass format and Self assessment form till 15th January, 2019 by clicking on following link. The EuroPass CV template, as well as the Self-assessment form, can be found here.