Program officer

About the Job

About the Defend the Environment

Defend the Environment is a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) established by young and vibrant volunteer professionals to promote and protect the environment, fundamental rights, and freedoms through advocacy, legal monitoring, capacity building, awareness creation, public interest litigation, etc. It has been registered by the Agency for Civil Society Organizations of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and accorded legal personality with registry number 5347 on January 18, 2021, as a local organization in accordance with the Organizations of Civil Societies Proclamations No. 1113/2019.

In line with this, Defend the Environment happened to be a leading CSO in Ethiopia, known for presenting public interest litigation matters to the courts on behalf of different communities in the Ethiopian jurisdiction. So far, it has achieved high results in presenting public interest litigation cases in courts established at the federal and state levels. Moreover, it is an institution that has been acknowledged in terms of coordinating professionals who want to contribute to environmental issues and fundamental human rights through promoting volunteerism. In this sense, it is a great honor to be a part of the service by supporting Defend the Environment, which stands for the benefit of the public.

Job summary-Description

The Program officer oversees program planning, implementation and reporting, and supervises and supports program team and work process to ensure that they run effectively and in accordance with Defend the Environment – program priorities and strategies. The Program Manager works closely with the director and the Finance and Administration Manager on financial and administrative matters necessary for the execution of program activities and operations of the organization.  

Defend the Environment – is looking for a Program officer, who will be responsible for managing and follow-up the day-to-day management of its project transactions and procedures, with a demonstrated in-depth knowledge of program/project policies, procedures, and systems with excellent communication, analytical and organizational skills.

Key Duties & Responsibilities: 

Program management:

  • Preparing technically sound, coherent and well-crafted concept papers and program/project proposals. 
  • Contributing to organizational strategic planning documents and processes 
  • Ensuring the development of high quality work plans.
  • Developing and managing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for the program work 
    Managing  and implementing work processes according to defined plans, and ensuring agreed outputs are delivered in a timely manner
  • Crafting working methods that seek to improve the overall effectiveness of Defend the Environment – program work and organizational efficiency
  • Ensuring the integration of national and international human rights principles  in Defend the Environment’s programs and keeping it abreast of new and emerging developments 
  • Providing a detailed plan and report on  program activities in order to ensure that such activities are in line with the available budgetary resources and annual plan.
  • Ensuring that the program activities and their respective outputs are of high quality, effective and delivered in a timely manner. 
  • Supervising and evaluating the work of program team and interns introducing timely corrections in the event that such program activities and their outputs do not meet the rigorous time and quality standards of Defend the Environment;
  • Ensuring that the required narrative and financial reports are prepared and presented to donor organizations in a timely manner;
  • Conducting awareness, advocacy and training activities and undertake legal work within the mandate of Defend the Environment;
  • Preparing and contributing to Defend the Environment publications, briefing papers, training materials and legal opinions, etc.; 
  • Developing measures that ensure Defend the Environment program outputs and publications are widely disseminated among the public and other key stakeholders.
  • Preparing contents for social medias regularly and controlling the social media management of the organization.

Fundraising and networking:

  • Assisting the director in identifying and fostering productive relationships with prospective donors and partners;
  • Identifying and maintaining strategic partnerships in the sector.
  • Providing necessary information and documentation for fundraising purposes 
  • Identifying and maintaining strategic partnerships in the sector and ensuring that Defend the Environment has a strong relationship with key stakeholders as well as its national and international partners.
  • Representing the organization in national and international fora as may be delegated by the Director.

Administrative tasks:

  • Creates the necessary file management and personnel evaluation systems that will ensure the efficiency of program activities; 
  • Assists the Assisting the Director in staff recruitment process and general oversight ;
  • Work with the Finance and Operations Manager on planning and disbursement of funds;
  • When deemed necessary, to perform other administrative assignments that is needed to ensure the effective implementation of Defend the Environment’s program management activities.

About You

Job Requirements:

Skills and ethical considerations 

  • Proven work experience as a program coordinator, program manager, or similar role
  • Solid knowledge of project and program different donor procedures
  • Advanced MS Excel skills
  • Knowledge of administrative as well as financial regulations
  • Excellent analytical and numerical skills
  • Sharp time management skills
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Strong ethics, with an ability to manage confidential data

Education:

  • 1st or master’s degree in Law, Human Rights, Political Science, International relations, Economics, Environment, Project management and other related fields. 
  • Professional qualification as Monitoring and Evaluation tool is considered a plus
  • Training in project cycle management, Monitoring & Evaluation, advocacy, and donor policies and procedures (formal certification).

Experience:

  • 4 years of experience out of which 2 years in program and project management related experience.
  • Experience working on human Rights donor agreement awards is a plus 
  • Minimum of three years of experience working with non-profit organization of grant compliance management, budgeting and accounting;
  • Knowledge of grants administration, and ability to interpret grants-related governmental documents and accurately respond to them;
  • Prior experience working on program support for non-for-profit making organizations as well as governmental project management offices is desirable.

Other requirements:

  • Strong attention to detail and accuracy in work outputs, including written communication;
  • Fluency in written and spoken English, Amharic. additional  language skill is a plus;
  • Ability to independently track and manage multiple tasks and complete them quickly.

NB

  • Candidates without the requisite experience in non-profit project management or Program management may not be considered. 

Required Skills

  • Project management
  • Time management
  • Analytical skills
  • Microsoft Office Pack: Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook, Powerpoint
  • Communication
  • Attention to detail
  • Budgeting
  • Accounting

How To Apply

We invite qualified candidates to submit an Updated CV, cover letter, and copies of Grade, Degree, Masters Degree and Work experience through email:  info@defendtheenvironment.org and cc 

to andiracha16@gmail.com no later than December 06, 2024. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered and only those candidates that are short listed for interviews will be 

notified/contacted. 

Deadline: December 6th 2024