CARE International in the Caucasus serves disempowered people so they can overcome poverty with dignity. CARE models the principles of transparency, accountability, participation, equity and continuous learning.

Job Title: Partnership and Governance Coordinator

Place of Assignment: Position based in Tbilisi, Georgia with frequent travel to the project target areas of Georgia and Armenia

Band: Local hire

Duration: 7 months

Assignment type: Part-time, 10 working days per month

Starting Date: As soon as possible

Supervisory Responsibility: LG Coordinator in Armenia

Deadline to apply: March 4, 2014

Local Actors Join for Inclusive Economic Development and Governance in the South Caucasus (JOIN) is a three-year project funded by Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) through Austrian Development Agency and implemented by CARE Österreich and CARE International in the Caucasus together with the partner organizations - Civil Development Agency (CiDA) in Georgia and Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) in Armenia. The project started on November 1, 2011 and will end on October 31, 2014.

The project aims to achieve pro-poor socioeconomic development by engaging local government, civil society organizations and private sector in development planning, improving cooperation and exchange of market relevant information among them. Moreover, the project focuses on offering information relevant to the development of the selected value chains through the establishment of business development and information centres (BDICs).

JOIN aims to revive local economies which will generate employment and income opportunities. The project provides support to stakeholders in identifying viable sectors, analyzing poverty context, the specific market systems and the systemic constraints and designing strategies for pro-poor market development. These are implemented through the coordinated action of different players in the local market systems. The Partnership and Governance Coordinator will support achievement of mentioned goals and work under the direct supervision of the Project Coordinator, JOIN.

Job summary:

Under the direct supervision of JOIN Project Coordinator, a part-time Partnership and Governance Coordinator will take the lead in representing the JOIN project to local and national stakeholders in the project target regions and contribute to establishing links between them.

Based on in-depth knowledge of LG structures and local development planning processes in Georgia and Armenia, the Partnership and Governance Coordinator will guide the identification of local development needs/changes in the policy environment through constant communication with different actors at local, regional and central levels. He/she will give support in promotion of an enabling environment for thriving agricultural value chains. This will include organizing semi-annual visits of representatives of the regional and central government and facilitating meeting with municipal working groups (MWGs) consisting of Local Government (LG), civil society organizations (CSO) and private sector (PS) actors) and discussing small-business development needs. The LG Coordinator will have a strong capacity in facilitating a range of events with participation of different stakeholders.

Responsibilities and tasks:

Job Responsibility 1: Coordinate cooperation between local and central level to effectively address local development needs for sustainable socio-economic development.

The Partnership and Governance Coordinator will:

** Monitor and collect information on changes in the policy environment, particularly in the areas of agriculture, agro-business and local economic development;

** Maintain a communication with Municipal Working groups (MWGs) to identify local development needs;

** Identify and participate in regional/central level platforms and existing networks, that are focused on addressing local development needs; ensure regular communication and information sharing between MWGs and these platforms & networks and advocate for access of MWG members to these platforms;

** Coordinate multi-stakeholder dialogues between municipal working groups, regional & central authorities, donor communities and non-governmental sector to discuss challenges for local development;

** Advocate the replication of the JOIN participative municipal planning approach to other regions of Armenia and to central authorities;

** Report to on a monthly basis and participate in JOIN team planning meetings in Georgia or Armenia, as planned.

Job Responsibility 2:

** Provide support in implementation of small grant scheme and assist JOIN team in operationalization of the Business Development and Information Centers (BDICs) in Georgia and oversee the similar activities in Armenia

** Provide an administrative support of small grant scheme in Georgia;

** Provide support to partner organization in Georgia and oversee activities of LG coordinator in Armenia in institutional development of Business Development and Information Centers(BDICs) in the project target areas.

Qualifications - Education/training:

Required: University degree in politics, economics, policy development or similar.

Experience:

** At least 5 years of work in local development planning in Georgia;

** Previous experience in collaboration with CSOs, PS, donor community and different tiers of governance in Georgia;

** Desired: Previous work with/ for donor or donor funded organization;

** Experience of implementing/ being engaged in gender-sensitive programming.

Technical skills:

Required:

** Excellent knowledge on the Georgian legal framework on local development planning;

** Excellent facilitation and inter-personal skills.

** Good working knowledge of English, Georgian, Russian.

To apply:

Please submit a resume with a motivation letter (including names and contact information of three references) to the following e-mail address: hr@care.org.ge and please, indicate "Partnership and Governance Coordinator" in the subject line of your application, otherwise your application will not be reviewed. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

CARE International is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

source: jobs.ge