Community Engagement and Livelihoods Officer job at Farm Africa

About Organisation:

Farm Africa is a leading charity that works in partnership with smallholder farmers and small businesses in eastern Africa to improve the quality, quantity and value of their produce, so that they can support their families with more resilient livelihoods. We build the positive case for farming in harmony with nature, so that increasing yields goes hand in hand with restoring ecosystems and biodiversity.

Job Summary:

The Community Engagement and Livelihoods Officer will lead community mobilization, stakeholder engagement, livelihoods strengthening, social safeguards implementation, and community governance activities under the UNHCR Refugee Environmental Protection (REP) Fund Project in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement. The position will ensure meaningful participation of refugees and host communities in restoration, agroforestry, and clean cooking interventions while promoting gender equity, social inclusion, community ownership, and sustainable livelihood opportunities linked to environmental restoration and clean energy adoption.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Community Engagement and Mobilization:

• Lead overall project implementation, planning, budgeting, and reporting.
• Lead community sensitization, awareness raising, and onboarding campaigns for project participants.
• Facilitate participatory community action planning and stakeholder consultations.
• Strengthen engagement between refugees, host communities, local authorities, community leaders, and implementing partners.
• Support implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Participation and Consultation (FPIC) approaches.
• Facilitate adaptive management workshops and community feedback sessions.
• Ensure effective communication of project objectives, benefits, responsibilities, and opportunities to stakeholders

Clean Cooking Community Adoption and Behaviour Change:

• Coordinate community mobilization for clean cooking technology distribution and adoption.
• Lead behaviour change communication (BCC) campaigns and community demonstrations.
• Support training of artisans, vendors, and users on clean cooking technologies.
• Monitor uptake, utilization, user satisfaction, and community feedback regarding clean cooking solutions.
• Collect evidence on environmental, health, and socioeconomic benefits of improved cooking technologies

Livelihoods and Restoration Support:

• Support delivery of livelihoods interventions linked to restoration and environmental conservation.
• Mobilize communities for nursery establishment, agroforestry, reforestation, and natural resource management activities.
• Strengthen community groups to access livelihood and income-generating opportunities created through restoration and clean cooking value chains.
• Facilitate training on sustainable environmental management and climate-resilient livelihoods.
• Identify and support green employment opportunities in tree nursery management, seedling production, tree planting, biomass production, stove assembly, stove distribution, environmental monitoring, and ecosystem restoration
• Support community participation in benefit-sharing mechanisms and co-benefit monitoring
• Monitor survival and maintenance of planted trees and restoration sites.
• Promote community ownership of restoration investments and environmental conservation practices.

Community Governance and Safeguards:

• Support establishment and capacity strengthening of Community Forest Management Committees (CFMCs).
• Conduct organizational capacity assessments (OCAT) and implement committee strengthening plans.
• Facilitate development of community benefit-sharing agreements and governance mechanisms.
• Establish and manage grievance redress mechanisms and community scorecard systems.
• Monitor and document grievances, resolutions, and community feedback.
• Promote accountability, transparency, and inclusive decision-making processes

Social Inclusion, Gender and Protection:

• Support establishment and capacity strengthening of Community Forest
• Support implementation of Social Impact Assessments (SBIA).
• Conduct Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), safeguarding, and gender inclusion trainings.
• Promote participation of women, youth, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable households in project activities.
• Facilitate Gender Action Learning System (GALS) and youth empowerment trainings.
• Ensure all interventions are aligned with safeguarding and protection standards

Financial management:

deliver assigned activities in accordance with financial guidelines and within available budgets

• Support the Project Manager to regularly forecast budgets in line with any changes in implementation plans, and where required, to reflect the changing financial context (e.g., inflation, exchange rates)
• Support the Project Manager to review budget monitoring reports, and provide timely explanations and corrective actions for any significant variances
• Support Project Manager and FAM to monitor financial risks, developing and implementing mitigation actions as needed

Monitoring, Reporting & Learning

• Collect, analyze, and report community engagement, governance, livelihood, and safeguards data.
• Support baseline studies, community assessments, surveys, and learning activities.
• Maintain records of trainings, meetings, grievances, benefit-sharing agreements, and community scorecards.
• Contribute to monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on community engagement and livelihoods activities.
• Document success stories, lessons learned, case studies, and beneficiary feedback.
• Support monitoring of community benefit-sharing mechanisms and social outcomes.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Maintain productive relationships with UNHCR, Office of the Prime Minister, district local governments, community institutions, and consortium partners.
• Represent the project in relevant coordination meetings and community forums.
• Support dissemination of project achievements and learning to stakeholders.

Playing a Play an active role as a member of the Farm Africa Country team

• Contribute to the development and implementation of Farm Africa’s strategy
• Identify and explore opportunities to grow and expand the country project pipeline, both in relation to the current project or related to new project opportunities
• Work with the MELC, CR and the Programme Funding Unit to prepare funding proposals where requested, ensuring that any lessons learned during implementation are documented and built into future project design
• Participate in country-level or pan-Farm Africa programme meetings with other project coordinators, as reasonably requested

These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. Employees will be required to perform other job-related duties as required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in Community Development, Social Sciences, Rural Development, Development Studies, Environmental Management, Natural Resource Management, Sociology, or a related field.
• A postgraduate qualification will be an added advantage.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience implementing community development, refugee livelihoods, natural resource management, restoration, climate resilience, or humanitarian/development projects.
• Demonstrated experience working with refugee and host communities.
• Experience facilitating community structures, producer groups, committees, or community-based organizations.
• Proven experience in gender mainstreaming, safeguarding, social inclusion, and participatory approaches.
• Experience implementing behavior change communication campaigns is desirable.
• Knowledge of environmental restoration, agroforestry, climate adaptation, or clean cooking initiatives is an added advantage.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong community mobilization and facilitation skills.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and relationship management abilities.
• Knowledge of refugee programming and protection principles.
• Strong training, coaching, and capacity-building skills.
• Experience with participatory assessment and community governance approaches.
• Report writing, data collection, and documentation skills.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to work effectively in multicultural and challenging field environments.
• High integrity and commitment to safeguarding, diversity, and inclusion.

Desirable

• Experience of working in Kyangwali Refugee settlement

Our Values

Investing in smallholder farming is the number one way to combat poverty in rural Africa. Farm Africa is a leading NGO specialising in growing agriculture, protecting the environment and developing businesses in rural Africa.

EXPERT: Expertise and insightful evidence-based solutions are at the heart of everything Farm Africa does.

GROUNDED: Our teams and partners work closely with local communities, engaging them in every level of decision-making.

IMPACTFUL: We deliver long lasting change for farmers, their families, and the environments they live in.

BOLD: We model innovative approaches and are not afraid to challenge strategies that are failing.

• Lead overall project implementation, planning, budgeting, and reporting.
• Lead community sensitization, awareness raising, and onboarding campaigns for project participants.
• Facilitate participatory community action planning and stakeholder consultations.
• Strengthen engagement between refugees, host communities, local authorities, community leaders, and implementing partners.
• Support implementation of Free, Prior and Informed Participation and Consultation (FPIC) approaches.
• Facilitate adaptive management workshops and community feedback sessions.
• Ensure effective communication of project objectives, benefits, responsibilities, and opportunities to stakeholders
• Coordinate community mobilization for clean cooking technology distribution and adoption.
• Lead behaviour change communication (BCC) campaigns and community demonstrations.
• Support training of artisans, vendors, and users on clean cooking technologies.
• Monitor uptake, utilization, user satisfaction, and community feedback regarding clean cooking solutions.
• Collect evidence on environmental, health, and socioeconomic benefits of improved cooking technologies
• Support delivery of livelihoods interventions linked to restoration and environmental conservation.
• Mobilize communities for nursery establishment, agroforestry, reforestation, and natural resource management activities.
• Strengthen community groups to access livelihood and income-generating opportunities created through restoration and clean cooking value chains.
• Facilitate training on sustainable environmental management and climate-resilient livelihoods.
• Identify and support green employment opportunities in tree nursery management, seedling production, tree planting, biomass production, stove assembly, stove distribution, environmental monitoring, and ecosystem restoration
• Support community participation in benefit-sharing mechanisms and co-benefit monitoring
• Monitor survival and maintenance of planted trees and restoration sites.
• Promote community ownership of restoration investments and environmental conservation practices.
• Support establishment and capacity strengthening of Community Forest Management Committees (CFMCs).
• Conduct organizational capacity assessments (OCAT) and implement committee strengthening plans.
• Facilitate development of community benefit-sharing agreements and governance mechanisms.
• Establish and manage grievance redress mechanisms and community scorecard systems.
• Monitor and document grievances, resolutions, and community feedback.
• Promote accountability, transparency, and inclusive decision-making processes
• Support establishment and capacity strengthening of Community Forest
• Support implementation of Social Impact Assessments (SBIA).
• Conduct Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), safeguarding, and gender inclusion trainings.
• Promote participation of women, youth, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable households in project activities.
• Facilitate Gender Action Learning System (GALS) and youth empowerment trainings.
• Ensure all interventions are aligned with safeguarding and protection standards
• Deliver assigned activities in accordance with financial guidelines and within available budgets
• Support the Project Manager to regularly forecast budgets in line with any changes in implementation plans, and where required, to reflect the changing financial context (e.g., inflation, exchange rates)
• Support the Project Manager to review budget monitoring reports, and provide timely explanations and corrective actions for any significant variances
• Support Project Manager and FAM to monitor financial risks, developing and implementing mitigation actions as needed
• Collect, analyze, and report community engagement, governance, livelihood, and safeguards data.
• Support baseline studies, community assessments, surveys, and learning activities.
• Maintain records of trainings, meetings, grievances, benefit-sharing agreements, and community scorecards.
• Contribute to monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on community engagement and livelihoods activities.
• Document success stories, lessons learned, case studies, and beneficiary feedback.
• Support monitoring of community benefit-sharing mechanisms and social outcomes.
• Maintain productive relationships with UNHCR, Office of the Prime Minister, district local governments, community institutions, and consortium partners.
• Represent the project in relevant coordination meetings and community forums.
• Support dissemination of project achievements and learning to stakeholders.
• Play an active role as a member of the Farm Africa Country team
• Contribute to the development and implementation of Farm Africa’s strategy
• Identify and explore opportunities to grow and expand the country project pipeline, both in relation to the current project or related to new project opportunities
• Work with the MELC, CR and the Programme Funding Unit to prepare funding proposals where requested, ensuring that any lessons learned during implementation are documented and built into future project design
• Participate in country-level or pan-Farm Africa programme meetings with other project coordinators, as reasonably requested

• Strong community mobilization and facilitation skills.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and relationship management abilities.
• Knowledge of refugee programming and protection principles.
• Strong training, coaching, and capacity-building skills.
• Experience with participatory assessment and community governance approaches.
• Report writing, data collection, and documentation skills.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to work effectively in multicultural and challenging field environments.
• High integrity and commitment to safeguarding, diversity, and inclusion.

• Bachelor’s degree in Community Development, Social Sciences, Rural Development, Development Studies, Environmental Management, Natural Resource Management, Sociology, or a related field.
• A postgraduate qualification will be an added advantage.
• Minimum 5 years of experience implementing community development, refugee livelihoods, natural resource management, restoration, climate resilience, or humanitarian/development projects.
• Demonstrated experience working with refugee and host communities.
• Experience facilitating community structures, producer groups, committees, or community-based organizations.
• Proven experience in gender mainstreaming, safeguarding, social inclusion, and participatory approaches.
• Experience implementing behavior change communication campaigns is desirable.
• Knowledge of environmental restoration, agroforestry, climate adaptation, or clean cooking initiatives is an added advantage.