Accountability Officer at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

About CRS 

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. 

About CRS Nigeria:

CRS has been supporting program activities in Nigeria for over 30 years and has long-standing relationships with Church and non-Church partners and communities throughout the country. The Nigeria country program has a diverse funding base with projects in health, nutrition, food security and agricultural livelihoods, microfinance (SILC), emergency response and peacebuilding. CRS/Nigeria currently has over 210 national and 8 international staff.  With an FY22 annual budget of over USD $100 million, coupled with strong donor interest in supporting CRS’ work in the country, significant growth opportunities exist for the CP.  The CP has been supporting emergency activities in the NE states since 2015 with offices in Damaturu, Maiduguri and Yola.

Job Summary:

The Accountability Officer will be the Nigeria Country Program’s primary support person on Accountability, will build capacity, monitor performance against accountability standards, and, crucially, will, in the first instance be the first point of contact for beneficiary complaints on CRS projects implemented outside the North-East region of Nigeria. As such the Accountability Officer will maintain a role and mechanisms based on the highest integrity which beneficiaries will trust. Your service and community relations skills ensure that the local partners and communities feed into and benefit from CRS projects that consistently applies best practices and continuously works towards improving their impact.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

Ensure all beneficiaries are aware of the key elements of CRS’ accountability policy and procedures and the expectations and standards required of CRS staff and partner staff, and how this should be applied within their roles.  

• Develop Accountability IEC materials in language that can be widely understood (including people with low levels of literacy) by CRS’ program participants relevant program locations
• In coordination with Project Managers, facilitate, or support others to facilitate, awareness sessions and promotion of Accountability in a way that can be widely understood by program participants
• Maintain records of Accountability awareness raising and promotion activities, including numbers of participants, and submit to MEAL Coordinator as required

Maintain and strengthen the Feedback Response Mechanism (FRM) which ensures all beneficiaries can make confidential complaints and be confident in response processes

• In coordination with program staff and partners and in consultation with program participants, design FRM that all beneficiaries can safely access. The FRM could be used to promote accountability to beneficiaries of CRS and partners staff behavior against the CRS’ values as well as HAP standards
• Develop standard talking point and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) align to nature of feedback in collaboration with MEAL Coordinator and Program Managers.
• Monitor complaints received and response (follow up) processes through developing and maintaining a logging or tracking mechanism
• Adapt and improve the CRM based on monitoring of its effectiveness
• Remembering confidentiality, with the Program Managers, analyze patterns and trends in complaints to help CRS improve its programming
• Prepare weekly and Quarterly reports presenting the learnings from the feedback received per project
• Ensure that feedback is routinely recorded, reviewed, and responded timely align with feedback mechanism guidelines.
• Communicate and disseminate complaints handling procedures, policies, and tools as appropriate to beneficiaries, project staff and other stakeholders.
• Work with the respective project accountability focal points to ensure donor and government stakeholder information needs are responded to and tracked in line with project’s donor compliance checklist
• Primarily manage the toll-free hotline by receiving, documenting, and facilitating effective timeline response to all feedback
• Coordinate communication and facilitate information sharing among the project team, implementing partners, and project beneficiaries at the community level to assist local partners in strengthening the community interest, involvement, and support networks.
• Work with Project accountability focal points to ensure adequate involvement of community leaders, community representatives, and local government representatives in the overall implementation and improvement of project activities.

Periodic review of accountability practices and Support Learning and Adaptive Management Practices

• In collaboration with programming and MEAL staff, review and refine accountability practices on a periodic basis and address any gaps or challenges that arise.
• Build capacity of all staff, partners, and project participants on accountability standards
• In coordination with Program Managers, develop training and refresher modules that ensure that all participants have an in-depth understanding of Accountability and are equipped to apply it in their working lives.
• Facilitate training for all required personnel using appropriate language, adult learning methodologies and materials.
• Maintain records of training participation and submit to MEAL Program Coordinator as required.
• Support the MEAL coordinator in tracking project compliance with the CRS MEAL Policies and Procedures, including ensuring FCRM data is used to complement project monitoring data in promoting adaptive management.
• Update periodically the CP results dashboard and support the tracking of CP learning agenda

Required Languages – Fluency in English and Ibibio Language is required. Pidgin, Hausa, and/or Tiv language will be an added advantage   

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities  

• Observation, active listening, and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively with diverse groups
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented

Supervisory Responsibilities:  none

Key Working Relationships:  

Internal: Project Accountability Focal Points, Project MEAL Managers, MEAL Officers, Program Manager

External: Community Members, Partner Staff  

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Psychology, Social sciences or related fields required. Experience may substitute for education
• Minimum of 3 years of work experience in project support. Experience in the field of Accountability and for an NGO would be a plus.
• Additional education may substitute for some experience.
• Experience in participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data preferred.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Experience with data analysis and visualization (using Power Bi) will be an added advantage

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)  

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.  

• Integrity 
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships 
• Develops Talent

What we offer

CRS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, vision, generous retirement savings plan and the opportunity to work in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that is committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.  

Note:  All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside their home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical examination.

CRS talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

EOE/M/F/D/V – CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. (For all US and International positions) 

ABOUT US

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

ABOUT THE TEAM

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or global telecommuter, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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