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

In Ethiopia, CRS has a long and rich history of providing emergency relief and development assistance to the people of Ethiopia since 1958. At present, CRS/Ethiopia implements multiple projects through different partner organizations. CRS/Ethiopia has a highly diverse portfolio currently focusing on community-based food and livelihood security through activities in agriculture, health, peacebuilding, WASH, emergency relief, and savings and lending. CRS is active in nearly all regions of Ethiopia: Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), Somali, Benishangul Gumuz, Afar, and Dire Dawa Regions.

CRS strictly adheres to its Policy on Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults among its staff, consultants, volunteers, and affiliates. CRS is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer: women, minorities, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

As part of the CRS family, you will join the more than 5000 strong and vibrant individuals working globally to accomplish the mission of CRS. CRS/Ethiopia invites you, the qualified candidate, to apply for the following position;

Job Summary:

The Project Officer will take a lead role in creating a CLA culture within LRO, one that looks for opportunities to engage with other projects, captures disseminates, and effectively utilizes knowledge gained from experience; supports the generation of data through research and assessments to determine what does and does not work; uses evidence-based program management decision-making, and operates in a highly collaborative and effective manner. This person will coordinate closely with other CRS colleagues and LRO partners to support LRO’s CLA plan, learning agenda and set-up mechanism to facilitate adaptive management by staff at all levels within the Activity. This person will also lead the development and dissemination of audience-specific learning and communication products to the various audience including target Activity participants, Government staff and I/NGOs. The Project Officer will also ensure that learning is incorporated into Activity implementation by organizing opportunities for reflection, learning, and action planning to ensure adaptation and will lead the development of a knowledge management strategy for the Activity

Job Responsibilities:

To ensure LRO strategic objectives and results are fully accomplished on time and meet expected technical quality standards, the CLA and Communications Project Officer must support and engage in:

• The revision of LRO’s current CLA plan and with the support of LRO’s MEAL Manager and the LRO senior management team, lead the implementation of the current and the future revised CLA plans;
•  Participate in the annual planning process including in the preparation of the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) and its respective narrative;
• Track developments in the evolving CLA sector to incorporate promising practices and approaches to advance LRO’s CLA agenda;
• Engage with CRS and partner staff on opportunities for collaboration so that LRO can leverage resources and actions of other development partners internal and external to CRS as well as opportunities within the Activity (cross-sector engagement and integration); 
•  Undertake a regular update of all collaboration related tools such as the Stakeholder Mapping and Tracking Matrices; Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) and Collaboration Strategies/Frameworks;
• Lead the implementation of the LRO learning agenda and the completion of all associated learning activities, in collaboration with the LRO sector, leads and where appropriate, with external research institutions/consultants;
• Conduct solid background literature reviews in support of the revision of LRO’s theory of change and other research activities and review, edit and write of key program reports, case studies and promising practices for the internal and external audience;
• Represent LRO and its MEAL Unit in internal and external learning events;
• Organize LRO’s annual learning event, in collaboration with relevant sector leads, the implementing partner and other collaborators;
• Organize quarterly field visit to project site, write the field reports, disseminate and follow-up on action points;
• Support Technical Working Group (TWGs) meetings to guide discussions are held in a way to generate learning;
• Ensure that key learnings are well documented and disseminated through presentations, discussion panels and that the resulting adaptation or changes resulting from these learnings will be mainstreamed within ongoing implementation;
• Support data utilization for better decision making;
• Plan and execute regular reflection events (such as partner meetings, after-action reviews, learning events, quarterly writing workshops) and inform decision making accordingly;
• Engage with CRS and partner staff to translate program learnings into action through annual work planning and other program redesigning opportunities;
• Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules;
• Provide capacity strengthening to partner staff to appropriately package promising practices, ineffective communication, documentation, and reporting for improved project outcomes, including training, and mentorship of staff;
• Provide support for the preparation of reports as required by LRO, relevant government coordination bodies, the partner, the donor, and other interested parties
• Support the development and implementation of LRO’s communication and knowledge management strategies;
• Develop and implement a broad set of tested knowledge management tools, models and approaches in line with knowledge management needs of LRO;
• Optimize the internal Dropbox documentation filing, sharing and management and utilize other internal and external platforms for sharing knowledge-based products.

• MA/MSc degree or BA/BSc degree in international development or social science with 2 years' relevant experience for MA/MSc or 4 years relevant experience for BA/BSc degree respectively;
• Experience in project support, ideally in the field of institutional learning, research, analysis, knowledge management and communication for an NGO;
• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning and community engagement;
• Experience engaging with and writing for a range of audiences, including governments and policymakers, multilateral agencies, and the public (national and international) preferred;
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data;
• Preferably, familiarity with USAID’s CLA methodology;
• Strong analytical and writing skills and ability to prepare clear, substantive reports and briefing papers in English, in a timely manner;
• An interest in and ability to build capacity in implementing teams, local partners and community bodies;
• Strong facilitation skills;
• Proficiency in computer applications including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Excel, at least in one statistical software (ideally SPSS) and preferably in ICT4D systems such as CommCare, CSPro, PowerBi.