Programme Officer - Fair Urban Transition (FUT) Project

Job Description

Title: Programme Officer - Fair Urban Transition (FUT) Project

Company Name: ActionAid Bangladesh

Vacancy: 1

Age: Na

Job Location: Khulna

Salary: Tk. 87506 (Monthly)

Experience:

• 2 to 3 years
• The applicants should have experience in the following business area(s): NGO

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Public Administration, Political Science, Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Studies, Environmental Science, or a related field.

• 2 to 3 years
• The applicants should have experience in the following business area(s): NGO

• Minimum 2–3 years of progressively responsible experience in development programming, with demonstrated experience leading field-based teams and managing multi-partner projects.

• Proven experience in youth engagement, civic-space/civil-society programming, governance and accountability work, or urban development in Bangladesh.

• Demonstrated experience liaising with local government bodies such as City Corporations and elected representatives.

• Experience managing or coordinating sub-grantees/partner organisations, including programmatic and financial oversight.

• Proven experience working with youth, youth-led groups or community-based organisations, and in civic engagement, local governance, social accountability, advocacy or rights-based programming.

• Familiarity with participatory governance tools, narrative/behaviour-change approaches and MEAL systems is highly desirable.

• Prior experience with international donor-funded projects is an advantage.

• Experience of working in Khulna or the south-west region of Bangladesh, with a good understanding of the local context, is a strong advantage.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong leadership, team management and mentoring skills;

• Excellent stakeholder engagement, negotiation and communication skills, with the ability to represent the organisation credibly with government officials, partners and communities;

• Strong planning, coordination and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple partners and workstreams simultaneously;

• Sound analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make timely operational decisions;

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Bangla and English, and good command of MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel;

• Commitment to feminism, gender equity, social inclusion, youth leadership and rights-based approaches to development;

• Understanding and application of the human rights-based approach (HRBA) in programme development and implementation;

• Monitoring, evaluation and knowledge generation on climate action;

• Willingness to travel extensively within Khulna and periodically to Dhaka.

Required Competencies

• Leadership: Ability to follow instructions and complete assigned tasks efficiently and to take decisions independently.

• Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and recognition of own emotions and their impact on others and respond accorfdingly. Can manage stress well.

• Communication & Collaboration: Possess effective communication skills to interact with colleagues and stakeholders. Coordinate with team members to provide support as required.

• Problem Solving Skill: Ability to identify root-cause,analyse and propose alternative solutions based on their understanding of the organisation`s policies and procedures.

• Networking: Ability to build relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders. Initiates or engages in networking activities and events and provide relevant information to external stakeholders and different forms with proper evidence.

• Learning Agility: Reflects on past experiences and uses that knowledge to inform future actions. Adapts to new work processes or technology with minimal guidance. Seeks out information and resources to expand their knowledge beyond their immediate responsibilities. Willingness to receive feedback and address those feedback positively.

• Decision Quality: Demonstrates sound judgment in routine decision-making situations. Understands the potential consequences of decisions and seeks input from others when appropriate. Open to feedback and willing to adjust decisions based on new information.

Job Summary: Based full-time at the Lead Partner Organisation’s (LPO) office in Khulna, this position will lead the day-to-day planning, coordination, quality assurance and delivery of interventions under the project “Promoting Fair Urban Transition (FUT) in Khulna through Building Agency of Diverse Youth Clusters”, working individually, as part of the core team, and jointly with the Dhaka-based Project Lead. The position will act as the project’s contact point in Khulna and will be responsible for liaison and rapport-building with key stakeholders including Khulna City Corporation (KCC), Khulna Development Authority (KDA), Ward Councillors, the LPO, Youth-Led Organisation (YLO) partners, other civil society organisations (CSOs) and youth networks operating across Khulna’s 31 wards.
S/he will ensure that all project deliverables and reports are developed and submitted on time, to a high standard, and in alignment with ActionAid’s rights-based, feminist and inclusive approach. As a competent networker, facilitator and co-creator of movement building and creative activism, s/he will support partner organisations in executing thematic advocacy and campaign plans. In addition, the position will provide operational and strategic support to the Project Lead for national-level advocacy, training, event organisation and other managerial responsibilities.
Department: Programme, Policy and Campaigns
Strategic Priority: Youth and Just Society
Project Name: Promoting Fair Urban Transition (FUT) in Khulna through Building Agency of Diverse Youth Clusters
Key responsibilities include (not limited to):

1. Youth-led project planning and implementation (40%)

• Lead the development and implementation of ward-level and city-wide annual work plans, consolidating inputs from the LPO, the YLO partners and the localised youth hub.

• Oversee and quality-assure implementation of core project approaches: capacity building of young people; institutional strengthening of the youth-led localised hub; coordination with ward-based youth action groups; adaptation and application of social accountability tools; and leading narrative-building communication activities aligned to the project’s goal.

• Support the design, sequencing and roll-out of capacity-building initiatives facilitated by ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) and the LPO/YLO partners.

• Guide and quality-check youth-led participatory climate vulnerability assessments, ward-level environmental and green livelihood/entrepreneurship initiatives, and youth-led artistic activism.

• Ensure project activities remain aligned with the approved logic model, budget and timeline, flagging deviations and proposing corrective actions in a timely manner.

• Support contextualisation and roll-out of AAB’s Social Movement Engagement Process within the urban governance context of Khulna.

2. Youth-led advocacy, campaign, liaison, coordination and stakeholder management (25%)

• Design, facilitate and drive youth-led advocacy and campaigns towards fair urban transition in Khulna in order to attain the project objective.

• Act as the field-based focal point in Khulna, providing day-to-day leadership of project operations and ensuring coherent, high-quality implementation across all targeted project locations.

• Facilitate structured engagement platforms such as youth-led dialogue forums, advocacy sessions, artistic activism, and joint planning and budgeting consultations between youth-led organisations, CSOs and public institutions.

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with KCC and KDA officials, Ward Councillors across Khulna, and other local government and public-service stakeholders, positioning the project as a credible and legitimate civic partner.

• Serve as the primary point of contact and communication channel between AAB and the LPO, ensuring smooth information flow, joint planning and alignment on programmatic, financial and reporting requirements.

• Coordinate with the YLO partners to ensure consistency, quality and coherence of youth-led interventions across the project areas.

• Represent the project and AAB in coordination meetings, CSO coalition convenings, multi-stakeholder dialogues, public hearings and other external forums in Khulna.

• Support the establishment, functioning and recognition of the youth-led localised hub as a legitimate, democratically governed civic platform recognised by KCC/KDA and CSOs.

3. Reporting, monitoring, compliance, quality assurance and risk management (15%)

• Consolidate field-level narrative and programmatic inputs from the LPO and YLO partners to support timely, high-quality donor (Porticus) reporting.

• Contribute to developing change stories and support the facilitation of periodic outcome-harvesting exercises, annual reflection processes and learning workshops with youth leaders, CSOs, and LPO and YLO partners.

• Track and report on narrative shifts, civic-agency indicators and governance-responsiveness indicators linked to the project’s targeted outcomes.

• Feed field-level learning into adaptive management decisions, in coordination with the Project Lead and AAB’s MEAL unit in Dhaka.

• Monitor implementation risks in the project areas and support the Project Lead in applying agreed mitigation measures.

• Ensure project activities in Khulna comply with AAB and donor policies, including safeguarding, child protection, gender equity, financial, administrative and procurement policies.

• Support the preparation and organisation of internal and external monitoring visits, audits and donor field visits.

4. Capacity building, mentoring and team supervision (20%)

• Facilitate and ensure capacity-building support for project staff as well as young people and members of youth-led partner organisations, for effective implementation and realisation of the project outcomes.

• Directly supervise and provide technical guidance, mentoring and day-to-day direction to two Project Officers and a Finance Officer based in the project office in Khulna, ensuring their work bridges effectively between AAB, the LPO and the YLO partners.

• Support onboarding, orientation and ongoing capacity strengthening of LPO and YLO staff on project systems, safeguarding and AAB standards.

• Foster a collaborative, accountable and youth-centred team culture across the core field team and partner organisations.

Relationships: The person holding this position will report directly to the Project Coordinator – Global Platform, ActionAid Bangladesh, and will work jointly with the Dhaka-based Project Lead on day-to-day delivery. S/he will directly supervise two Project Officers and a Finance Officer based in the Khulna project office. S/he will maintain a close working relationship with the Lead Partner Organisation, the Youth-Led Organisation partners, the localised youth hub, and AAB’s MEAL, Finance, Partnership Development and other support units. As the project is implemented with local partners, the incumbent will maintain regular communication with partner organisations and will represent the project with Khulna City Corporation, Khulna Development Authority, Ward Councillors, CSOs and youth networks across Khulna.

• Monthly Gross Salary will be BDT. 87,506 with other admissible benefits such as festival bonus, provident fund, gratuity, medical benefit, group life insurance, mobile & internet allowance etc, as per HROD Policy.