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Description

About Cordaid

Cordaid believes in a world without poverty and exclusion. We strive for just and sustainable societies where every person counts. We stand for knowledge and talent sharing between North and South, between farmers and businesses, between activists and policymakers. Where poverty, conflict and exclusion divide societies, we connect people and communities. We stand for professionalism, expertise and solidarity across borders. We aim at maximizing our social impact and contributing to systemic change. We operate where natural disasters strike, where conflicts tear up communities and where lack of opportunities and service delivery keep families in extreme poverty.

Cordaid is an internationally operating value-based emergency relief and development organisation, working in and on fragility.

Cordaid is a member of the international faith-based networks Caritas and ACT Alliance as well as other worldwide civil society networks. We work in around 20 countries in Africa and Asia.

For the Cordaid Project Regional offices in Fort Portal, Mbale and Lira, Cordaid is looking for Verification Officers.   

About Result Based Financing (RBF)

Cordaid has been active in Uganda for over 25 years. In Uganda and in 15 other sub-Saharan African countries Cordaid has experience in system strengthening through the Result Based Financing (RBF) approach. In Uganda we are implementing an RBF project Agricultural Governance Results Improvement Project (A-GRIP) with focus on land tenure and food security governance in 16 districts across 5 regions (Kigezi, Rwenzori, Busoga, Elgon and Lango) of Uganda. For the project, we are looking for experienced Verification Officers, with strong knowledge on food systems, economic empowerment, stakeholder management , capacity building skills and willingness to learn on technical approaches of RBF.

Justification and context

Cordaid is recruiting Verification Officers for Result Based Financing in Land Tenure and Farming Systems Project, 2023 – 2028. The project will work in 16 districts and is aiming at secured land tenure security and inclusive development of farming systems in 5 regions in Uganda.

The project has four (inter-related) outcome areas:

1. Increased formal and equitable land ownership under customary law, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
2. Increased sustainable agricultural smallholder farmers production by enhanced take-up of effective, quality and equitable agricultural food production and natural resources management services.
3. Strengthened regulation and enabling policies for better agricultural and food security (FS) sector performance to match smallholder farmers’ and communities’ needs.
4. General good governance and management at district level in support of improved performance of the contracted departments.

1. Purpose of the position

Verification Officers: The verification officers will work closely with the Regional Lead Verifiers to conduct quality and quantity verifications of the contracted district departments throughout the project lifetime. They will mentor and coach the service providers to develop business plans in which the service providers envision how to use the RBF payments to improve their service delivery. The Verification Officers will prepare the invoices to inform subsidy payments for the contracted parties in the respective districts.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Key Roles and Responsibilities

Verification 

• Quarterly quantity audits of the contracted departments timely and accurately.
• Identification of reporting gaps and guidance on improvements to the department staff.
• Compile and submit timely the quarterly verification reports.
• Provide feedback to the Regional Lead Verifier on observations and gaps noted during the quarterly quantity verifications.
• Collect random samples from the department registers and provide client relevant information for quarterly client satisfaction surveys to be done by the contracted CBO’s.
• Verify the quarterly client satisfaction questionnaires of the contracted CBOs for completeness and accuracy of data.
• Ensure that the quarterly quality monitoring of community are conducted by the district leaders.
• Ensure that client satisfaction surveys are conducted by the contracted CBO’s according to the PIM and the agreed guidelines and deadlines. 
• Where needed participate in the quarterly quality supervision of the contracted departments by the district leaders.
• Constant liaison with the Regional Lead Verifier, Senior RBF expert and the Land Expert.
• Conduct monthly fieldwork as and when required in line with the field work plan.
• Submit weekly updates to the Regional Lead Verifier.
• Represent the Cordaid Uganda Office, establishing and maintaining good relations with the district authorities, EKN funded projects colleagues and other key stakeholders in the targeted districts.

Project Performance Management

• Participate in the elaboration of the business plans for Department of Production and Marketing (DPM), Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) and the General Administration office and evaluate them before new business plans are elaborated to ensure compliance and report any deviation to the Chief of Party..
• Make quarterly analysis of the contracted departments performance and classify them accordingly.
• Quarterly assess the performance of the CAO Office based on performance indicators as it is detailed in the Project Implementation Plan (PIM).

Capacity Building and Technical Assistance

• Train the DPM and ENR, CBOs, and the General Administration on RBF as formulated in the PIM of the project.
• During project implementation: identify on the training needs and attend to capacity building needs of the contracted parties and provide recommendations to the RBF Regional Lead Verifier.
• Identify and make recommendations to overcoming obstacles and challenges encountered during the whole implementation of the RBF-project.
• Coach the departments on how to understand and reach the used indicators.
• Coach the departments on how to use Result Based Financing subsidies effectively to realise the results formulated in their Business Plans.
• Coach the contracted departments on how to manage their documentation, on how to reduce errors in their reports and how to improve their Management Information Systems (MIS).

Reporting

• Compile all the relevant verification reports from all the contracted parties, and invoices for timely payment by the fund holder.
• Submit trimester progress reports and weekly updates to the Regional Leader Verifier.
• Ensure that proper RBF files of all contracted parties are maintained.
• Oversee the submission of the monthly returns of the logistics, finance and administrative activities.

Representation and networking

• Represent the Cordaid Regional office, establishing and maintaining good relations with key stakeholders while actively participating in all the Land Tenure and Food Systems sector working groups in the respective.

Requirements

Qualifications, skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum of a bachelor's degree in any of the following disciplines Agriculture related fields, Business Administration, Social Sciences.
• Good knowledge of the land tenure and food systems sector is desirable.
• Practical working experience of at least 2 years is preferred.
• Computer skills in Microsoft Office package is necessary.
• Ability to ride a motorbike is preferred.
• Able to work under stress and meet deadlines.
• Experience working with (international) organizations.
• Ability to analyse and present data with good presenting skills.
• Working knowledge of Result Based Financing and or willingness to learn is an added advantage.

Core Competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal, co-ordination and negotiation skills, and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Strong commitment to integrity, professionalism, creativity and innovation, learning, accountability, planning and organization, results orientation, teamwork and technological solutions.

Others/Extra Details

Further information & how to apply

Cordaid is fully committed to provide a safe and welcoming workplace to its employees, and to maintain respect and dignity of everyone that comes into contact with Cordaid. Therefore, Cordaid participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. For more information about Cordaid’s work on integrity https://www.cordaid.org/en/who-we-are/integrity-and-code-of-conduct/.

Applications including a motivation letter and extensive CV in English, should be submitted online using the link below; https://cordaid.hrmagic.co/jobs/index?id=OTY4 by 28th March, 2024