Early Warning Early Response Consultant _ (Bayelsa, Rivers & Delta)

Search for Common Ground

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About Search: Search for Common Ground (Search) is an international non-profit organization that promotes the peaceful transformation of conflict. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and Brussels, Belgium, Search’s mission is to transform how individuals, organizations, and governments deal with conflict—moving away from destructive approaches and towards cooperative solutions. With more than 700 staff worldwide, Search implements projects in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and North the Project: Search, in consortium with Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW), Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND) and Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN) is implementing an 18-month action with the overall goal of fostering inclusive community security approaches to address the systemic drivers of violence and criminality in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States. Bringing together four leading peacebuilding and development organizations in the Niger Delta, the consortium offers a holistic, community-centered approach to addressing core drivers of criminality, violence, and conflict in the region, with a specific focus on the empowerment and inclusion of youth in the security of their respective communities in the Niger Delta. The consortium partners will leverage existing relationships with the action’s diverse target groups, including at-risk youth, local communities impacted by oil production and oil bunkering, state security actors, the private sector, journalists and media actors, key civil society organizations, and policymakers at the state, regional, national, and international levels, to secure broad-based buy-in and participation in the action. Overall, the project will seek to shift how relevant actors think about and approach issues of oil bunkering, criminality, and security in the Niger Delta in favor of more bottom-up, human-centered perspectives. This institutional and social shift is necessary in order to sustainably reduce the prevalence of oil bunkering and other forms of criminality and violence in the region in the long term. The design of the action centers around four activity streams, each addressing a systemic driver of division, violence, and criminality in Bayelsa, Rivers, and Delta States: Stream 1 will foster intra-community collaboration around issues of social exclusion, lack of economic opportunity, and environmental 2 will build trust and collaboration between communities, the government, and security actors for more participatory, community-centered security operations. Stream 3 will leverage arts- and culture-based approaches to foster social cohesion between divided communities, both online and 4 will facilitate policy change to institutionalize community-centered security approaches at the local, state, regional, national, and international levels. Position Summary In addition, the consultant will guide communities in identifying and addressing key environmental and livelihood issues through collaborative initiatives. By supporting the design and implementation of local projects that mitigate environmental degradation and promote sustainable livelihoods, the consultant will help communities develop practical solutions that reinforce trust and cooperation among youth, community leaders, and local authorities. Furthermore, the consultant will play a critical role in facilitating social cohesion and solidarity activities between communities, government security actors, and other stakeholders. This includes organizing tailored activities such as dialogues, sports events, and arts-based events in 33 target LGAs to build trust and foster collaboration. The consultant will also oversee transformative dialogues aimed at addressing intercommunal conflicts and support the implementation of peace initiatives that address common issues and promote sustainable intergroup cooperation. Through these efforts, the consultant will contribute to creating a more cohesive and resilient community environment across the target regions. The consultant will facilitate intra-community intergenerational dialogues, support peacebuilding initiatives, coordinate social cohesion and solidarity activities. Reporting to the EWER Coordinator and working closely with the EWER officers, EWER interns, and other project focal points, the consultant will enhance the effectiveness of community-based solutions and foster sustainable intergroup cooperation across target regions.
Roles and Responsibilities

• Collation and Analysis:

• Work closely with relevant stakeholders to collect and analyze early warning data.

• Support the dissemination of early warning information to ensure timely responses to potential conflicts.

Community Engagement and Dialogue:

• Facilitate intra-community and intergenerational dialogues to bridge gaps between different age groups.

• Initiate and support intergenerational economic and livelihood initiatives to promote sustainable development.

• Build social cohesion among youth, communities, and government security actors through various activities.

Peace Architecture:

• Support the remobilization or establishment of Community-Level, LGA-Level, and State-Level Peace Architecture Bodies (CPA, LPA, and SPAs). Monthly meetings.

• Engage in arts- and culture-based inter-community solidarity activities to foster mutual understanding and respect.

• Facilitate intercommunal transformative dialogues and peace initiatives to address and resolve conflicts.

Reporting and Documentation:

• Write detailed reports for every activity implemented using the Search’s reporting template and guidelines.

Additional Activities : The Consultant will also support the implementation of various activities, including but not limited to:

• Intra-community intergenerational dialogues.

• Intergenerational economic and livelihood initiatives.

• Social cohesion building for youth, communities, and government security actors.

• Arts- and culture-based inter-community solidarity activities.

• Intercommunal transformative dialogues.

• Intercommunal peace initiatives.

• Engage community networks to carefully monitor indicators of rising dispute/conflict and measures taken to mitigate the crises from escalating.

• Work closely with other projects with EWER components to support and strengthen the EWER platform.

• Produce periodic Conflict Analysis /trend bulletin on evolving conflict dynamics.

• Supervise the Interns in the tracking, triangulation of EW signs and conflict indicators, and keying of data into the SCITAAP.

• Coordinate the dissemination list for the EWER bulletins.

• Coordinate real-time tracking of incidents, trending online and offline

• Track and monitor conflict and security incidents across different credible internal and external platforms across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria

• Identify conflict triggers and violence to understand the conflict dynamics and spike in violence over a period of time.

• Triangulate information across different platforms and community networks to authenticate information.

• Serve as a reference point in providing data (information) for national and international level engagement

• Establish a data repository that can provide a platform of harmonized conflict and security information across different credible sources

• Carry out any other program related activity assigned

• The consultant may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key duties.

Qualification & Requirements

• Education:

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in Conflict studies, Political Science, Development studies, Statistics or Data Sciences

• Additional education in conflict management, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrate integrity and promote Search values and ethical standards;

• Promote the vision, mission, and strategic objectives of Search;

• Demonstrate capacity to adapt to a multicultural context, tolerance, and respect for issues related to gender, religion, race, and nationality;

• Proficiency in the use of MS Office, Statistical and analytical tools as well as listening tools

• Demonstrate capacity to work effectively under stress, on multiple assignments simultaneously and adapting to changing demands.

Experience

• 3 years' experience in the following areas:

• Experience in Facilitating Community Dialogues : Demonstrated ability to organize and lead intra-community and intergenerational dialogues, including experience with engaging diverse groups such as youth, community leaders, and local authorities to foster collaboration and empathy.

• Expertise in Livelihood and Economic Development Initiatives: Proven track record in developing and implementing local-level economic and livelihood projects, particularly those that address environmental degradation and promote sustainable practices. Experience in working with communities to design and execute conflict-sensitive interventions is essential.

• Background in Social Cohesion and Trust-Building Activities : Experience in organizing social cohesion activities that build trust and positive relationships between communities, security actors, and other stakeholders. This includes activities such as sports events, arts-based events, and other community engagement strategies.

• Strong Collaboration and Reporting Skills: Demonstrated experience in working closely with various stakeholders, including project teams and local authorities, and in reporting to senior management. Ability to coordinate effectively with different focal points and provide clear, actionable insights based on community engagement and conflict analysis.

• Relevant experience working in the non-profit and NGO sector or institutions providing conflict early warning and early response services.

• Experience in developing conflict snapshots/ EWER bulletin or a harmonized report of Conflict trends.

• Experience in data management and analysis.

• Excellent writing, planning and coordination skills, with proven ability to work independently.

• Strong command of the English language, with excellent written and oral communication and interpersonal communication skills;

• A demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards and a diverse workplace;

• Ability to prioritize, plan and organize workflow to tight timeframes, handle multiple tasks, and be flexible with changing priorities.

• Good understanding and use of analytics and presentation tools especially Excel, Power Bi, and Canva and other statistical tools etc

• Experience in the use of online listening tools

To apply: Interested candidates should send the following to our portal on or before September 6, 2024. Current resume Cover Letter (which includes expectations of compensation, Location and projected start date)Please note that this contract is for a four (4) month period (September to December 2024). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please. Please see our website: for full details of our work.