Organisational Strategy:
About Self Help Africa
Established in 1984, Self Help Africa is an international development organisation that works through agriculture and Agri-enterprise development to address hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impacts of climate change. We believe that equitable economic development is key to lifting communities out of long-term poverty, empowering them to take control of their futures and improving their quality of life.
In early 2023 we launched a new five-year organisation strategy, which defines shared mission as the alleviation of hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impact of climate change through community-led, market-based and enterprise- focused approaches, so that people can have access to nutritious food, clean water, decent employment and incomes, while sustaining natural resources.
Our wider organisation also includes social enterprise subsidiaries Partner Africa, which provides ethical auditing and consultancy services, and CUMO, Malawi’s largest micro-finance provider.
Our three core values are:
▪ Impact: We are accountable, ambitious and committed to systemic change.
▪ Innovation: We are agile, creative and enterprising in an ever-changing
World.
▪ Community: We are inclusive, honest and have integrity in our relationship
Background information on the tendered work packages
Self Help Africa will be recruiting a team of qualified professionals for an upcoming project.
The Project aims to improve the nutritional situation and resilience of poor rural households, especially women and small children, in selected districts of Eastern Province and Luapula Province.
The work packages aim to:
- Improve knowledge about healthy nutrition, WASH and family planning.
- Empower poor rural households, particularly female members, economically and socially through savings groups and the implementation of gender transformative approaches.
- Strengthen capacities of intermediaries at provincial, district and community level for the provision of nutrition-related services.
The work packages include the following activities:
Work package 1: Roll-out and consolidation of the care group model in the 6 districts
The care group model (CGM) is a community-based health and nutrition approach designed to create behavioural change and improve health outcomes by improving target groups' knowledge of nutrition and WASH and trigger behavioural change. The CGM will be rolled out through MoH. Support will be provided by guiding and mentoring (where necessary actively supporting) the MoH structures to:
- Train the cascade of volunteers on the CGM methodology. Health Promoters and Nutrition Volunteers shall receive their initial training in close collaboration with the trained Health Facility staff (Nutrition Focal Point Persons).
- Regularly organise community-based cooking demonstrations with local ingredients which are sourced from the community.
- Update regularly the provincial-level nutritionists, Provincial Nutrition Coordination Committees and District Nutrition Coordination Committees and keep them informed on implementation of the CGM
Work package 2: Implementation of gender-transformative approaches
Gender- transformative approaches should be designed and implemented that are aimed at addressing and promoting gender equality in the target communities. The work package includes approaches which address (i) church and traditional leaders and marriage counsellors; (ii) men from within the target communities; and (iii) youth.
- Develop and implement a strategy to empower church and traditional leaders as well as marriage counsellors (hereafter called actors) to become active change agents for their communities working towards gender equality.
- Develop and implement a concept for a “men-centred approach” for the target communities which builds men’s awareness of their role in supporting better nutrition outcomes in their households, their knowledge of adequate nutrition and WASH, their awareness of how to support women actively to avail food and nutrition security (also in relation to agriculture), including childcare and household chores.
- Strengthen the services of youth-friendly corners (YFCs). Youth-friendly corners exist already under MOH at the health facility level, however, they are not yet fully in place or functional at all health facilities.
Work Package 3: Roll-out of the Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) model to the 6 districts
The SILC model is a community-based microfinance approach. It aims at economically and socially empowering poor rural households and female household members in particular. In coordination with the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS), the following activities will be implemented:
- Train District Assistant Community Development Officers (DACDOs) on SILC methodology (ToT) and conduct joint training for Community Development Assistants (CDAs) together with DACDOs.
- Provide mentorship to the MCDSS staff during training and monitoring of community-based field agents (FAs).
- Mentor the MCDSS staff during the preparation and conduction of the FA exams of and during the certification of Private Service Provider (PSPs).
- Together with MCDSS, develop measures to encourage young women and their spouses to participate in the new SILC groups.
- Develop and implement, together with the MCDSS staff, a concept for mentoring / peer-to-peer learning between MCDSS staff and PSPs to support peer to peer learning amongst PSPs as well as quality control.
- Supporting MCDSS staff to ensure reporting is done, using the existing reporting system / tools, which are already aligned with MCDSS.
- Facilitate yearly input on family planning for SILC members and their spouses by the respective health facility staff together with the MCDSS.
- Generation of data on SILC membership and use of loans and savings for GIZ reporting
Work Package 4: Capacity development measures for government staff
The aim is to strengthen the capacities of government staff mostly from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and NFNC at provincial, district and sub-district (e.g. health facility staff or camp extension officers) levels with the aim of improving to improve nutrition-related services provided by government. The capacity development measures have two main objectives: (i) increase technical expertise regarding core services and (ii) improve core skills related to institutional/workplace development such as leadership, work ethics, ownership, communication, coordination, mentorship, feedback culture.
- Conduct a capacity needs assessment for MOH, MOA and NFNC at the relevant levels to determine capacity building needs and to understand the organizational needs.
- Based on the capacity needs assessment, develop (or adapt existing) content-related trainings to improve service delivery, including building leadership, providing mentorship and developing soft skills in relation to adult learning/training.
- For all trainings, design a strategy to ensure practical application of the acquired skills, supported by ongoing mentorship and follow-up beyond one-off sessions.
- Ensure gender competence development is appropriately integrated into all trainings provided.
- Develop and print training / supplementary materials (incl. hand-outs) to be used; where possible use existing training material from government institution or GIZ.
- Implement trainings, follow-up closely on the application of learnings, organisation of peer-to-peer exchanges, reflection meetings.
- Develop and implement a monitoring concept that training has been delivered and gained skills/knowledge are applied. Support the implementation of respective surveys (e.g. tracer surveys) or key information interviews together with GIZ.
Key Responsibilities:
- Overseeing the recruitment, training, and certification of SILC Field Agents (FAs) and their transition to Private Service Providers (PSPs).
- Supporting the formation and growth of SILC groups, with a strong focus on inclusion, self-management, and sustainability.
- Embedding financial literacy and gender-transformative elements into SILC training content and delivery.
- Strengthening linkages between SILC and Care Group activities to promote joint financial and health decision-making.
- Supporting the use of SILC monitoring tools and coordinating with the M&E officer to track progress.
- Documenting good practices and contributing to scale-up strategies that are responsive to provincial contexts.
- Understands the professional duty to report crime in line with organisational and professional guidance.
- ensure that all staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Self Help Africa's Community Feedback and Response Mechanism (CFRM) and ensure that information about Self Help Africa's commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities.
Qualifications / Other Requirements:
· Bachelor´s degree in Rural Development, Development Economics, Social Sciences, or Project Management with a specialization or thesis focus on financial inclusion, livelihoods, or community-based savings mechanisms.
· Good knowledge (speaking/understanding) of the specific regional local language Nyanja or Bemba.
· 6 years working in rural livelihoods and economic empowerment, including household resilience, women’s income generation, and poverty reduction.
· 5 years’ experience in implementing village/community-based saving and loan groups.
· 3 years’ experience with fostering joint decision-making at household level.
· 2 years’ experience in monitoring of rural financial inclusion (e.g. monitoring outcomes of saving/loan groups).
· 5 years of experience in development cooperation projects in Zambia
Self Help Africa strives to be an equal opportunities employer
All candidates offered a job with Self Help Africa will be expected to sign our Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents. Specific roles may require Police/DBS/ [relevant police authority] vetting.
