Graduation Advisor, BRAC International, Rwanda At BRAC

About the Position

In partnership with the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) is supporting the establishment of the graduation secretariat, the office that will be responsible for the coordination of the implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation (NSSG). The graduation Analyst role will be embedded in MINALOC with reporting lines to the Graduation Advisor and to the BRAC UPGI Program Director.

The MINALOC and BRAC UPGI seek to hire a Graduation Advisor to spearhead the graduation secretariat that is meant to drive the implementation of the National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation. This position will be embedded in MINALOC with core responsibilities to coordinate, engage and ensure the smooth implementation of the strategy.

Reporting to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry and the UPGI Program Director, the Graduation Advisor will work closely with provinces and district leaderships to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are successfully involved in the graduation strategy. This also includes engaging with the inter-ministerial steering committee by preparing the meeting agenda and other necessary documents that support the successful functioning of the steering committee. The Graduation Advisor is a one-year fixed term contract which will be remunerated in line with the UPGI salary scale.

About the National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation

Rwanda aims to achieve high quality standards of living for all as set out in the trajectory laid out in the Vision 2020. Significant progress has already been made in reducing poverty with levels of poverty falling from 58.9% in 2001 to 38.2% in 2016/17 and more than 1 million people successfully lifted out of poverty.

A clear conceptual framework for promoting graduation is articulated within several key Government documents, including the Vision 2050 which sets out the ambition of achieving high standards of living – without leaving anyone behind, the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), and the National Social Protection Policy and its strategy. The Government of Rwanda seeks to build on the strong progress made in reducing poverty levels and is now working towards reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty to below 1% by 2024 and eliminating poverty by 2030. The ultimate objective is to enhance the living standards of all Rwandans.

In order to achieve these ambitious targets, there is a need to ensure that policies and programs are put in place to effectively promote sustainable graduation out of poverty. The NST1 Priority Area 1, focuses on “Graduation from Poverty and Extreme Poverty and Promoting Resilience”. In addition, outcome 6 and 7 of the ‘National Social Protection Strategy (2017-2024)’ set the target that extremely poor households have increased access to livelihood support services for economic empowerment (outcome 6) and strengthened values of self-reliance, respect for rights and community-based support for the vulnerable (outcome 7). The aim is to support the operationalization of the strategic approach to graduation articulated within NST1 and the Social Protection Policy (June, 2020) as well as the National Social Protection Strategy (2017-24).

Primary Responsibilities:

Programmatic:

• Lead the graduation secretariat and set its annual plans
• Work closely with MINALOC to develop the implementation plan for the National Strategy for Sustainable Graduation (NSSG)
• Responsible for the development of graduation materials
• Liaise with districts and provinces to set up and strengthen graduation committees
• Provide capacity building to employees working on social protection programs
• Ensure the graduation strategy is implemented properly at all levels.

Communication:

• Support the development of communication materials
• Work closely with districts and provinces to raise awareness around the graduation strategy.
• Identify communication channels that are relevant to the graduation strategy.
• Prepare and organize meetings for the inter-ministerial steering committee

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Develop a tracking system for the implementation of the strategy
• Ensure that the progress of implementing the graduation strategy is properly monitored and tracked and information on progress is fed back to the steering committee.

Stakeholders Engagement:

• Develop a stakeholder’s mapping plan
• Develop tracking tool for use by development partners in each District, in coordination with MINALOC
• Collaborate with district Joint Action Development Forum to coordinate partners in graduation strategy.

Safeguarding

• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the program’s goals of safeguarding implementation.
• Practice, promote and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action.
• Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, and encourage others to do so.

Qualifications

• A proven track record in developing strong relationships with partners, government institutions, civil society actors, multilateral institutions
• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, community development or other related fields required
• 6 – 10 years of experience in community development, government service, NGOs, or civil society organizations required
• Sector expertise in livelihoods and economic inclusion, social protection, gender, or financial inclusion; Graduation, cash-plus, or similar experience preferred.
• Proactive leader with the ability to prioritize and effectively manage competing work streams
• Strong interpersonal skills and a high degree of political sensitivity
• Strong English skills and fluency in Kinyarwanda are required. French language skills are a plus.
• Exceptional communication and representational skills

Knowledge and Skills:

• Exceptional organizational skills, process orientation, with a keen eye for detail and creativity
• Highly self-motivated, responsive, and strong ability to work independently and in a fast-paced environment
• Proactive collaborator, with ability to effectively manage competing work streams and deadlines
• Exceptional ability to communicate to partners and clients via visual products and presentations
• Diplomatic, with strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of cultural sensitivity.

About the Organization

About BRAC International

BRAC International is a leading non-profit organisation with a mission to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. Founded in 1972, by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC is the largest non-governmental development organisation in the world, and is present in 15 countries across Asia and Africa today. BRAC designs proven, scalable solutions that equip people with the support and confidence they need to achieve their potential. BRAC’s institutional expertise on various programmes, including health, agriculture, microfinance, education, and youth empowerment, is touching the lives of over 100 million people in the Global South.

About the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

The Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (“UPGI”) is a global unit of BRAC that was founded

in 2016 to build off of the success of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation program in Bangladesh. BRAC UPGI aims to position the Graduation approach as a key driver to eradicating extreme poverty worldwide. It does this by:

• Advocating for uptake of the Graduation approach by policymakers, national governments, multilateral institutions, and non-governmental organizations; and
• Effective adaptation and implementation of the Graduation approach in countries around the world, supported through technical assistance and capacity strengthening for external stakeholders.

In 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation (“Graduation”) approach in Bangladesh – a holistic intervention to help people lift themselves from extreme poverty – after recognizing that existing poverty alleviation programs were not reaching the poorest people. Through the provision of livelihood assets, cash transfers, and continued mentoring and training, the Graduation approach addresses participants’ multidimensional needs within the local context and ‘graduates’ people from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods.

Graduation is an evidence-based, scalable intervention proven to break the poverty trap for the long term. So far, BRAC’s flagship Graduation program has impacted over 2 million Bangladeshi households—totaling over 9 million people. To help eradicate extreme poverty, BRAC UPGI is working to scale globally by integrating Graduation into existing government programs and help 21 million more people lift themselves from extreme poverty by 2026.

But BRAC UPGI cannot do it alone. This is beyond the means and capacity of a single

organization- no matter how ambitious or innovative. The organization is partnering with governments, as well as multilateral institutions, NGOs, and civil society, in countries where BRAC UPGI thinks it can have maximum impact and drive greater uptake for Graduation.

Application deadline: May 15, 2023

BRAC is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share the same commitment. We believe every stakeholder and every member of the communities we work with has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation – regardless of age, race, religion, and gender, status as an individual with a disability or ethnic origin. Therefore, our recruitment process includes extensive reference and background checks, self-disclosure of prior issues regarding sexual or other misconduct and criminal records and our values are a part of our Performance Management System.

BRAC is an equal opportunities employer.