TECHNICAL ADVISOR, RENEWABLE ENERGY At CARE USA

Location: CARE Sierra Leone

Reporting To: Director – Agriculture, Markets and Livelihoods/Director – SHE Project

CARE seeks a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live in dignity and security. CARE places a particular emphasis on women and girls, their dignity and empowerment to lead their communities out of poverty. In 2020, CARE worked in 104 countries, reaching 90 million people through more than 1,300 programs, with an annual budget of $650 million. Every single one of those 90 million people has a story of resilience, community, strength, and hope—all things that bind us together, across every corner of the globe.

In Sierra Leone, CARE staff and partners work tirelessly to save lives, address the root causes of poverty and social injustice through advocacy, partnerships, system strengthening and programming in impact areas of Gender Equality, Empowering Women and Girls, Humanitarian Assistance, and Right to Food, Nutrition and Water, Right to Health, Women’s Economic Justice and Climate Justice.

The development of renewable energy and mini grids in Sierra Leone (SL), offers growth and development opportunities for Sierra Leonean women. Recent donor investments in the mini-grid sector, as well as Sub-regional (ECOWAS) and Government of Sierra Leone’s (GoSL) commitment to renewable energy represent an unprecedented opportunity for rural women entrepreneurs to benefit from off-grid power. \

CARE Sierra Leone has been awarded a grant by the Rockefeller Foundation to implement the Solar Harnessed Entrepreneurs (SHE) project to support women entrepreneurs and as a solution to the significant divide in productive use of energy (PUE) between men and women. CARE will bolster opportunities for women by addressing underlying challenges such as access to assets, finance, markets, infrastructure, skills and gender and social norms and strengthen their networks and linkages to productive resources. We are celebrating our 60th Anniversary and we are looking forward to serving Sierra Leone for another 60 years and beyond. If you believe in CARE’s mission and vision, and possess the skills listed below then join us in saving lives, empowering women and girls and defeating poverty!

CARE Sierra Leone is seeking a strong technical and talented visionary to assume the opportunity of Technical Advisor, Renewable Energy. Reporting to the Project Director for Agriculture, Markets and Livelihoods you will lead CARE’s collaboration with mini-grid operators, and other key energy partners and government and will work closely with field operation teams and Project Manager to ensure quality implementation of project activities.

Responsibilities:

• Project Design and Planning, Implementation and Monitoring: Act as lead technical advisor on energy issues, contributing to the identification of partners, issues for research and policy development and providing inputs to strategic documents and processes.
• Technical Support to Field Teams: Provide leadership to project implementation and support field staff and partner in implementing activities while maintaining regular communication with field teams. Ensure that CARE’s work in the field, along with other networks and partners contribute to quality implementation, advocacy, and sustainability of programmatic impacts.
• Monitoring Network and Learning: Facilitate platforms for learning and sharing from SHE programs such as Learning and Practice Alliances and WebEx’s to promote cross learning and generate evidence for Advocacy. Contribute to and supervise monitoring, evaluation, learning processes, including timely reporting and documentation of project processes.
• Coordinate strategic partnership and institutional capacity: Support Project Director with updates and relevant data to liaise with government to identify issues requiring attention by development agencies and ensure alignment with national priorities. Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with development partners, donors, the private sector, and civil society to address emerging issues and increase the use of renewable energy for production, especially for women.

Qualifications:

• Possess experience and education in renewable energy modeling.
• Have a bachelors’ degree in Renewable Energy Engineering, Environment, Economics, and related field with relevant experience
• At least 3 years of relevant experience at national level in programming, research and policy-level analysis and provision of technical support to field teams.
• Have experience in Sierra Leone and/or within the West Africa region
• Have the communication, and negotiating skills needed to manage international donor funded projects, donor partners and stakeholders
• Initiate and develop partnerships with renewable energy actors/ stakeholders in Sierra Leone and possess the ability to maintain these partnerships
• Be strategic, agile, and adaptable
• Can quickly learn CARE systems, processes and procedures and adapt local practices to global standards
• Possess a strong knowledge of renewable energy, access concepts and/or issues with the ability to strategically apply practical solutions
• Understand Gender Dynamics
• You must have a deep understanding of gender dynamics in Sierra Leone and how energy context
• Be a leader with influence
• Demonstrated leadership, coaching and negotiation skills with internal and external partners with the ability to be a team player. Know your systems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Excel and Word and good skills at using financial software applications

Please apply directly to this link or send your CV to: sle.recruitment@care.org