Technical Officer P2 (DC) Junior level

Introduction

Brief description of the Project.

The Policy Officer will work within the “Decent Work and Labour Rights for Southern Africa’s Construction Sector Project. The project aims to contribute to improved labour rights in the construction sector in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). The Policy Officer will be seconded to the SADC Secretariat, in Gaborone, Botswana.
The project will be implemented using a systemic approach to decent work and will work at the sub-regional level and in three countries, namely Mozambique, and South Africa, Zimbabwe.
At the country level in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, the project will target key systemic constraints in the national construction sectors, which keep most construction workers locked in precarious work, and often in informal employment. The project will pilot interventions and engage with governments, private sector (including MSMEs), and the social partners.
At the sub-regional level, the project will generate knowledge and experience through implementation of interventions at country level and will support the SADC secretariat to advocate for scaling-up systemic good practice to inform effective policy review in member States.
The project will contribute towards improving labour rights compliance through interventions that benefit vulnerable workers, and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that employ them, who struggle to provide decent work to employees relative to larger contractors.
In line with the systemic approach to decent work, the Project will strive to drive long-term sustainable way changes that can reach scale by working through key partners, including the SADC Secretariat, regional and national employers’ organizations, government bodies and private sector. The project will contribute towards operationalizing the SADC Decent Work Programme (2021-2025). This will require the Policy Officer to support the SADC Secretariat in documenting and sharing lessons from project activities and to implement the SADC Decent Work Programme.
In all its work, the project will use a robust Monitoring and Results Measurement system in line with the standard of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED)

Reporting lines: 

The Policy Officer will work under the direct supervision of the Project Manager (PM), with overall supervision by the Director of the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa and Country Office for South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (DWT/CO-Pretoria). As the Policy Officer will be seconded to the SADC Secretariat, he or she will also work under the direction of the Director of Social and Human Development at the Secretariat.

Description of Duties

The Policy Officer will be responsible for supporting the SADC Secretariat to apply knowledge and good practice generated by the project to inform policy review across the SADC region.

Key duties and responsibilities:

1. Contribute to the project’s support to the SADC secretariat in identifying Member States’ capacity development needs to address decent work deficits and labour rights constraints in the construction sector and contribute to the development of capacity development plans to be supported by the project and support their implementation.
2. Undertake and contribute to gender-responsive research, analyse and present information, data and statistics on assigned topics and SADC country experiences related to the construction sector and youth employment in close coordination with the project’s Monitoring and Results Measurement Officer.
3. Promote the inclusion of gender equality and non-discrimination in all aspects of project related activities.
4. Provide inputs into the development and content of training and capacity development resources and learning materials, tools and activities for SADC member states, social partners and senior government officials and assist in organizing and delivering training sessions and capacity development events on assigned topics, using innovative methods and communication tools, and leveraging the use of digital technologies.
5. Prepare initial drafts of and provide technical inputs to country analyses, thematic briefs and policy briefs, specific components of reports, concept notes, research outputs and other evidence-informed knowledge products.
6. Maintain up-to-date knowledge on lessons learned, good practices, trends and other relevant considerations and developments related to labour rights and decent work in the construction sector, globally and regionally.
7. Based on the lessons learned from joint project implementation, support the SADC Secretariat in drafting policy recommendations and options for scaling up of good practices across SADC Member States, and Issues for Decision by SADC employment and labour ministers at annual ELS meetings.
8. Assist in the organization, administration and servicing of SADC meetings, workshops and other events organized by the project or the SADC secretariat. Compile and draft background and other preparatory materials for these meetings. Participate in meetings on related technical issues and draft summary reports and related materials. Follow up on the implementation of delegated actions and initiatives.
9. Support the SADC secretariat to coordinate regional level discussions among social partners and senior officials on good practices and lessons learned from implementation of the market system development approach, including at annual ELS meeting.
10. Participate in technical and fact-finding missions and assist with technical backstopping, project implementation and monitoring.
11. Perform any other relevant duties requested by the ILO Director, the Project Manager, and the SADC Secretariat Director of Social and Human Development.

Required qualifications

Education

First level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in public policy, public administration, economics, social sciences, development studies, political science or other relevant technical field.

Experience

• At least three years of relevant professional experience working in public policy, policy change, and/or advocacy in the field of labour rights, employment, and labour;
• Minimum two to three years of professional experience on the SADC region or any SADC Member State.
• Experience with private sector and market systems development construction sector would be an advantage.
• Demonstrable expertise in the subject of gender main streaming and programming.

Languages

Excellent command of English is required. Fluency in Portuguese and/or French will be an added advantage.

Competencies

In addition to the ILO core competencies, the following is required

• Knowledge and understanding of the concept of decent work
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
• Knowledge of IT applications for information collection, management and dissemination
• Ability to use analytical tools and qualitative and quantitative techniques
• Ability to identify and develop sources for data collection
• Research and analytical skills
• Ability to adapt quickly to new software and systems
• Ability to prepare and deliver internal presentations and messages, using a range of techniques and technologies
•  Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate and model gender-responsive, non-discriminatory and inclusive behaviour and attitudes.