Field Assistant

Location: Aden, Yemen 

Reporting to: Deputy Chief of Party  

Contract type: 1-year fixed term renewable

Closing date: 3rd of October 2024.

About ARK:

 ARK is a social enterprise, empowering local communities through the provision of agile and sustainable interventions to create greater stability, opportunity, and hope for the future.

 We believe that strong, resilient communities are the foundation of local, national, regional and international development and stability – and ultimately a safer, peaceful and more prosperous world. At ARK, we have delivered research and programmatic interventions validating this approach in over twenty countries since 2008. As a social enterprise we work in partnership with communities, our donors, and other implementers to build local capacities, generate opportunity and bring about sustainable change.

 Learn more about our impact here: https://www.ark.international/impact

 PURPOSE OF POSITION:

ARK Group is seeking two Filed Assistants for the Yemeni Community Resilience Award (YCRA) implemented in Abyan, Aden, Al-Dhali’ and Lahj governorates in south Yemen. YCRA aims to support community resilience activities and strengthen community capacity to prevent child trafficking and recruitment into armed groups and reintegrate children associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG). YCRA will prioritize building community awareness, prevention mechanisms and reconciliation, actively engaging children and youth, promoting economic empowerment opportunities to limit the drivers of recruitment, and addressing the psychological and emotional aspects of individuals through mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), including specialized assistance needs to provide care and referral services for women and girls experiencing high rates of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Yemen.

Working closely with the Field Officers, the Field Assistant will provide support and ensure that the project activities are delivered with the highest standards of quality service. The delivery of quality assurance is supported by needs assessments, lessons learned and evidence-based practices. The Field Assistants will be responsible for ensuring that appropriate technical capacity processes, tools, resources, and systems are in place to enable the project team, implementation partners, and stakeholders to benefit from successful experiences and implement high-quality, evidence-based interventions.

The Field Assistants are expected to support efforts to strengthen CAAFAG prevention and re-integration capacity to improve access to adequate CAAFAG interventions and strengthen the protective environment for CAAFAG and ex-combatants, victims of human trafficking, conflict, and SGBV, as well as their families and members of vulnerable groups in target communities, through the project team and dedicated civil society organizations.

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Oversees the quality implementation of the project activities and ensures that all planned activities are carried out on time and within budget.
• Regular travel to the field to support and monitor the YCRA project activities.
• Maintain positive work relations with project stakeholders, including local authorities, line-ministries’ offices and institutions, CBOs, CSOs, community leaders, women and youth groups.
• Assist in the capacity building and technical support to project stakeholders to better prevent recruitment and address the needs of CAAFAG during their reintegration.
• Works closely with the project team to feed in priority CAAFAG-advocacy-related themes and ensures that relevant community awareness and advocacy messages and initiatives are well-informed.
• Assist project team and implementation partners in developing guidelines for community-level validation mechanisms adopted and supported by the project.
• Works with the project team and stakeholders to strengthen communities’ protective factors and support meaningful participation of local women and youth in addressing CAAFAG issues by strengthening capacity-building of community-level women and youth groups.
• Prepares activity and regular progress reports with statistical and narrative information at the field.
• Assists the MEAL and Research teams in developing priority knowledge-based products, including, but not limited to, case studies, lessons learned, assessments, and project evaluations.
• Undertake any other tasks as assigned by the relevant line manager.