Job Location: Gulu, Uganda

Start date: as soon as possible or to be agreed

Contract Period: End of Contract 30.06.2027

Eirene Suisse  is a secular NGO that has been active in development cooperation since 1963. In the countries where we are active, our objective is to strengthen and enhance local dynamics in favor of the promotion of peace and human rights. We specialize in the exchange of personnel in development cooperation, therefore by sending qualified professionals from Switzerland to support the development projects of our local partners, in our three main areas of intervention: Central America (Nicaragua, El Salvador), Quisqueya (Haiti) and the African Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Uganda, DRC). These professionals have the status of « volunteer ».

The local partner:

YOLRED (Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development) ) is a Ugandan community-based organization founded and led by former child soldiers from northern Uganda. Strengthened by their experience, its members are committed to peace, reconciliation and local development. The organization works to reintegrate former child soldiers and their children, who face social exclusion, poverty and heavy trauma. To respond to this, YOLRED sets up reconciliation workshops and entrepreneurship training, promoting socio-economic integration. Despite these actions, corruption, lack of resources and institutional weaknesses are holding back progress. In this context, YOLRED plays a crucial role in offering young people and women a chance to rebuild their lives.

Purpose of the position

The main objective of the position is to contribute to the sustainable improvement of the quality, coherence and impact of YOLRED’s psychosocial and peacebuilding interventions, by:

• strengthening social work and psychosocial support practices,
• supporting the local team through mentoring and reflective practice,
• structuring a contextualized and documented methodology,
• consolidating monitoring, evaluation and organizational learning systems.

The social worker will work with former child soldiers and children born in captivity (CBC) to support their psychosocial healing, social reintegration and socio-economic empowerment, while accompanying the YOLRED team in the sustainable appropriation of social work, psychosocial support and reflective analysis approaches.

Activités et tâches :

Operational support to the project

• Provide technical and methodological advice to the YOLRED team on social work, psychosocial support and accompaniment of people affected by trauma related to armed conflict, and support the implementation of these approaches in project activities;
• Facilitate and/or co-facilitate individual and group psychosocial support sessions with former child soldiers and children born in captivity (CBC), respecting culturally sensitive and person-centered approaches;
• Support the preparation, facilitation and evaluation of forgiveness and reconciliation workshops, incorporating a psychosocial perspective and paying particular attention to the management of emotions, trauma and group dynamics;
• Support the psychosocial counselling for beneficiaries enrolled in entrepreneurship and economic reintegration training programmes, to strengthen their resilience, confidence and empowerment and assist in referring beneficiaries to structures suited to their needs.

Technical and methodological support

• Contribute to the development of YOLRED’s social work and reconciliation methodology, by co-authoring and updating methodological documents and reflective reports;
• Ensure the integration of gender, disability and inclusion approaches.
• Contribute to improving   the overall care of beneficiaries in a safe, inclusive and stimulating environment, and participate in monitoring their social, family and community reintegration.

Institutional support

• Strengthen YOLRED’s capacity to take ownership and sustainably integrate social work and psychosocial support into its institutional approach and daily practices, in particular through internal training, practice analysis sessions, mentoring and the development of adapted teaching tools;
• Support the collection, analysis and systematization of psychosocial and community data, including beneficiary monitoring, database management and documentation of change pathways;
• Participate in the development of the network of local partners (community leaders, institutions, specialized services);
• Contribute to the project’s communication, capitalization and outreach activities, in particular by sharing stories of change, lessons learned and news related to the project.

Your profile:

• Nationality : Swiss or strong ties to Switzerland (resident, study, work, etc.) ;
• Higher education (Bachelor’s or Master’s) in a relevant field: social work, psychology, social sciences, peace and development, or equivalent;
• Minimum two years of relevant professional experience in the relevant field ;
• Experience working with local organizations, participatory approaches, popular education and training of people ;
• Good understanding of psychosocial and post-conflict issues and strong interpersonal and communication skills ;
• Ability to structure, analyze and formalize professional practices, focused on working with young people experiencing difficulties;
• Team coaching, mentoring and facilitation skills.
• Adaptability, initiative and stress management ;
• Ability to accept local living conditions and to integrate into a human project in a complex context ;
• Ability to serve the Global South partner and knowledge of international cooperation or fragile contexts desired.
• Very good knowledge of English;
• Clean criminal record at the time of departure.

Specificities of the position:

Only applications from Swiss nationals or those with a strong connection to Switzerland (residents, years of study/work, etc.) will be considered.

A volunteer engagement implies receiving a living allowance instead of a salary. Associative involvement is expected, particularly in terms of information work and fundraising in Switzerland (animation of a support group).

Conditions of the contract :

• Coverage of round-trip travel expenses ;
• Coverage of living expenses on site ;
• Swiss social insurance coverage during the period of assignment (AVS, unemployment, sickness, repatriation, etc.) ;
• On-site accompaniment by a regional coordinator during the mission ;
• Certificate of employment and pay for return at the end of the mission ;

Postulation :

Eirene Suisse does not set a deadline for applications for this position, recruitment is open until the position is filled. Nevertheless, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible.

Send the usual documents (cover letter, CV and titles obtained) by email to Olaya LAVILLA, Eirene Suisse, emploi@eirenesuisse.ch.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we will only respond to candidates who scrupulously meet the required criteria. Thank you for your understanding.

For more information, you can visit our website www.eirenesuisse.ch

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