Vacancy title:
PROJECT OFFICER

Jobs at:
Rwanda Union of the Blind (RUB)

Deadline of this Job:
30/05/2018 by 4 pm

Duty Station:
Kigali, Rwanda

JOB DETAILS:
Project title: Improving the situation of persons with Deafblindness in Rwanda
Project Number: 171501
Duration of Employment: 4 years
Working nature: Full-time assignment
Working hours: 40 hours a week (08:00-17:00; 12:30-13:30 lunch break)
Duty station: RUB office ( Muhima-Nyarugenge /poids-Lourd road)
Reporting to: The RUB Executive Director

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 2010, The Rwanda Union of Blind (RUB), the Rwanda National Union of the Deaf (RNUD) and the Rwanda National Association of Deaf Women (RNADW) realized that in their work, they come across people with dual disability of Deafness and blindness and the three organizations had difficult to support them. People with the disability of Deafblindness are often hidden and have no possibility to communicate. Since deafblindness is a rare disability, they live far from each other and scattered in the country so, few people have any idea of how to deal with them.
The three organisations RUB, RNUD& RNADW found that it is necessary to combine their efforts in a common action which aimed at bringing to the fore knowledge of this disability.
With a support of Swedish funders, MYRIGHT through partnership with FSDB, the three organizations took initiative to implement the Deafblind project (first phase of the project which started from 2010-2013 and a second phase of the project which started in 2015 and phase out in 2017).
From the date of the project implementation, the number of People with Deafblindness increases; and todate, 130 people with Deafblindness have been identified.
In the past, the three organizations mainly focused on inaccessible communication for people with Deafblindness and the community mindset towards them.

III. SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:
Deafblindness is not recognized as an own disability in Rwanda. This makes it very difficult for organizations and schools to get support to work with this group of people. Children with Deafblindness are often hidden and have no possibility to communicate.
Despite the good Rwanda legal framework, people with Deafblindness are still deprived of their rights.
Currently, statistics on disability in Rwanda have not classified deafblindness as a distinct category of disability hence getting forgotten in the planning and implementation of government programmes supporting vulnerable people.
For the years, a coalition of 3 national disability organizations has been working collaboratively to identify and build the capacities of persons with deafblindness in Rwanda. So far, the definition of deafblindness has been developed and disseminated to concerned officials. However, there is still a great need to push for the recognition by the government of Deafblindness as a distinct disability category.

The project will in 4 coming years, therefore, continue to strive to make persons with deafblindness recognized by the government and the society and as well make them empowered to effectively communicate and running their independent organization to advocate for themselves. The project will mainly focus on the establishment of the Organization of persons with deafblindness and building the capacity of members of the organization.

IV.KEY RESPONSABILITIES

• Reporting to the RUB Executive Director, the Project Officer will be responsible for managing and coordinating project activities and applying strategic planning and systematic coordination of project activities.
• Ensures that projects are carried out in accordance with the project plan by assisting the project manager, respecting all internal and contractual procedures
• Arrange logistics for project activities
• Manage day-to-day project implementation and overall coordination of project outcomes.
• Provide direction and leadership in advocating project objectives and in ensuring that all involved organizations are well informed about the project activities and goals.
• Identify any support and advice required for the management, planning and control of the Project.
• Ensure timely preparation and compilation of the Project Annual/Quarterly Work Plans and Progress/Final as appropriate.
• Ensure the quality of outputs and results with optimal monitoring mechanisms; establish effective coordination, monitoring, information sharing and reporting systems.
• Represent the Project, as required and endeavour to build professional relationships with local, district and authorities where the project will be implemented in order to ensure the smooth execution of Project activities.
• Manage the transfer of Project deliverables, documents, files, equipment and materials as per the standards of RUB procedures.
• Perform other duties that may be required by RUB/employer

V: CORE COMPETENCIES

• Sound knowledge of the disability environment, vision and hearing impairment in particular
• Good team working skills and effective networking skills
• Experience in project management
• Strong experience with data collection, data management, analysis and report production.
• Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office and Excel
• Spoken English and strong writing skills to prepare reports, project success stories and oral presentation. Ability to communicate in French is an added value and fluency in Kinyarwanda.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a team environment with both technical and non-technical staff.

VI. EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelors or Master’s Degree in Economics, project management, Social Sciences and special education.
• Minimum 3 years of relevant professional experience in project/program management, project monitoring and evaluation and relevant connected fields;
• Good knowledge of NGOs and other local development agencies will be considered as an asset;
• Familiarity with persons with disabilities, vision and hearing impairment in particular
• Good communication and social skills;

Job application procedure
All interested candidates who fulfill the requirements can send their CVs+ relevant certificates and motivation letter (hard copies) to RUB Office located in Nyarugenge District, Muhima Sector, Poids-Lourd road not later than 30/05/2018 by 4 pm.