Project Officer

TERM OF REFERENCE (TOR) FOR NEW PROJECT STAFF

1. Project context

PAPDA will implement a two-month, government-coordinated anticipatory action intervention to reduce the humanitarian impacts of riverine and flash flooding in Chereti and Dolobay woredas of Afder Zone. The project responds to rising flood risk associated with the river systems, existing displacement and livelihood losses, damaged infrastructure, and the possibility of further flooding. It combines community-based disaster risk reduction and early warning, household water treatment, preparedness for multipurpose cash transfers (MPCT), and emergency shelter and non-food item (ES/NFI) assistance. The Project Officers will lead day-to-day field implementation in their assigned woredas, working with local authorities and communities.

1. Purpose of the position

The Project Officer is responsible for coordinating and delivering the project activities in the assigned woreda, ensuring that implementation is timely, technically sound, inclusive, accountable, and consistent with the approved proposal, budget, donor requirements, PAPDA policies, and ET-RRM activation arrangements. The officer will maintain close coordination with the Project Manager, woreda authorities, community structures, and relevant humanitarian partners.

1. Key duties and responsibilities

A. Planning, coordination and implementation

• Prepare and update a woreda-level activity plan, procurement and distribution schedule, movement plan, and implementation tracker in consultation with the Project Manager and local authorities.
• Coordinate regularly with the Woreda Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Office, sector offices, kebele administrations, community structures, and ET-RRM partners; participate in relevant coordination meetings and share timely, verified updates.
• Support government-led flood preparedness and evacuation planning, including the identification of priority communities, safe routes, assembly points, and referral needs, as directed by the responsible authorities.
• Ensure that project activities are implemented in line with the approved workplan, budget, technical standards, procurement procedures, security protocols, and donor and PAPDA requirements.

B. Flood preparedness and early warning

• Strengthen community-based early-warning dissemination through existing DRM structures, early-warning committees, religious and community leaders, and accessible communication channels.
• Help verify flood-risk information and ensure that warning messages are timely, accurate, understandable, and accessible to women, older people, persons with disabilities, and other at-risk groups.
• Organize and document community-led mitigation activities, including sandbag placement, drainage clearing, and protection of vulnerable riverbanks, access routes, and community infrastructure.
• Coordinate woreda-level preparedness meetings and document decisions, assigned actions, and follow-up with government counterparts.

C. WASH and household assistance readiness

• Support transparent identification, registration, verification, and community validation of flood-exposed households for household water-treatment support, MPCT readiness, and ES/NFI assistance, using approved vulnerability criteria and avoiding duplication.
•  Coordinate procurement requests, receipt, quality checks, safe storage, stock records, and distribution planning for water-treatment chemicals and approved flood protection and ES/NFI items.
• Oversee distribution of water-treatment chemicals to eligible households and provide or coordinate practical guidance on correct dosage, safe treatment, and water storage.
• Maintain updated beneficiary lists and supporting records, including consent and data-protection safeguards, and promptly address inclusion or exclusion concerns.

D. MPCT and ES/NFI activation procedures

• Support rapid market and financial service provider assessments and prepare operational arrangements for MPCT, including beneficiary verification, payment preparation, and coordination with relevant authorities and service providers.
• Maintain readiness to assist  vulnerable households across the two woredas with MPCT and ES/NFI assistance.

E. Accountability, protection and safeguarding

• Mainstream gender, age, disability inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and protection considerations across assessments, targeting, communication, mitigation activities, and assistance delivery.
• Ensure communities understand eligibility criteria, assistance entitlements, timing, and available feedback channels; support accessible, confidential, and safe complaints and feedback mechanisms.
• Apply PAPDA’s safeguarding, PSEA, child protection, anti-fraud, and data-protection requirements; promptly report safeguarding concerns through established confidential channels.
• Facilitate safe referrals for health, nutrition, food, protection, disability, or other needs outside the project scope, with informed consent and confidentiality.

F. Monitoring, reporting and resource management

• Conduct routine field monitoring and data quality checks; maintain accurate activity, beneficiary, distribution, stock, referral, complaint, and coordination records, disaggregated by sex, age, and disability where feasible and appropriate.
• Prepare concise weekly updates and timely narrative inputs, indicator tracking, success stories, lessons learned, and incident or risk reports for the Project Manager.
• Track activity progress against the approved plan and targets, identify delays or implementation risks early, and recommend practical corrective actions.
• Ensure supporting documentation is complete and submitted on time, including attendance sheets, minutes, assessment forms, delivery notes, distribution lists, photographs where consent is obtained, and monitoring checklists.
• Coordinate with logistics, procurement, finance, and MEAL colleagues to ensure that requests, goods received, field expenditure, and supporting documents are accurate and comply with PAPDA procedures.
• Protect project assets and records and support an orderly handover of     Protect project assets and records and support an orderly handover of supplies, information, preparedness materials, and community arrangements to the relevant local institutions at project close.

Key deliverables

• Woreda-level implementation and movement plans aligned with the approved project workplan.
• Community early-warning dissemination and flood mitigation activities completed and documented.
• Verified, securely maintained beneficiary records and distribution plans for approved WASH assistance and activation-dependent MPCT and ES/NFI support.
• Pre-positioned stock, Distribution, referral, feedback, and monitoring records maintained and submitted in accordance with project procedures.
• Weekly progress updates and timely inputs to donor and management reports, including results, challenges, risks, and corrective actions.