Millennium Challenge Account
The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA-Lesotho II) is an entity established by the Government to act as the accountable entity to implement the Compact, with the authority to bind the Government with regard to all Program activities.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) awards eligible countries with fixed-amount, fixed-term (five year) grants (“compacts”) for a defined set of projects aimed at reducing poverty through economic growth. Country ownership of compacts is a core part of MCC’s model and influences a great deal of MCC’s work. MCC supports this through the assembly of a local team of professionals for each compact, typically called a “Millennium Challenge Account” or “MCA”, charged with compact implementation and overseen locally by a Board of Directors. MCC believes that the performance of MCA-Lesotho II staff has a significant impact on the efficiency, effectiveness, quality of compact implementation, and ultimately on the results that the compacts achieve.
Lesotho Compact
The Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact aims to benefit 2.5 million people by growing, strengthening, and organizing the private sector in Lesotho and improving the government’s coordination to deliver critical services necessary to support private sector development. It will achieve this goal through investments in Health System Strengthening and Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture, providing sustainable income for smallholders and increasing climate resilience by replacing rain-fed subsistence farming with irrigated commercial horticulture in select locations. The GOL committed to passing several key reforms that will help make this compact successful, including reforms that address gender equality, working conditions and worker safety, as well as land and water rights. Each of the compact’s four projects focus on overcoming barriers to the economic inclusion of women, youth, and the rural poor.
Position Objective
The Social Development Officer will engage with and assist community members who hold land within the community to provide advice and support, especially to women and disadvantaged groups, who may be at risk of dispossession, exploitation, exclusion, or other harm from the allocation, registration, and transaction of land rights and land-related activities. The role will also involve collecting and analyzing data about social matters related to land rights and livelihoods related to land to ensure that people’s social development needs are being met and followed up on.
Duties and Responsibilities
• Assist and support vulnerable women, men, youth, and households with securing and protecting their land rights for enumeration, allocation, adjudication, realignment, and/or registration of land in the Rural Land Registration System at the Community Council and District Council, and the Lease Deeds Registry at the Land Administration Authority, or for any other land-related purpose.
• Provide quality assurance through oversight, monitoring, and random enquiry, on all communitylevel land rights activities including enumeration, land adjudication, allocation, registration and land realignment activities, to safeguard the rights of women (including widows and female headed households), and vulnerable persons and households.
• Collect and contribute to the collection of gender- and disadvantage-disaggregated socioeconomic data across the community. Provide analysis to identify cases or persons who may require additional support or advice that ensures inclusion and safeguarding of their land rights and land-based livelihoods and make referrals to appropriate support services for non-land related needs (e.g. social services) or land rights related disputes that require legal support.
• Identify vulnerable persons and households throughout the community, according to accepted criteria for determining social and economic vulnerability in rural Lesotho, to assess, monitor and track (e.g. using a participant journey map) their social development progress, providing advice and support on land-related livelihoods when needed.
• Contribute and report insights that might inform adaptation of the social development role and processes in rural communities.
• Advise the Local Allocation Committee and Community Council on land-related and broader social development matters and liaise with local community groups and other development agencies in implementing community development programs.
• Participate in community-level meetings, workshops, community gatherings, community dialogues, campaigns, and promote the mainstreaming of the perspectives, rights and interests of women or disadvantaged groups who may be vulnerable to harm.
• Support public awareness and information dissemination activities at the local level, providing input into communications and outreach materials and channels that promote the perspective of women and those who may be vulnerable.
• Assist communities in locating and organizing local resources to carry out initiatives.
• Laise with other MCA-L contractors working in livelihood restoration especially Resettlement and livelihood service (RLS).
Requirements (Education, Experience, Technical Competencies)
• As a minimum, at least a Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE), but preferably also a tertiary education qualification such as an AS Certificate, Technical Education Certificate, or Diploma.
• A good understanding of rural development issues, customary land tenure, and land rights in Lesotho, preferably including some knowledge of social and economic vulnerability criteria used in Lesotho (for example, those which are used by social services), and also knowledge of the other services that might exist to support vulnerable persons for referrals.
• At least five (5) years of post-qualification work experience with at least one (1) year in a rural community work role and preferably some experience in social development work.
• Able to effectively counsel and provide accurate, appropriate and situation-specific advice about land rights, land livelihoods, and broader social development matters to community members.
• Analytical, well-organized, and self-motivated, with ability to work independently or as part of a diverse team of specialists and non-specialists.
• Capable of developing the communication channels between the community and contractors
• Good interpersonal and listening skills with a high level of empathy.
• Effective oral and written communication, both in Sesotho and English, with the capacity to engage government, civil society and community audiences.
• Competency in spoken and written Sesotho and English.
• Code B driving license.
This Position Description is subject to revisions/updates as necessary to ensure alignment to the organization’s strategic direction and structure. Revisions to the description are subject to applicable Human Resources policies and procedures, and Human Resources maintain official versions of each Position Description.
How to apply
Complete applications must be submitted on-line, on or before 3rd January 2025
Follow the following steps to apply:
Go to: https://mcalesotho.org.ls/jobs/
