Programme Officer - Based

Role Overview

This position anchors Johanniter’s field presence in Kakuma, Turkana West, and serves as the main day-to-day link between the country office in Nairobi and the local partner organisations delivering the TRUST project. The officer works directly with partners across the nutrition, water/sanitation/hygiene, and food security/livelihoods sectors, helping to turn project plans into tangible progress on the ground. The role exists to keep implementation on schedule, financially sound, and accountable to both donor rules and the refugee and host communities the project exists to serve.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical and operational support to partner teams implementing TRUST activities, with a focus on quality, timeliness and budget adherence.
• Conduct regular monitoring visits to project sites (at least three times per week) alongside partners, observing activities and giving constructive, actionable feedback to improve delivery.
• Support the programme manager in reviewing partner narrative reports, monthly budget versus actual expenditure analyses, and activity data to ensure accurate tracking of results.
• Work with the PMEAL team and partners to carry out needs assessments, baselines, evaluations, and to refine indicators, theories of change and logical frameworks for current and future proposals.
• Embed cross-cutting priorities such as gender sensitivity, disability inclusion, and community participation into every phase of project implementation.
• Facilitate partner coordination meetings, project inception and closing workshops, quarterly reviews, and reflective learning sessions with partners to strengthen collaboration and shared accountability.
• Support partner due diligence, including mapping, selection, vetting and periodic capacity-strengthening needs analysis in areas like finance, procurement, logistics, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Help partners establish complaint and feedback mechanisms for communities, and gather success stories, case studies, photographs and other documentation for internal learning and donor reporting.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Community Development, Public Health, Agriculture, or a related field from a recognised institution.
• At least three years of relevant experience with humanitarian assistance or development programmes, preferably involving direct collaboration with partner organisations.
• Demonstrated familiarity with nutrition, WASH, food security and livelihoods programming in displacement or vulnerable host community settings.
• Solid grasp of MEAL frameworks, project cycle management, and donor compliance expectations, with proven experience applying these concepts to real projects.
• Knowledge of international standards such as SPHERE and the Core Humanitarian Standard is an advantage.
• Strong written and verbal English skills; fluency in English is mandatory and local languages are a plus.
• Culturally aware, adaptable, and comfortable operating in hardship environments with frequent field travel and limited amenities.
• Highly organised, able to meet deadlines, and attentive to detail in reporting, data handling and documentation.