MCC Uganda Representative

Term:

4-6 years

Date Opened:

September 25, 2009

Date Required:

June 1, 2010

Full Time Equivalent:

1.0 - 2.0

Synopsis:

An emphasis on building and maintaining relationships among and with partners, while embodying a passion for the gospel of peace, is key to the MCC Uganda Representative’s success as a leader. The Representative assumes full responsibility for MCC’s presence and work in Uganda, including planning, coordination and reporting, and is a vital part of MCC’s ministry in the East Africa Region. He/she reports to the MCC East Africa Associate Directors in Nairobi and links to other relevant departments within MCC, supervises service workers and national staff, and builds/maintains relationships with local partners. The role combines relational with administrative tasks.

Qualifications:

1. Bachelors degree in social science, international studies, peacebuilding or other relevant field.

2. Successful Experience in programmatic and financial planning and administration, budgeting, program monitoring and reporting, and personnel supervision

3. 3-5 years international experience with MCC or a similar organization, preferably in an African context

4. Strong relational skills, including a demonstrated ability to listen and give counsel within own culture (service workers) and cross culturally (partners) and facilitate group processes

5. Demonstrated communication skills, both oral and written - effective writer (reports, letters, articles) and speaker

6. Demonstrated competence in word processing, database and spreadsheet software and able to learn MCC financial software and planning database

7. Ability to travel 15 – 25% of the time

8. Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and respectfully with local partners and church leaders. Ability to offer hospitality to workers, MCC visitors and partners

Strongly Preferred:

1. Background and interest in theology, theory and practice of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, restorative justice, mediation and reconciliation

2. Skill in maintaining human networks, compiling resources and research

3. Background/training in either education, public health, or international development

4. Demonstrated competence in learning languages

5. Experience in computer file management and networks.

Assignment Description:

Uganda's post-independence history has been marred by the violent insecurity of successive political regimes which saw perhaps a million Ugandans killed in two decades of terror. MCC began work in Uganda in 1979 after the overthrow of Idi Amin. In the earliest years the program focused on short-term reconstruction efforts with Anglican diocesan partners in north, central and west Uganda. After the installation of the National Resistance Movement (under the current president) in 1986, Uganda has had uneven 'development' with the central and western parts of the country having peace and security and opportunity; while the northern and eastern areas continue to be affected by various rounds of armed conflict, the longest being in the central north against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Until 2006, 1.8 million people were in camps for internally displaced persons. A peace agreement was forged in 2008, but the LRA has never signed it, has retreated to DRC and Sudan, and continues atrocities against civilians in those countries, but not currently in Uganda. The north and east are struggling to recover from 20 years of war; literacy rates are lower than in other parts of Uganda, poverty is more severe, and the effects of trauma are very evident. The Karamoja region is the least developed part of the country, and MCC’s presence there is growing. HIV/AIDS has also had an impact on the country with a large number of people affected. People struggle to educate their children as a means to enhance their future opportunities for survival within the Ugandan and global context. Program:

The MCC Uganda program is based on a concern for peace and reconciliation with a focus on supporting activities with partners that relate to Peacebuilding, HIV/AIDS, Education, and occasionally Relief. The 2009 Program Review affirmed this focus. By January 2010, MCC Uganda will have 8 service workers, 3 national staff and 1 SALTer, serving churches, schools and community organizations, primarily in northern and eastern Uganda. MCC has 19 active partnerships and a number of other relationships with local NGOs, and participates in IVEP each year. This program has also been the midwife for MCC’s involvement with the Africa Great Lakes Initiative, a regional effort to deepen the theology and praxis of reconciliation. MCC Uganda generally does not implement projects, but works at supporting and strengthening local churches, organizations and communities. MCC also supports exchanges among people of different communities and religious faiths within Uganda. MCC's main resources are the values which the parent organization represents and models, a consultative, networking approach to work, personnel, and grants. An Advisory Committee of 6-8 Ugandan advisors meets regularly and gives counsel to the program.

Role:

The Uganda Representative (MCC Rep) is a service worker with leadership responsibilities, who represents MCC and its constituency to Uganda, and Uganda to MCC and its constituency. The Representative supervises all other MCC workers in Uganda, and is a link between MCC workers and the national organizations to whom they are seconded. The Representative is responsible for regular reporting to supervisors, and participates in the twice-yearly East Africa Regional Meetings of MCC Representatives. The Representative is supervised by the Associate Director for East Africa, who is based in Nairobi. The work necessitates frequent travel within Uganda and the region (minimum one week/month).

Duties:

These duties require 2 persons to accomplish. If, at the time of placement, MCC has been able to hire additional national administrative staff, several of these duties will be shifted to them.

Administration:

1 Oversee MCC Uganda Office:

2. Manage MCC Uganda budget and financial reporting:

3. Plan and coordinate meetings and program visits:

4. Prepare reports and maintain documentation for MCC Africa Department:

Comment: If funds allow, MCC Uganda will have a logistics officer in place before the new Representative arrives, and some administration duties can be shifted to that officer.

Program planning/development:

1. Use MCC planning tools to develop a 5-year strategic plan and annual country plans, in consultation with Advisors, Team, and Partners. 2009 Program Review Report Recommendations will form the basis of this planning.

2. Monitor or implement all activities related to MCC's funding assistance to partners, including identifying and selecting partners, working on project design and development with the partner, formulating agreements, monitoring, evaluation, and progress and completion reports. Empowerment, not control, is MCC Uganda’s means of carrying out these partner interactions.

3. Make regular visits to relevant partners as part of the annual planning process.

4. Convene regular meetings with the local advisory committee to discuss options/proposals for personnel placement and grant funding and other issues.

5. Plan for and lead quarterly team meetings as part of ongoing planning processes.

6. Prepare and submit to formal program plans and budgets using Plan/Win database.

Comment: The 2009 Program Review Report will be a great help in the program planning and implementation work, especially in the first year or two of the Representative’s assignment.

Worker Support:

1. Identify and support all worker placements:

2. Lead the MCC Uganda worker group and facilitate group life

Comment: MCC Uganda currently has a strong, cohesive team, mutually supportive, tolerant of each others’ foibles, dealing well with differences, and good systems are in place for maintaining the team.

Representation:

1. Maintain MCC relationships with local churches, organizations and government, with special attention to new relationships or partners without an MCC seconded worker.

2. Become knowledgeable on Ugandan and East African history, culture, political realities, as well as MCC Uganda history, and be able to present that knowledge in public fora.

Location Description:

Current country representatives live in a single-family residence in Bukoto, Kampala and the MCC office is 2 kms from the home, in Kamwokya. The city centre is another 2 kms west. Kampala sits near Lake Victoria and is the government and commercial hub of Uganda, with an expanding population of over two million people, most of them dwelling in informal housing or slums. It was once considered the most attractive city in East Africa but suffered badly during the years of unrest before 1986 when current President Yoweri Museveni came to power. The last few years have seen a major "face-lift" and though roads and the rare traffic light are not consistently maintained, this city of twenty-three hills has beautiful greenery and renovated buildings and is developing into a modern country capital, with a "small town" feel.

Most amenities and consumer items are available including modern communication facilities (internet and email, mobile phones) electricity and water supply. Uganda’s overall climate is sub-tropical, and Kampala has a very comfortable climate, so that life without either air conditioning or heat is the norm. The north and northeast are hotter, and southwest and west Uganda can be cold at certain times of the year.

Kampala has several international schools using English-medium instruction, offering International Baccalaureate or British curricula, including one near the current Representative’s home. There are modern hospitals and clinics, with more sophisticated medical treatment available in Nairobi, Kenya. Public transportation within Kampala is readily available, and buses upcountry are also frequent. The Catholic and Anglican denominations of Christianity are most prominent, but there are also many Pentecostal and independent “born-again” churches, and there will be many churches to choose from in selecting a church home. 15% of Uganda practices Islam. Uganda is a nation of many languages, both Bantu and Nilotic, although English is the only official language. Luganda, Lusoga, Runyoro, Acholi, Lango, Ateso and ngaKarimojong are spoken by MCC Uganda partners, with Luganda being predominant in Kampala. Swahili is being officially proposed as a second national language.

Challenges:

Life in Kampala is similar to life in other large urban centers in Africa, and while generally peaceful includes traffic jams, sometimes irregular electricity, some communication systems irregularities, and petty thievery. Kampala residents must be aware of their personal safety, keeping vehicles and homes locked, protecting items carried on the streets. Most theft is a “crime of opportunity” and can be avoided with care. Armed robbery is rare in the areas of Kampala where the MCC office is located and the current Representative residence is located.

Malaria, typhoid and bilharzia are common infectious diseases, and HIV prevalence is 8.6%. All are preventable diseases with precaution and prophylactic medication. As a large, congested city with many roads still unpaved and many citizens using charcoal for cooking fuel, Kampala does have air pollution, but relative to other large cities it is not unmanageable.

Political instability waxes and wanes with elections. The next electoral process is scheduled for 2011, and many MCC partners are predicting heightened political violence unless significant electoral reforms, mandated by the Constitutional Court after the 2006 elections, are undertaken. Such violence generally does not target the international community, but rather the politically active, unemployed Ugandan youth or office holders in the opposition political parties.

MCC Uganda Representative in Kampala, Uganda