Program Officer – Livelihood
Country/Region: Uganda
Location: Kasese
Organization: Save the Children International
Join us to lead sustainable change for children:
- Be part of a GLOBAL and DIVERSE technical community
- Get EXPOSURE in many different contexts
- Test and scale up INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
- Influence policies that affect MILLIONS OF CHILDREN
OVERVIEW
Are you passionate about being an advocate for children? Do you want to use your expertise to bring about lasting change for children and be a part of an inspiring, dynamic global movement?
ROLE PURPOSE:
The Livelihoods Officer will lead the implementation of Objective 4 of the IPEECL project: "Rural households and communities demonstrate strengthened livelihoods and resilience through diversified and sustainable economic opportunities." The role focuses on addressing the economic drivers of child labour by empowering vulnerable households, youth, and farmer groups with financial literacy, access to savings and credit, livelihood diversification skills, and shock-responsive mechanisms. The officer will ensure that households can cope with economic and climate shocks without resorting to child labour. The post holder will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager, with technical oversight from the Livelihoods and Climate Adaptive Programming Specialist (Country Office), and will coordinate closely with the Child Protection Officer, Private Sector Engagement Officer, and MEAL Officer.
Sounds interesting? Read more below
THE ROLE
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
1. Livelihoods Program Implementation (Objective 4)
a) Farmer Cooperative and Producer Group Strengthening
- Mobilize and support farmers to form or join smallholder producer associations and cooperatives (Activity 4.1.1).
- Facilitate training on collective marketing, bargaining power, and access to agricultural inputs.
- Link farmer groups to existing government extension services and private-sector buyers.
b) Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance.
- Identify and map existing financial service providers in target sub-counties (SACCOs, MFIs, banks, government schemes).
- Link vulnerable households and youth to government funding opportunities (PDM, Emyooga, Women Empowerment Fund, Operation Wealth Creation) (Activity 4.1.2).
- Conduct financial literacy training for households and youth groups (Activity 4.1.5 and 4.2.1).
c) Youth Skills Development and Employment Pathways.
- Identify, mobilize, and refer out-of-school children and youth engaged in child labour to viable vocational training centres (Activity 4.1.3).
- Coordinate delivery of Life Skills for Success training for youth withdrawn from child labour (Activity 4.1.4).
- Support youth who complete vocational training to access start-up capital, enterprise development support, or decent wage employment (Activity 4.1.6).
- Track and document youth transition pathways from training to employment or self-employment.
d) Livelihood Diversification.
- Train and provide starter kits for vulnerable households in climate-resilient, diversified livelihood options (e.g., beekeeping, mushroom cultivation, small livestock, improved poultry, horticulture) as a buffer against coffee income volatility.
- Ensure diversification activities are aligned with market demand and environmental sustainability.
e) Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) with Anticipatory Funds.
- Establish and train 120 VSLA groups across target sub-counties (Activity 4.2.2).
- Integrate an anticipatory fund mechanism within each VSLA to provide emergency loans or grants during shocks (drought, flood, crop failure, illness, price crash).
- Train VSLA leadership on governance, record-keeping, and fund management.
f) Shock-Responsive Cash Transfers.
- Identify and verify households eligible for shock-responsive cash transfers during emergencies (Activity 4.2.3).
- Coordinate with the MEAL team to conduct post-distribution monitoring (Activity 4.2.4).
- Ensure cash transfers are linked to child protection outcomes (e.g., preventing school withdrawal or child labour during crises).
2. Cross-Objective Integration (with Child Protection & Private Sector)
- Work closely with the Child Protection Officer to ensure that households receiving livelihoods support are those with children identified as at-risk of or engaged in child labour.
- Coordinate with the Private Sector Engagement Officer to link farmer cooperatives and youth enterprises to ethical buyers and certification schemes, (Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade).
- Participate in joint household visits to assess economic vulnerability and develop integrated case plans.
- Ensure that livelihoods interventions are gender-sensitive (targeting women-headed households) and disability-inclusive.
3. Monitoring, Documentation, and Reporting
- Collect and maintain accurate dat-orienelihoods indicators as per the logframe.
- Document success stories, case studies, and lessons learned from livelihoods interventions.
- Contribute to monthly, quarterly, and annual donor reports.
- Participate in baseline and endline household surveys conducted by the MEAL team.
- Support the MEAL team in post-distribution monitoring and VSLA functionality assessments.
4. Coordination, Partnerships, and Capacity Building.
- Establish and maintain relationships with:
- Local government: Sub-county production officers, community development officers (CDOs), district commercial officers.
- Financial service providers: SACCOs, MFIs, Post Bank, Stanbic Bank, and government scheme officers (PDM, Emyooga).
- Private sector: Coffee exporters, input dealers, processors, and certified buyer programs.
- Training institutions: Vocational training centres, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) providers.
- Represent SCI in district-level livelihoods working groups and coordination meetings.
- Train VSLA mentors and community-based volunteers on savings group methodology, anticipatory funds, and child labour linkages.
- Build the capacity of partner CSOs and farmer cooperative leaders on financial literacy, enterprise development, and shock-responsive programming.
To be a strong supporter and advocate for children in this role you will need to have:
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential
- At least bachelor’s degree in agriculture economics, Agribusiness, Development Economics, Rural Development, Business Administration, Social Sciences, or a related field. Master's degree in a relevant discipline (desirable).
- At least 3 years of experience implementing livelihoods, resilience, or economic strengthening projects with an NGO, government, or private sector.
- Experience working in coffee-growing communities or agricultural value chains (desirable).
- Demonstrated experience establishing and training VSLAs, savings groups, or cooperatives.
- Experience with digital savings group platforms (desirable).
- Experience implementing cash or voucher assistance (CVA), preferably shock-responsive or humanitarian cash.
- CALP-certified in cash and voucher assistance (desirable).
- Experience delivering vocational skills training, life skills, or enterprise development for youth employment.
- Experience with the Life Skills for Success common approach (desirable).
- Awareness of the link between household poverty, economic shocks, and child labour.
- Previous experience on child labour prevention projects (desirable).
- Ability to train adults and youth on savings, budgeting, loans, and financial planning.
- Communication skills: Excellent oral and written English; ability to communicate in Lukonzo or Rutooro (languages of Kasese is desirable).
- Experience facilitating participatory training for farmers, youth, and community groups. Reporting Skills.
- Strong documentation and report-writing skills. Computer Literacy.
- Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). Experience with mobile data collection (KoboCollect, ODK is desirable). Logistics.
- Valid motorcycle riding permit and willingness to ride to remote communities. Commitment to safeguarding:
- Understanding of child safeguarding and PSEA principles.
Application Information:
Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at https://hcri.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Application closes on May 22, 2026, midnight Uganda time.
Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to employ and assign the best qualified talent, persons with disabilities and female candidates are encouraged to apply.
Disclaimer: Save the Children International does not charge any kind of fee at whichever stage of the recruitment process and does not act through recruitment agents.
OUR DIVERSITY BELIEF
Save the Children International is committed to create a truly inclusive, effective and representative organisational culture, encouraging equity and diversity among its employees and eliminating unlawful discrimination. We want our people to be truly representative of all sections of society. Having a diverse profile of employees, different age groups, backgrounds, cultures, & disabilities etc. We are guided by our values in everything we do and recognise that being a diverse and inclusive employer helps us fulfil our responsibility to make a difference for children around the world.
