GESI, Safeguarding and GRM Officer - Pemcoa Foundation

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Pemcoa Foundation is a registered Ghanaian non-governmental organisation committed to building inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities where every person has the opportunity to thrive. The Foundation works with children, women, youth, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups, and vulnerable households to promote equal opportunities, improve livelihoods, and strengthen community resilience.

Pemcoa Foundation’s work focuses on sustainable agriculture, food security, environmental resilience, climate action, clean energy, crisis response, health, education, child protection, women’s economic empowerment, gender equality, and social inclusion.

Through partnerships with communities, civil society organisations, government institutions, traditional authorities, private sector actors, and development partners, Pemcoa Foundation designs and implements practical, community-driven programmes that address poverty, inequality, exclusion, and environmental vulnerability.

Position Summary

Pemcoa Foundation is seeking to recruit a committed, field-oriented, and technically competent GESI, Safeguarding and GRM Officer to support the operational delivery of gender equality and social inclusion, safeguarding, prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, complaint handling, referrals, and grievance redress mechanisms.

The role will be based in Wa, with frequent travel to districts and communities. The successful candidate will work closely with field teams, community focal persons, district stakeholders, and management to ensure that all field activities are inclusive, safe, accountable, and responsive to community concerns.

This position requires a mature and discreet professional with strong community engagement skills, good understanding of safeguarding and accountability principles, ability to communicate effectively in local languages, and capacity to handle sensitive information with confidentiality and professionalism.

Role Purpose

The GESI, Safeguarding and GRM Officer will support the implementation of practical systems that promote inclusion, prevent harm, strengthen community accountability, and ensure that complaints and grievances are received, documented, referred, followed up, and closed through approved procedures.

The role will also support the participation of women, youth, persons with disabilities, vulnerable groups, and marginalized community members across field activities.

Key Responsibilities

1. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Support

• The Officer will support the integration of gender equality and social inclusion across field activities. This will include tracking the participation of women, youth, persons with disabilities, vulnerable households, and marginalized groups in community meetings, trainings, consultations, demonstration activities, and other field engagements.
• The role holder will work with field teams to identify barriers to participation and propose practical measures to improve inclusion, access, voice, and safety for all target groups.

2. Safeguarding and PSEAH Sensitisation

• The successful candidate will support the delivery of safeguarding, accountability, and PSEAH sensitisation sessions for staff, field teams, community focal persons, volunteers, local leaders, and community members.
• The Officer will help explain reporting channels, expected standards of conduct, prohibited behaviours, rights of participants, and available complaint mechanisms in clear and accessible language. Where necessary, sensitisation will be conducted in relevant local languages to ensure community understanding.

3. Complaint Handling and Grievance Redress Mechanisms

• The Officer will support the establishment and maintenance of safe, accessible, and confidential complaint and feedback channels at community and field levels.
• This will include receiving complaints, documenting grievances, maintaining basic case-tracking records, supporting acknowledgement processes, and ensuring that complaints are handled according to approved procedures.
• The role holder will ensure that complaint channels are known to community members, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.

4. Referral, Follow-Up, and Closure Tracking

• The Officer will support appropriate referrals for complaints or cases requiring specialised services, including protection, psychosocial support, health, legal, social welfare, or other relevant support services.
• The role holder will track referrals, follow-up actions, closure status, and unresolved issues while maintaining strict confidentiality and survivor-centred principles. Sensitive cases must be escalated promptly through approved internal procedures.

5. Training of Field and Community Focal Persons

• The Officer will support the training and orientation of field staff, community focal persons, volunteers, and local actors on safeguarding principles, reporting channels, codes of conduct, complaint handling procedures, confidentiality, referral pathways, and responsible community engagement.
• The role holder will also provide routine coaching and technical support to ensure that focal persons understand their roles and limits, especially in relation to confidentiality, referral, and escalation.

6. Safeguarding Compliance and Spot Checks

• The Officer will conduct routine spot checks during field activities to assess compliance with safeguarding, inclusion, accountability, and grievance redress standards.
• This will include checking whether community members are aware of reporting channels, whether participation is inclusive, whether staff and volunteers follow codes of conduct, and whether activity environments are safe and respectful.
• The Officer will document findings, flag risks, and recommend corrective actions to field leadership and management.

7. Case Documentation and Confidential Records Management

• The Officer will maintain confidential complaint records, referral notes, case-tracking tools, incident logs, and follow-up documentation in line with approved procedures.
• The role holder must ensure that sensitive information is securely stored, shared only with authorised persons, and handled in a manner that protects complainants, survivors, witnesses, staff, and community members from harm, retaliation, stigma, or exposure.

8. Community Accountability and Feedback

• The Officer will support mechanisms that allow community members to provide feedback on activities, raise concerns, ask questions, and receive responses.
• The role holder will help ensure that feedback from communities is documented, analysed, and shared with relevant teams to improve implementation quality and community trust.

9. Coordination with Field Teams and Technical Specialists

• The Officer will work closely with the Senior Agriculture and Field Operations Lead, district teams, MEL and Knowledge Management Officer, Data Management, GIS and Analytics Officer, and senior safeguarding specialist to ensure that safeguarding, inclusion, and grievance redress are properly integrated into field implementation.
• The Officer will provide regular updates on inclusion trends, safeguarding risks, complaints received, referral status, community feedback, and actions taken.

Required Skills or Experience

Qualifications and Experience

Applicants must have:

• A degree or diploma in Social Work, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Community Development, Sociology, Psychology, Human Rights, Public Health, or a related field.
• At least four years of relevant professional experience in safeguarding, gender equality and social inclusion, protection, community development, social work, accountability systems, grievance redress mechanisms, or development programming.
• Practical experience supporting complaint handling, referral systems, community feedback mechanisms, or case-tracking processes.
• Good understanding of safeguarding, PSEAH, confidentiality, survivor-centred approaches, informed consent, and ethical handling of sensitive information.
• Experience working with women, youth, persons with disabilities, children, vulnerable households, and marginalized communities.
• Experience engaging community leaders, district actors, social welfare structures, health facilities, protection actors, and local service providers.
• Strong facilitation, community sensitisation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prepare simple reports, field notes, referral updates, complaint logs, and inclusion tracking summaries.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong ability to speak one or more relevant local languages in the Upper West Region.

Competencies

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong integrity, discretion, confidentiality, and professional judgement.
• Ability to handle sensitive complaints calmly, respectfully, and appropriately.
• Good understanding of gender equality, social inclusion, safeguarding, PSEAH, and community accountability.
• Strong community engagement and facilitation skills.
• Ability to communicate clearly with diverse groups, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, traditional leaders, and community members.
• Strong field orientation and willingness to travel frequently to districts and communities.
• Ability to work with field teams while maintaining safeguarding independence and confidentiality.
• Good documentation, follow-up, and records management skills.
• Ability to identify risks early and escalate sensitive cases through approved procedures.
• Commitment to dignity, respect, non-discrimination, and do-no-harm principles.

Language

• Strong ability to communicate in one or more relevant Upper West Region languages is required. Knowledge of Dagaare, Waali, Sissali, Birifor or Lobi will be an added advantage.

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