Job Description

About MCA The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S. government corporation focused on assisting countries dedicated to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in people. In May 2022, MCC signed a five-year agreement (“Compact”) with the Government of Lesotho (GoL) aimed at poverty reduction through inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the country.

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.

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 (HSS), strengthening of the business environment, and Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH), providing sustainable income for smallholders and increasing climate resilience by replacing rain-fed subsistence farming with irrigated commercial horticulture in select locations.

The GoL is 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. All of the Compact’s projects focus on overcoming barriers to the economic inclusion of women, youth, and the rural poor.

Market-Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH) Project The MDIH Project’s objective is to increase rural incomes related to commercial agriculture, including for women, youth, and the rural poor, and establish a sustainable and inclusive model of irrigation, water resource, and land management. The project provides extensive technical assistance and investments in institutional reforms and capacity building of both the GoL and beneficiaries of the project’s investment in irrigation infrastructure to develop a successful and sustainable horticulture industry. The budget for this project is $118 million.

Position Objective The Stakeholder Engagement Manager (SEM), reporting to the ESP Director within the Office of the Millennium Challenge Account-Lesotho II (MCA-Lesotho II) provides substantive expertise to the MCA Project Directors, implementing partners and project stakeholders to conform with MCA-Lesotho II/MCC frameworks for proactive stakeholder engagement and grievance management of all Compact-funded activities. The SEM will ensure compliance of stakeholder engagement program activities and grievance management with relevant national environmental and social laws and regulations, MCC Environmental Guidelines and International Finance Corporation (IFC) performance standards for stakeholder engagement, and related aspects of the compact.

Key Responsibilities • Draft, manage, review and update the Compact Stakeholder Engagement Framework (SEF) on a regular basis; • Draft, manage, review and update the Compact grievance mechanism, developing a system to receive, respond to, track, and report on grievances, working with Project Directors, the GSI Director, the SBC Specialist, and other MCA staff and consultants to coordinate grievance feedback from across projects and activities on the Compact; • Draft, manage, review and update Stakeholder Engagement Plans (SEPs) and the associated Grievance Mechanisms (GMs) for each of the projects under the Compact (MDIH, BETA, and HSS); • Work closely with the ESP Director to ensure that stakeholder engagement plans and the associated grievance mechanisms comply with IFC Performance Standards, international best practice, and contribute to the overall Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) for the compact; • Ensure regular liaison with all relevant project functionaries within MCA-Lesotho II and consultants and contractors to ensure that the important compact components that require stakeholder notification and engagement are identified in a timely manner;
• Liaise with key stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender Youth Sports and Recreation, and other national and subnational government agencies, civil society, the private sector, and project affected populations, and MCC; • Review all relevant stakeholder communication being prepared by MCA-Lesotho II and consultants and contractors to ensure that it is accurate and compatible with the Compact SEF and the requisite message that the MCA-Lesotho II/MCC wishes to communicate to external parties; • Ensure that stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanism tasks are clearly articulated in Terms of Reference, Scopes of Work, and other documents that outline consultant roles and responsibilities vis a vis stakeholder engagement; • Review methods for stakeholder engagement and grievance management being undertaken by consultants and contractors to ensure that they are done in accordance with the Compact SEF, their scopes of work, and are culturally appropriate; • Assist the Communications Specialists with compilation of media briefing documents and participate, as required, in media briefing sessions and in broadcast media events; • Review all stakeholder engagement and grievance related records, notes and minutes produced within the MCA-Lesotho II and by the appointed service providers to ensure that they are of acceptable quality and have been produced in a timely manner; • Log and track all commitments made to stakeholders to ensure that actions that have been agreed upon are carried out in an appropriate and timely manner; • Participate in a review of stakeholder engagement components of key compact documents, including but not limited to documents related to engagements and agreements with small holder farmers, the Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), Environmental and Social Impact Assessments and Management Plans (ESIAs/ESMPs), Resettlement and Livelihoods Plans (RLPs), Health and Safety Management Plans (HSMPs), the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) risk management plan, etc., and ensure compliance with standards required by MCC and as expressed in Compact activities; • Work with the Environmental and Social Oversight Consultant (ESOC) to ensure adequate oversight and monitoring of the implementation of all stakeholder and grievance related activities funded by the Compact; • Support the ESOC with stakeholder engagement data management including ensuring accurate accounting and maintenance of data and records within the digital-ESMS and ArcGIS online platforms; • Monitor for non-conformances of stakeholder engagement and grievance management performance to ensure remedial measures and corrective actions are being identified and implemented in a timely manner. Support implementation of corrective actions when requested; • Support the ESP, GSI, and other Directors in undertaking any relevant additional stakeholder engagement and grievance management related tasks as and when required.

Qualifications and Experience • University degree in Social Sciences, Environmental Planning, Communications, or a similar discipline; • Seven (7) years of professional experience in sub-Saharan Africa in the stakeholder engagement sector; • Five (5) years demonstratable experience in the application of (a) Lesotho's environmental laws and regulations, in particular those relating to the stakeholder engagement; and (b) international industry best practices in stakeholder engagement, including the International Finance Corporation's environmental and social performance standards, the World Bank's operational policies/ESS, or other environmental and social safeguard procedures of multilateral or bilateral donors; • Four (4) years proven experience in planning and implementing stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanism management in infrastructure, agriculture, or similar projects;

Skills and Competencies • Good organizational and project administration skills; • Ability to travel to sites within Lesotho on a periodic basis; • Driver’s license; • Dynamic and experienced team member with proven experience as a team member; • Excellent communication skills in both English and Sesotho.

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