Stakeholder Relations Manager

Job title: Stakeholder Relations Manager

Type of Contract: 3 years Contract

Location: Northern Cape: Great Karoo

Uju Management Services seeks to appoint an experienced Stakeholder Relations Manager (Individual/Companies) to lead stakeholder engagement and community relations for Great Karoo Wind Farm in the Northern Cape Province South Africa. The Stakeholder Relations Manager will be responsible for building, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with government institutions, municipalities, project affected communities, and indigenous groups. SRM will facilitate stakeholder engagement processes that balance community needs with the company's operational goals and objectives, while fostering transparent and trust based relationships throughout the project lifecycle.

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to inclusive and sustainable development by providing oversight on economic development projects, facilitating effective communication, and managing grievances. The SRM will support the GK project from the construction phase, ensuring maximum local participation in both jobs and procurement opportunities arising from construction activities.

Job Responsibilities 1. Project Management

• Support the Engineering and Construction team as well as Sustainability Project Managers in all activities relevant in implementing the Economic Development Obligations (EDO) and Creating Shared Value Projects (CSV).
• Managing the Constructor's CLO's contribution to the project management functions.
• Support the GK construction team's operating processes and mandate, as required during construction phase guided by the Local Labour Policy, Local Procurement Policy, Implementation Agreement, the Operating Beneficiary Procedure (OPB), the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) and other prevailing organizational policies and procedures.
• Establish and facilitate community project management structures for project implementation, these including the Project Implementation Service Providers, Beneficiaries, Project Steering Committee, Local leadership structures, Government institutions and other partners.
• Source, collate and manage local community requests for funding and develop annual and quarterly program plans for EnD and SED, and present for approval.
• Facilitate and ensure establishment of Community Databases for Local Labour and Local Suppliers, ensuring timely updated and sharing with construction teams.
• Support in the project admin and procurement services - facilitating EOIs, quotes/invoices for contractors, CSV projects, EnD/SED projects, supplier registration etc.
• Monitor contractors for implementation of Labour and Procurement policy, and seek remedies where there is non compliance.
• Manage the pre implementation activities of CSV, EnD and SED initiatives, these including ensuring the beneficiary compliance with the criteria, collating beneficiary data, site visits the vetting of the beneficiaries presented for approval, the preview of site implementation readiness and requirements, coordination of implementation planning and arrangements.
• Manage the implementation activities of CSV, Enterprise Development (EnD) and Socio Economic Development (SED) initiatives, these including - inspection visits during deliveries, managing service providers - risk, scope and quality management on the project implemented, confirmation of completion and collating of delivery (project completion) evidence and all confirmations of project expense receipts per OPB.
• Travel to beneficiary sites to conduct regular oversight visits and Monitoring and Evaluation on funded projects, confirm utilisation and impact of benefits and quantify beneficiaries, as well as support beneficiaries as required.
• Report on the implementation of projects per reporting plan - CSV reports, UIP reports, Site Visit Reports, Implementation Reports, Lenders reports, Monthly reports, Community Feedback Reports etc.
• Constantly identify partners to collaborate with on various tasks, ensuring co design of projects with locals.
• Monitor project risks, identify issues, and provide recommendations.
• Oversee community and economic development initiatives funded or supported through Great Karoo CSV, EnD and SED projects.
• Ensure that quarterly spend targets are met (and create and implement strategies to avoid related risks - quality projects, complete information on time).

2. Stakeholder Management

• Support Great Karoo Farm in managing local community and broader stakeholders.
• Identify key stakeholders and key areas within scope for inclusion in the beneficiary base.
• Establish communication channels, plan and implement the Stakeholder consultation process.
• Manage the community relations for the Farm in line with the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) in as far as delivering the CSV, EDO, the Local Community Trust (LCT) and supporting the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of the Wind Farm.
• Drive awareness and support local community (beneficiary) participation in all project opportunities; funding (CSV, EnD and SED), procurement, and jobs, opportunities by proactively implementing the SEP process and actively participating in implementation of the projects.
• Develop and maintain channels to keep communities informed of available opportunities, eligibility requirements and process to participate, as well as provide timely feedback on progress.
• Implement the Stakeholder Engagement Plan and implement a stakeholder communication plan.
• Effectively manage grievances - implement the Grievance Mechanism by facilitating the awareness, receiving, recording, assignment of task to responsible teams, tracking of resolution and maintenance a comprehensive grievance register.
• Maintain contact with stakeholders, keep communication files, manage storage of communication evidence, generate and share reports with relevant stakeholders as defined in the reporting plan.
• Disseminate information on project activities to relevant stakeholders, and keep project updated on pertinent community matters.
• Support the Construction team in implementing the procurement processes (EOIs, Tenders etc) as well as recruitment processes targeted at local communities.
• Coordinate the Project Steering Committee (PSC) meetings and other communication platforms that contributes to the community participation.
• Participate in and contribute to the continuous process of gathering community needs, profiling and prioritising and generating program plans and reports like Community Needs Analysis.
• Responsible for implementing Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, ED Plan formulation and ensuring that all community stakeholder groups are kept abreast of all decisions and activities undertaken.
• Spearheading the processes of asset mapping and community needs analysis, program development and projects implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
• Coordinate and manage events around the Wind Farm community engagements and project events, including regular information sessions and project handover events.
• Managing the assigned Community Liaison Officers for the projects.

3. Reporting and Communication

• Monthly & Weekly reporting.
• Global reporting input.
• ED Plan Reporting - Community Feedback.
• IFC and Equator Principle Lenders reporting.
• Prepare and submit monthly and quarterly reports on stakeholder engagements and project activities.
• Report back to communities on how their concerns and suggestions are integrated into Economic Development (ED) plans.
• In partnership with PSC and SRM organise community meetings and events to introduce, report on and celebrate project progress.
• Collate all evidence on the implementation process.

Qualifications and Experience

• Preferably Bachelor's degree (or Diploma) in Social Sciences / Development Studies or a related field/business sciences/administration.
• Community or related Project management skills and Compliance reporting audit skills.
• Experience managing community relations in a construction environment.
• 3 to 5 years' experience in stakeholder engagement, community relations/projects, or social performance roles.
• Strong background in community development, community relations management, stakeholder mapping, data analysis, reporting and community development project management.
• Ability to coordinate meetings, inform agenda and compile reports.
• Lenders reporting/IFC & ESG standards on social performance.
• Good understanding, experience and willingness to participate in rural community development.
• Skills in managing and good understanding of Enterprise Development and Socio Economic Development projects.
• Proven ability to produce high quality plans, write reports and do written/oral presentations.
• Knowledge of grievance management frameworks, community engagement methodologies, and a personality to develop and retain productive relationships.

Key Attributes

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and conflict resolution skills.
• Experience working with government, municipalities, and community based organisations or similar.
• Willingness to travel frequently for community and project site visits.
• Ability to work well under pressure.
• Ability to work well in a team and independently.

Other requirements

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