Market Systems Development Officer (MSD) - Nakivale Refugee Settlement

About the role

HEKS/EPER (Swiss Church Aid) is recruiting a Market Systems Development (MSD) Officer for the EWISE project in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda. The project improves the self-reliance and inclusive economic participation of vulnerable youth and women while supporting environmental restoration. The MSD Officer delivers market-driven vocational and business skills training, apprenticeships and job placements, business development services, market linkages and financial inclusion, working closely with partners such as the Department of Possibility, the Office of the Prime Minister, UNHCR and the Directorate of Industrial Training, and spends about 10% of the time giving technical support to other projects.

Key responsibilities

• Plan and implement the project efficiently within approved budgets and workplans, following the humanitarian-development nexus approach and integrating livelihoods, conflict transformation, climate adaptation and protection themes.
• Lead the labour market and skills demand assessment, map the private sector and analyse barriers to work and dignified employment in Nakivale, Isingiro and Mbarara.
• Help develop gender-inclusive Assessment and Training Packages (ATPs) and tailor training to market skill needs, including life skills, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and workplace readiness.
• Coordinate beneficiary profiling, inclusive selection of women and youth, and the design of training materials and curricula with private sector involvement.
• Organize decentralized skills training in three zones, certify trainees with the Directorate of Industrial Training, and identify artisans, SMEs, cooperatives and employers for apprenticeships, job placements and on-the-job training.
• Establish safe apprenticeships and placements through formal agreements and MoUs, and run risk assessments of host enterprises in line with the Core Humanitarian Standard.
• Manage the distribution of toolkits, start-up kits and capital, and design business development services, business incubation and mentorship.
• Build a gender-inclusive business tracker to follow trainee graduation and enterprise growth, and facilitate contracts between groups and buyers, traders and markets.
• Track logframe indicators, conduct tracer studies and contribute to mid-term and end-term reviews with the MEAL team.
• Ensure compliance with donor contracts, field financial and administrative guidelines and national regulations, and prepare donor reports, programme briefs and case studies.
• Represent HEKS/EPER in livelihoods and economic inclusion working groups at settlement and district level, and strengthen the partner's capacity on business development services, market systems, digitalisation, MEAL and safeguarding.
• Provide day-to-day technical guidance to the project team and partner field staff, support performance appraisals, recruitment and onboarding, and ensure age, gender, disability, conflict sensitivity and environmental considerations are mainstreamed.