Deputy Country Director - Programs

Description

Terms of Reference (TOR)

Position: Deputy Country Director - Programs

Location:  Juba, South Sudan

Duration: 12 Months

 Reports To: Country Director – South Sudan

Positions reporting to DCD: MEAL Manager, Technical Advisors, Grants and Reporting Manager, Area Managers and other positions as delegated 

About RI

Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships, and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them. 

RI believes that gender equality is a basic right for all people, and it is critical to directly address gender-based discrimination and promote gender equality in order to ensure sustainable development.

Position Summary

The Deputy Country Director-Programs (DCD), under the direct supervision of the Country Director, will be the senior leader in country for ensuring program quality and improvement in South Sudan’s diverse and growing portfolio in health, nutrition, livelihoods and WASH. The Deputy Country Director (DCD) – Programs will oversee all strategic program operations and coordination of Relief International in South Sudan’s Country program. He/she will collaborate with the South Sudan Country Director in strategic planning, new business/program development and systematic program implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects. He/she will also lead managing the technical program managers and sector leads, grants management and reporting, communications and quality program management. The DCD programs will also act as the vital link between South Sudan program and the technical input from Regional and Global technical functions. The DCD will also strengthen RI’s networking capacity, engage in strategic partnership with INGOs and will ensure strong partnerships with local organizations. Moreso, the position will be delegated to act as CD as and when it is required. The position will be based in Juba and will require some trips to field locations.

Position Responsibilities and Duties:

Strategic Program Leadership

·  Collaborate with the Country Director and technical program managers to provide strategic vision and leadership for RI’s portfolio in South Sudan

·   Lead and coordinate development and review of sector strategies and annual plans in line with South Sudan Country Strategy

·   Pro-actively seek and identify new funding opportunities, initiate and lead donor negotiations, and act as country representative during discussions both internally and externally on strategic opportunities

·   Manage and supervise technical program managers (including a Livelihoods Program Manager, WASH Program Manager, and Health & Nutrition Program Manager) to ensure timely and quality program implementation

·   Oversee Grants management, reporting and communications, providing final review and quality assurance before submission of external reports, updates, and other publications for external audiences

·    Represent RI at the national and field level and serve as primary organizational focal point for program-related issues both internally and externally

·    Develop and maintain effective working relationships with stakeholders in South Sudan, including NGOs, ministries/local authorities, and UN agencies including representation in coordination bodies.

Program Designing and Development

·   Lead the program development process in South Sudan, reviewing concept notes, proposals, and providing direct inputs when necessary to ensure quality before submission

·   Meet with donors and potential new partners at field and national level, identifying potential funding opportunities in collaboration with Senior management

·    Strengthen current donor relations and build partnerships with new donors to support continued donor/portfolio diversification

·    Facilitate for capacity building of program managers and technical advisors of RI Program management framework

·     Ensure that proposals are evidence-based and supported by needs assessments. Lead and/or support design workshops for all proposals.

·     Ensure compliance with proposal requirements, RI Sector Technical Design Standards, and donor policies and regulations 

Program Management and Implementation

·   In collaboration with technical program managers, provide overall leadership in ensuring appropriate start-up/mobilization process with field and technical teams upon receiving a new award, and spending projections and forecasts, procurement and recruitment plans, and work plans, are all developed at the offset.

·   Maintain, update, and regularly review RI’s master country operational analysis, consolidating inputs from programs and finance

·   Organize periodic project review meetings (mid and final) following initial mobilization meeting to ensure progress is on-track.

·   Serve as the focal point throughout the program modification/budget realignment process, liaising with the donor, country office staff, regional teams, and RI global support office (GSO)

·   Responsible for ensuring all costs charged to the project are allowable, reasonable and correctly allocated, providing oversight and quality assurance on technical program managers

·   Ensure effective and coordinated budget monitoring/spending reviews occur on a regular basis, coordinating with finance and program teams

·    Assist programs and operations teams in monitoring and tracking burn rate to ensure proper management

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

·  Ensure South Sudan country program has a functional MEAL system that will improve the quality of implementation of projects and provide support and oversight of the country M&E Manager.

·    Lead the country program in ensuring consistent reflection of assessment and programmatic data for decision-making, using RI-required tools such as IPTTs.

·     Ensure the country program is complying with RI-required accountability standards.

·     Champion learning across the project cycle, ensuring that regular learning events are conducted and documented. 

Human Resource Management

·  In collaboration with HR, ensure adherence to and enforcement of HR policies including punctuality, productivity and principles of a professional work environment within the program team with high consistency.

·    Lead and provide supportive supervision to a multi-disciplinary team of program managers and coordinators in charge of specific projects, providing guidance and direction on work planning, priority setting, task management, performance, growth and learning, etc.

·     Provide capacity building and day-to-day coaching on program management to program staff.

·     Provide line manager of MEAL Manager, Area Managers, Technical Advisors, Grants and Reporting Manager and other roles as allocated by the CD

Qualifications & Requirements: 

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

•      University Degree required, Master’s level preferred in International Development, Community Development or related discipline; the educational as well as professional background & expertise in Health, Nutrition and Food Security is strongly preferred.
•    7+ years demonstrated management experience in development and implementation of emergency Relief programming, preferably in developing country (s).
•       Experience in grant writing and fund raising, experience working with the major donors: OFDA, ECHO, DFID, and UN Agencies etc.
•     Demonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with host country government personnel, stakeholders, NGO partners, and international donor agencies, local and international staff.
•         Ability to understand complex security situation and advise program design accordingly
•         Knowledge of, and experience in South Sudan strongly preferred
•         Excellent written and spoken English; ability to draft high quality proposals as well as donor reports
•         Willingness to travel in and out of field at short notice.
•         Team player, committed to motivating and leading staff
•         Organizational and time management skills.
•         Able to work and manage effectively in a hardship post

RI Values

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:

o   Inclusiveness

o   Transparency and Accountability

o   Agility and Innovation

o   Collaboration

o   Sustainability

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