Deputy Director of Programs - El Salvador

Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, IRC provides life-saving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee war or disaster. In today's work in more than 40 countries and 22 cities across the United States, we restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions of people who are uprooted and struggling to endure them. IRC leads the way in home damage.

The IRC returned to El Salvador in 2017 and expanded Humanitarian Response work to Honduras and Guatemala in 2019. IRC implements a rapidly growing protection-focused humanitarian response in northern Central America, with technical expertise in responding to survivors of gender-based violence, women, children, internally displaced families, migrants and returnees, and the LGBTI+ population. The IRC is committed to working in partnership with national NGOs to design and implement high-impact programmes based on the best available evidence. The main technical areas of IRC NCA include: Protection and Empowerment of Women, Education, Child Protection, Protection of the Rule of Law. IRC NCA's leadership is based in all three countries, with a main office in San Salvador.

Job overview

The position of Deputy Program Director (DDP) is a member of the Senior Management Team and is an integral part of the successful implementation of IRC programs at IRC-North Central America. Working under the direction of the Country Director (CD), the DDP is responsible for the overall direction and implementation of the programme within the programme framework, government policies and strategies, and in compliance with donor regulations, specifically in the areas of a) grant management b) programme development, quality and implementation c) daily representation with donor agencies and local and international stakeholders, and (d) Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.

The DDP will spearhead the development and implementation of the Country Strategic Plan and will also be responsible for overseeing the Coordinator for Health, Child Protection, Women's Protection and Empowerment, Economic Recovery and Development and Grants. This position will work closely with the different departments within the country programme, IRC Technical Advisors and the IRC Emergency Unit.

The DDP will be based in El Salvador, with occasional trips to Guatemala and Honduras, and any other national sites on IRC NCA where IRC designs and develops programming.

Main responsibilities:

Program strategy, design and fundraising

• Lead the operationalization of IRC NCA's current response strategy and actively participate in long-term strategic planning processes.

• Ensure, with the coordinators and staff of the headquarters-based Technical Unit, that the project design reflects IRC programme quality standards and industry best practices.

• Lead efforts for sustainable program growth, proactively identifying opportunities for new programming initiatives and emphasizing multi-year funding to support them.

• Provide leadership support to program and grant teams to develop competitive, evidence-based, and cost-effective funding applications.

• Provide guidance, strategies, and tools to ensure program options are based on findings from needs assessment (primary and secondary data) and analysis, input from communities, an in-depth understanding of context, technical best practices, and operational feasibility.

• Develop integrated programme initiatives to complement technical sectors and promote the incorporation of protection principles and gender-sensitive approaches.

Programme Management - Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide overall leadership and management of IRC El Salvador's program portfolio, ensuring a coherent strategic direction of the program, well-managed growth, and compliance with IRC and donor regulations.

• Continually seek ways to develop the capabilities of program team members, individually and collectively.

• Ensure detailed, realistic, and feasible project implementation plans are developed, and modified as needed, in collaboration with program coordinators and the operations team.

• Coordinate with other members of the Senior Management Team appropriate management, compliance and performance standards, as well as effective systems for budget management, knowledge management and risk management.

• Support programming staff to collect, document and disseminate lessons learned and best practices, incorporating them into new project designs.

• With program staff, develop effective and appropriate M&E plans, including methodologies and tools to strengthen the quality of data collection, analysis, and reporting.

• Review M&E and accountability data with program staff to identify and address areas for operational improvement.

Grant Management

• Provide strategic direction in terms of developing a funding strategy, broadening and strengthening the donor base, ensuring quality grant management, ensuring compliance with donor requirements, ensuring the management of quality information related to programs/grants, and directly supporting all aspects of proposal development and reporting processes.

• Oversee all internal, external and reporting reports with programs and finances, ensuring high-quality, well-written and timely reports that meet the requirements of donors and the IRC and partners; conduct thorough reviews and/or reviews of all external reports compiled by the Grants Coordinator.

• Ensure program coordinators and senior grant manager conduct routine monitoring visits to implementation sites to ensure donor compliance and quality program implementation.

• Coordinate with program coordinators and grants and finance teams to ensure sound budget management, expense control, and timely contractual documentation.

• Support the Senior Grants Manager to lead grant opening and closing meetings with all relevant departments and units and to ensure they are conducted on time. Also make sure the programming staff is well trained to properly manage project budgets.

• Ensure that program coordinators review BvAs regularly; Provide leadership and management support to ensure effective monthly grant review meetings.

• Mitigate any potential risk by collaborating with the Finance Department to ensure programming staff fully understand the financial and administrative processes involved in project budget cycles.

External representation and promotion

• Develop a solid understanding of IRC programmes in order to be able to professionally represent the IRC to implementing partners, government and donors;

• Assist the Country Director in developing strong relationships with donors, assisting with visits and in developing appropriate advocacy actions;

• Forge and maintain strong cooperation with partner organisations through regular communication, cooperation and, where appropriate, joint decision-making.

• Act as a focal point for programme-related communication between IRC country programmes in the region and global offices.

• Identify funding opportunities and follow up on them in collaboration with technical teams.

• Oversee programmatic inputs to advocacy efforts both in-country and globally.

Staff management and development

• Provide guidance and supervision to technical coordinators, M&E Manager, senior grants manager, information officers; Discuss job expectations, set objectives, and provide appropriate and timely feedback on direct reporting performance, including timely implementation of the performance management system.

• Create a supervisory environment focused on achieving individual and team results that emphasizes the importance of learning, productivity, accountability, and openness.

• Adhering to IRC's performance management system, providing regular, timely and thoughtful coaching, feedback, performance appraisal and professional development for all direct reports, while ensuring they do the same for their direct reports.

• Develop programming staff capabilities in key project management principles, tools and approaches and ensure these new skills are used on the job.

• Manage the recruitment, recruitment and development of high-performance national staff to assume higher levels of responsibility.

• Provide leadership support for the successful implementation and adherence to IRC's Global Human Resources Operating Policies and Procedures.

Key working relationships

• Country Director, Colombia and Venezuela

• Other staff based in Colombia, including operations, finance, and grants

• Technical advisors (globally based) and any roster staff required to support program staff within Venezuela

• Awards Management Unit to support all compliance and reporting for partners as well as proposals

• Global Supply Chain to procure goods and support partners to procure

• Communication and advocacy units to support any key message in external meetings

• Global security to support any risk analysis and mitigation

• Emergency Unit

Requirements

• Master's degree in Development Studies, International Relations, Social Sciences or a similar field;

• Minimum eight years of management experience working in a humanitarian or development setting with a minimum of five years of INGO programme management experience.

• Much experience in protection, ERD and/or health management is desired, and experience working in partnership with local organizations.

• Demonstrated ability to develop winning proposals for public and private sector donors;

• Familiarity and experience with American and European donors;

• Previous experience managing programs funded by US government agencies, DFID, the EU, foundations and private donors is a must, with previous experience in competitive environments as an advantage.

• Proven ability to manage projects to completion on time, on budget and with expected results.

• Ability to respond to multiple priorities in a timely manner, producing high-quality results.

• Demonstrated successful leadership experience with a multidisciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting, including active mentoring and coaching. Strong leadership, motivation and team building skills;

• Proven fluency in English and Spanish is a must

Professional standards: Standards of Professional Conduct: IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In keeping with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on beneficiary protection from exploitation and abuse, child protection, workplace harassment, fiscal integrity, and anti-retaliation.

Gender equality: IRC is committed to reducing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce, including parental leave, gender-sensitive safety protocols, and other supportive benefits and subsidies

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an equal opportunity employer. IRC considers all applicants on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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