Deputy Director Programs

Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The IRC returned to El Salvador in 2017 and expanded Humanitarian Response work to Honduras and Guatemala in 2019. IRC implements rapidly growing, Protection-focused Humanitarian Response in Northern Central America, with technical expertise in responding to survivors of gender-based violence, women, girls and 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 programs based on the best available evidence. IRC NCA’s core technical areas include Women’s Protection and Empowerment (GBV response), Education, Child Protection, Protection Rule of Law (humanitarian response for IDPs, migrants and refugees) and Economic Recovery and Development (cash and livelihoods). IRC NCA’s leadership is based across the three countries, with offices in San Salvador, Cuidad de Guatemala and Tegucigalpa.

Job overview/summary:

The position of Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) is a member of the Senior Management Team and is integral to the successful implementation of IRC's programs in IRC- Northern Central America. Working under the direction of the Country Director (CD), the DDP is responsible for overall program direction, including business development, project implementation within the program framework, government policies and strategies, and in compliance with donor regulations, specifically in the areas of a) donor grant management b) program development (fundraising), quality and implementation c) day-to-day representation with donor agencies and local and international stakeholders, and d) Monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning.

The DDP will spearhead the development and execution of the Country Strategic Plan and be responsible for supervising technical coordinators based in Honduras, as well as the Grants Coordinator and the MEL manager. This position will work closely and collaboratively with the different departments within the country program, the IRC technical advisors and the IRC Emergency Unit.

The DDP will be based in Honduras City and will lead IRC´s response in Honduras.

Major responsibilities:

Program Strategy, Design and Fundraising

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

• Implement IRC´s business development strategy in Honduras – identify donors and funding opportunities.

• Coordinate with the regional team, technical advisors, NCA staff and partners for submission of innovative and high-quality proposals; take a lead role writing technical proposals and budgets.

• Collaborate with Comms, MEL and Grants to implement IRC´s positioning strategy – sharing the impact of IRC´s work in Honduras

• Lead the operationalization of the current IRC NCA response strategy and actively engage in strategic planning processes for the longer term.

• Ensure, with Coordinators, and HQ-based Technical Unit staff, that project design reflects IRC program quality standards and industry best practices.

• Provide guidance, strategies and tools to ensure that program choices are based on needs assessment findings (primary & secondary data) and analysis, input from communities, a thorough understanding of context, technical best practices, and operational viability.

• Formulate integrated program initiatives so that technical sectors complement each other and promote mainstreaming of protection principles and gender-responsive approaches.

Program Management - Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide overall leadership and management of IRC Honduras program portfolio, ensuring strategically coherent program direction, well-managed growth, and compliance with IRC and donor regulations.

• Continually seek out ways to build the capacities of the program team members, individually and collectively.

• Ensure that detailed, realistic and feasible project implementation plans are developed, and modified as needed, in collaboration with the Program Coordinators and Operations team.

• Coordinate with other members of the Senior Management Team on 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 these 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.

Grants Management

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

• Supervise all internal, external and reporting with programs and finance, ensuring high-quality, well-written and timely reports meeting donor and IRC and partner requirements; conduct thorough reviews and/or revisions of all external reports compiled by the Grants Coordinator.

• Ensure that Program Coordinators and Grants Senior Manager conduct routine monitoring visits to implementation sites to ensure donor compliance and quality program implementation.

• Coordinate with the Program Coordinators and Grants and Finance teams to ensure sound budget management, expense control and timely contractual documentation.

• Support the Grants team to lead Grant Opening and Grant Closing Meetings with all relevant department and units and to ensure they take place on time. Also ensure that programming staff are well trained to properly manage project budgets.

• Ensure that the program coordinators review budget-vs-actuals reports on a regular basis; provide leadership and management support to ensure effective monthly grant review meetings.

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

External Representation and Advocacy

• Develop a sound understanding of the IRC's programs to be able to professionally represent the IRC to implementing partners, the government and donors;

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

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

• Act as the focal point for program-related communication between IRC country programs in the region and worldwide offices.

• Identify funding opportunities and track them in collaboration with the technical teams.

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

Staff Management and Development

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

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

• Adhere to IRC's performance management system, providing regular, timely and thoughtful coaching, feedback, performance assessment, and professional development for all direct reports, while making sure that they do the same for their direct reports.

• Build capacities of programming staff in key project management principles, tools and approaches and ensure that these new skills are utilized on the job.

• Manage recruitment, hiring and development of high-performing national staff to assume greater levels of responsibility.

• Provide leadership support for the successful implementation of and adherence to the IRC Global HR Operating Policies and Procedures.

Key working relationships

• Country Director, Deputy Directors of Programs in El Salvador and Honduras, Chiefs of Party, Deputy Directors of Operations and Finance, Senior Coordinator for Human Resources, Operations Coordinator for Honduras.

• Other Guatemala-based staff, including operations, finance, and grants

• Technical Advisors (based globally) and any roster staff required to support program staff in Honduras and NCA

• 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

• Communications and Advocacy units to support any key messages at 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 program management experience.

• Experience in managing protection, ERD and/or health, and experience working in partnership with local organizations, is strongly desired.

• Proven ability to develop winning proposals to public and private-sector donors;

• Familiarity and experience with US and European donors;

• Previous experience managing programs financed by US government agencies

• Proven ability to manage projects to completion on time, within budget, and with the anticipated results.

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

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

• Proven fluency in English and Spanish a must

• Experience in Honduras preferred; experience in Central America strongly preferred.

Professional Standards: Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing 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 security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of 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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