Project Director

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IRC - The International Rescue Committee

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Job Description

Sierra Leone nationals are strongly encouraged to apply. This position is contingent on IRC being awarded funding and is anticipated to begin in September 2022.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading humanitarian relief and development organizations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people survive, recover and regain control over their lives. Working in more than 40 countries, the IRC is helping to restore hope and opportunity to millions of people.

At the height of the civil war in 1999, the IRC began implementing emergency interventions in Sierra Leone and supported the country throughout its 2014 Ebola outbreak which affected more than 14,000 individuals, by providing protective equipment to frontline workers, developing public health plans with local officials, and conducting community sensitization on hand washing and other safety measures. The IRC continues to assist vulnerable communities throughout the country to this day. Current programs support the rebuilding of health and education services while actively promoting women and girls’ empowerment. Since the start of its implementation in Sierra Leone, the IRC has reached over two million beneficiaries.

Project scope and objectives:

The project “Civic Engagement in Local Governance for Accountability (CELGA) in Sierra Leone” funded by USAID aims to foster the social contract between local governments and citizens through scaling up successful initiatives that support local governments and relevant national government institutions, civil society, and citizenry to 1) increase citizens’ participation in local government and political processes, and 2) bolster the provision of critical services by local governance institutions through processes that are transparent and accountable to citizens. The project will work directly with local government entities and the citizenry, especially women and youth engagement, local CSOs, and government entities working on decentralization, local governance, and elections with an anticipated $3.5M budget.

The project director position:

The IRC is seeking a dynamic Project Director that will provide overall leadership and oversight for the proposed project, for both technical and operational implementation, under the supervision of the Deputy Director for Programs of the IRC Sierra Leone office. She/he will be responsible for ensuring that the proposed project is implemented in accordance with the cooperative agreement, USAID regulations, and internationally recognized quality of assistance standards. The Project Director is the chief representative for the project with all key stakeholders, including local partners, government officials, and donors. She/he will ensure that project initiatives adequately address the needs of the targeted people and communities in the most cost-effective manner. He will also ensure to coordinate and align project activities with other related initiatives in the targeted area. The project Director will also benefit from the support of the IRC’s global Governance Technical Unit and that of the Violence Prevention and Response Technical Unit in order to ensure the effective and contextually adapted design and implementation of the project.

Main Responsibilities:

• Provide strategic leadership and direction, define and implement activities in accordance with the cooperative agreement to achieve the greatest coverage and impact possible;

• Develop and review, in coordination with key project staff, the overall program strategy and the yearly work and performance plans

• Manage the overall project and closely monitor implementation to ensure all activities are delivered according to plans, and that when delays and problems occur remedial actions are identified and undertaken;

• Work with all key staff and partners to identify technical and organizational assistance needs and ensure the adequate planning and effective provision of this assistance;

• Oversee the project management team, including technical and operational staff, and evaluate project staff performance;

• Maintain an ongoing dialogue with USAID, including reporting to USAID through both formal and informal debriefings, as well as periodic reports;

• Maintain solid cooperation with partner organizations, government officials and IRC management and colleagues;

• Manage external relations by representing the project and the organization in public forums and ensure the dissemination of project achievements and lessons learned.

Job Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• At least 10 years of progressive experience working in areas related to decentralization, governance, service delivery, and elections.

• At least 8 years of progressive experience managing complex donor-funded assistance projects, with strong preference for experience managing USAID-funded projects.

• Strong understanding of, and ability to analyze and impact, political, economic, governance, decentralization, and service delivery environments.

• Master’s degree in a relevant field required; or a bachelor’s degree with 15 or more years of experience managing similar projects.

• Ability to establish strong working relationships with senior government officials; media, civil society, and private sector leaders; international donors; and other stakeholders.

• Proven track record in staff and organizational capacity-building, including of local civil society organizations.

• Solid experience with community empowerment programming, including community driven development, social accountability, or other participatory development processes, especially within service delivery.

• Good diplomatic and negotiation skills.

• Experience with gender-sensitive programming and implementation.

• Strong computer skills in MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, Outlook).

• Fluent in English.

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.

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Qualifications

Added 1 year ago - Updated 11 months ago - Source: rescue.org