Senior program manager

Job Description

BACKGROUND: The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 40 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

Job overview:Job Overview: Reporting to Field Coordinator, the Senior Program Manager will be responsible for overseeing planning, implementing, monitoring, reporting and quality controlling for program/project interventions in SNNPR, and Sidama regions. We also have some projects in Southern Oromia implemented under Hawassa field office which the post holder will be assigned to. The responsibility will include ensuring grants are completed in timely fashion, within budget, within the required quality standards and in line with agreements in the donor contracts.

Key responsibilities:

- Work with relevant program leads in the Field Office (ERR, Health & Nutrition, EH, CWI, EDU, CP and ERD etc.) as well as technical leads in Addis, and ensure activity plans, recruitment plans, procurement plans, and spending plans for each project are in place and regularly supervised and ensuring that they are revised as needed for a timely closure of assigned grants / activities. - Ensure all project cycle meetings are organized, coordinated and requirements are ready prior to country wide meetings. Furthermore, assure that action plans agreed on the meetings are completed within agreed timeline. Effective field level meetings will be inputs for the smooth implementation of the national level meetings. - Ensure all program leads/managers raise PRs in a timely manner, follow progress of procurement and closely follow up to ensure delivery / provision. - Effectively engage in all project related recruitments to ensure PRF along with required supporting documents and approvals are submitted in advance and that there is proactive follow up by hiring manager and recruitment unit. - Facilitate field level grant management meetings and ensure Addis team receive notes and actions points. Ensure action points in field office are followed up. - Ensure donor compliance on visibility and program management is adhered to. - Ensure quarterly operating environment emergency assessment and analysis, as well as identify potential responses and develop concept note and share with the relevant internal collaborators. - Lead different multi sectorial and multi-agency assessments and surveys. This includes but not limited to humanitarian need assessments, KPC/ KAP surveys, baseline and end line, post implementation or distribution surveys (PDM, PIM) with program leads, safety & security and MEAL team and Addis. - Supervise the program managers, make regular field visit and give technical support/guidance with high emphasis and priority to short term projects. Ensure program quality and achievement of key program results and report key findings of field visits and corrective actions taken/proposed within 5 days after field visit. - Proactively work with the coordinator and the concerned team in Addis on any programmatic challenges and seek a timely solution.

Coordination

- Support coordination of projects with the UN clusters, humanitarian forums, working groups, and the government. Ensure that IRC is represented in all relevant emergency fora, working groups and donor meetings. Ensure program mangers attend their respective cluster meetings and will attend the inter-cluster meeting and share updates accordingly. - Work closely with government and other key partners in the operation area.

Monitoring

- Ensure program sectors develop indicator trackers and update them regularly to facilitate monitoring of all the ERR and development and facilitate ease of reporting. - Ensure the IRC Global Strategy including Outcome Evidence Framework, Indicator Selection Tool and Good and Phenomenal standards as well as other tools/strategies are integrated in the design, implementation, and monitoring of projects. - Collaborate with the MEAL Department to conduct ongoing monitoring and feedback/accountability of response to ensure actions are timely and appropriate. - Working with the Safe Programming Unit, ensure safeguarding system are in place for all field office operational regions program activities. - Ensure Client Responsiveness systems are in place for all operational regions and project activities. Lead planning and handling any external program evaluations related to any projects. - Promote a culture of respect, transparency, and accountability within IRC implemented projects or response activities. - Review and share high quality and to the standard donor and government reports and MOUs. - Ensure regular monitoring of budgets of different grants in collaboration with the Field Coordinator for a timely action for underspent/overspent lines.

Reporting

- Collect from program leads, compile and share IRC, donor and government monthly, quarterly, mid-year and annual reports to country office or technical team using the appropriate reporting template. - Compile and share the SNNPR, S.Oromia, and Sidama regions response weekly situation report to country and field office.

Other

- Under the leadership of the Field Coordinator, work closely with the safety and security team to support adherence with IRC’s safety and security procedures. - Under the leadership of the Field Coordinator, and coordinating with relevant collaborators and program team, act as Hawassa Field Office focal point for support visits from country office, Global TAs and TU for projects in the operational regions. - Liaise with the Field Coordinator and operational unit leads in SNNPR, S.Oromia and Sidama regions and Addis, to ensure the regional programs/teams received the support required for the timely delivery of projects. - Work closely with the Hawassa Field Office Field Coordinator and the support functions teams to ensure a one-agency response.

Qualifications

- Strong ability to communicate concisely and with impact in English. - Consistent track record of proactively identifying and presenting potential problems and proposing solutions. - Must be able to function effectively in a complex work environment and to set appropriate priorities and deal effectively with competing priorities and pressure. - Having local knowledge and experience as well as multiple educational background is an asset. - Practical experience and exposure of multi sectorial emergency, development, recovery and resilient project management are requirement.

Educational requirements:

- MA/MSA or BA/ BSC in project management, hydraulic engineering, water engineering civil engineering, development studies, public health, economics, sociology, disaster risk management, rural development, and other relevant fields.

Preferred experience & skills:

- 4 years relevant work experience in field of humanitarian for MA/MSA holders and 6 years for BA/BSc holders. - Demonstrated experience in working with large, multi-sectoral grants and projects. Including supervising procurement, activity and spending plans, indicator track and devising timely course-correction strategies when required. - Experience in reporting, internal and external to donors and key partners. - Experience in and knowledge of the related humanitarian architecture. - Proven track record to convene/chair high profile meetings and ability to efficiently get along with a wide range of organizations. - Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven track record to prioritize and deliver on time. - Strong analytic problem-solving skills - Ability to work both independently and in a dynamic, cross-functional distributed team structure. - Highly proficient in Microsoft Office suite - Demonstrated ability to work effectively with team members at all levels. - Ability to handle and work through change in a proactive and positive manner.

Language skills:

- Excellent verbal and written communication skills as well as, an overall ability to be clear and concise in all communications.

IRC is an equal employment 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 or disability.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, 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 Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons

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.