Concern Worldwide Assistant Country Director Programmes Job Vacancy in Monrovia, Liberia

Contract Grade: C
Contract Length: 2 years
Date Needed By: 24th April 2012
New Post or Replacement: Replacement
Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Accompanied, partner only
Exact Job Location: Monrovia, with at least 605 of time spent in three field locations

Reports To: Country Director Responsible For:
• Three Area Coordinators (AC) based in Lofa, Grand Bassa and Montserrado
• One Education program Coordinator based in Grand Bassa
• One Water Engineer based in Lofa
• Two Technical Advisors (TA) for Health and FIM: based in Monrovia
• One Program Development & Grants Officer (PDGO) who heads the Program Support Unit (PSU)

Job Purpose:
To manage the development and implementation of Concern Worldwide Liberia’s poverty outcome and results focused country program; aligned to the new country strategic plan (2012 – 2016) currently being developed; ensures the effective and professional management of the donor grants that fund the three county area based programs making up our country program; ensuring compliance with CW’s organizational procedures, policies, and people centered values & principles. The ACDP is a key member of the Country Management Team.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:
A. General Responsibilities:
We are currently developing 4 year area based programs (2012 – 2015) funded by Irish Aid; integrating our Food Income & Markets (FIM); Education and Health programs based on contextual analyses in Lofa and Grand Bassa. The analysis incorporates the 3 dimensions of poverty: risk/ inequality/ assets & the low return on assets with HIV& AIDS and gender at the heart of our new programming, as key risks and inequalities.
Country strategic planning will take place in 2012 (May – October) which will guide our future programming. A similar contextual analysis exercise will take place in Montserrado in early 2013, to be led by the ACDP.
• Provide leadership in the effective planning, development, management and integration of Concern’s area based programs in Lofa, Grand Bassa and Montserrado Counties
• Support capacity building of the team and partners on Concern’s ‘How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty’ through building understand of and capacity to implement equality, risk and vulnerability and assets and return on assets concepts
• Coordination of impact oriented/ results based program interventions – through the management of county based area coordinators and their respective teams
• Coordinating the monitoring of the country and area level Results Frameworks
• Overseeing the implementation of institutional donor grants according to donor specific guidelines especially Irish Aid/ Charity Water/ ECHO/ IFAD and USAID plus smaller grants
• Rigorous financial management with key budget holders: budget expenditure tracking and analysis
• National level representation and advocacy for issues identified at community level with regards to specific policy development or implementation
• Capacity building and support in managing technical advisors and consultants for quality focused programming through all stages of the PCMS
• Ensuring the efficient and transparent use of all Concern’s resources
• Compliance with and roll out of Concern’s Programme Participants Protection Policy (P4) and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) standards
• Maintain the reputation of Concern Worldwide as a highly regarded development and humanitarian actor that targets the extreme poor

To undertake the responsibilities the ACDP, s/he needs to be 60% field based: roughly one week per month in Lofa; one week in Grand Bassa; with the Montserrado field support provided from Monrovia. Additionally the ACDP is expected to (1) cover in Montserrado, Lofa and Grand Bassa for extended periods when the Area Coordinators take their leave (support will be provided by the ACDS and CD when this leave is for more than two weeks); and (2) cover for the CD in his/ her absence.

B. Specific Responsibilities
B1 Effective emergency response
Thankfully we are no longer in an emergency period (1989 – 2004) in Liberia and our prime focus is on sustainable recovery and development. However CW has an humanitarian mandate therefore:
• Ensure we build the capacity and preparedness to respond to potential emergency situations (refugee influx from neighbouring countries etc.)
• Ensure the program and systems teams combined have an understanding of risk and vulnerability
• Ensure all new program areas have been assessed in terms of potential hazards/ impact/ risk and vulnerability of the population
• Conduct periodic DRR training
• Ensure that we have a Preparing for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) plan and that the plan is reviewed, implemented and updated annually

B2 Management of donor grants
Managing the Program Development & Grants Officer, who heads the Project Support Unit (PSU) to:
• Ensure effective donor grants management and maintain high quality narrative reporting in a timely manner
• Ensure strict compliance with donor contract requirements/ reporting deadlines etc.
• Facilitate the preparation and development of new funding proposals
• Ensure high quality proposals and reports are prepared and submitted to donors in a timely way

The current program budget is approximately Euro 3 million per year and our main donors are ECHO/ Irish Aid/ Concern USA/ IFAD/ Charity Water and other smaller donors. Future large grants may be expected from USAID and IFAD to our Grand Bassa program. B3 Coordination and implementation of quality county based programs

Managing the three Area Coordinators (ACs) in the coordination and implementation of the area based county programs:
• Build strong and committed teams of national and international staff adhering to Concern policies and procedures and applying key principles of transparency, accountability, good stewardship and participation;
• Ensure strict expenditure and budget tracking by the key budget holders (the ACs) and their FIM, Health and Education program managers;
• Oversee the preparation of budgets to ensure that the timing and cost of planned programme work and systems support is accurately reflected, while taking relevant donor requirements into consideration
• Supervising the Engineering department in ensuring that timely and quality engineering work is planned and completed in supporting the programs: water & sanitation infrastructure/ roads, bridges & culverts/ and supervising community led school construction;
• Ensure tight management & control of the construction contracts undertaken in each county and that the status of each contract is documented and reported on a monthly basis;
• Ensure that CWs tendering procedures are strictly adhered to in the choice of construction contractors – administrative assistance for this in Monrovia is provided by the Montserrado AC;
• Managing the Education Coordinator to ensure quality technical support and quality management of the Education programme to deliver key results at micro, meso and macro levels
• Managing the Water engineer, based in Grand Bassa (with travel to Lofa & Montserrado, as required) who is responsible for the management of all construction contracts; their status; contract management & compliance with contractors; reviewing all tender documentation and technical drawings, BoQs etc.
B4 Ensure quality programs for current and future actions
Managing two Technical Advisors (TAs) who are 75% based in the field but who also have sector level responsibilities at National level: Liberia WASH consortium/ and national food security forum etc. The ACDP will lead and supervise the TAs to provide support/ encouragement/ coaching and capacity building to the sector program teams through each stage of the PCMS:
• Contextual analysis and the design of new programs: proposals/ budgets/ work plans/ procurement plans – in line with CW’s program development guidelines
• Ensure that effective Results Frameworks with sound monitoring and evaluation systems are established and implemented in line with Concern policies and M&E tools to measure impact and efficiency – in line with CW’s PME guidelines
• Facilitation of regular programme reviews and organise quality evaluations (according to the donor contract), including engaging with consultants
• Support the on-going development of participatory monitoring systems, particularly accountability downwards with communities and full compliance with the roll out of the HAP standards.
• Contribute to the development of a country level funding strategy through the delivery of high quality funding proposals to seek donor funding
• Develop staff skills in team building and management, PRA, contextual analysis, project cycle management, M&E with the emphasis on outcome (use of participatory impact assessment methods) in relation to our extreme poor target group;
 • Promote appropriate innovation in programme development

B5 Partnership approach to programming
• Lead the process of partnership development with relevant local NGOs and other stakeholders to achieve country strategic objectives
• Move the emphasis away from Implementing Partners (or sub-contractors) towards full partnership in line with CWs partnership guidelines
• Directly manage national level advocacy type partnerships and oversee county level partnerships managed by the ACs
• Ensure that CW’s local organisation selection/ financial assessment tools are used in initiating partnership agreements and subsequent grants

B6 National level representation and advocacy
Develop CW Liberia advocacy plan:
• Represent Concern in Liberia and maintain coordination and networking relationships with the government, donors and other national and international development actors in the country
• In practice this will be led by the ACDP but delegated to technical specialists and the CD according to their technical expertise;
• Ensure Concern liaises with other agencies, training/academic/ research institutions and networks that can enrich and enhance the quality of our work
• Ensure that relationships and formal agreements with the government are maintained and updated as appropriate
• Represent Concern at various national level coordination forums as appropriate
• Lead advocacy at national level to contribute towards achievement of country strategic objectives

B7 Organisational learning
• Ensure sharing of lessons and experiences between programmes/ counties/ other country programs and SAL (Dublin based technical support)
• Research, analyse and disseminate to staff relevant/ new approaches, concepts and frameworks applied to poverty alleviation, as well as information on national government initiatives
• Ensure effective line management of volunteer/ interns providing support and research capacity to our programs (develop TORs etc)
• Ensure capture of reviews/ lessons/ findings/ case studies etc. are reflected in our donor and internal reporting
• Write and disseminate occasional technical briefing papers on lessons and best practice

B8 HR performance management
• Ensure that regular staff Performance and Development Review (PDR) system is established and maintained and that PDRs are undertaken at all levels;
• Demonstrate support, encouragement, and coaching of staff as a role model for the cadre of program managers to aspire to;

PERSON SPECIFICATION ESSENTIAL
• Programme management experience of more than 5 years development field experience with other reputable INGOs
• Practical experience in participatory development approaches, facilitation, capacity building and building effective teams to work in poor rural and urban communities
• Technical skills in Sustainable Livelihoods: agriculture/ agricultural economics/ public and environmental health/ education, equality , risk and vulnerability
• Third level qualification in development studies, social sciences or other related discipline
• Field research especially in participatory impact assessment for outcome level PM&E
• Training, capacity building and facilitation skills
• Experience of programme development, the project management cycle and participatory planning methodologies, including distance management
• Experience of strategic planning: analysis of secondary data
• Proven leadership ability, including ability to motivate and develop skills of others
• Understanding and application of PRA / RBA, working with partners, gender equality programming, and DRR
• Ability to work with culturally diverse groups of people: expatriate and Liberian
• Ability to organize and plan work effectively within a team
• Excellent report and technical paper writing ability
• Participatory and inclusive team working
• Flexibility to work in an emergency context as required
• Strong communication, problem solving, analytical and planning skills
• Ability to prioritise and handle a diverse and heavy workload
• Ability to work under pressure often to strict deadlines.

DESIRABLE
• Work experience in West Africa, particularly in Liberia
• Additional training or qualification in Gender equality/ Gender programming/ HIV & AIDS / Formal or Informal Education
• Prior emergency field experience

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries. Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents. Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

How to apply:
All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by the closing date. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length. All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline.

Closing Date: Thursday, 22 March 2012