Contract Length: 2 years
Date Needed By: January 2013
New Post or Replacement: Replacement as incumbent job holder ends his tenure after 5 years in Liberia
Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Unaccompanied
Exact Job Location: Lofa County with monthly travel to Monrovia
Reports To: Assistant Country Director Programmes (ACDP)
Responsible For: Lofa County Programme Team; directly line manages 5 staff (Health Project Manager, FIM Project Manager, M&E officer, Administration & Logistics’ Officer & Field Cashier)
Liaises With: Country Management Team, Sector Coordinators, Programme Support Officer, County & District level officials, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders.;
Job Purpose:
Ensure the effective and professional coordination of Concern Liberia’s programme activities in Lofa County;
Ensure that the Lofa Programme which includes Environment Health, Food Income and Market (Livelihood security) and Education components are implemented effectively and efficiently and in line with Concern’s concept of ‘How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty’;
Main Duties & Responsibilities:
a) Programme Implementation
• Coordinate the planning, quality implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all programmes within the agreed budgets, time frames and donor guidelines & requirements
• Ensure, through adequate staff supervision and field monitoring, that all programme activities adopt an integrated community development approach that involves programme participants in participatory decision making, planning and implementation
• Liaise with other INGOs, LNGOs, Government representatives, private sector and other relevant stakeholders. for effective coordination, cooperation and clarity for mutual understanding of objectives, progress and implementation
• Identify the local needs/ issues and recommend appropriate programme interventions
• Analyse and timely resolve issues that have the potential to jeopardize performance and/or ability to meet agreed upon programme deliverables
• Coordinate with and where relevant support capacity building of partner organizations at management level to ensure the efficient and effective implementation of Concern funded projects
• Liaise with and brief SMT on programmes and situational context on a regular basis
b) Programme Development
• Assist the Country Director, ACDP and Sector Coordinators during the development of project proposals/concept papers and their budgets
• Participate and contribute in current and future proposal writing initiative as lead or co-writer
c) Financial Management
• Overall responsibility for the integrity of the finance systems in Lofa and ensuring strict adherence to Concern’s Financial Policy and Procedures
• Serve as a budget holder for the programme implementation budgets once approved, monitor budget expenditure and prepare budget submissions/revisions when requested.
• Monitor under and over spending in each budget, advise the ACDP and the finance department of any variances and recommend solutions
• In collaboration with the Administration and Logistics’ officer ensure that asset registers are maintained and up to date
c) HR
• Manage all persons directly reporting to him/her and support problem solving process
• Support the programme staff through regular feedback meetings and ongoing coaching/mentoring
• Assist with the recruitment of local staff including the development of JDs and liaison with HR for supporting the recruitment process
• Responsible for staff development, coaching and mentoring to enhance the capacity of staff
• Ensure that Objectives are agreed and that PDRs are completed for all staff as per Concern Liberia standards
• Identify professional development opportunities for Lofa County staff in collaboration with the ACDP
• Ensure all Concern policies and guidelines are adhered to by staff and local partners e.g. Programme Participant Protection Policy, Equality, Anti-Fraud Policy and Accountability standards
d) Reporting
• Ensure timely completion of internal and donor reports and related documentation adhering to Concern Worldwide standards and requirements of the contract
• Provide internal monthly progress reports to ACD Programmes and PSU
• Provide monthly and ad hoc security reports to ACD Systems
• Provide financial projections to ACD Programmes & Finance Dept.
e) Networking
• Represent Concern at inter-agency, and coordination meetings of INGOs, LNGOs and other stakeholders pertaining to Lofa County programme
• Represent Concern at all local government coordination meetings
• Liaise with Concern Area Coordinators in other locations within Liberia for information and knowledge sharing on good practices
f) Monitoring & Evaluation
• Ensure that an effective M&E system is in place in Lofa Field Office with particular focus on measurement of results (at the outputs and outcomes level), documentation and sharing of the lessons learned and good practices.
• Develop and track milestones and timelines across programmes and coordinate the baseline assessments, performance reviews and evaluations in consultation with the ACDP
• Ensure M&E is incorporated into all programme plans and mechanisms are efficiently implemented
• Within programmes, ensure technical guidelines and Concern policies are followed
g) Equality
Ensure equality is understood by all staff in the programme area and that equality issues are addressed in the programme from design through to final evaluation.
h) Security
• Monitor and report on the security status in the programme area to the ACD Systems
• Ensure the implementation of the security policy and identify security training needs as they arise
• Ensure that security protocols are adhered to by all staff under said jurisdiction
i) Support Services
• Ensure that all goods, services and money are procured in compliance with Concern’s procurement policies and guidelines
• Monitor the storage, distribution and use of all goods allocated to the programme and report any variances to the National Logistics manager or the ACDS as appropriate
j) Other
• Any other related duties as assigned by the CD/ACDP or his/her representatives.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
ESSENTIAL
• Masters’ degree in rural development/ international development or any of the Social Sciences or Humanities relating to our programme work: agricultural development/ basic education/ public health.
• At least 5 years’ experience in the management and coordination of high value donor funded multi-sector development programme, preferably with an INGO
• Demonstrated experience of leading and managing project teams to ensure that all team members are working to their full capacities to achieve programme outcomes
• Experience with financial management of multi-programme, multi-donor projects in development settings
• Strong interpersonal, motivational, communication and coordination skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and to strict deadlines.
• Effective oral and written English language skills as demonstrated in ability to write reports as required by donors and utilize IT software packages including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint skills
• Good coaching, facilitation and capacity-building skills.
• Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, accountability, participation and gender equality.
DESIRABLE
• Experience working in West Africa in the field of humanitarian aid/ development support.
• Overseas experience working with an INGO would be desirable;
All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by 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 OR Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.
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.
Deadline: 22 September 2012
