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

Contract
Length: 2 years

• Provide leadership in the effective planning,
  development, management and integration of Concern’s area based programs
  in Lofa and Grand Bassa 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
  County level Results Frameworks
• Overseeing the implementation of institutional
  donor grants according to donor specific guidelines especially Irish Aid
  plus other smaller grants: Vitol, IOM, etc.
• 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

• Ensure we build the capacity and preparedness
  to respond to potential emergency situations (e.g. 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 and assessments
• Ensure that we have a Preparing for Effective
  Emergency Response (PEER) plan and that the plan is reviewed, implemented
  and updated annually

• 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

• 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 respective District 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 Water Engineer in ensuring that timely and
  quality construction work is planned and completed in supporting the
  programs: water & sanitation infrastructure and roads, bridges & culverts;
• 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 selection of construction contractors;
• There is an Education Coordinator based in
  Grand Bassa who provides technical support (see B4 below) to the IAPF
  funded components of BASE & BRED; plus
• A Water engineer, based in Lofa (with travel
  to GB & Monrovia, as required) responsible for the management of all
  construction contracts; their status; contract management & compliance
  with contractors; reviewing all tender documentation and technical
  drawings, BoQs etc.

• Coordinate and support 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
• This will involve managing the M&E
  officer: overseeing the annual surveys, using the DDGs and updating the
  BASE and BRED M&E databases;
• 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

• 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
• To date there are two partnership agreements
  with: LIBTRALO (on the USAID EQUAL project & managed by the ACD ED)
  and Child Fund (managed by the ACDP)

• 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
  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

• 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 any
  periodic research volunteers e.g. MSc students 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

• 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;

• 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,
  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.

• Work experience in West Africa, particularly
  in Liberia
• Additional training or qualification in Gender
  equality/ Gender programming/ HIV & AIDS / Informal Education
  (vocational training) would be a great advantage
• Prior emergency field experience