Area Coordinator
Lofa, Liberia
About the role: This is a 24-month, new role with unaccompanied terms based in Lofa with a salary of Grade 4 €35,981 – €39,979 (plus benefits).
You will report to the Programmes Director and will line manage Lofa area staff. The AC will liaise with Systems Director, Logistics Supervisor, Finance Manager, National Public Health Coordinator, Program Quality Coordinator and Transport Manager
Your purpose: to ensure the effective development and implementation of high quality multi-sector and nutrition sensitive Food Security, Agriculture, WASH and Health Livelihoods programme in Lofa County through the effective leadership and management of programme staff. To develop and maintain good relationships with peer NGOs, local authorities and communities in which we work. The Area Coordinator is a member of the Country Management Team.
You will be responsible for:
Program Design
- Participate in the development of new proposals and concept notes, ensuring that the logic and proposed activities meet the identified community needs and are in line with the Concern Liberia Strategy.
- Lead programme teams to conduct technical assessments, reviews, etc. and document and share lessons learnt with relevant stakeholders.
- Ensure the integration of multiple sectors to achieve maximum synergy and impact. Document and share lessons learnt on effective programme integration.
- Work with programme managers to develop sector plans, which are integrated with other sectors as above, and are in line with the Concern Liberia Country Strategic Plan and informed by the prevailing context and Government of Liberia (GoL) policy frameworks.
- Prepare complete, accurate and realistic budgets for donor proposals and as part of Concern’s internal budget procedures, ensuring that all direct and indirect costs are fully and accurately budgeted.
Programme Implementation
- Prepare and implement programme activity plans that correspond to the approved donor proposals and budgets and update these on a timely basis.
- Prepare and share procurement plans with the Logistics Supervisor, and update these on a timely basis.
- Prepare regular narrative and financial reports on programme activities for internal management purposes and for donors, Dublin etc.
- Ensure all expenditure is authorised and spent in accordance with Concern’s internal procedures.
- Monitor monthly management account reports from Finance to ensure that expenditure is being accurately recorded and to avoid any under- or over-spends and that adjustments are requested in a timely manner.
- Regularly review and provide monthly reports on expenditure v. budget to the Country Management Team, and ensure alignment with overall country program operating budget.
- Integrate, apply and mainstream cross-cutting themes into all programmes; including How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty; Equality (with especial focus on gender), HIV and AIDS, and Risk Reduction (with especial emphasis on preparedness/prevention in respect of health epidemics such as Ebola) in programme planning, implementation and evaluation.
Programme Support and Systems
- Periodically assess the security situation and mitigate any security issues that may impact on program implementation. The Area Coordinator is the security focal point for security in Lofa.
- Finance management: oversee the daily, routine and periodic financial management at the field office.
- Procurement; determine procurement needs, support local procurement and liaise with Logistics Supervisor on Monrovia and HQ based procurement of good and services.
- Transport and fleet management; regularly assess transport needs and assign available fleet to support program implementation. Compile and submit timely transport, fuel consumption and procurement reports.
- Logistics; plan and facilitate movement of goods and persons between Monrovia and field office as needed and within Lofa County.
- Community and local government liaison.
- Routinely facilitate sessions with staff on Concern policies and the country strategic plan.
Monitoring and Evaluation
- With support from Programme Quality Coordinator, adopt and or develop, monitor and document quality indicators for the multi-sector programme.
- Ensure all aspects of the programme activities adhere to programme quality standards and policies (PM&E, accountability and mainstreaming) in a coherent and integrated manner.
- Ensure that the Multi-sector programme activities are accurately reflected in the integrated M&E system, identifying activities to be monitored and data to be collected.
- Identify and assign programme M&E functions to ensure timely and accurate quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.
- Participate in program surveys, program reviews, contextual analysis, and research activities to inform program development.
Capacity Building
- Design, plan and implement a capacity building plan for all relevant Concern Liberia staff on key elements of the different components of the Multi-sector programme in Lofa County.
- Contribute to the daily capacity building and strengthening of decision making capacities of Liberia national staff.
People Management
- Manage Multi-sector staff, contributing to their capacity building and career development through technical support and on-the-job training and coaching, including in particular a thorough induction at the start of their contract.
- Assist Program Managers in developing performance objectives, and implement Performance Development and Review cycle in accordance with Concern HR policy; give corrective feedback where required and take decisive action in the case of poor performance.
- Ensure that all department positions have accurate job descriptions and that each member of the team fully understands outcomes which are expected of them, by setting SMART objectives, and that they are aware of the success criteria relating to their work.
- Ensure that work within the team(s) is planned and organised in a way which will meet the organisation’s needs in the most cost effective manner possible; ensuring that team members are given appropriate workloads and are working efficiently.
- Identify and take appropriate action to fill HR resource gaps (create new roles or recruit to replace a leaver).
- Ensure that all department staff are aware of and comply with all of Concern’s policies and procedures.
Representation
- Participate regularly in relevant cluster meetings and other relevant coordination meetings at local and national level.
- Share information on specific department activities with other actors (other NGOs, UN agencies).
- Ensure regular coordination with relevant authorities and other relevant actors operating in the same sector.
Others
- Actively participate in collective exercises such as preparation or updates of Preparing for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) plan, Security Management Plan (SMP) and other Concern initiatives.
- Take active measures to address equality issues, particularly relating to gender, in programme as well as operational (e.g. HR) activities.
- Ensure the highest stands of accountability in Lofa County programme (in line with Concern Worldwide in Liberia’s Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) commitments and improvement plan) through ensuring good communication and information sharing within and outside the program and enabling staff, beneficiary and other stakeholder participation at all stages of the project cycle.
- Be aware of, understand and comply with all of Concern’s policies and procedures (P4, finance, logistics, HR, security management etc.).
- Contribute to ongoing security management and planning as necessary.
- Actively participate in any emergency response if called upon to do so (within the existing programme area or in a new one).
- Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the Country Director or the line manager.
Your skills and experience will include:
Essential:
- Bachelor’s degree in relevant technical field (such as agriculture, public health, etc.), Public Administration or other relevant qualification.
- At least 4 years of experience working with an international NGO in progressive management positions.
- Demonstrated familiarity with and experience of all aspects of Project Management Cycle System (PCMS).
- Knowledge and practical experience of integrating/mainstreaming key issues such as equality, risk reduction, accountability.
- Proven ability to compile donor reports.
- Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation.
Desirable:
- Masters’ degree in development or relevant Social Sciences.
- Previous experience as Area Coordinator managing multi-sector programs
- Demonstrated ability to analyse root causes of extreme poverty and design effective programmes to address them.
- Experience working in West Africa in the field of humanitarian aid / development.
- Previous experience of working with Concern Worldwide and knowledge of its policies and procedures.
We would also like:
- Strong interpersonal, motivational, communication and coordination skills.
- Ability to work under pressure and to strict deadlines.
- Good team player, flexible and capable of working in a culturally diverse environment.
- Effective oral and written English language skills as demonstrated in ability to write reports as required by donors.
- Ability to utilise IT software packages including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Excellent coaching, facilitation and capacity-building skills.
- Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, accountability, participation and gender equality.
- A good sense of humour.
How to apply:
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.
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.
More Information
- Job City Lofa
