About the role; This is a 24 month role with accompanied terms and conditions based in Lilongwe, Malawi with a salary of Band 5 €40,403 – €44,892. You will report to the Country Director (CD) and will line manage a dynamic team. We would like you to start by end of December 2017.
Your purpose: To play a leading role in the achievement of a strong multi-annual funding base for Concern in Malawi, which supports the delivery of quality programmes in line with our Strategic Plan, assisting the Country Director in the direction, development, management and implementation of Concern Worldwide Malawi’s high quality country programme. The Programme Director is a key member of the Country Management Team (CMT), and is expected to be committed to the humanitarian goals and identity of the organisation, and may be asked to contribute to humanitarian response activities in the event of an emergency.
You will be responsible for:
Strategy & Programme Development:
- Provide leadership in the effective planning, development, management and integration of Concern’s programmes in Mangochi, Phalombe, Nsanje and Mchinji and any future areas of intervention.
- Design new programmes, proposals, budgets, work plans and procurement plans in line with Concern’s global Strategic and Country Strategies, programme development guidelines and Government /donor priorities.
- Fostering team spirit and collaboration necessary to achieve programme and organisation goals in Malawi and globally
- Identify and actively pursue opportunities to build partnerships with local NGOs on the basis of a shared vision and values and complementary expertise
Programme Coordination and Management:
- Supervise all projects to ensure that strategies designed and written in the project document are undertaken to a high standard
- Support capacity building of the team and partners on Concern’s organizational strategies and approaches, including ‘How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty’ (HCUEP)
- Contribute to the development of a country level funding strategy through the delivery of high quality funding proposals to seek donor funding
- Ensure mainstreaming of equality, HIV/AIDS and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into programme work
Staff Development and Organisational Learning
- Actively contribute to maintaining a strong and committed team of programme staff through mentoring and skills development;
- Ensure that direct reports set objectives, conduct reviews and perform Performance Development Reviews (PDRs) with their staff against a clear calendar;
- Lead / assist in the recruitment of international and national programme staff;
- Capacity build and support in the management of technical advisors and consultants for quality focused programming through all stages of the PCMS;
Grant Management:
- Rigorously manage all programme related finances e.g. budget expenditure tracking and analysis with key budget holders.
- Oversee the preparation of donor 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.
- Ensure strict compliance with donor contract requirements / reporting deadlines etc.;
Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning:
- Support the on-going development of participatory monitoring systems, particularly accountability downwards with communities and full compliance with the roll out of the CHS standards.
- Support the implementation of a Complaints Response Mechanism (CRM) and continue to monitor its effectiveness so that the mechanism can be strengthened over time;
- Actively use existing Country and Programme Results Frameworks, Theory of Change, Logframes and PME plans to monitor appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness and effects of all interventions and systematically revise planned activities and strategies accordingly
- Research, analyse and disseminate relevant / new approaches, concepts and frameworks applied to poverty alleviation, as well as information on national government initiatives
Networking & Representation:
- Represent Concern and maintain coordination and networking relationships with the government, donors and other national and international development actors
- Ensure Concern liaises with other agencies, training/academic/research institutions and networks that can enrich and enhance the quality of our work
- Oversee advocacy efforts at the national level to contribute towards achievement of country strategic objectives; contribute to the development and review of programme and country advocacy strategies and objectives.
Other Duties: The Programmes Director will
- be familiar and comply with Concern Worldwide Staff Code of Conduct, the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), Anti-Fraud Policy and the Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages;
- ensure that those he/she directly line manages are conversant with and adhering to the P4 and will institute mechanism to follow-up and verify that this is the case;
Your skills and experience will include:
ESSENTIAL
- Minimum Degree in Development Studies or a relevant technical area (programme focus under the new Strategic Plan includes; economic development, sustainable livelihoods, food security, women’s empowerment, disaster risk reduction, and water and sanitation)
- A minimum of 5 years’ experience working in a developing country context at least 3 years of which should be in senior programme management, including experience in planning, developing and evaluating complex programmes in technical areas similar to those in the Malawi programme;
- Experience of developing and managing large scale and multi sectoral programmes in a development context;
- Practical experience in participatory development approaches, facilitation, capacity building and building effective teams to work in poor rural and urban communities;
- Experience of programme development, the project management cycle and participatory planning methodologies, including distance management;
- Excellent understanding and experience in developing and utilizing rigorous planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes
- Experience of strategic planning;
- Proven leadership ability, including ability to motivate and develop skills of others; Training, capacity building and facilitation skills.
We would also like:
- Strong commitment to helping the poorest people in the world to improve their wellbeing and achieve their goals.
- Work experience in Southern Africa, particularly in Malawi
- Understanding and application of PRA / RBA, working with partners
- Experience in Field research especially in participatory impact assessment for outcome level PM&E
- Good interpersonal skills
- Strong written and spoken abilities in English
- A strong team player with a can do attitude
- Effective data management and analysis skills – basic statistical analysis of programme M+E
- In depth knowledge of development
- Ability to work to deadlines and under pressure
- Strong proven delegation, time management and prioritising skills;
- Effective networking abilities
- Skills in Digital Data Gathering, statistics and statistical analysis software packages (desirable) Methodical and thorough
More Information
- Job City Lilongwe
