Regional Program Coordinator – Central & Southern Africa (CSA) 112 views0 applications

Position Summary

The Central and Southern Africa regional team manages a $22 million peacebuilding portfolio across complex conflict environments in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Madagascar. The regional portfolio addresses critical conflict transformation and peacebuilding needs including security sector reform, sustainable business practice, community violence prevention, reconciliation, gender-based violence, social cohesion and conflict-sensitivity. With recent growth in the portfolio, the regional team seeks to expand its support and attention to all ongoing projects.

The Regional Programme Coordinator will monitor country teams’ performance using agreed-upon programme implementation and quality measurement tools, diagnose any challenges and establish corrective actions in collaboration with the RPM and the Regional Director. This is done in a manner which consistently builds capacity, strengthens lines of country-level accountability, and enables and inspires talent at all levels within the country programme.

The Regional Programme Coordinator will provide critical support to grants management, programme implementation, and reporting. S/he will ensure that programmes comply with internal and donor policies and procedures, have the necessary capacities and support to ensure maximum impact, and are implemented in a well-planned and controlled manner. S/he will provide a critical oversight to implementation, ensuring quality, coherence and consistency of programming and identify necessary support.

S/he will report to the Regional Programme Manager, and work in close collaboration with the Regional Director, Regional programme associate, Regional Business Development Manager, Institutional Learning Team, country teams and HQ services.

It is possible that this position will relocate to DC, USA or Brussels, Belgium after 9 months.

Key Responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities include:

Grants Management

• Provide support to country teams and RPM during project start up phase (contract review, recruitment, procurement, planning and others as required by policy and project needs).
• Maintain and update Grants Management tracker for assigned portfolio on a monthly basis
• Track grant deliverables (costed workplans, budget monitoring meetings, report submissions) and report compliance to the Regional Director on a quarterly basis;
• Review and monitor progress against project workplans and projections, and report to RPM and RD any at-risk projects;
• Monitor burn rates and work with project managers to identify and roll out corrective action;
• Identify grants management support and capacity building needs and work with RPM to provide support;
• Support RPM to develop and roll out appropriate and user-friendly tools to improve compliance at country level;
• As needed, work in collaboration with HQ and country teams to complete budget realignments;
• Engage support of other departments as needed to solve problems and provide support to country teams in addressing grant management challenges;
• Assume interim roles in country programmes when appropriate and timely.

Program quality and implementation

• Ensure that programme implementation tools and processes are being properly applied, including start-up and close-out protocols, costed work plans, and budget analysis meetings;
• Participate actively in quarterly project reflection meetings and ensure learning is shared and applied;
• Support programmes in using organizational best practices, tools and methodologies to implement the programme activities, and identify capacity building needs for country staff;
• Provide technical inputs on projects when applicable and appropriate, and/or mobilize technical support on key areas (eg. Training tools, media products, etc);
• Liaise with any of Search’s HQ departments when appropriate to facilitate collaboration and troubleshoot issues;
• Identify obstacles to timely delivery of quality programmes and work with country teams and Regional Director and RPM to find solutions rapidly;
• Travel to field offices to provide in-country support as needed. Participate in key project and programme launch and close out meetings, key programme events and workshops;
• Provide surge or interim management support as required for new projects, regional projects or projects which are facing HR gaps.
• Support in the preparation of donor reports (including providing correct templates, editing, collecting additional information from country teams);

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

Qualifications

You meet the following qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in conflict studies, international relations, human rights or related field;
• Formal training in project management, business or other related areas an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in implementation and/or programme support of conflict transformation, governance and/or human rights programmes;
• Demonstrable knowledge of grant management requirements of key institutional donors (USG, European bilaterals, UN, EU);
• Experience living and/or working in one of the region’s countries an advantage;
• Experience of consortium-led development, stabilisation or humanitarian programming an advantage.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Demonstrated knowledge of grant management requirements of key institutional donors, including EU, European bilaterals, USAID, State Dept, or UN;
• Willingness to travel on a regular basis and live in challenging contexts;
• Demonstrated ability to effectively work with a diverse team, with attention to mentorship and professional development of staff;
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English and French required;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Proactive diagnostic and problem-solving abilities;
• Knowledge of the current conflict dynamics in CAR and DRC.