Deputy Country Director- Programs At CARE USA

Are you a dynamic leader with a passion for driving transformative development and humanitarian initiatives? CARE Madagascar seeks a visionary Deputy Country Director – Programs (DCD-P) to lead its programming strategy and implementation, ensuring a significant contribution to CARE International’s vision of a world of hope, tolerance, and social justice.

In this key leadership role, you will oversee the design, execution, and evaluation of high-impact programs addressing the root causes of poverty and social injustice. Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team, you will foster partnerships, champion innovation, and ensure alignment with CARE’s principles and global standards.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Program Strategy & Development:

• Develop and implement CARE Madagascar’s comprehensive programming strategy aligned with national development priorities and CARE International’s vision.
• Lead the design of impactful programs targeting the root causes of poverty and inequality, incorporating gender-transformative approaches and disaster risk management.
• Strengthen strategic partnerships with donors, civil society, and government stakeholders to expand program reach and impact.

2. Program Management & Operations:

• Ensure programs are delivered with excellence, achieving measurable results within agreed timelines and budgets.
• Oversee resource management, including financial oversight, compliance with donor requirements, and effective use of systems for monitoring and evaluation.
• Lead emergency preparedness and response initiatives, ensuring CARE Madagascar is ready to respond effectively to crises.

3. Team Leadership & Development:

• Supervise, mentor, and inspire a high-performing program team, fostering a culture of collaboration, learning, and innovation.
• Implement performance management systems to nurture talent and develop leadership capacity within the team.
• Drive staff development initiatives, ensuring opportunities for professional growth and creative contributions.

4. Learning & Innovation:

• Promote a culture of reflective practice, ensuring lessons learned inform program refinement and future initiatives.
• Lead knowledge sharing and innovation across CARE Madagascar and with regional and global CARE entities.

5. External Relations & Advocacy:

• Represent CARE Madagascar in strategic forums, strengthening relationships with donors, government agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Advocate for policies and initiatives that advance CARE’s mission and amplify the voices of marginalized communities.

Qualifications & Competencies:

• Education: Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience:
  • 7+ years in senior leadership roles within development and humanitarian sectors.
  • Proven experience managing multi-million-dollar programs funded by donors such as USAID, EU, AFD, and private foundations.
  • 3+ years of international experience in complex contexts.
  • Expertise in program design, fundraising, and compliance with donor standards.
• Skills:
  • Strong leadership and team management capabilities.
  • Advanced strategic planning and operational management skills.
  • Proficiency in French and English (spoken and written).
  • Exceptional communication, partnership-building, and advocacy abilities.
  • Financial acumen, including budget management and compliance oversight.
  • Commitment to gender equity and transformative programming.
  • Excellent Communication in both French and English is mandatory

Why Join CARE Madagascar?

At CARE, we are dedicated to making a tangible impact on poverty and social injustice while promoting innovation, learning, and professional growth. Joining CARE Madagascar as the Deputy Country Director – Programs means playing a pivotal role in shaping impactful programs, driving systemic change, and building a legacy of hope and resilience.

French Version:

The Deputy Country Director – Programs (DCD-P) position is based in Madagascar and reports to the Country Director (CD). The DCD-P is responsible for ensuring that CARE’s long-term development and humanitarian programs in Madagascar contribute to CARE International’s vision of “a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, where poverty has been eliminated and people live in dignity and security”. The DCD-P is expected to provide strategic leadership in the areas of resource mobilization, program strategy development and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, program quality, advocacy, institutional development and organizational strengthening of partners. The DCD-P is responsible for creating a culture of learning and reflection so that organizational knowledge is used to develop innovations and continuously improve program strategies, quality and impact.

He/she manages a multidisciplinary team and works closely with the Deputy Country Director, Program Support to ensure sound operational and financial management and that all program staff work closely and interdependently with program support colleagues, including Finance, Administration and Human Resources. He/she works closely with and is supported by CARE International’s regional and headquarters program units. The DCD is a key member of the country office management team and as such is responsible for leading and supporting a range of country office initiatives. He/she is responsible, together with the Country Director (CD), for maintaining good working relationships with host government officials, donors and other partners. He/she leads the development and management of relationships with civil society partners. He/she may be required to act as interim Country Director when the latter is absent from the country.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Team management

• Provide supervision, management and coaching to all direct supervisees and lead the establishment and operation of a strong, effective and coordinated program team.
• Ensure the implementation of CARE’s performance management system for direct supervisees and their teams, including the development of Job Descriptions, annual performance plans and performance evaluation processes, regular feedback, mid-term reviews and annual performance reviews.
• Proactively address performance issues through regular, constructive and honest feedback and coaching.
• Identify necessary strategies for staff development, career progression and succession planning for direct supervisees.
• Ensure that space and supports are available to enable staff to develop and innovate.
• Oversee the recruitment and orientation of new program managers.

Strategy and program development

• Lead the preparation and implementation of the overall Central Office program strategy, in line with the Central Office strategic plan, national development plans, CARE International (CI) vision and programming principles, and current CARE programming priorities.
• Lead the preparation of a program strategy based on a sound contextual analysis and that targets the specific underlying causes of poverty and social injustice, in line with CARE’s unifying framework.
• Ensure that all programs and projects designed and implemented by the CO are consistent with the program strategy, CI programming framework and performance standards and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the CO strategic plan.
• Seek strategic partnerships necessary to promote CARE’s vision and programming principles and ensure that these partners understand the CO’s program strategy.
• Ensure that systems and plans are in place to ensure that country office programmes/projects are designed and implemented based on sound analysis, address the underlying causes of poverty and have measurable positive impacts on the poor and marginalised.
• Work with staff and partners to develop viable proposals that align with the Coordinating Office strategy and lead efforts to identify and secure funding for these programs. Ensure the CO pipeline is stable and continues to grow.
• Ensure that monitoring, evaluation and learning systems are in place to demonstrate impact on the causes of poverty and use lessons learned to generate knowledge and improve the quality and impact of programmes.
• Ensure that monitoring and evaluation systems and periodic reporting strengthen the CO’s accountability to the communities we work with as well as other stakeholders (civil society, donors and government counterparts).
• Lead the development, regular update and implementation of an Emergency Preparedness Plan and ensure that disaster risk management is integrated into all long-term CARE programs.* In the event of an Emergency response, concentrate effort in the CO according to CARE protocols;
• Ensure that gender equity and diversity issues are adequately considered and addressed in all programmes/projects and ensure that programmes are increasingly gender transformative.

Program Management, Operations and Implementation

• Ensure that CARE programs and projects are managed to achieve program/project objectives, in accordance with CARE policies and procedures and demonstrating good stewardship of resources.
• Ensure that qualified personnel and appropriate policies, procedures and systems are in place to properly manage CARE programs/projects.
• Monitor CO programs and projects to ensure that they are implemented professionally in accordance with project proposals through project visits, review meetings with teams, review and approval of reports, review and approval of activity plans on a regular basis, at least every six (06) months;
• With the support of the Programme Support Team, ensure the proper management of financial and other resources entrusted to CARE’s programme and projects, including the analysis and approval of programme/project budgets (including project correspondences) and monitoring of budget reports (including correct recording of correspondences).
• Ensure that donor and government reports are prepared to agreed standards and within agreed timeframes.
• Work closely with program support units (Finance, Administration, Human Resources, etc.) to ensure good coordination for effective program implementation and compliance with donor regulations.
• Regularly review and ensure that the most effective CO program management structure is established and operational to ensure program quality and cost-effective achievement of project objectives.

Reflective practice and learning

• Ensure that the cooperation programme remains dynamic and provides opportunities for innovation and personal development by promoting a culture and mechanisms of reflective practice and learning at all levels.
• Establish mechanisms for knowledge sharing and learning between projects and programmes within the CO and with parties external to the CO.
• Establish a reward system and model a culture that recognizes and supports innovation, risk-taking and learning.
• Ensure that the CO actively participates in regional and organization-wide learning initiatives related to CARE priority program themes and approaches.
• Ensure that lessons learned are consolidated and used to inform current and future practices.

QUALIFICATIONS :

• Master’s degree in a relevant field
• Seven 07 years in a management position in the field of development and humanitarian work
• At least 03 three years of experience in the management of projects supported by USAID, EU, AFD and private foundations
• Excellent understanding of socio-economic development and poverty eradication strategies
• Demonstrable experience of at least three years in managing multi-million dollar portfolios.
• International professional experience in similar positions
• Fluency in written and spoken French and English.
• Programme Development and Management
  + Proven ability to raise funds from bilateral and multilateral donors
  + Proven proposal and reporting skills
  + Proven experience in strategic and operational planning
  + Proven leadership and management skills in a complex international context
  + Experience with rights-based approaches to development
  + Experience in institutional development and organizational strengthening of CSOs – People and Relationship Management
  + Proven leadership and interpersonal skills
  + Ability and interest in coaching and developing staff
  + Experience in performance management
  + Experience in managing a diverse workforce
  + Demonstrated intercultural communication skills
  + Knowledge and experience in financial management, demonstrated by the following
  – Ability to manage a complex budget – Donor compliance and reporting – Information and knowledge management
  + Ability to build a learning culture within the CO External Relations/Fundraising
  + Experience in successfully managing institutional partnerships with national and international NGOs
  + Experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with donors and government counterparts.