Area Manager At Save the Children

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Area Manager is responsible for providing strategic leadership and implementation oversight to Save the Children’s comprehensive portfolio that takes into consideration the development and emerging needs of all children in Lebanon and the specific needs of children and communities at large within the designated geographical area. S/He will be responsible for identifying needs & resources and elaborating recommendations to programmes design, in line with Save the Children Lebanon CO National strategy and global priorities.

The post holder will ensure effective representation of Save the Children to the External Coordination Forums including LHIF, Inter-Agency; in addition to the representation with the national and local authorities, INGOs, LNGOS, and other stakeholders as well as Donors. S/He will be a high performing team builder, sensitive to the cultural, political and security environment of Lebanon and will lead and manage staff covering operations and programmes in Education, Child Protection, Child Rights Governance, Shelter/WASH and Food Security and Livelihoods.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g., once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Deputy Country Director – PO

Staff Directly reporting to 3 Sector Leads, 1 Finance Coordinator/1 Finance Officer, 1 Supply Chain Officer, 1 Program Officer and 2 MEAL Officers.

Budget Responsibilities: Portfolio exceeding USD 5,000,000

Role Dimensions: Ensuring high quality and cost-effective project implementation within the designated geographical area, in compliance with SCI and donors’ policies and procedures. Represent SCI at area level and represent area priorities within the ESMT. Ensures that staff observe SCI’s Code of Conduct and other guiding principles, and that SCI’s financial, human and other resources are carefully controlled to ensure maximum impact for affected communities is achieved.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

As a member of the Extended Senior Management Team, the AM plays a leading role in setting the country strategy and contributing to key decisions affecting the country office.

Provide strategic vision and direction to Save the Children program portfolio in operation.
Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity, and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children.
Contribute to development of advocacy messages, priorities, and materials in conjunction with SC PAC unit.
Promote the rights of IDPs/refugees in line with the CO advocacy strategy.

Oversight and Management of Program Implementation

Manage all programmes in field area of operation, oversight of project implementation plans, assess progress of implementation of activities against plans on monthly basis, and document the progress and action corrective measures as and when required in compliance with contractual commitments. Take the lead in demonstrating practices for quality program implementation.
Track budget spending and support the preparation of financial reports and the award review process.
Contribute to the delivery on Operational Key Performance Indicators, in particular proper planning to deliver on-time, on-budget programs.
Ensure that SC programmes are implemented up to the quality standards and the quality benchmark are used for verification and demonstrate impact on children.
Ensure high quality donor reporting, evaluation (including impact evaluation), and documentation.
Ensure appropriate participation of staff in program management and decision making and raise necessary issues at ESMT Meetings held at HO level.
In close coordination with DCD-PO and all operations staff, optimally manage the area office and sub offices, guest houses, vehicles and other assets including adherence of staff to SCI policies and guidelines.
Compliance and adherence to SCI policies, guidance and procedures
Provide area specific input on Sector strategies, Country Strategy and Plan of Action.
Organize Award openings and closure meetings at area level
Ensure optimal use of resources within the allocated project budgets and CO strategies.
Ensure overall security and safety of staff in the area
Build a strong Area Office with clear functions vis-à-vis external actors in the area as well as the country office, while remaining in close contact with other area offices.
Regular identification and mapping of risks including mitigation plans.
With the support of the S&S Snr Manager, accountable for the S&S of staff, assets, offices, etc.
Ensure children, youth, women, men, PWDs and other groups are actively participating in program delivery, design and decision-making processes.

Strategic Planning

Contribute to the development of country strategy and the annual country plans and develop Area Plans that are in line with these
Lead on the development of Area Office Master Budget and actively feed into the CO Master budget including MB forecast.
Participate in conceptualizing and designing cost-effective and innovative projects to serve children within the designated areas of operation.
Ensure synergies and integration among all projects.
Support the development/evolution of existing programmes, with the aim of ensuring that staff has the capacity to support others (local partners and government counterparts) in the implementation of quality programmes that show impact.
Support and represent SCI in coordination, programme learning, and capacity building vis-a-vis national policy/advocacy and strategy planning initiatives as requested by supervisor.

Programme design/development

Steer, supervise and support staff in the design, management, implementation, and monitoring of sector activities.
Assess needs, develop emergency response and implement response plans, including cash-based interventions and market-based programmes.
Produce timely reports and situational analysis use on the status of on-going situation and programming.
Identify programme gaps and ensure appropriate action is taken.
Operationalize monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for Save the Children programmes and that lessons learnt are shared and capitalized on.
Ensure that projects are monitored regularly, and that data is collected on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.
Ensure a culture of regular analysis and evaluation of monitoring data to understand impact of project and identify lessons learned for future programming.
Regularly visit project sites to ensure that teams are appropriately supported.

Team management and capacity building

Lead, manage and motivate staff under direct and indirect line management, ensuring that they have clear objectives and receive meaningful feedback on their performances.
Ensure that policies and procedures are understood by new staff (e.g., Mandatory trainings, procurement, and finance requirements).
Coach and mentor, all Area office staff (including support staff) to support the development of their capacity on all areas.
Ensure appropriate staffing in the area office with strong ability to scale up.
Ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff.
Support and maintain appropriate approaches for Talent management within the area office.

Partnerships management

With partnership manager, lead on identification and assessment of new partners.
Ensure effective and collaborative relationships with partner organizations.
Play a key role in partners’ capacity assessment and development for building national civil society in operation.
Responsible for partnership management to ensure programme delivery.
Ensure continuous programme management and facilitate technical support to partners to ensure timely quality programming.
Work with HR/Finance/Logs teams to ensure partners are receiving adequate support from support sections.

External relationships/Representation

Represent Save the Children’s work in Lebanon externally including but not limited to local authorities, governmental bodies, municipalities and others.
Represent Save the Children in regional inter-agency sectors working group meetings and other sector coordination forums in Lebanon.

General

Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in related fields with more than 10 years of progressive management experience including 2 years in similar role.
Fluency in written and spoken English and computer literate.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Ten years of progressive experience of humanitarian/development programming; with significant experience in project/programme implementation, monitoring, review and evaluation preferably from a child rights approach in accordance with the CRC and international humanitarian rights standards.
Manager with the strength and vision to support fresh and innovative teams of highly professional staff across our areas of operations.
A strategic thinker, with strong project management skills and an individual with a solid understanding of the Lebanon context and the donor landscape involved is highly valued.
A thorough understanding of, and experience working with all phases of Project Cycle Management.
Flexibility and willingness to change work practices and hours, and capability to work in insecure environment
Available and willing to travel throughout Lebanon
Substantial people and programme management experience with good interpersonal skills and ability to communicate at all levels.
Solid experience in grant management, including budget holding and donor reporting.
Substantial understanding or proven experience of security management issues.
Previous experience from working in complex and volatile contexts.
Ability to produce high quality reports in English.
Representational, political awareness and advocacy skills.
Ability to work with limited supervision from line manager.
Experience of working with partners and a participatory approach.
Commitment to and understanding of SCI’s aims, values and principles.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.