Deputy Director of Programs At International Rescue Committee

IRC started operations in Chad in 2004 to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the influx of refugees from Darfur to eastern Chad, with intervention in the Ouré Cassoni refugee camp. Assistance to Sudanese refugees has now expanded to the management of the ten camps in the East and one camp in the West with assistance to refugees and local communities in health, nutrition and water, hygiene and sanitation. In 2012, to respond to drought and food insecurity, IRC expanded its geographic coverage in the Guéra region; IRC is currently working in three health districts Mongo, Mangalmé and Melfi and is providing prevention and treatment of malnutrition to the local population. In May 2016, IRC opened an office in the Lac region to respond to the Boko Haram crisis. IRC implements assistance projects in health, nutrition as well as protection and response to gender-based violence (GBV).

IRC Chad is committed in its 2015-2020 Strategic Action Plan and is currently working on its Strategy 100 (plan for next three years), to continue to provide essential humanitarian services in health, nutrition and protection/GBV, while improving the economic well-being and building the resilience of beneficiaries, especially women and girls. IRC Chad will continue to work with and closely support states actors/ ministries for key areas of intervention so that IRC’s actions fit into national policies to ensure better ownership of actions taken towards.

IRC Chad’s health programs are developed and implemented in line with the IRC Global Health Strategy 2020, the IRC Strategic Action Plan and the IRC Outcome and Evidence Framework as well as the Theories of Change (ToC) related to health outcomes. The sector strategy is based on improving access to curative, preventive and promotional health services, including improved access to drinking water and sanitation. To develop its programs, the Health team works in close collaboration with the government and non-governmental stakeholders and for the past two years has been involved in the transition between emergency and development programs.

Job Overview

Member of the country senior management team (SMT) and under the supervision of the Country Director, he/she assumes direct responsibility for the effectiveness and efficiency of support to all units of the Program Team both in N’Djamena and in the field. He/she has overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Program, ensuring the development of high quality, innovative programs and projects that deliver rapid and sustainable results/impacts for the benefit of the people we serve. He/she oversees the quality of program/project implementation and provides substantive technical support for the appropriate learning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of programs/projects. He/she supervises directly and indirectly the international and national staff of the Program team, including the technical coordination teams (in particular Health, Nutrition, WPE/GBV, Livelihoods / ERD), grants and management teams of the program team (funding, research, compliance management and reporting), monitoring and evaluation teams, and learning. In support of the Country Director, he/she assumes a high-level internal and external representation role with donors, partners, state actors, civil society, the private sector and other key stakeholders in Chad and /or in the region.

Major Responsibilities:

The major responsibility of Deputy Director of Programs, is to ensure the strategic and operational leadership and management of the Program, focusing on its development, quality, advocacy and influence at the national level; mainly in the following areas:

• Team management
• Definition and Design of the Program Strategy
• Business Development, Resource Mobilization and Partnership
• Quality program implementation
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
• Documentation, Communication and Learning

Specific responsibilities

1. Human Resources – Development and Team Management

• Staffing: In coordination with the Human Resources management team, ensure that the IRC Chad Program team is composed of quality staff, living the values of the organization. He/she participates in the recruitment, development and retention of qualified individuals in all necessary positions of the Program to support effective, efficient and high-quality programs/projects;

• Team building: he/she ensures that the Program team is consistent and that colleagues work in good collaboration with each other, with an excellent understanding of mutual expectations; and that support for field teams is prioritized. He / she establishes and evaluates performance standards / objectives and the behaviors of team members.

• Individual Development and Performance Management: He/she manages and develops the performance of Program teams across the country to ensure the quality of the Program. This includes monitoring and evaluation of individual performance and professional development plans in accordance with the organization’s standards.

2. Strategic and operational management

• Coordination: Coordinate the development, formulation and writing of project ideas, concept notes and proposals in collaboration and coordination with national and regional technical teams.

• Effectiveness: ensure the effective and qualitative management of the IRC Chad program cycle and ensure programmatic learning between programs / projects.

• Leadership: take leadership on strategic development, action plans with clear objectives and clear outcomes, evaluation steps, long-term and short-term priorities, implementation plans; financial projections as well as evaluation tools.

• Support: Work with country technical teams and field coordinators to ensure that adequate support is provided to program / project delivery staff.

• Participation: formulate and develop programs that promote beneficiary/clients participation, capacity building, partnership, and advocacy.

• Opportunities: to ensure the development of new opportunities related to the IRC Mission Statement and the Strategic Action Plan of Chad.

• Policy: ensure that all interventions in Chad comply with IRC policies, donor specificities and generally accepted standards in the field of Humanitarian / National Development and Protocols

• Data: Assist teams in the collection, analysis, presentation and retention of data and the achievement of expected indicators of different programs / projects as well as in the use of the analyzed data in programmatic decision-making.

3. Compliance and risk management

• Budgeting: he/she oversees the coordination of the preparation, consolidation, analysis and submission of program/project budgets according to the instructions and guidelines of IRC and donors.

• Reports: he/she coordinates quality reporting and preparation process, especially program / project reports, as well as other IRC internal reports, including timely submission and monitoring the implementation of the actions and recommendations from those reports.

• Grants: Regularly provide input into the grant management process and comply with internal rules and requirements of IRC, and donors.

• Budget: monitor all grant budgets to ensure that the rules and specificities of the donors are followed; review budget realignment requests and extension requests; develop budgets for new proposals in collaboration with the teams; monitor expenses to ensure they comply with the rules and be accountable for all reports. Contribute, from a programmatic point of view to the formulation of the operational budget.

• Rules: ensure compliance with the programmatic rules; ensure that the project cycle meetings (PCM) are organized for any program/project, and that significant Action Plans are developed and implemented by the teams.

• Risks: Ensure that systems and processes are in place to identify and manage programmatic risks – identification, assessment, mitigation.

Job Requirements

Education:
• Master’s degree/3rd cycle in Program Management and / or in a field related to the position

Work Experience:

• At least ten years (10+) of international experience in humanitarian / development, with an excellent understanding of the West and Central Africa environment.

• Strong team management, excellent leadership, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, independent work skills, and solid experience in managing your own time.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Strong knowledge and practical experience of the main donors of IRC, Americans (BPRM, USAID, OFDA), Europeans (ECHO, EuropeAid, DFID) and United Nations Agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, WHO).

• Knowledge of Chad and experience in transition contexts would be an advantage.

• Practical knowledge of the strategic and operational management of the Program

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

• Good knowledge of compliance requirements and management of donor grants;

Language Skills: Proficiency in French and good working knowledge of English, spoken and written,

Working Environment

Security & Housing situation: Deputy Director of Programs will be based in Ndjamena with travel throughout the country. The security situation in Chad continues to be volatile [in the NE with the security at phase yellow]. This is an accompanied position. He/she will live in individual housing.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Equality, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.