DEPUTY REGIONAL DIRECTOR, PROGRAM QUALITY At CARE USA

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and fight with CARE.

*This position can also be located in another country in West Africa where CARE USA is registered

CARE is seeking a strategic, innovative, and problem-solving Deputy Regional Director- Program Quality (DRD-PQ) to drive program quality and a coherent program approach framework within the West Africa region. The DRD-PQ will contribute to the mandate of the Regional Office of developing a coherent approach and setting priorities to advance CARE’s vision and mission.

The person in this role will provide a range of strategic programmatic and operational management support to country offices and regional teams, with a particular focus on programming in the West Africa region. A key function of the role is to serve as a connector of the country offices (Cos) to the rest of the organization. They will oversee program quality at the regional and country level, including coordination of development and implementation of the regional roadmap, ensuring COs are advised and supported to develop quality and aligned CO strategies and related organizational change processes, building COs capacity for quality project design, implementation, impact measurement and Knowledge management, and leading regional engagements and relationship building with key actors for increased visibility of the work of CARE’s West Africa Regional Management Unit (WARMU).

Reporting directly to the Regional Director, this position contributes significantly to Care International (CI) 2030 vision and the regional roadmap and mobilizes COs’ commitment to “locally-led” on quality humanitarian and long-term development programming, with an emphasis on development and implementation of the triple (humanitarian-development-peace) nexus. The DRD-PQ will be expected to lead technical improvements in program designs to ensure quality and adherence to program standards. They will strengthen a team of Program Quality professionals focused on the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of programs and projects (including emergency programs), including ACDs-PQ, MEAL Advisors, and Thematic Team Leaders.

The DRD-PQ will support country offices to use/adopt innovations to multiply impact and support them to produce evidence that their programs are achieving impact at scale against agreed-upon indicators. The DRD-PQ will work closely with ACDs-PQ to ensure CO programs are effectively monitored on a regular basis, providing feedback, support, guidance, and advice, as required. They will help facilitate technical assistance to COs as needed, as well as arrange for regional training in areas identified as regional/ organizational priorities.

The DRD-PQ will be responsible for:

• Ensuring knowledge sharing and learning related to programming and program quality across the COs, between the region and the rest of CARE International, and with other stakeholders including Strategic Partners.
• Liaising closely with CI HQs and other regions and keep informed of programmatic developments in other parts of the organization.
• Coordinating activities of the regional program staff, including direct supervision of the Program Quality staff ensuring that appropriate coaching and mentoring opportunities are available to all
• Ensuring that the teams are working in a coordinated manner to meet the COs’ expectations

Successful candidates will have:

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a related field. Master’s Degree preferred
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in strategic and operational management – including innovation and leading in Program strategy and design and implementation
• Skilled in coordinating networks and building synergies across teams
• Strong demonstrative experience in change management including strategic and business planning and leading organizational transformation
• Demonstrated Competency Strengths in: Negotiation, Managing Diversity, Innovation Management, and Building Effective Teams
• Advanced written and verbal communication and Facilitation skills in French, and English