Director- PQEI (Based in Pakistan) At Save the Children

The Opportunity

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Pakistan, the Director of Program Quality, Evidence and Impact (PQEI) is responsible for driving cross-functional engagement in the development and delivery of Country Strategy Plans (CSPs), developing annual plans and reporting on results. S/he is responsible for ensuring development and delivery of high quality, evidence-based, innovative programs for children, in all contexts, that contribute to Save the Children’s global Breakthroughs: Learn, Survive, Be Protected. The Director PQEI ensures that a robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) system is in place, that the country office engages in the collection and use of evidence and that this is shared across the global organization, and that reliable data is used for decision-making. A key aspect of the role is ensuring capability building, mentoring and coaching of technical specialists in order to support program quality in line with global standards and key performance indicators. As a senior leader in the country office s/he plays a representational role with the government, donors, partners, peer agencies, SC Members and others. The Director PQEI supports strategic positioning with donors and partners and leads on project design to ensure that the country office strategy can be delivered in line with child rights programming principles.

Key Responsibilities

As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:

Leadership of the Pakistan CO towards increased Evidence, Quality, Innovation and Impact towards achieving Save the Children’s Breakthroughs
The development of an organisational culture that reflects full spectrum programming, SC mandate and 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 and excellent customer service for our members and donors
Establishing, maintaining, and improving active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs
Ensure that the Pakistan Country Office complies with all Save the Children Management Operating Standards and Standard Operating Procedures

Strategy, Planning & Reporting (15%)

Lead the development/updating of the Child Rights Situation Analysis, including analysis of country context and taking into account child rights principles, ensuring participation and buy-in from all relevant staff, partners and other stakeholders as necessary
Lead the SMT to develop/update and drive forward the Country Strategy Plan (CSP) that is in line with the global strategy, Ambition 2030, with child rights at the core of all programming and advocacy work.
Provide leadership on development of the Country Annual Plan, monitoring of progress against the plan, and completion of accurate, on-time Country Annual Report of outcomes and impact for children, aligned with the Global Results Framework.
Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic and cross-cutting strategic priorities in line with the CSP, including gender equality and Save the Children’s Common Approaches, to guide current and future SC programming and Humanitarian Strategies.
Support ownership and commitment to the Country Office strategy by all staff and departments through clear communication, regular feedback on progress and engagement of all functions in updates.
Participate in global discussions and working groups to represent country office, and the voice of children, in strategy design and technical leadership.
Support change processes and roll-out new ways of working in support of the CSP.
Drive strategic thinking that is underpinned by thought leadership & Innovation.
Support CD to provide leadership and direction for the country office to become a Learning Organization.

Program Design & Development (30%)

Work with the Awards Management and New Business Development teams on strategic resource mobilization, positioning for opportunities that will drive the CSP.
In consultation with the Country Director and Members, ensure technical engagement with donors to pre-position for opportunities, leading engagement directly as appropriate.
Play a leading role in designing innovative and high impact programmes/projects and proposals, including:
Leading the team of technical experts (TE) to ensure high quality, evidence-based designs that draw on needs assessments, learning from past programs and child safeguarding principles;
Ensuring partners are identified and appropriately engaged in program design, linking with Operations and Awards teams for assessments, especially to strengthen gender sensitivity at design stage;
Ensuring proposal designs and their budgets include robust MEAL plans that are aligned with the Global Results Framework (and therefore advance towards our Breakthroughs), incorporate Common Approaches as relevant, and build in critical learning questions.
Ensuring the project budget will enable the project to be delivered as designed.
Incorporating child and community participation into design, as relevant.

Program Quality & Program Technical Excellence (30%)

Ensure the country program delivers high quality, multi-sectoral programming in both development and humanitarian contexts (as appropriate).
Monitor and advance technical and operational quality of programmes, including conducting regular field visits to provide feedback on quality benchmarks, soliciting inputs for design of new programs and collecting ideas for innovation.
Monitor program Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and, in partnership with other functions, take steps to ensure the attainment and maintenance of green status for all program quality KPIs.
Work closely with the Director of Operations to ensure Quality Framework standards are met and procedures are followed throughout the project cycle and across the portfolio.
Ensure TE proactively and regularly communicate planned requirements for program design, learning and implementation to relevant CO departments/functions.
Build and lead a team of program technical experts needed to successfully deliver against the CSP. Ensure effective working relationships with SC global, Member and regional technical advisors, procuring technical support as needed to support program and advocacy efforts, including during Emergencies.
Ensure that program TE engage in larger communities of practice within and external to Save the Children, to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches and conduct timely and useful review of project reports to support quality reporting for Members and donors
Ensure that the different technical sectors of the Country Office are coordinated, integrated and support each other to optimize programs and projects.
Ensure that child safeguarding and safe programming is embedded in program design and considered throughout implementation to ensure that we do all we can to ensure children in our programs are safe, in line with our child safeguarding policy.
Lead the development and use of innovative approaches to improving quality in programme life cycle management; ensure that programme design embeds common approaches where relevant and leverage global best practices; Support the adoption of Save the Children’s Project Management Methodology (PMM) and PRIME and ensure they enhance programme quality and generate evidence
Ensure technical competency in cross cutting themes including Gender, Disability and Resilience.

Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning (MEAL) and Knowledge Management (10%)

Oversee a monitoring system that provides timely and accurate project results by embedding MEAL across program implementation; ensure effective collaboration across MEAL staff, TE and program implementation teams to develop logframes, indicators, implementation plans, quality benchmarks, monitoring and evaluation frameworks and related tools.
Lead programme quality improvements by monitoring and improving Programme KPI performance, including resourcing and conducting high-quality evaluations to demonstrate outcomes and impact and ensuring that accountability mechanisms are in place for all projects so that identified actions are resolved, with critical issues escalated to senior management.
Ensure the research, evaluation and policy work of the Country Office contributes to generation of evidence for development and improvement of Common Approaches, sound decision making and policy influencing internally and externally.
Establish effective program learning and knowledge management systems to support adaptive programming and innovation that improves outcomes for children.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development (10%)

Ensure appropriate staffing of the PQEI team, reflecting all priority technical and sector aspects of the Save the Children global strategy and humanitarian mandate, engaging additional technical support when needed to deliver quality project design and delivery.
Ensure that all PQEI staff understand and are able to perform their role in delivering first-class, quality programs for children in both development and emergency contexts through effective onboarding and clear workplans.
Manage individual and team performance using principles of leadership agility, and Save the Children’s performance management system.
Ensure that staff proactively build and maintain technical, managerial and leadership skills, including competencies in child rights programming, child safeguarding and Common Approaches, providing coaching opportunities when needed.

Partnership and external engagement (5%)

Play a leading role in identifying nurturing and strengthening strategic partnerships with local and international civil society organizations, NGOs, government ministries etc., in advancing the country and global strategy to inspire our three breakthroughs for the most deprived and marginalised children.
Champion localisation and partnership to grow Save the Children’s work through and with partners, and provide technical support and capability building to implementing and strategic partners.
Ensure that Save the Children plays a full and leading role in technical working groups, and clusters where these are activated with particular attention to Save the Children’s role as global co-lead for education.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information

Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

Closing Date for Application: 14 December 2022

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.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.