Health Program Manager At Relief International

Title: Health Program Manager NES

Department: Program

Location: Syria – Hasaka with frequent travel

Reporting to: Hub Team Leader

Budget responsibility: Budget Holder

ABOUT Relief International.

Relief International (RI) is a leading non-profit organization working in 16 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

RI includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure.

Position Summary.

The Health Program Manager (PM) will be responsible for a Primary Health Care (PHC) program and will be based in Derek-Hassie Governorate, NES, with frequent travel to Deir El Zora (DEZ) where the program sites are located. S/he will be responsible for ensuring program objectives are on track, which will require him/her to work constructively with colleagues across his/her team in NES as well as the Syria (Amman Officer) team in addition to close coordination with Syria Health Advisor. The capacity building and monitoring of local staff will be an integrated component of the PM’s work. This position requires an individual who is accustomed to the pace of emergency response programming, has experience in successfully leading a diverse team.

The duty station for this position will be between Derek & Has Saka, however the PM will be expected to spend a minimum of 50% of their time in the DEZ field locations

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Program Management

· Overall supervision and successful implementation of the Health Program.

· Development of work plans and budget management, in collaboration with the Finance Manager, according to Program outputs and results, and in close coordination with Woos health specialist, provide recommendations for corrective measures/modifications in line with the program needs and donor’s regulation.

· With input from the health and MEL senior focal points, assess the status of current health program, structure, functions and standards and devise a health program quality improvement.

· Manage his or her teams to complete program goals on time and on budget, and ensure his/her team understand their roles and responsibilities, including regular program performance meetings (weekly/bi-weekly) with direct reports to discuss progress, challenges and corrective measures required, and with all Health staff on monthly basis for group discussion to discuss the overall performance of the program and needed support/challenges.

· Systematic Capacity Building of his or her team members, and regular performance review of the direct reports to ensure program and career development objectives are met.

· Evaluate activity progress and determine necessary actions to course correct in collaboration with technical leads and M&E.

· Lead the reporting process at the hub level, with inputs from the Health and M&E coordinators, to ensure reporting is timely and meets institutional and donor requirements. The PM is ultimately responsible for all relevant donor reporting for the Program (Monthly, semi-annual and final reports in addition to ad-hoc reports)).

· In coordination with the technical leads and hub team leader, take the lead in representing RI at relevant Health stakeholder or coordination meetings, and maintain a positive, continuous and visible presence for RI.

· In collaboration with team members, develop and maintain strategic relationships with local partners, local authorities and vendors

· Facilitate donor visits to Program sites as appropriate.

· In Coordination with the direct report(s), develop, maintain and monitor a master field visits plan for the entire health technical, and ensure proper reporting system is in place to capture the findings of the visits.

· In coordination with the direct report(s), Conduct field visits to the project sites on regular basis to ensure all health technical procedures/Sops and policies (RI, donor, international/locally adapted standards) are properly applied by all field-based staff at the project sites, and that agreed upon corrective measure (identified by programs and MEL) are applied;

· In coordination with the Woos Health specialist and support from the Health Coordinator, plan and lead the delivery of trainings to HFs staff based on the existing/new health Sops and standards and best practices.

· Through regular remote check-ins with the HFs management, input from the Health staff and building on the in-person field visits, Identify challenges, gaps and areas for improvement in the health services delivered at all health facilities (through reviewing progress reports, MEL reports, field visits, etc.), and provide direct guidance to the staff in addition to the systematic capacity building to address gaps and to improve program quality.

· In coordination with WoS Health specialist, develop training materials and missing/newly required health SoPs, lead the training of relevant health staff and ensure they are applied and followed properly.

· Provide direction to RI NES team during outbreaks of disease or other health emergencies, and that the directions and guidance are trickled down to all staff levels.

· Lead on the design of the RI health sector contingency plan (in coordination with WoS Health specialist, DCD, hub team leader and deputy hub team leader) as part of wider preparedness and adaptive management.

· In coordination with relevant peers and hub team leader, plan the integration of WASH, protection, IYCF, PSS and MHPSS within the health where appropriate, and guide/trickle down the plan to the direct report(s) to ensure implementation.

· Work constructively with support teams to ensure sound administrative practices with regards to record keeping, compliance with RI and donor regulations, communications, etc. including staff recruitment, procurements (running cost management), drugs management from logistic perspective and other expenses related to the program.

· Contribute and lead the Health program input for the grant opening, grant review meetings and grant closeout meetings.

Program Development and strategy development

· In Coordination with the hub team leader, lead the process of developing, updating and tracking RI-WoS strategy for the hub_Health direction.

· In Coordination with the WoS Health specialist and hub team leader, assess humanitarian needs of populations affected by the Syrian conflict seeking input from technical leads, primary sources (i.e assessment reports conducted in the hub), and secondary sources such as the findings/trends identified through the ongoing health program implementation to feed into the proposal development process.

· Stay up to date with all regional and country-specific response plans by the U.N., donors active in the relevant clusters, and other key actors

· Share methods, approaches and tools with NGO colleagues across the WOS Country Office, and contribute toward NGO’s local response strategy by ensuring programmatic coherence, innovation and responsiveness.

· In Close coordination and guidance from the WoS Health Specialist, lead the proposal development/budget development/modification process at the hub level in consultation with the hub Finance Unit and M&E.

Safeguarding

· Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.

· Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who come into contact with Relief International are as safe as possible.

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS REQUIREMENTS

This position will require a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Medical background/degree in medicine
• Minimum of three years professional experience leading, managing, and implementing emergency response programs, preferably in a conflict setting;
• Demonstrated background and knowledge of major humanitarian donors particularly, OFDA, ECHO, and HPF funding;
• Demonstrated experience in management of health or other relevant sectors is highly desirable;
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, public speaking, and strategic planning skills required;
• Fluent English speaking and comprehension skills required native Arabic speaker preferred;
• Strong English writing skills required;
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and tasks efficiently;
• Strong budgeting and budget monitoring skills including a high level of proficiency with MS Excel;
• Demonstrated experience in successfully managing a multicultural team, and a commitment to capacity building;
• Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail;
• Demonstrated experience of upholding humanitarian principles and actively engaging the most vulnerable communities. Committed to promoting NGO’s focus on accountability, innovation and partnership building

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Relief International is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Relief International (RI) is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to RI’s Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

RI Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and accountability
• Agility and innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability