Program Manager Learning, Budikadidi DFSA at Catholic Relief Services

Job Title: Program Manager I- Budikadidi DFSA Project
Job Type: Short-term
Job Location: Mbuji Mayi or Kinshasa
Reports To: Chief of Party, Budikadidi
Length of position: Six months
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.
CRS has been supporting program activities in the DRC since 1961 and has long-standing relationships throughout the country with church and non-church partners and communities. The DRC country program has a diverse funding base with projects in nutrition, commun ity health, OVC, food security and agricultural livelihoods, microfinance (SILC), WASH, and emergency response. CRS/DRC currently has 180 employees and a FY22 budget of over USD 23 million.
Job Summary:
CRS implements a range of development and humanitarian programming in several regions of the DRC. In particular, CRS is implementing a seven-year integrated multi-sectoral project called Budikadidi, a Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs Development Food Security Activity (DFSA), to achieve sustained nutrition, food security and economic well-being outcomes in 491 villages in the province of Kasai Oriental. Budikadidi – ‘self-sufficiency’ in Tshiluba – is leveraging CRS’ and partners’ long experience in the Kasais to deliver an evidence-based, locally appropriate package of interventions that will build local capacity, strengthen service-delivery systems and increase accountability, and reduce structural, cultural and gender-based barriers to change.**
You will manage programming in the Country Program (CP) related to learning. Your management skills and knowledge will ensure that the CP delivers high-quality programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of its programming. You will coordinate a learning process with the Budikadidi program, with the objective of advancing the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable both within the DRC and around the world. You will work with both Budikadidi and other country program (CP) staff as well as regional technical advisors and other regional staff. Sector-specific colleagues in the CP and regional will collaborate on specific learning agenda questions with your support for ensuring the process is implemented according to calendar, helping with documentation, and communicating for influence. The learning emerging from this process will be key in sharing Budikadidi’s adaptive approaches within CRS and externally. You may be requested t o assist on learning processes in other programming in the CP.
Roles and Key Responsibilities:**

• Manage and implement all learning activities throughout relevant project cycles – project design, start-up, implementation and close-out – to ensure efficient and effective implementation in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices. Ensure project team and partner staff use the appropriate systems and tools.
• Coordinate between regional and CP teams, remotely and on-site, to enable them to generate evidence and learning aligned with their influence goals, share best practices, and promote CRS’ work. Ensure learning is documented, shared, and effectively disseminated.
• Effectively work with relevant MEAL and project staff, CP leadership, and regional advisors while not directly supervising them, liaising with all stakeholders to ensure coordination.
• Champion learning with project staff and partner teams. Analyze and evaluate project performance data following MEAL policy. Proactively identify issues and concerns and use participatory processes to overcome implementation obstacles. Help ensure a cross-sectoral considerations integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, local leadership and climate change.
• Act as a key resource person in project design and proposal development for Knowledge Management and Learning (KML) activities in respective programming area, gap-filling and taking on growth responsibilities, as needed.
• Coordinate the identification of staff capacity and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and capacity strengthening and required interventions to support quality project implementation.
• Help identify, assess and strengthen partnerships relevant to learning, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools and approaches.
• Coordinate and monitor financial and material resources relevant to project needs. Through planning and oversight ensure efficient use of project resources
• Promote use of data and knowledge sharing through the organization’s operational business processes and systems
• Support after action reviews, learning to action discussions, and reflection sessions organized by project team each quarter and effective knowledge management

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in International Development, International Relations or in another relevant field required. Additional experience may substitute for some education.
• Minimum of 2 years of relevant field-based experience in coordinating or managing light to moderately complex projects required, preferably with an international NGO.
• Demonstrated experience designing or leading evaluation, field research, or learning studies using mixed methods is a plus.

Required Languages – English (fluent), French (very proficient)
Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 50%.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with culturally diverse groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to write reports and other communication materials for an internal and external audience
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented

Preferred Qualifications

• Project management experience in multi-sectoral development programming is highly desirable.
• Experience engaging with partner organizations.
• Experience contributing to the development of technical proposals.
• MEAL skills and experience preferred.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.