Programme Manager – Venezuela At INTERSOS

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference

Job Title: Programme Manager

Code: 57-6838

Duty station: Venezuela – Puerto Ayacucho ( Amazonas) with frequent missions to project locations

Starting date: 01/07/2023

Contract duration: 12 months renewable

Reporting to: Programme Coordinator

Supervision of: 15-20 Staff

Dependents: Non-family duty station

General context of the project

The Action seeks to increase access to safe, dignified and inclusive formal education pathways for children while strengthening prevention and response mechanisms to protection at community level in Amazonas, State of Venezuela. Under R1, the project will strengthen the capacity of the educational community to meet children’s learning needs, while enabling them to identify and address children’s main risks associated with protection. School facilities (including WASH) will be improved, with attention to the needs of those groups at greatest risk of exclusion (girls, children with disabilities). School-aged out of school children or at risk of dropping-out will be included in remedial classes programs and their families targeted for community outreach. Under R2, protection risks (particularly among children) will be addressed, while creating a protective environment at community/family level to enable children’s access to education opportunities.

This project is part of a broader INTERSOS strategy, which aims at responding to the Venezuela crisis through integrated regional approaches, strengthening synergies around resources, tools, and outcomes from different projects and sectors that are strictly interwoven, enhancing both the quality and the quantity of the achievements, while allowing for cost efficiency. Consequently, this action will benefit from INTERSOS regional presence and access, expertise, contextual knowledge and well-established network and relations with the clusters, donors, the local authorities, reinforcing the synergies developed during the years.

General purpose of the position

Under the supervision of the Program Coordinator, the Programme Manager is in charge of the planning, implementation, supervision, monitoring and reporting of all project activities.

The Programme Manager will be responsible for ensuring the proper coordination, implementation and communication of the project. he/she will be accountable for the overall achievement of the contractual objectives (timeframe, targets/indicators, budget) of the projects and for monitoring that the activities are implemented accordingly to the plan.

Main responsibilities and tasks

The Programme Manager will:

• Ensure the planning, implementation, and monitoring/evaluation and sets targets as included in the project’s description.
• Guarantee efficient financial management for the projects in compliance with INTERSOS’ model and donor regulations.
• Team management and project integration assurance for teams working at the targeted facilities to guarantee project quality as per required standards.
• Deliver quality reports for donors, authorities, and INTERSOS in good quality and timely manner, including the findings in terms of impact/changes at the level of beneficiaries achieved through the projects.

More specifically:

Ensure proper planning of the activities to be implemented:

• Liaise with the admin-fin department to secure proper staff recruitment and regularly update HR files
• Prepare and organize training for team members
• Organize and conduct project kick-off and presentation/sharing of the project with teams
• Constantly monitor and analyze the humanitarian situation in the area of intervention in order to evaluate together with the head of base and the Programme Coordinator the possibility to organize fast emergency interventions for the affected population (in case of need)
• Plan and organize additional project need assessments to validate project proposal activities (when needed)
• Prepare and regularly review a detailed activity plan with the team
• Verify the targeting and selection of the beneficiaries
• Permanent on-job coaching of teams to work on quality in delivery

Financial management and procurement:

• Prepare, monitor, and implement financial and procurement plans in close coordination with the admin-fin and logistics department
• Verify and approve all purchases/contracts and budget line allocations
• Verify on a weekly basis the book-keeping entries in the INTERSOS accounting spreadsheets (Journal): verify budget line allocations, budget expenditure status against actual delivery, and the financial plan for the remainder project implementation period, in coordination with the finance department
• Ensure for all purchases/contracts of goods/services/supplies the correct INTERSOS procurement guidelines are applied and properly documented (also for the procedures applied by the municipalities), in close coordination with the admin-fin and logistics department
• Verify the list of expenditures prior to finalizing the interim and final financial reports
• Holds final responsibility for verification of all support documents’ completeness and correctness

Manage team and to provide relevant capacity building and on-job coaching to the project team:

• Manage and evaluate the performance of the project staff directly managed and ensure that evaluation procedures are implemented for the rest of the team
• Conduct weekly and monthly meetings with the team to review the planning and discuss the main concerns to focus on for the upcoming period
• Ensure use of correct/relevant forms for assessments and reporting by the team
• Ensure teams respect INTERSOS rules and guidelines to the mission and adhere to INTERSOS code of conduct and charter of values

Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Ensure monitoring and verification for the targeting of beneficiaries, also through ad-hoc monitoring tools and field visit
• Ensure full accountability to the beneficiaries

Reporting:

• Ensure quality reporting on achievements against weekly and monthly performance reports containing clear quantitative and qualitative information related to the activities.
• Secure weekly and monthly reporting per team and compile, review and analyze reports on monthly bases to be reflected in INTERSOS’ PAT reporting tool
• Hold final responsibility for all support documents (means of verification) and general project documents
• Deliver regular communication products (including pictures) on the project to be used by the INTERSOS communication department in different outlets

Coordination and representation:

• Ensure regular updates to donor representatives in coordination with the Head of Base or Head of Mission.
• Coordinate with relevant local authorities for the implementation of the projects.
• Support INTERSOS with the implementation of the Country Strategy, in particular for the development of specific and detailed sector strategies.

Required profile and experience

Education

Higher education: Economics, Political Science, University degree in humanitarian issues. Alternatively, solid field experience.

Professional Experience

At least 3 years of experience in coordination and management positions in emergency humanitarian contexts. A previous experience in manage ECHO project ´will be highly appreciated.

Professional Requirements

• Experience in the implementation of activities funded by ECHO and/or other donors
• Good project proposal and report writing skills
• Good capacity to analyze the context and possibilities for expansion of the mission/operations
• Good organizational, management, and planning skills.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines, with little supervision, and under pressure
• Strong communication, written and verbal, and relationship-building skills with experience in managing teams
• Ability to take initiative and work independently

Languages

Fluent Spanish and English (spoken, read, written) are essential.

Personal Requirements

• Ability to adapt to simple living conditions, a dry hot/very hot climate and security constraints
• Ability to communicate and work in a team and in a multicultural context
• Respect for INTERSOS values/mission
• Previous experience in Latin America and in emergency humanitarian contexts (desirable)