Programme Quality and Development Coordinator Democratic Republic of at Concern Worldwide Congo

Concern Worldwide started working in DRC in 1994. Since that time we have grown into one of the leading humanitarian organisations operating in DRC with national rapid response programmes, resilience programmes, cash, WASH and nutrition programmes. This is an exciting opportunity to support the development of existing and new programmes for DRC and ensure that they are implemented to the highest quality.

About the role: This is a 12 month, replacement role with unaccompanied terms based in Kalemie, with frequent trips to other locations including Kinshasa, Tanganyika, and North Kivu Provinces. It has a salary of Grade 4 €44,133 – €49,038.

You will report to the Programme Director and will lead the Programme quality team with line management of the Grants Manager, M&E Coordinator and the CRM Coordinator. You will work closely with the Area Coordinators, Technical Advisors, Programme Managers, Dublin M&E Technical Advisors and Desk Officer.

Your purpose: You will ensure high quality programme design and implementation through the continued critical review of M&E systems, ensuring learning is incorporated in programme design, and cross cutting issues including gender and protection, are systematically included. You will take a lead on research activities, liaising with external consultants and Dublin technical experts, and will be the focal person for all mainstreaming and accountability issues, both internally and as part of our programme activities. You will also ensure that appropriate programme documentation, reporting and filing processes are in place.

You will be responsible for:

Programme Design and Quality:

• Lead on proposal development with the support of the Grants Team and the rest of the programme and support teams to ensure a coordinated plan and strong programme logic in line with the programme strategy
• Support the development and delivery of programming in line with Concern strategy and Theory of Change across all aspects of the project development cycle and in all contexts.
• Coordinate processes to ensure program quality including the full program cycle, strengthening systems for proposal development, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation and learning.
• Monitor programme activities to ensure they are carried out in line with organization’s internal systems and procedures and that adherence to the Core Humanitarian Standard’s commitments on accountability are met.
• Oversee the implementation of a robust complaints and response mechanism (CRM) and ensure that any feedback or complaints from stakeholders are handled in an appropriate and systematic way.
• Ensure that Concern mainstreaming polices and HCUEP are understood by all staff and are implemented at all levels, both in the programmes and internally.
• Develop fact sheets and videos on programme quality initiatives and best practice
• Promote a culture of shared learning across all programme locations and with colleagues in the region including organising quarterly programme meetings

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning:

• Oversee the integrated and results based M&E system that provides appropriate measure of programme progress against agreed objectives.
• Support the M&E team in coordinating and strengthening programme-level M&E activities, including implementation of baseline, midline and endline surveys.
• Support the M&E team in the implementation of technical surveys working (e.g. SMART, KAP) with the relevant programme teams to ensure that data collection techniques are robust, that staff and agents involved have a good understanding of their roles, that the data entry processes are timely and accurate, and that the data analysis is timely and meaningful.
• Support the CRM team in coordinating and strengthening programme-level CRM activities, including defining the CRM strategy for each program, ensuring Mechanisms are in place, ensuring centralisation of complaint data collection.
• Develop a knowledge management system to capture lessons learned and disseminate these within Concern DRC and wider.
• Ensure all aspects of the programme activities adhere to programme quality standards and policies (PM&E, accountability and mainstreaming) in a coherent and integrated manner.
• Ensure that agreed reports and other information are communicated in a timely and relevant manner to various stakeholders.
• Prepare for, and oversee any research activity conducted by the country programme, both directly and through consultants and ensure research outcomes are clearly documented.
• Facilitate support visits from technical advisors and ensure dissemination of learning.

Support to Programme Management:

• Liaise with the Area Coordinators and Managers and other colleagues to complete internal, HQ and donor reports as required.
• Work with the Grants Team in developing quality donor proposals based on the most updated contextual information before sharing with the Programme Director
• Participate in preparing complete, accurate and realistic budgets for donor proposals and as part of Concern’s internal budget procedures, ensuring that all M&E, mainstreaming and programme quality initiatives are fully and accurately costed and included in budgets, liaising with other PMs as appropriate.
• Support programme staff in the writing of human success stories and case studies to illustrate key outcomes and impact of programme interventions for annual and donor reporting.
• Ensure the allocated budget for programme quality is utilised effectively and any necessary adjustments are requested in a timely manner.
• Ensure high quality internal and external reports are prepared by the programme and Grants teams
• Ensure that all grant documents are properly filed for reference and retrievable for donor and other audits and otherwise whenever required.
• Promote donor compliance, ensuring that programme managers understand and adhere to donor regulations as stipulated in donor contracts.

Capacity Building:

• Provide needs-based training for Concern staff and partners on PCMS and PM&E tools that will enable the teams to implement the PM&E plan effectively. Expose staff to a range of PM&E methodologies for the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data
• Build the capacity of the staff in development and use of log frames for planning and monitoring of progress
• Ensure that knowledge of approaches filters down to front line staff and partners

People Management:

• Manage the M&E Coordinator, the CRM Coordinator and the Grants Manager contributing to their capacity building and career development through technical support and on-the-job training and coaching, including a thorough induction at the start of their contract.
• Ensure that they have accurate job descriptions and that they fully understand their roles and what is expected of them by setting SMART objectives.
• Ensure that they are aware of and comply with all of Concern’s policies and procedures.
• Monitor and review performance of these staff and hold them accountable for meeting their success criteria; give corrective feedback where required and take decisive action in the case of poor performance.
• Ensure, where line management is applicable, that these staff meet the requirements above for each of their team members.
• Ensure that work within the team(s) is planned and organised in a way which will meet the organisation’s needs in the most cost effective manner possible; ensuring that team members are given appropriate workloads and are working efficiently.
• Work to instill a sense of responsibility, accountability and pride in programme excellence within the team

Other:

• Actively participate in collective exercises such as the implementation of the Country Strategic Plan and other Concern initiatives.
• Take measures to address equality and protection issues, particularly relating to gender, in programme as well as operational (e.g. HR) activities.
• Ensure the highest stands of accountability through ensuring good communication and information sharing within and outside the programme and enabling staff, beneficiary and other stakeholder participation at all stages of the project cycle.
• Comply with all of Concern’s policies and procedures (P4, Safe Guarding, finance, logistics, HR, security management etc.).
• Actively participate in any emergency response if called upon to do so (within the existing programme area or in a new one).
• Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the line manager
• Represent Concern in national and where appropriate technical working groups, cluster meetings and technical fora

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• Actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed;
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CHS, CRM, safeguarding and required staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Your skills and experience will include:

• Relevant graduate degree (economics, agriculture, development or equivalent)
• Five years relevant field based experience in the development/ humanitarian sector
• Fluent English and French – written and spoken
• Demonstrated experience of proposal development for INGOs
• Demonstrated experience of working with rural communities
• Demonstrated experience in all stages of the PCMS (Programme Cycle Management Systems): assessments , programme development, including the logical framework approach
• People management
• Computer skills
• Knowledge of mainstreaming Equality (especially Gender) and Protection
• Ability to work independently and under own initiative
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise, often to strict deadlines
• Good networking skills, interpersonal communication, presentation and motivational skills
• Strong Analytical and problem solving abilities
• Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, protection and participation
• Willingness to travel to rural areas up to 50% of the time between programme locations
• Excellent organisational skills
• Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Knowledge of development issues and concepts
• Creativity
• Experience in staff capacity development and management