Deputy Director Consortia

BACKGROUND:  The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, provides relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of natural disaster, oppression and violent conflict in 42 countries. The IRC is committed to bold leadership, innovation and creative partnerships. Active in public health, education, livelihoods, women's empowerment, youth development, and protection and promotion of rights, IRC assists people from harm to home. The IRC began emergency operations in Sierra Leone in 1998 during the civil war. In the post-conflict reconstruction period, the IRC consolidated its operations into three core programmatic areas: health, education, and women’s protection and empowerment. In response to the Ebola outbreak, the IRC has initiated a range of activities from community event based surveillance to operating isolation units to care for people suspected to be infected. In addition, the IRC leads consortia in education, health, and protection working with 16 INGOs and local NGOs at national scale. The IRC implements programs in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Kailahun, Kono, and Tonkolili Districts.

The IRC is leading a consortia of 16 International Non-Governmental Organizations currently implementing programs in health, education and protection. Ebola Response Consortium (ERC), is a group of 13 non-governmental organizations who are supporting the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) in the Ebola response. The ERC currently supports three  key initiatives within the response: 1) support of a national strategy for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and screening of suspected EVD cases at all peripheral health units in the country; 2) support for effective surveillance in 10 districts of the country; and 3) WASH in hospitals and CHCs. The Education Consortium (Ed Co), a group of 5 NGOs who are supporting the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST), supports programming aimed to improve schooling in Sierra Leone. Ed Co works with MEST, teachers, and communities to improve learning outcomes while ensuring the school environment is safe and protective. The consortia is also exploring the possibility of expanding its scope of work to include protection programming with 7 other NGOs. The IRC is seeking a Deputy Director of Programs for the Consortia to lead the overall management of the consortia.  

SCOPE OF WORK:

The position of Deputy Director (DD) for the Consortia is integral to the successful implementation of the consortia’s work in Sierra Leone. Working under the direction of the Country Director (CD), the DDP of Consortia is responsible for overall program implementation within the consortia’s program framework, government polices and strategies, and in compliance with donor regulations, specifically in the areas of: a) grant management; b) partnership design, development and implementation; and c) day-to-day national level representation with line Ministries, donor agencies and local and international stakeholders. The DDP for the Consortia will be responsible for supervising the consortia coordinators and the grants coordinator. This position will work closely and collaboratively with the various partner Country Directors and technical teams, the IRC technical advisors, the Regional program Officer and Regional Programme Manager in NY and London, as well as in country operational and finance departments.  The DDP for the Consortia is based in Freetown, with frequent travel to all districts in the country.  

RESPONSIBILITIES

Grants Management

·         Provide strategic direction in terms of development of a funding strategy, widening and strengthening donor base, ensuring quality grants management, ensuring compliance with donor requirements, ensuring quality information management related to programs/ grants, and supporting directly in all aspects of the proposal development and reporting processes.

·         Leads and supervise all internal, external and reporting with programs and finance, ensuring high-quality, well-written and timely reports meeting donor and IRC and partner requirements; conduct thorough reviews and/or revisions of all external reports compiled by the Consortia Grants and Partnership unit.  

·         Ensuring the consortia grants, finance and program teams conduct routine monitoring visits to partners’ implementing districts and offices to ensure donor compliance and quality program implementation.

·         Support the Consortia Grants Coordinator to ensure that all consortia programs are compliant with their respective donor regulations.

·         Stay abreast of donor regulations and compliance information, updating the Consortia Coordinators  and the Grants Coordinator as necessary.

·         Coordinate with the Consortia Coordinators and Consortia Grants and Finance units to ensure firm budget management, expense control and timely contractual documentation.

·         Support the Consortia Grants Coordinator to lead Grant Opening and Grant Closing Meetings with consortia partners and to ensure they take place ontime.

·         Support the Consortia Grants Coordinator to lead quarterly grant review meetings with partners and to ensure they take place regularly.

·         Ensure the consortia teams review BvAs on a regular basis and represent, along with the Consortia Grants Coordinator, the consortia on internal IRC BvA meetings for the respective consortia grants.

Supervision and HR

·         Directly supervise 4 consortia staff including the 3 consortia coordinators for health, education and protection and the Consortia Grants Coordinator. The consortia is made up of a total of 27 international and national staff (excluding the Consortia DDP).

·         Carry out HR functions, including recruitment, supervision, performance evaluation and capacity development of Consortia Coordinators and Grants Coordinator.

·         Support the Consortia Coordinators with recruitement and HR management of their respective staff and consultants.

M&E, Technical Support and Learning Initiatives

·         Work with Consortia Coordinators and M&E Managers/Coordinators to ensure ongoing monitoring of progress and accurate data collection, management and reporting are being practiced regularly by partner program staff.

·         Liaise with the IRC HQ-based Technical Units to ensure regular flow of communication between field and Headquarters, appropriate implementation of Technical Unit recommendations, and to facilitate technical oversight of programs.

·         Liaise with the IRC regional monitoring for action unit to develop learning and monitoring initiatives for the consortia programs.

Program Design and Program Framework

·         Ensure that programs are designed, managed and evaluated in relation to the consortia’s program framework, donor requirements and within the GoSL’s strategy and priorities.

·         Lead the identifcation of new funding opportunities and potential donors, including strategizing program development.

·         In collaboration with the consortia team (consortia coordinators and grants and finance units) give overall guidance and leadership with proposal and budget development to public and private-sector donors for nation-wide recovery and development programs.

·         Lead on cross-sectoral collaboration among the 3 consortia.

External Relations/Representation

·         Represent the consortia at the sector specific Strategic Management Boards. This includes reporting to the board members (consortia Country Directors).

·         Represent the consortia with donors, government institutions, interagency meetings, conferences, seminars or other events as requested by the CD.

·         Ensure that the consortia team represents all partners (as opposed to representing IRC) and provides opportunities for the consortia technical teams to represent the consortia at the national level.

·         Ensure that the consortia team is held accountable to working with all partners, government stakeholders and techicnal partners in a supportive, respectful, and positive manner.

Advocacy and Visibility

·         Leads the development of the advocacy strategy for the respective consortia.

·         Leads the design and develop various advocacy materials, such as briefing papers, fact sheets, and articles.

·         Leads the development and updating of informational materials such as brochures, fact sheets, articles, posters, audio-visual materials, etc. To promote the work of consortia among various stakeholders and constituencies, in particular donors, international organizations, NGOs, and IRC headquarters.

Other

·         Abide by IRC security rules and overall Policies, Procedures and Codes of Conduct.

·         Other duties as directed or as the program changes.

REQUIREMENTS:

·         Master’s degree in Development Studies, International Relations, Social Sciences or a similar field;

·         Minimum three years international supervisory experience working in a humanitarian or development setting, with experiencing in managing health, education or protection programming;

·         Minimum five years’ program management experience in post conflict situations, with proven experience in partnerships. At least two years of consortium management perferred;

·         Experience developing training materials and conducting trainings;

·         Proven ability to develop winning proposals to public and private-sector donors;

·         Familiarity and experience with US and European, donors;

·         Organized approach with ability to work on several different projects under pressure;

·         Excellent oral and written communications skills and demonstrated ability to produce and edit

      Documents (reports, proposals) under deadline pressure;

·         Working knowledge of budget development and management;

·         Ability to work and be flexible under difficult circumstances in a stressful environment;

·         Strong leadership, motivational and team-building skills;

·         Able to lead a team consisting of both international and national staff;

·         Proven fluency in English.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation .