Senior Governance and Rights Coordinator

BACKGROUND

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading agencies working in post-conflict and development contexts, supporting communities in over 40 fragile, failed and developing states. In this capacity, we work to restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted, struggling to endure and wishing to advance on a path of development. The IRC works to aid in the development of societies in which people have the opportunity to realize their full potential and are supported by institutions and practices that are just, transparent, accountable, inclusive, and which promote and protect rights.

The IRC has been working in Myanmar since May 2008, initially supporting emergency response and early recovery interventions for communities affected by Cyclone Nargis. Since then, IRC has responded to natural emergencies as well as conflict, such as ethnic violence, hand is engaged with communities through their recovery and rehabilitation. Over the years, IRC has broadened its portfolio to include health, water and sanitation, livelihoods, and social development programs.  The IRC is committed to a long-term presence in-country with the aim of improving the well being of vulnerable populations living the hard-to-reach areas.  Currently IRC works with the Ministries of Health, and of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. IRC works in several states, primarily focused in the most marginalized areas of the country, including Rakhine, Chin, Kayin, Mon, Kachin, and Kayah States.

The IRC has embarked on a new phase of investment in its governance related work and is looking to bring new skills and expertise into the Myanmar Country Office.  In this context, the IRC is seeking a skilled, dynamic and experienced Senior Governance and Rights Coordinator.  

The ideal candidate for this position should have strong knowledge and experience in conflict sensitive programming, peacebuilding and community driven development along with a demonstrated capacity to work with and strengthen decentralized government structures. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Governance and Rights Coordinator will be responsible for providing overall leadership, guidance, coordination and technical support on conflict sensitive programming, peacebuilding, community driven development (CDD), governance, and protection to all sectors of the country program, in addition to advising senior management on strategy and direction concerning these themes. In particular, the position will supervise at minimum 3 field based project managers. Through collaboration with other departments, the Senior Governance and Rights Coordinator will provide dotted line technical guidance to projects in the health and livelihoods programs. S/he will have ultimate responsibility over projects in Governance and Rights department, and will work with the Grants unit and field teams to ensure that program activities are implemented according to approved work plans, the country program Strategic Action Plan for 2015 – 2020, and in accordance with the IRC’s Global strategies. The post holder will also work with the HQ’s Governance and Rights Technical Unit to enhance program quality, develop research and learning opportunities.

Key working relationships:

• This position reports to the DDP. S/he will supervise one international peacebuilding manager, and one national senior CDD/partnerships manager and one international protection manager.
• S/he will work closely with the Tat Lan project team based in Rakhine, providing dotted line supervision to the Community Mobilization Manager/team.
• S/he will also work closely with the PLE teams who also implement in the south east of Myanmar, with based in Myanmar and Thailand.
• S/he will also work closely with other project teams, namely health, to support cross cutting elements of governance, power, and rights.
• S/he will work closely with peers from other UN, INGOs and national NGOs, as well as with IRC global technical advisors in both Governance, Rights, Health, and Livelihoods.

Program Development, Management and Coordination:

• Work with the Country Director, DDP, sector coordinators and the technical advisers and field staff to design, implement and review governance strategies for the IRC Myanmar programs

• Lead and oversee proposals development within the Governance sector, including through designing and writing quality proposals, while supporting program development within other sectors by integrating governance and protection approaches in proposals and projects where relevant;
• Supervise project managers, ensuring delivery of quality programming through development and use of project management tools, coordination and documentation.
• Provide technical support to Governance program staff, including through regular field visits, and develop their capacity through adequate coaching and mentoring, performance management (setting of objectives, appraisals and development plans) and training as required.
• Promote coordination and cooperation, joint action and sharing of good practices and lessons learned between partner organizations and institutions
• Represent IRC Myanmar in external Governance related forums; actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders in Myanmar including government actors, donors, UN agencies, international and local NGOs; identify governance and protection related advocacy issues in consultation with the country management.

Technical Leadership and Support:

• Support the various IRC Myanmar programs in conducting context and conflict analysis to identify promising entry points and better inform program design and implementation.
• Provide technical leadership and oversee the design and implementation of peacebuilding and community driven development projects.
• Contribute to development of knowledge and capacity in the country office around decentralization, social accountability, institution strengthening and other related governance themes and support the integration of those themes into other sectoral programs.
• Provide technical leadership to assess protection needs in existing programs/sectors or new geographical locations as well as advice on relevant adaptations aimed at improving access, safety, and dignity of beneficiaries. 
• Liaise regularly with technical advisors from the Governance & Rights Unit on proposal development, programming and implementation approaches, including identifying research and learning opportunities.

Program monitoring and evaluation

• Oversee the development and use of quality monitoring information systems, and impact evaluation tools. Ensure that the data produced is used to inform decision-making and improve program quality
• Support his/her program managers to monitor program implementation against work plans and overall project objectives, documenting progress, achievements and lessons learnt
• Ensure effective and high quality reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems for both internal and external use capturing best practice to support program decision-making
• Conduct donor reporting, as required, in coordination with other Sector and Program Managers and the DDP

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• University Degree in Development, Economics, Public Administration, Business Administration, Law or Social Science. Masters Degree preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in developing, managing and coordinating peace building, community driven development and governance programs in developing countries and / or post-conflict settings.
• Experience in strengthening the capacity of decentralized government structures around the provision of basic services and protection of rights especially desirable along with knowledge of gender and inclusion strategies;
• Knowledge and capacity to conduct Political Economy and Conflict Analysis.
• Must be comfortable working as part of a large team in a complex, fluid and demanding management environment.
•  Ability to travel frequently to project sites for monitoring visits, including very remote and sometimes insecure (weather and conflict) areas.
• Strong program management skills, including assessment, planning, budgeting and monitoring skills.
• Good organizational, interpersonal, and people management skills.
• Strong communication, presentation and training skills.
• Demonstrated proposal and report writing skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.