Assistant Country Director for Programmes in Grand Bassa/ Chief of Party (USAID EQUAL)

Job posted by: Concern Worldwide - Thu, 20 Nov 2014

Job Details:

Organisation: Concern Worldwide

Deadline Sun, 30 Nov 2014

Job type: Contract

Location: Liberia

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Reference:

CON/LI/ACD

Country:

Liberia

Job Title:

Assistant Country Director for Programmes in Grand Bassa/ Chief of Party (USAID EQUAL)

 

 

Date Requested:  6th November 2014

Contract Grade:  C

Contract Length: 2 years

Date Needed By:  As soon as possible

New Post or Replacement: Replacement

Accompanied / Unaccompanied:  Accompanied (partner only)

Exact Job Location: Buchanan, Grand Bassa County with regular travel to Monrovia

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title: Assistant Country Director for Programmes / Chief of Party (USAID EQUAL)

Responsible for:  Direct line management of five international staff: Education Coordinator, Education Policy Advisor, Curriculum Specialist, Early Recovery Program Manager, M&E Manager, with day-to day operational management of the Health Emergency Coordinator and General  Systems Manager

Job Location: Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, Liberia with regular travel to Monrovia

Liaises with: Assistant Country Director for Programmes (Monrovia and Lofa) and Assistant Country Director for Emergencies, Assistant Country Director for Systems, Country Financial Controller, National as well as County & District level Government officials, partner organisations as appropriate, NGOs and other relevant stakeholders in Grand Bassa.

Reports to: Country Director

Job Purpose: To lead Concern’s emergency and recovery response in Grand Bassa County. This involves directly leading a large team of international and national staff to ensure quality programming in emergency moving to recovery, namely: Education (EQUAL[1]) WASH and Livelihoods programs while supporting strong day-to-day management and integration of an expanded direct health Ebola emergency response.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

ACD-P Grand Bassa: Strategic leadership and direction to all Concern programming in Grand Bassa

  • Provide strategic leadership and direction to a large national and international team (approx.110-120 staff).
  • Lead a coherent multi-sectoral program strategy for direct emergency and early recovery (est. until June 2015), while managing an effective transition to recovery and long-term poverty reduction programming (est. July 2015 onwards)
  • Directly manage the senior managers of the education, livelihoods and WASH programs to ensure program integration and strong and efficient team work
  • Ensure close collaboration with the ACD- Emergencies for the effective management of the Health Emergency Coordinator for the delivery of the new expanded direct health Ebola emergency programme.
  • Ensure close collaboration with the ACD-Systems for the effective management of the General Systems Manager in Grand Bassa, to ensure programmes are sufficiently supported through strong logistics, transport, IT, finance and HR systems.
  • Ensure strong results based management processes are in place across the county program to inform program decision making and reporting, as per Concern and donor M&E requirements.
  • Integrate ‘How Concern Understand Extreme Poverty’ and humanitarian best practice into all programming.
  • Ensure maximum protection of programme participants from abuse and exploitation, and clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, partner organisations through effective implementation of the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4).

 

Chief of Party - EQUAL & Education in Emergencies (approx. 50% of role)

  • Ensure that the EQUAL (and EQUAL in Emergencies) programme is implemented in accordance with the Concern–USAID cooperative agreement (2014-2017), USAID regulations, and international best practice.
  • As the principal link with USAID, work closely with the Mission to provide updates, discuss strategies, obstacles and performance. Liaise with USAID agreement officers, technical support staff, other USAID Implementing Partners and education actors
  • Directly manage the EQUAL senior management team to ensure quality programming: Education Coordinator (Deputy Chief of Party), Education Policy Advisor, Curriculum Specialist, M&E Manager.
  • Oversee the Deputy COP in ensuring programme delivery is in line with approved plans and frameworks and meet all standard operational policies and procedures
  • Oversee the Deputy COP in providing financial and technical management support that optimizes resources and ensures budgets, expenditure and reporting are in line with Concern and donor requirements.
  • Support the DCOP to provide strong management and coordination with implementing partner- LIBTRALO, including the implementation of targeted capacity support plans.
  • Ensure consistent and quality representation of Concern and EQUAL program priorities at coordination fora and other related seminars and meetings.
  • Oversee the Education Policy Advisor to lead the Education NGO forum and play a leadership role in the Education Cluster, Education Sector Development Committee, the SRGBV consortium and others national fora.
  • Support the Education Policy Advisor to link partners Child Fund and LITBRALO with national level discussions and policy implementation.
  • Oversee the M&E Manager to ensure the EQUAL Performance Management Plan is implemented and reported against through the design of quality tools and research designs, management of strong and accountable M&E and research process and capacity support ,  processes and research design programs
  • Oversee the development of literacy curricula for the early grade literacy intervention in English and mother-tongue (Bassa) and the Family/Adult literacy intervention through management of a curriculum specialist and/or literacy consultants.
  • Ensure partner LIBTRALO’s curriculum and resource development expertise is central to the development of EQUAL literacy resources
  • Coordinate quality reports to USAID through both formal and informal debriefings, annual and semi-annual reports;

 

Person Specifications:

Essential

  • Advanced degree (PhD or MA) in education/ humanitarian/development studies
  • At least five years’ experience in managing and implementing education  or multi-sectoral programs in developing/humanitarian contexts
  • Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to develop constructive relationships with colleagues, donors, government and other partners
  • Strong performance management and staff capacity support skills
  • Ability to build a functioning and motivated team
  • Excellent communication and writing skills in English
  • Ability to lead M&E and research processes
  • Budget / Financial management capacity and familiarity with systems (HR, IT, logistics).
  • Ability to work under pressure and to strict deadlines.
  • Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, accountability, participation and gender equality.

 

Desirable

  • Experience with projects supporting early grade literacy, curriculum development, teacher training, or education systems management
  • Experience managing multi-sectoral teams while ensuring quality technical interventions
  • Experience of managing USAID funded programmes.

 

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date 30th November 2014. CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them.  In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment.   By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year.  Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List).  Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant.  For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

[1] Education Quality and Access in Liberia – education system strengthening targeting extreme poor areas through innovative literacy interventions (in English and mother-tongue), teacher training and coaching, PTA and principal support, community engagement and strengthening student well-being and safety in the learning process.



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