Deputy Director of Programs

In response to the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon in mid-2012, IRC opened a country office and launched humanitarian assistance programming. IRC operates throughout Lebanon, with the main office in Beirut and field offices in Qobayat, Zahle, Tripoli and Tyre. IRC’s programs assist Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese in host communities across multiple sectors: education, livelihoods, protection, women's protection and empowerment, child protection, and cash assistance. IRC Lebanon’s current portfolio amounts to $22M, with further growth anticipated. IRC employs more than 332 staff in Lebanon.

SCOPE OF WORK

Based in Beirut, the Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) provides overall leadership in the development, management, implementation and growth of IRC’s programming portfolio in Lebanon, with particular emphasis on responsiveness to needs, program quality and evidence of impact. In coordination with the Country Director, the DDP builds and sustains strong donor relationships. Reporting to the Country Director and a member of the Senior Management Team, the DDP directly supervises six senior staff who are responsible for proposal development, program implementation and grants management. This position has close working relationships with the Deputy Director of Operations, Finance Controller, HR Coordinator as well as field-based staff. The DDP position is accompanied and requires extensive in-country and occasional regional travel.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Strategy, Design and Fundraising

• Working under the guidance of the Country Director, provide leadership to the development and implementation of a dynamic needs-based strategy for IRC programming in Lebanon.
• With the Lebanon programming team, led by Coordinators, and HQ-based Technical Unit staff, lead the design of projects that incorporate IRC program quality standards and industry best practices.
• With the Country Director, lead efforts for sustainable program growth, proactively identifying opportunities for new programming initiatives and emphasizing multi-year funding to support them.
• Regularly assess the funding environment and guide staff in identifying, analyzing and pursuing new opportunities.
• Position IRC for future donor resources by initiating assessments or studies and by leading public learning events to showcase IRC’s high-quality, impactful programming.
• Provide leadership support to the programming, grants and finance teams to develop competitive, evidence-based and cost-effective funding applications.
• Provide guidance, strategies and tools to ensure that programming choices are based on needs assessment findings (primary & secondary data) and analysis, input from communities, a thorough understanding of context, technical best practices, and operational viability.
• Formulate integrated programming initiatives so that technical sectors complement each other and promote mainstreaming of protection principles, child protection, and gender-responsive approaches.
• Support the development of promotional materials related to IRC’s work in Lebanon.
• Participate in country program collaboration with colleagues in the SRR to deliver regional programming and advocacy.

Program Management – Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide overall leadership and management of IRC Lebanon’s programming portfolio, ensuring strategically coherent program direction, well-managed growth, and compliance with IRC and donor regulations.
• Continually seek out ways to build the capacities of programming team members, individually and collectively.
• Ensure that detailed, realistic and feasible project implementation plans are developed, and modified as needed.
• Ensure that all projects are managed to budget and achieve the planned results on time.
• Promptly communicate implementation challenges to donors.
• Provide leadership to programming staff and the grants team to prepare timely, high quality and compliant reporting per IRC guidelines and donor requirements.
• Regularly travel to the field to visit projects.
• Regularly review progress against indicators.
• Seek out and coordinate technical assistance from regional and HQ colleagues.
• Coordinate with other members of Senior Management Team on appropriate management, compliance and performance standards, as well as effective systems for budget management, knowledge management and risk management.
• Promote effective use of ICT4D where appropriate, feasible and cost-effective.
• Build IRC staff capacity in partnership, so that all program staff are aware of IRC partnership principles.
• Put accountability mechanisms in place for beneficiary feedback.
• Support programming staff to collect, document and disseminate lessons learned and best practices, incorporating these into new project designs.
• With programming staff, develop effective and appropriate M&E plans, including methodologies and tools to strengthen the quality of data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Support programming staff to plan and undertake mid-term and final program evaluations in compliance with donor requirements
• Review M&E and accountability data with programming staff to identify and address areas for operational improvement.

Budget and Risk Management

• Master and support IRC programming, administrative and financial procedures and systems.
• Promote risk reduction management as a part of all staff’s responsibilities.
• Ensure that programming staff are well trained to properly manage project budgets.
• Supervise programming staff’s stewardship of the financial health and performance of all projects.
• Guide staff to ensure donor intent is respected and regulations followed.
• Meet with programming, grants and finance staff regularly to review budget comparison reports.
• Approve release of resources for projects as per approved budgets, implementation plans and agreements.
• Assist Finance Controller to prepare annual budgeting documents and reforecasts.
• Ensure programming staff follow finance procedures to rapidly process payments.
• Mitigate risk by collaborating with the Finance Department to ensure that programming staff fully understand financial and administrative processes involved in project budget cycles.
• Ensure that risks limiting achievement of objectives are reported and rapidly addressed.

Staff Performance Management and Development

• Create a supervisory environment focused on the achievement of team and individual results that emphasizes the importance of learning, productivity, accountability, openness about challenges, and adjustment to new information and new realities.
• Communicate regularly with staff and promote positive conflict resolution among team members.
• Provide guidance and supervision to all programming Coordinators and Grants Coordinator; discuss job expectations, set objectives and provide appropriate and timely feedback on performance of direct reports, including timely implementation of performance management system.
• Hold regular programming team meetings.
• Adhere to IRC’s performance management system, providing regular, timely and thoughtful coaching, feedback, performance assessment, and professional development for all direct reports, while making sure that they do the same for their direct reports.
• Build capacities of programming staff in key project management principles, tools and approaches and ensure that these new skills are utilized on the job.
• Manage recruitment, hiring and development of high-performing national staff to assume greater levels of responsibility.
• Clearly define the training needs of direct reports and ensure they are able to access training and professional development resources appropriate to their skill gaps/needs.
• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.
• Provide leadership support for the successful implementation of and adherence to the IRC Global HR Operating Policies and Procedures.
• Lead with commitment, integrity and accountability to the "IRC Way" – Global Standards for Professional Conduct.
• Promote constructive, collegial teamwork between programming staff and operational support staff.

Professional Standards

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

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Graduate degree in relevant field.
• Must have at least six years of progressively responsible international management experience, including technical staff supervision. 
• Proven ability to develop successful proposals for a variety of donors.
• Previous experience managing programs financed by US government agencies, DFID, EU, UN, foundations and private donors a must, with previous experience in competitive RFA/P environments a plus.
• Proven ability to manage projects to completion on time, within budget, and with the anticipated results.
• Demonstrated successful leadership experience with a multi-disciplinary team in a cross-cultural setting, including active mentoring and coaching.
• Demonstrated strengths in relationship management; able to work cooperatively with diverse groups of people at all levels in a multicultural, team environment
• Extensive experience with monitoring and evaluation tools and systems for complex programs
• Established capacity to deal with ambiguity in stressful situations.
• Ability to respond to multiple priorities in a timely manner, producing high-quality outcomes.
• A keen understanding of political complexities in the Middle East region.
• Arabic language skills a definite advantage.
• Ability to work and live in a sometimes insecure environment while maintaining a positive attitude.

This position is based in Beirut and is accompanied, with an estimated 35% of the DDP’s time spent in other locations in Lebanon and the region.