Deputy Regional Director/Program Quality for East Africa Regional Office

Job Title: Deputy Regional Director/Program Quality
Location/Region: Nairobi, Kenya/EARO (open to other locations)
Band: E
FLSA: Exempt
Reports To: Regional Director
Length of Assignment: Five to seven years

About CRS:

Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Summary/Background:

This position is part of the regional senior leadership team led by the Regional Director (RD). The Deputy Regional Director/Program Quality (DRD/PQ) assumes selective responsibility delegated by the RD for technical and program quality, business development, as well as stewardship of CRS human, financial and material resources in accordance with the Agency Mission, including the following:
• Ensuring that the Agency’s overall vision is understood and incorporated into strategic planning and management in all country programs
• Providing strategic and programmatic leadership to regional technical staff;
• Providing technical and programmatic support to country program staff;
• Ensuring close and efficient coordination with headquarters (HQ) departments on common programming initiatives and departmental mandates;
• Ensuring that all appropriate opportunities for growth throughout the region are pursued.
The EARO region consists of the following country programs: Ethiopia, Kenya (Somalia outreach), South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The DRD/PQ is expected to spend on average 50% of her/his time travelling and providing direct support to country programs.

Job Responsibilities:

With the general delegation of authority from the RD and in close coordination with the Country Representatives as well as relevant staff of the Program Impact & Quality Assurance (PIQA), Institutional Donor Engagement & Advancement (IDEA), Humanitarian Response (HRD) and Operational Excellence (OpEx) Departments in CRS/HQ, the DRD/PQ assumes the following functions and responsibilities:

Primary Functions:

Quality Assurance

• Support Heads of Program (HoPs)/CPs in setting up and implementing relevant PQ processes and systems and using relevant tools for project design and management

• Project design & Proposal development utilizing ProPack I + TAG/CAG,
• Project Start up, Management, close-out, utilizing PMD Pro and the Project Management Toolkit/ProPack II
• Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system design in compliance with agency MEAL policies and procedures
• Knowledge management including consistent and regular use of Project Gateway
• Cross-pollination among HoPs and program managers during regular learning reflections
• Coordinate selection of appropriate country program(CP)-level participants for global and regional learning events in consultation with RTAs and HoPs

• Work with CRs, HoPs and relevant Technical Advisors (TAs) to build Country Program capacity in cross-cutting PQ issues and Core Competencies, e.g.

• Gender strategy orientation, assessments and audit
• Conflict, governance and gender assessments and analysis
• MEAL
• SIS/Partnership
• Cross-Sector Engagement
• Project management standards
• Training in project design and implementation, agency tools and standards, relevant industry standards (e.g. Project Mgmt. Standards and Sphere)

Strategic Planning and Strategy Implementation

• Support Country Programs in rolling out and reporting on the agency strategy with particular focus on the following OverOps Divisional Objectives:

• Invest in SPAs
• Implement MEAL
• Strengthen partners and partnerships
• Grow revenue

• Support and approve Country Programs in developing strategic plans, or sector specific strategies (eg emergency strategies) as applicable

• Coordinate country program and regional reporting on strategic initiatives
Talent Management: mentoring/coaching of HoPs, S/RTAs, training, orientation of new PQ staff, recruitment

• Coach and support HoPs in managing CP level PQ systems and processes and building the PQ capacity of programming staff

• Build capacity of HoPs and their staff

• Ensure that HOPs have developed the PQ part of core competencies

• Recruit/Orient/Mentor HoPs, Chiefs of Party, Senior/Regional Technical Advisors

• Facilitate HoP/PQ Communities of Practice and peer-to-peer learning and support in our regions and across regions as appropriate

• Support the other key EARO Communities of Practice: Gender, ICT4D for MEAL and Project Management
TA Coordination

• Ensure high quality TA is provided to country programs based on their needs and classification

• TA coordination (helping CP identify needs, quarterly forecast, identify ways to fill gaps if TA not prioritized by PIQA) including HRD

• Organize, in collaboration with PIQA, local/regional communities of practice in relevant sectors

• Ensure that two-way TA feedback systems are implemented (i.e. that honest and constructive
feedback is shared with TA supervisors and with CPs as applicable)

• Manage roster of regional consultants across Signature Program Area (SPA), core competency and other programming areas.

Project management

• Oversee the management of Farmer to Farmer regionally. This includes supervision of the project directors for F2F in key project events and representation if needed.

• Support the Project Management Community of Practice and the continued uptake of PMD Pro tools

• Refine the EARO Project Management Toolkit and ensure its roll out

• Business Development (BD): Coordination, Quality control, Capacity development

• Lead implementation of EARO’s business development strategy

• Supervise EARO’s RTA/BD

• Support CPs to position for new opportunities by leading pre design and design workshops for key opportunities

• Follow up/support meeting EARO’s growth targets

• Coordinate and ensure compliance with Proposal development and review process – from PIN onwards, including go/no go decisions, reviews (consolidate comments, final review and sign-off), guidance to HoPs on composition of proposal teams), etc.

Bridging PQ-MQ issues

• Support HOPs and Regional Finance Officer (RFO) in projecting yearly budgets and tracking programmatic spending

• Work closely with DRD/MQ, RFO and HOPs in addressing ongoing programmatic-management issues such as operational delays which affect programmatic and spending performance

• Work closely with the RFO to lead the FAACT narrative reports, contribute to the APPs, lead the Annual investment strategies

Other:

• Track and analyze development of slow-onset emergencies, and contribute to Emergency Responses in region, as needed

• Representation with regional donors and partners, as applicable.

• Facilitate support to CP on Marketing and Communications: ensure best examples used with donors, policy makers, gov’ts, peer NGO’s and other stakeholders

• Support advocacy priorities in the region, provide analysis, coordinate with CRS/Legislative staff in Washington

• Other tasks as delegated by RD

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Regional Technical Advisors for Business Development, Health, Nutrition, Agricultural Livelihoods, Microfinance, Accountability and Learning, Capacity Strengthening and Organizational Development and WASH plus the Farmer to Farmer Project Director.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Regional Director, DRD for Management Quality, Regional Finance Officer, Regional Technical Advisors; Country Representatives and Managers, HOPs; CRS/HQ Staff - primarily PIQA, IDEA, OpEx and HRD; other DRDs/PQ; USOps staff.
• External: USG, including USAID (Washington, local Missions) and other relevant agencies; other bilateral Donor Agencies; multilateral Donor Agencies; US and international PVOs; local Catholic Church representatives; Caritas or similar local organizations; other Catholic development agencies; technical support networks/organizations in the US, Southern Africa and elsewhere; private sector corporations and investment companies.

Personal/Professional Skills:

• Strong interpersonal, communication and organizational skills as well as good judgment and vision.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Familiarity with, and/or appreciation of, the social teachings of the Catholic Church and its structure; ability to work well within this framework

• Commitment to the Agency's mission and strategy

Qualifications:

• MA/MS/MPH or MBA with significant applied experience in international relief and development.

• Ten years’ experience in international relief or development, including at least five years living in a developing country with strong management experience as Head of Programming or equivalent level.

• Country Representative or equivalent experience, a plus.

• Demonstrated leadership, management and supervisory skills

• Familiarity with technical standards in project and program design for CRS core competencies and programmatic themes, including integral human development, justice and peace, partnership, and capacity-building

• Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively with local organizations and partners, and function effectively as part of a multi-cultural team.

• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge and skills formally and informally to diverse audiences; desire and ability to mentor staff.

• Ability to effectively lead a remote, multi-cultural team located in different geographic areas.

• Demonstrated success in program development and fundraising.

• Knowledge of CRS operations, policies and procedures.

• Strong inter-personal skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills

Physical Requirements/Environment:
The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya requiring travel 50% of the time on average.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Equal Opportunity Employer

HOW TO APPLY:

Apply online: http://bit.ly/2gZ93h3