Head of Programming I

Head of Programming I

CRS - Catholic Relief Services

Afghanistan

Job Summary

As a member of the Country Program (CP) Senior Management Team, you will provide overall strategic direction, leadership, and management of the CP’s programming to ensure the establishment and successful implementation of large and complex programming serving the poor and vulnerable. Your leadership, management and knowledge will enable the CP to advance local leadership, deliver high-quality programming and continuously work toward improving the impact of its programming at scale. As part of the Senior Management Team, you will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks.

You will work with staff and partners across multiple locations and conduct regular visits to provincial offices to provide oversight to program implementation. You will lead the establishment and advancement of local partnerships and actively lead partner capacity strengthening and staff development to ensure quality program implementation. You will also support technical advisors in strategic technical areas to continuously raise the technical quality of CRS’ work in Afghanistan as well as learning on a country level.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Effectively manage talent and supervise staff. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessment for direct reports. Contribute to developing staffing plans for large and complex projects and to the recruitment process of senior project staff;
• In collaboration with the Country Representative (CR), provide leadership and strategic direction for the design of CP strategic frameworks and plans, including the development of resource mobilization strategies to optimize the impact of programming interventions in line with regional and agency strategic priorities to catalyze outcomes at scale and advance local leadership;
• Oversee the identification, assessment and strengthening of appropriate partnerships and ensure the proper application of partnership concepts, tools and approaches. Develop and implement a local partnership strategy to advance CRS’ local leadership strategy;
• Lead high-quality project design incorporating project management standards and MEAL methods, appropriate to the scope, context, and technical requirements of projects. Coordinate the planning of activities across projects to ensure integration and efficiency in implementation;
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing ideas, solutions, and difficulties and develop the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Promote accountability, learning and knowledge management overseeing application of the MEAL policy, as well as cross-sectoral and cross-department learning;
• Coordinate with CP operations leads to ensure appropriate project budgeting and efficient use and stewardship of project materials and resources;
• In coordination with resource mobilization staff oversee the business development cycle to ensure quality proposals per agency and donor standards. Represent CRS in donor engagements and strategic working groups to position CRS strategically for new funding;
• Ensure technical assistance and capacity strengthening for project teams and partners in project management standards and related MEAL, business development and operational activities. Identify training opportunities, develop training curriculums and deliver trainings.

Required Languages – Fluency in English. Knowledge of Dari is a plus.
Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 50%. Frequent travel within Afghanistan, often short trips (via plane) to field offices and Kabul, as well as occasional international travel for agency and donor meetings.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions;
• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship;
• Team leadership abilities;
• Presentation and facilitation skills;
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions oriented and results-oriented;
• Supervisory Responsibilities: Program Managers (4), Technical Advisors (4).

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: Country Representative, Head of Operations, Project Director, Program Managers, Procurement Manager, Finance Manager, Human Resources Manager, Head of Offices, Senior Program Officers, Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Director – Program Quality, and relevant members of Regional & HQ teams;
• External: Government ministries at the national, provincial, and district levels; donors, partners, peer agencies, clusters, and UN agencies.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Master's Degree in International Development, International Relations or relevant field;
• Minimum of five years of relevant field-based program management, at least three years of middle/senior management experience;
• Experience in development of successful proposals, reports, strategic alliances, project design, project management, and monitoring and evaluation;
• Proven experience in establishment and advancement of local partnerships and in partners capacity strengthening;
• Experience in staff management, development, training, and mentoring, as well as in team building and strategic planning initiatives;
• Experience in community development, community mobilization, or similar grassroots, self-help initiatives;
• Experience in project grants management, including project design, budget preparation, expenditure tracking, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, etc., preferably for projects funded by multiple public donors, including USAID, BMZ, and/or the EU;
• Experience with successful business development activities capturing public and/or private donor funding.

Preferred Qualifications

• Excellent English writing skills;
• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment;
• Experience and abilities in capacity strengthening: developing curricula and facilitating trainings;
• Experience using MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, and knowledge sharing networks.

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