Tdh recruits 01 Head of Programs
Head of Programs
Position Start Date : 3rd of July 2019
Duration : 6 months
Location : Nairobi – Kenya
Terre des hommes does not set closing dates for this position; recruitment is on-going until the position is filled
Tdh :
Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh) is the leading Swiss child relief organization, based in Lausanne (Switzerland). Every year our projects support more than 2 million children (3 million in 2016) and their families in over 35 countries. We are part of the Terre des hommes International Federation (TDHIF), with 9 other sister organizations in Switzerland, Europe and Canada.
Tdh has been active in Kenya since 2011 in Dadaab refugee camp (child protection) , the arid county of Garissa (nutrition) and the ultra-poor slums of Nairobi (integrated child protection). The delegation is run by the humanitarian department owing to the nature of activities. In June 2018, the organization initiated a reflection to reorient activities to also address development needs around child protection services as the gap in support is significant. Humanitarian needs are very present due to the situation at Kenya’s borders, the country’s difficulty in tackling natural disasters and the risk of terrorism. There have been encouraging funding opportunities and if they materialize this will lead to multi-year projects on access to justice and early childhood development. There are many other untapped opportunities in the tech and social enterprise sector.
The delegation is facing a number of challenges that include staff turn around, complex local politics and interference, uncertain and changing humanitarian agenda, challenge in finding technical and operational skills that match our ambitions.
Context :
The Head of Programs ensures the supervision of operational aspects of the delegation’s programmes on a day-to-day basis. S/He guarantees the effective, efficient implementation of all activities from a comprehensive project cycle management perspective (identification of needs, proposal making, planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and communication). S/He supports the Country Representative in representation activities linked to programs.
He/she will conduct his or her duties in respect of the Charter of the Tdh Child Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct. Tdh intervenes without any affiliation for politics, religion or financial profit. He/she will direct his or her activities and engagements without preoccupation of political, racial or religious affiliation..
Responsibilities :
Project delivery
- Ensures that project teams are on time, on budget and on target and steers the appropriate processes to this end, as per the organization’s standards and procedures.
- Identifies problems and issues on the ground and proposes solutions that he/she implements and follows through.
- Ultimate budget holder for projects; as such he/she is responsible for monitoring project budgets reporting on any issues to the SMT and introducing corrective action where necessary.
- Accountable for project targets as set in the proposals, and, with the inputs from project managers, for producing narrative donor reports.
- Steers organisational readiness to respond to emergencies in line with Tdh approaches and systems
- Ensures that projects deliver programming to beneficiaries that is according to Tdh’s mandate and that brings sustainable and positive change to the lives of children.
- Avails of the monitoring tools and resources to this end. Collaborates with technical experts in and out of the country office to analyse the quality of approaches, to learn from practice and to implement lessons from these learnings.
- Ensures that project performance is reflected in Tdh in Kenya being the go-to organization in health and nutrition for children in the ASALs, and child protection for refugees and slums dwellers, and child rights.
Coordination
- Ensures coherence and collaboration across his/her team to foster integrated programming.
- Liaises with government stakeholders to build ownership and sustainability of Tdh’s interventions.
- Represents the organization in project-related events.
- Responsible for liaising with donors and members on issues of implementation,
- Takes responsibility for organizing donor and HQ visits to the concerned projects
- Nurtures functioning interrelations whilst making optimal use of resources
Grant management
- Support the smooth management of the grant management cycle
- Takes ultimate responsibility for donor and HQ dialogue with respect to grants
- Ensures full compliance with grant rules and procedures and coordinates with support services for input.
Strategic management
- As a member of the senior management team; participates in collective decision making regarding strategy, structure and management of resources, business development (including proposal development), quality, accountability. He/she brings a project perspective to the decision making forum.
- Fosters a culture of growth and change for bigger and quality impact on the lives of the most deprived children of Kenya.
Resource Mobilisation and donor influence
- Oversees the development and implementation of Tdh Kenya fundraising strategy that aligns with the delegation’s capacity, needs and with donor priorities
- Actively identifies new opportunities, tracks new opportunities, steers the go/no go and retro planning for proposals
- Understands and influences donor funding priorities and manages the strategic analysis of the donor and member landscape
- Develops material to increase visibility and technical legitimacy
- Liaise with HQ to determine opportunities, support global donor relationship management
- Prepositions concept note to influence donors
Proposal development
- Keeps her/himself informed of context and needs through discussions with stakeholders, reads project reports and evaluations, carries out field visits to be kept informed of Tdh’s work
- Assesses risk and value for money of the opportunities
- Plans the proposal development (develops the retro-plan and holds teams accountable to delivering on time)
- Steers project design (problem and needs analysis, results and logical framework, management plan, staffing, budget and other resources, exit strategy, etc.)
- Writes and packages the proposal for donor submission (narrative and logframe, costing and budget notes) based on inputs from other departments
- Liaises with HQ throughout the proposal development process
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning and Knowledge management
- Oversees the development of a monitoring system that provides timely and accurate project results
- Ensures on-going, accurate data collection and meaningful analyses with regular dissemination of strategic information to SMT and QMM to drive learning and improve program quality
- Ensures high quality evaluations are resourced and conducted to demonstrate outcomes and impact
- Ensures accountability mechanisms for all projects and that identified actions are resolved, with critical issues escalated to senior management
- Participates in project kick-offs and close-outs for significant awards to ensure effective strategic direction, establishment of quality standards and dissemination of learning
- Ensures the research, evaluation and policy work of the delegation contributes to generation of evidences for sound decision making and policy influencing within and outside the delegation and development and implementation of impactful and innovative programmes for children
Thematic Expertise, capacity building and quality assurance
- Monitors and advances technical and operational quality of field programmes in health and child protection with a focus on innovation, esp in the tech sector, and youth issues.
- Ensures effective working relationships with Tdh global technical advisors, procuring technical support as needed to support the delegation’s efforts, including during emergencies.
- Ensures that Tdh engages in larger communities of practice to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches
- Engages in relevant national and global networks
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development –Operations
- Manages project managers ; defines expectations, provides leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluates direct reports regularly, mitigates conflicts internally and externally
- Ensures the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensures availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff.
Profile :
- Master’s Degree in relevant social science
- A minimum of five years of senior management and development experience in an NGO
- Robust experience of program cycle management including in emergencies
- Substantial experience and knowledge of effective financial and budgetary control and managing grants from major institutional donors
- Proven history of delivering results and solving problems
- Experience in more than one of Tdh’s thematic sectors: child protection, health and nutrition, emergencies
- Experience managing teams for resource mobilisation and submitting proposals including large proposals in a wide range of thematic areas
- Experience working with high level government agencies and academics on issues related to children
- Strong skills and proven experience in new business development, project design, and donor proposal design with corporate, foundations and institutional donors
- Strong skills and proven experience in developing and managing monitoring, evaluation and learning systems
- Ability to write fluently in English without requiring third party proof reading
- Strong commitment to support/develop capacity of national staff and developing second layer of leadership and motivate others;
- Proven ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and process information in support of changing program activities;
- Self-awareness and critical thinking
- Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Tdh’s values
- Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team. Future orientated, thinks strategically, appetite for change, reluctant to maintain ‘business as usual’
- Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
- Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to, sense of humour while maintaining a firm stance
- Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
- High level of self-awareness and willingness to take criticism as an opportunity for growth and self-development
- Ability to plan and manage time, multi-task and delegate
Salary :
Expatriate contract under Swiss regulations 3’400 CHF (~2’950 €) < > 4’750 CHF (~4’100 €) net /month according to experience x 13 times, Vacancy: 25 days annual leaves local accommodation and transportation, Health insurance, accident and medical repatriation insurance, return flight.
Tdh Global Code of Conduct and Risk Management Policies :
- Fully complies with Tdh’s Global Code of Conduct and systematically reports any breach to the Code through the whistleblowing procedure: raises awareness within the Foundation on abuse and violence and the rights deriving therefrom, respecting the rights and dignity of children, members of the communities and our own Staff
- Commits to respecting Risk Management Policies including: Safeguarding Policies (Child Safeguarding Policy, Policy on the Protection against Sexual Exploitation and the Directive on Staff Misconduct at the Workplace), Safety and Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption and Prevention of the Financing of Criminal Activities Policies
- Commits to reducing the risk of abuse and harm by developing a culture of open and informed leadership within the organization and in our work with children and the communities in which we intervene in.
We offer an exciting and varied work, useful and meaningful, in a team that wants to make a difference for vulnerable children.
Are you interested? Do you want to face this challenge?
Procedure :
Please applying directly online: http://www.jobs.net/j/JZqyJmzz?idpartenaire=20002
Application files sent through our official website will be processed only if complete (CV + cover letter). Additional documents (diplomas, work certificates, etc.) will be requested at a later stage.
We will be in touch with the shortlisted candidates only in the selection process – with the large number of applications received, we unfortunately cannot provide personal follow-up to the larger candidate pool. Thanks for your understanding.
For any questions you can consult the FAQ below the job advertisements.
To know more about Terre des hommes: https://vimeo.com/253387418 |