Programme Quality and Development Coordinator

Your purpose: This is an exciting opportunity to work with an international NGO focused on supporting extremely poor and vulnerable communities to achieve greater resilience and lasting improvements to their lives. You will create and maintain funding opportunities for Concern Chad and ensure these are of the highest quality standards. You will assure Concern Chad’s programmes are of high quality in line with Concern’s policies & procedures, driving innovation and contributing to a strong learning culture. This will include the provision of direct technical support to programme teams andcontinually adapting M&E approaches to capture learning and guide decision-making. We believe that inequality is a major cause of extreme poverty and vulnerability and, the PQDC plays a key role in developing transformative approaches to gender and equality with staff, partners and communities. You will also play a critical role in supporting Concern to fulfil its accountability commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) to programme participants – ensuring effective implementation of Concern’s Complaints & Response Mechanism (CRM) and other processes. You will lead key assessments, evaluations and research activities and play a significant role in programme/project design and developing high quality donor proposals. You will help disseminate learning and strengthen the visibility of Concern and its work in Chad with key stakeholders.

Concern currently operates Health, Nutrition, Education, WASH and Livelihoods programmes and humanitarian response work in 4 provinces: Lake, Ouaddai, Sila, Wadi-Fira.

About the role: This is a 1 year, new role with unaccompanied terms based in Ndjamena, Chad, with a salary of Grade 4 (€45,457 – €50,509). You will be required to travel frequently to the other Provinces of Chad where Concern works.

We would like you to start by September 2024.

Reports To: Programmes Director (PD)

Direct line reports: MEAL Manager

Liaises With:

• All Programme Coordinators and Project Managers, Grants, Compliance and Communication Manager, MEAL Manager
• Country Management Team (CMT), Finance, Logistics and Procurement, and HR;
• Concern Desk Officer and relevant technical advisors at headquarters (HQ)

You will be responsible for:

Technical support to programme management, monitoring and learning:

• Support the PD and Programmes Managers by bringing technical expertise to improve the quality in the design and implementation of the programmes (health, nutrition and WASH in particular) ;
• Monitor programme/project activities to ensure they are carried out in line with:
  • Concern’s systems and procedures and that full adherence to the Core Humanitarian Standard’s (CHS) commitments on accountability is achieved.
  • Concern’s global strategies and PQ Guidelines in collaboration with HQ/ Strategy, Advocacy and Learning (SAL) Unit ;
  • Country strategic plan and national or global policies ;
• Support the PD and Programmes Managers by monitoring project timelines, procurement plans, budget execution, deliverable and expected achievements.
• Support the PD to review and follow specific procurements for programme, linking with the Systems department and HQ (if international supplying).
• Support the MEAL Manager and Programme Managers to conduct participatory review meetings for all programmes to review targets, achievements and gaps or challenges, utilising the relevant log frame and other tools.
• Support the monitoring of action points and recommendations issued during regular meetings.
• Promote a culture of shared learning in country and:
  • Ensure that our learnings are documented, shared and valued to improve the visibility and the quality of our activities ;
  • Organise/Participate to learning sessions with other country teams ;
  • Ensure that learning from partnership projects is systematically captured and shared between partners and Concern.
• With the Grants Manager and MEAL Manager, keep MEAL information up-to-date for each programme/project on Concern’s GMS system (and shared drive).
• Contribute to donor and other programme reports, providing feedback and quality assurance on data analysis and writing before sharing with external parties and leading the review of relevant sections of donor and other reports.
• With HQ technical advisers, oversee any research activity conducted by the country programme, both directly and via consultants. Ensure research outcomes are clearly documented.
• Work with the MEAL departments of programme/project partners to achieve effective and harmonised M&E systems, which can effectively incorporate and manage indicators set out in project proposals and partnership agreements. Provide technical advice and support where needed.
• Support the MEAL Manager in overseeing Concern’s achievement of its accountability commitments and effective implementation of its Complaints & Response Mechanism (CRM). Ensure that feedback or complaints from stakeholders are handled in an appropriate and systematic way, with all sensitive complaints promptly reported to the CD. Lead on CRM reporting and adaptation of the mechanism in partnership with communities and other key actors.
• Participate at technical workshops/meetings / clusters to support Concern’s leadership and advocacy work.
• Participate to Donor’s and partner’s visits and meetings as necessary ;

Technical support to programme development

• With the PD, the MEAL Manager and relevant Programme Manager(s), oversee the project design processes including contextual analyses, Theories of Change (ToC), log frames and specific studies in line with Concern’s Programme Cycle Management Systems (PCMS) and PM&E guidelines.
• Support the PD to develop sectorial strategies and pilot approaches at country level (in health, nutrition, WASH, livelihood, etc.)
• Participate in preparing complete, accurate and realistic budgets for donor proposals and as part of Concern’s internal budget procedures, in collaboration with the Programme Director, Grants Manager and Country Financial Controller
• Assist in the development of MEAL plans for all programmes/projects place that are regularly reviewed. Ensure the accurate costing and inclusion of cross-cutting themes and programme quality initiatives in budgets.
• In collaboration with the Grants, Compliance and Communication Manager, support the programme department to prepare a funding strategy, “ready-to-use” Concept notes and flexible budget templates ;
• Support PD and Grants Manager to set up and implement Concern’s global localisation & partnership strategy (identify local partners, design adapted MOUs, maintain quality collaboration, technical support/follow-up);

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:

• With the Grants Manager and the HQ Equality & Gender Advisor, drive the integration of Gender & Equality in all programmes/projects and develop tools and systems to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of equality interventions across programmes/projects.
• Review and oversee progress in implementing a Gender Strategy for Concern in Chad, liaising with other departments and raising issues affecting its implementation to the CMT.
• Enhance Concern’s equality approaches through strengthening work on diversity and inclusion in line with Concern Worldwide’s global strategic plan.
• Support the HQ Equality & Gender Advisor to implement training and awareness raising with staff, partners and other key external stakeholders and engage in relevant external bodies and fora as needed.

Human resource management and development

• Set clear performance objectives, provide regular feedback and conduct performance reviews (in line with Concern processes), with the staff line managed, holding staff accountable for meeting agreed success criteria. Ensure effective performance management takes place throughout the department.
• Liaising with HR, design appropriate and effective mentoring, coaching and career development plans for staff to build capacities. With HR, this includes establishing effective induction processes for new staff. Regularly providing technical and managerial support as needed.
• With HR, support recruitment for vacancies in the Programme Department. This includes updating job descriptions and periodically reviewing the departmental structure, proposing changes as needed to the PD.
• Ensure work within the Programme Department is planned and organised in order to meet the organisation’s needs in the most cost effective manner possible. Ensure team members are given appropriate workloads and are working efficiently.
• Provide needs-based training and coaching for Concern staff and partners.
• Ensure full adherence to and promote Concern’s Code of Conduct & Associated Policies (especially Programme Participants’ Protection and Child Safeguarding policies) and other key Concern policies (including Equality, How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty (HCUEP), Approach to Emergencies, Anti-Fraud policies) within the Programme department and more widely in the organisation.

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);
• work with relevant colleagues to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed;
• work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

General

• As a humanitarian organisation, all staff are required to engage in / support emergency response work as needed (training and other support to be provided as appropriate).
• Actively participate in the periodic updating of Concern’s Preparing for Effective Emergency Response plan in Chad.
• Contribute to the ongoing reviews and updating of Concern in Chad’s Security Management Plan (SMP), the country strategic plan, and other cross-organisational Concern initiatives.
• Within the Programme Department, ensure the efficient and transparent use of all project resources in order to maximize benefits to the targeted communities.
• Assure the interim of Programme Director when needed
• Any other tasks as may be mutually agreed with the Programmes Director and /or the CD.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

• Bachelor’s Degree in international project managements, human sciences, public health / nutrition, agriculture, or any related discipline (or accepted equivalent professional experience).
• At least five years relevant field based experience in the management / coordination of various and complex programmes in development / humanitarian sector;
• Demonstrated technical knowledge on health/nutrition/Wash sector and specific issues related to the Sahel context ;
• Demonstrated experience in all stages of the PCMS: assessments and evaluations, programme development, including the logical framework approach
• Demonstrated experience of proposal development and programme/project design (health, nutrition, wash, livelihood)
• Demonstrated experience in reporting, quantitative and qualitative data collection methods;
• Strong analytical and problem solving abilities
• Demonstrated experience of working with rural communities, collaborating with authorities and local partners and in the nurturing of organisational learning in programmes.
• Knowledge of mainstreaming Equality (especially Gender) and Protection
• Knowledge of the Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), Sphere and other relevant global standards.
• Ability to work independently and under own initiative
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise, often to strict deadlines
• Good networking skills, interpersonal communication, presentation and motivational skills
• Strong understanding of research methodologies and the nature of evidence.
• Demonstrated experience in leadership, line management and building cohesive high performing teams.
• Excellent facilitation and training skills.
• Experience of working with partner organisations and building organisational & individual capacities.
• Clear understanding and knowledge of equality issues related to development / humanitarian work and contexts and a demonstrable commitment to the ethos and values of Concern in relation to ending inequality and extreme poverty.
• Fluency in French and excellent English (writing and verbal).
• Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Office.
• Good team player, flexible and politically and culturally sensitive.

1. Desirable:

• Experience working in Chad or in Sahel context
• Experience of working with consortia
• Experience with data collection/analysis platforms (Kobo, iFormBuilder etc)