Deputy Chief of Party II – Programming

About Catholic Relief Services (CRS):

CRS is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Background:

CRS, representing a consortium of international and local implementing partners as well as research institutions, is leading “Ifaa.,” in nine woredas in East Hararghe Zone of Oromia Region. As a multi-sectoral USAID-BHA funded 5-year Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Ethiopia, Ifaa, aims to improve and sustain the food, nutrition, and livelihood security of households and communities under the Government of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP).

Job Summary:

As Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) II- Programming, you will provide overall management of and have responsibility for program quality, leading a team of technical sectoral experts/program managers to serve the poor and vulnerable. The DCoP acts on behalf of the Chief of Party, as needed, including representation to USAID. Your management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality, multisectoral programming, ensuring adherence to technical standards, best practices, reporting timelines, and donor guidelines. You will coordinate the development of annual work plans, the sustainability strategy implementation, and donor reports, while also maintaining systems to track program quality. The DCoP-Programming also manages key relationships within the consortium, providing direction to the implementation agenda. The role will be critical in making programming adjustments and follow up following the midline evaluation. The position will play a major role in the design of the follow-on project by incorporating lesson learned and drawing on the experiences and adaptations.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Manage key aspects of the development, implementation and consolidation of the RFSA project. Serve as a point of contact to USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders, when needed.
• Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Help ensure compliance with USAID grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to USAID.
• Contribute to ensuring coordination between program and operations leads, including the preparation of RFSA work-plans with clear objectives and achievable benchmarks, reflecting strategic priorities and sustainability plans.
• Support close collaboration with other USAID Awards, Government of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), and CRS/ET programming to complement services under the RFSA through identifying, leveraging, and creating linkages with other projects.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Contribute to the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Along with DCoP Operations, manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
• Maintain relationships with key staff of consortium partner organizations. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and recommend trainings and technical assistance.
• Manager key functions of the RFSA to meet USAID/BHA expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, as well as adherence to CRS’ program quality standards and alignment with government food security and resilience priorities and policies, especially PSNP.
• Accompany partners in drafting quarterly and annual reports in a timely manner and according to project requirements. Address capacity issues to strengthen quality of reporting.
• Address bottlenecks, communicate challenges, and identify appropriate programmatic pivots or shifts in consultation with CoP and USAID/BHA to achieve high quality program implementation.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in International Development, International Relations, or relevant technical area.
• 7 or more years’ relevant management and technical experience.
• 5 years’ experience managing donor funds, including multi country grants. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management. USAID funded projects; BHA experience preferred.
• Technical experience in either H&N, Food Security, Natural Resource Management, or WASH.
• Demonstrated experience of successful management, including management of functions of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects, with complicated logistics.
• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching.

Required Languages – Excellent written and oral communication skills in English required.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 40 % to project sites.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong 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 with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Experience in MS Office package, PowerBI, and information/budget management systems.

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

Supervisory Responsibilities: The DCoP-Programming directly supervises the RFSA Sector Leads for WASH, Agriculture & Economic Livelihoods, Health & Nutrition, PSNP Systems, Environmental Lead, and SBC Lead. Additionally, s/he will provide support in mentoring all program staff across the consortium.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal to CRS: RFSA Chief of Party, RFSA DCoP-Gender, Youth and Social Dynamics, RFSA DCoP- Operations, RFSA DCOP- MEAL, RFSA Sector Leads, CRS/ET DCR-Programming, Country Program staff, Regional and Headquarters technical staff.

External to CRS: Consortium/implementing partners, USAID/BHS staff, government bodies at different levels, representatives from for-profit and other non-profit organizations, and other USAID implementing partners.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, 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.

CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/permanent residents of countries where we have CRS offices.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.