Deputy Country Director for Program – Sudan

TGH background

« Actor in a sustainable and shared solidarity »

Founded in 1994, TGH is a French association for international solidarity based in Lyon. It designs and implements emergency, rehabilitation and development programmes in the fields of water, hygiene and sanitation, food security and rural development, socio-education and psychosocial support. TGH is currently active in 10 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

Presentation of the mission

TGH has a long-standing presence in Sudan: first implementing a multi-sectoral program targeting displaced people and host communities in Geneina (West Darfur) in 2004, it extended its presence to Central Darfur (Bindizi and Um Dukhun) in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Since then, TGH has maintained a continuous presence in both states, despite an increasingly complex context, and has also intervened in Khartoum, Gedaref State, Al-Jazeera State, and South Kordofan.

Since the outbreak of the current Sudan conflict in April 2023, creating the largest displacement population in the world at current time, TGH has developed multi-sectoral projects in consortium with other international NGOs to meet the needs of crisis-affected populations in Darfur, Khartoum and Jazeera states. TGH has more than 100 national staff in the field, based in Golo, Um Dukhun, Bendasi, Zalingei (Central Darfur), Geneina & Foro Baranga (West Darfur), Sennar state, and its coordination office in Port Sudan. It has more than 10 expats based in Chad & Sudan.

TGH’s extensive and long-standing presence in Sudan, in particular in West and Central Darfur, enables us to understand the context and the evolution of humanitarian needs and to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance where it is needed the most.

Ongoing activities include:

• Emergency assistance to displaced people affected by conflict and/or natural disasters (provision of NFIs and emergency shelter, hygiene and dignity kits, etc).
• Construction and rehabilitation of water supply systems and sanitation services, hygiene promotion and capacity building of community based committees and local authorities in WASH services sustainable management
• Strengthening of food security and livelihood, through distribution of agricultural inputs, promotion of farming best practices, sustainable natural resources management, development of income generating activities, as well as provision of MPCA.
• Child Protection activities including PSS, CP Case Management, support for Child Friendly Spaces, and CP awareness-raising.

With a current volume of approximately 14 millions, TGH in Sudan is funded by donors such as ECHO, BHA, OCHA-SHF, and CIAA (French MoFA).

Job description

 Under the supervision of the Country Director, the Deputy Country Director for Program (DCD-P) is responsible for developing, planning, leading and ensure the quality of the programs implemented in Sudan by TGH. The jobholder will ensure the successful development and implementation of projects while focusing on program strategy and development and program quality – including program-related crosscutting topics, donor compliance and donor/finance strategy, internal and external coordination/representation, partnership, and structure of program department & program staff management.

The DCD-P will directly manage the following units: Grant, MEAL, project managers, partnerships and heads of sectors (Child Protection, WASH/Shelter & NFI). In conjunction with the Country Director, she/he will also coordinate with Field Coordinators and Head of sectors to ensure smooth inter-department collaboration for program activities in the field.

More specifically, key responsibilities are:

Program strategy and development

• Support the Country Director to develop and refine the strategic vision and leadership for TGH’s programming in Sudan, including to work with the management and field teams to revise the Sudan Country Strategy, and to develop a donor strategy to finance it.
• Lead and coordinate the development of sector strategies and program annual plans, in line with the validated Sudan Country Strategy and based on assessed needs in the country and the capacities of the mission.
• Stabilize the mission programming following the significant growth, this might imply reviewing systems and processes in place and suggesting new ones.
• Contribute to the rolling out of the mission’s Country Strategy and related sectoral and program plans to the mission team down to field level.
• Initiate and supervise needs assessments in current and new areas for TGH, in coordination with technical focal points and Field Coordinators.
• Ensure that the proposals submitted are framed within the program and donor strategies.
• Coordinate the development process for new proposals, cost-extensions and no-cost extensions, etc.

Program Department structure, supervision and coordination  

• Review and revise the program department organigram to ensure it meets the needs for appropriate staffing of the program team, including the technical support needed to deliver quality project design and delivery.
• Ensure that the roles & responsibilities and communication and reporting lines are clear and understood within the program department, and that all program staff understand and are able to perform their role in delivering, quality programs.
• Ensure smooth coordination within the program department (organizing dedicated meetings);
• Ensure that smooth coordination systems are set up with the support departments (kick off meeting, proposal strategy, etc.).
• Ensure responsibilities are clarified and assigned to respective staff, and partner (field level RACI within the Program department).

HR management & capacity-building

• Supervise directly the Heads of Sectors (WASH, Child Protection), Project Managers, Grants Manager, Partnerships Manager, and MEAL Manager, including setting up objectives and work plans, daily supervision and coaching, etc.
• Identify capacity-building needs for the program team, technical leads, and partners, and take the lead on coordinating formal or informal knowledge and skill-building, including by providing or supporting learning sessions for program and field teams.
• Participate in program team recruitment and HR management.
• In collaboration with Human Resources, ensure adherence to and enforcement of HR policies and maintenance of a professional work environment within the program team.

MEAL and Partnership departments’ development & support

• Support the MEAL Manager in developing the MEAL department and MEAL strategy including with short/mid and long term objectives and priorities (including the MEAL HR set-up, needed tools and training, etc.).
• Support the Partnership Manager in developing the Partnership strategy including with short/mid and long-term objectives and priorities (including the Partnership HR set-up, needed tools and training, etc.).
• Ensure partner capacities are assessed, due diligence completed, MoUs are signed, project orientation is completed, partner monitoring plans are established, contact persons are identified and a smooth working relationship is maintained.
• Promote smooth collaboration between other program units/departments and the MEAL and Partnership teams, both at Country office and base levels.
• Participate in the recruitment of the MEAL and the Partnership teams.

 Program management and quality

• Responsible for overall management of program implementation and delegated responsibility for field delivery of high-quality programming in line with TGH standards and the country strategy.
• Ensure programs are implemented in ways responsive to communities and affected population, and which support local capacities (such as through strengthening civil servant and local NGO partner capacities), in line with TGH principles, values and strategic plan.
• Ensure field teams actively contribute to the preparation of timely and high-quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports.
• Maintain oversight of multi-location projects, ensuring the smooth and close complementarity and coordination between the multi-donor projects implemented in different TGH bases.
• For each project, ensure that there is a MFU (Monthly Follow-up for the activities) developed, updated and shared with HQ on monthly basis; with the support of the MEAL and Grant units, ensure that the data per donor-funded project is compiled and available.
• Ensure all projects progress is in accordance to grant guidelines.
• Ensure global budget follow-up per project: raise alerts and propose solutions in case of over- or under-spending; support Field Coordinators and PMs to ensure project expenditures are in line with work plans and project budgets; participate in monthly finance meetings to follow-up.
• Ensure targets, timelines, and associated budgets are broken down between field offices (Detailed Implementation Plan), and Ensure development of harmonized and high-quality operational project methodologies and tools (selection of beneficiaries, protection mainstreaming, etc.).
• Ensure kick-off meetings are organized and program tools are available and known by program staff.

Representation and external coordination

• Ensure that TGH is represented in relevant external program-related coordination fora (clusters, field coordination meetings, partners, authorities and other stakeholders).
• Represent TGH as the program focal point at mission level.
• Attend bi-lateral meetings with donors, partners, and authorities when needed, or ensure that TGH is represented by someone in the program team.

This list of responsibilities could be modified according to the needs in the field.

 Security, working and living conditions

The DCD-P will be split their time between Sudan (Port Sudan and Darfur) and N’Djamena, Chad, with potential travel to all TGH field locations in Sudan. The conditions in N’Djamena and Port Sudan are comfortable with most modern conveniences. In field locations, living conditions are basic. Telephone network and internet coverage are limited. Social life is limited for security reasons. The context in Chad/Sudan can lead to temporary tightened security procedures (movement restrictions, etc.). There are regular flights to and from Chad and Sudan to regional destinations and expatriates are entitled to R&R breaks every 3 months.

Conditions in Darfur and other TGH areas of intervention in Sudan present risks that are known and controlled by TGH and other international NGOs operating there. The DCD-P will strictly follow TGH Security Plan depending on the place of assignment. TGH will monitor the security situation on a weekly basis and will take decisions consequently.

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