Local Leadership & Capacity Strengthening Manager (Liberian Nationals Only)

Catholic Relief Services 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.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) began working in Liberia in 1957, with a permanent Country Program Office opening in 1990, supporting relief and development operations in the country. CRS Liberia has proudly maintained a strong reputation and relationship with partners and the communities we serve in the country by implementing a multi-sector program portfolio. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, health, agriculture, education, livelihoods, peacebuilding, and WASH.

Job Summary:

The partnership and Capacity Strengthening Manager serves as the lead staff person for all aspects of partnership and capacity strengthening in the country, including leading the strategy on Local Leadership, Communication and Relationship Management, and Coordination. In addition, depending on the Liberia portfolio, additional responsibilities could include program support as well as staff supervision.

S/he serves as the primary liaison between the CRS and its partners and is responsible for building and maintaining strong relationships. S/he ensures the understanding and application of relevant partnership principles and is a resource person for the CRS and partner staff engaged in joint programs and/or other partnership activities, to ensure that partnerships are effective and mutually beneficial.

S/he further serves as the primary liaison with regional and HQ-based partnership and capacity-strengthening staff, ensuring the adoption and sharing of peer agency best practices in Liberia. S/he supports projects or components of projects that are focused on capacity strengthening.

We are currently recruiting: –

Title: Local Leadership and Capacity Strengthening Manager

Location: Monrovia, Liberia.

Type of Role: Fixed-term contract

Reports to: Head of Programs

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

Strategy leadership

• Provide overall leadership of partnership strategy and related initiatives, including goal and target development and related monitoring and evaluation.
• ensure the application of specific methodologies designed to ensure the appropriateness and quality of the partnership strategy.
• identify and pursue funding opportunities to support/enhance the partnership strategy.
• identify potential new partners using CRS tools, including partner mappings and assessments.

Communication and relationship management

• Support the development and adoption of a common language around partnership, capacity strengthening and institution strengthening among the CRS and partner staff.
• Ensure the effective sharing of information, including key decisions, status updates, successes and challenges, with the appropriate people within the CRS and partners (in keeping with situational demands and the requirements of established agreements).
• Identify and apply effective communication methods (meetings, bulletins, presentations, reports, etc.) to ensure regular and effective communication is maintained.
• Build and/or maintain strong and effective relationships between CRS and partners, through the committed application of identified principles and other relevant methods.
• Ensure completion and dissemination of reports/documentation of partnership initiatives in keeping with established requirements.

Capacity strengthening

• Provide strategic leadership in the development, identification and dissemination of standardized approaches and best practices to implement the strategy.
• Work with staff of relevant program, finance and operations sectors, to develop/ adapt and provide training, tools, etc. for targeted CRS and partner staff.
• Develop/adapt, provide and/or oversee technical assistance activities with partners, including accompaniment and mentoring.
• Identify any gaps in understanding or application, by relevant CRS and partner staff, of key partnership terms and principles, and address them through dialogue, training, provision of tools, etc.
• Work with partners to apply relevant tools to help identify capacity and institution-strengthening needs, develop corresponding strategies, and monitor implementation.
• Participate in field activities such as strategic planning processes and evaluations to ensure an appropriate approach to capacity strengthening.
• Remain current on agency guidelines, donor trends, learning initiatives and policies related to capacity strengthening.

Coordination (internal/external)

• Identify and support the creation of strong inter-organizational networks that contribute to the CRS and partner goals.
• Serve as the focal point for issues that may affect key partnerships, including issues with program Implementation, reporting, etc.
• Lead efforts with key CRS staff to ensure an appropriate level of coordination of partner activities, including sub-recipient management, reporting requirements, monitoring visits, trainings, etc.
• Serve as primary liaison with regional and HQ partnership/capacity strengthening staff, ensuring efforts are integrated with agency strategy, best practices are being applied, and success stories are shared.
• Coordinate with peer/donor agencies in their partnership and institution-strengthening efforts, ensuring complementarity of effort.

Program support

• Advise on projects or project components that are focused on capacity strengthening at all stages of the project cycle, including design and development, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL), budget tracking, reporting, etc.
• Provide guidance on project agreement processes involving partners.
• Supervise the implementation of partner monitoring, and develop/adapt corresponding support tools;
• Advise program, finance and other operations staff on assisting partners to be in compliance with donor regulations, reporting requirements, etc., and provide related guidance and training;
• Support and/or lead monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) activities and processes, including partner and project site visits when appropriate.

Basic Qualifications

• University degree in development, project management, business, organizational development, non-formal education, psychology or public administration; Master’s degree preferred;
• Minimum of eight years of experience in project management, within international organizations or the private sector, including management of human resources, project activities and/or budgets;
• Minimum of three years of experience with partnership activities and institutional strengthening;
• Experience with capacity building, including training and mentoring as well as developing training materials;
• Strong capacity to facilitate collaboration between partners and different departments (programs, finance, etc.);
• Experience in institution strengthening, including developing and/or improving business processes, policies and procedures;
• Experience in developing and utilizing monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning approaches in capacity-strengthening projects;
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, representation and networking skills;
• Strong leadership, advisory and negotiation skills;
• Proven ability to use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;

Required Languages – Strong written and spoken English.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 30%.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound judgments.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with culturally diverse groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to write reports.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented

Agency Respect, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (REDI) Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviours 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 are used by each staff member to fulfil 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 look 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: All partnership and capacity-strengthening staff and Communication Officer, including the provision of mentoring and on-the-job training as needed.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Head of Programme, Other programme staff, Finance manager, Operations Manager, Programme officers and assistants.

External: Partners, Donors, Government etc.