Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 21 Nov 2015
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
****Deputy Project Director – Programs****
Effective with the release of this position announcement, Winrock International is recruiting applicants for Deputy Project Director – Programs (Deputy Chief of Party – Programs)*****with the Room to Learn South Sudan project with responsibilities, duties and qualifications as described in the attached position description.
****GENERAL:****Winrock is a recognized leader in U.S. and international development with a focus on social and environmental issues. As a mission driven, field-based organization, we believe that sustainable development is inclusive and that complex challenges require integrated solutions. We pride ourselves as a learning organization that embraces continuous improvement in program results and processes and a culture of accountability.
****SALARY:****The annual salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
POSITION TITLE: Deputy Project Director – Programs, Room to Learn South Sudan
LOCATION: South Sudan
WINROCK UNIT: Education & Empowerment
REPORTS TO: Project Director (Chief of Party)
BACKGROUND:
Room to Learn South Sudan falls under the home office Education & Empowerment Unit and offers safe access to quality education for children and youth, with a special focus on increasing access to the most disadvantaged groups: girls, the disabled, pastoralists, returnees, internally displaced individuals, and others suffering from poor quality, disrupted, unsafe, and/or total lack of access to education. Room to Learn South Sudan uses a community-based approach to rapidly reach out-of-school children with an emphasis on early grade literacy, gender equity, conflict mitigation, and reaching marginalized populations. The project aims to reach children, either directly enrolling them in school, improving retention by addressing the quality, safety and relevance of their instruction, or via distance learning, such as radio instruction, for the hardest to reach populations.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Deputy Project Director – Programs will be responsible for overseeing Education, Field Implementation, Grants/Compliance, and Construction for the Room to Learn South Sudan project. He/she will work closely with the Project Director and the Deputy Project Director – Operations and Administration to ensure that the programmatic units achieve targets and implement high quality interventions. He/she will provide compliance oversight over departments under his/her authority and ensure adherence to both organizational and donor rules and regulations. The Deputy Project Director – Programs will lead the implementation ofRtL light touch strategy for hard to reach populations as well as expansion to additional states. Work with Director of Grants to transition to NGO management of implementation.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Supervise the work of the Education, Grants & Construction, and Field Implementation Units teams, ensuring full integration and complementarity of work;
- In collaboration with the RtL Communication and Outreach Manager, lead implementation of RtL light touch approach in hard to reach areas;
- Work with Director of Grants to manage local grantee organizations that are expanding RtL footprint in states where RtL direct implementation is not possible or limited.
- Work with Knowledge Management Department to provide timely and relevant information to key internal and external stakeholders
- Monitor pace and scope of work, identifying risks and threats to achievement of programmatic targets and making recommendations to the Project Director to make adjustments needed to keep program on track
- Liaise with the Deputy Project Director – Operations and Administration to ensure timely support is provided for program implementation; as needed troubleshoot issues that arise
- Facilitate regular discussions of program targets including quantitative as well as qualitative indicators of project achievements
- Strengthen capacity among managers for program monitoring and outcomes tracking and assist teams in troubleshooting programmatic challenges as they arise
- Prepare monthly work plans to share with USAID
- Prepare and update reports as needed by the Project Director and submit month-end reports to HQ according to procedures.
- Review narrative reports from sub-grantees for completeness and accuracy and follow up on areas needing further work or elaboration
- Participate in the development and preparation of work plan, quarterly and annual reports, budgets, pipelines, as well as institutional forecasts
- Represent the program in interactions with government officials, USAID, beneficiary communities, education actors (including the other members of the “big four” education programs), and others
- Act as the Project Director during the Project Director’s absence.
- Any other tasks as assigned by the Project Director.
QUALIFICATIONS AND BACKGROUND:
****Education:****Master’s Degree in Education, Management or a relevant field of study; required.
Technical:Minimum of 10 years of demonstrated experienceworking on donor-funded projects in a related role and with significant demonstrated supervisory and management experience; required.
Required Skills and Expertise
- Minimum 7-10 years of progressively responsible and professional experience overseeing Education, Field Implementation, Grants/Compliance, and Construction (or closely related programs), required.
- Experience with USAID and Education projects.
- Significant field experience in managing major complex programming involving small grant activities including in-kind and cash grants implementation.
- Experience with activity design, work packet breakdown, and development and management of community-based projects.
- Familiarity with or experience in political process and early recovery-type projects
- Ability to understand and analyze national, regional, and local politics.
- Proven ability to lead effective and harmonious team work.
- Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills, creative problem solving, and conflict management skills
- Ability to coordinate with home office, stakeholders, and clients is essential.
- Previous experience working in developing countries, preferably in fragile/security challenged or transitional country environments.
- Good track record working with and/or partnering with a variety of individuals and organizations, including senior U.S. and host country government officials, international agencies, private sector companies, and donor organizations.
- Experience managing international projects to the highest ethical standards
- Excellent oral and written communications skills; Complete fluency in written and oral English required
- Computer literate in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (Microsoft).
DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
- Prior experience in South Sudan
- Project Management certification
- Knowledge of Arabic or Juba Arabic
How to apply:
****APPLICATIONS:****
Applicants should go to http://www.winrock.org/page/careers-winrock and submit a current resume, cover letter and reference contacts to the attention of ****DPD-Programs****.
Winrock would like to graciously thank all applicants for their interest but only candidates who meet all requisite criteria and are short listed will be contacted.
EEOE/AA.