System Strengthening and Institutionalization Lead at Catholic Relief

CRS will be submitting a proposal in response to the 2019 USAID Food for Peace (FFP) Development Food Security Activities (DFSA) Request for Applications (RFA). CRS Kenya will serve as the prime on the application and will develop the proposal in consortium with other international non-governmental organizations, local implementing partners and international/national research institutions. The overarching goal of this multi-sectoral activity is to sustainably reduce levels of acute malnutrition in Kenya’s ASALs, focusing on Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and Turkana counties. Devolution and economic progress in Kenya have provided a unique opportunity to develop effective, sustainable, and scalable approaches that can be institutionalized and taken over by relevant public service delivery systems. The estimated timeframe for this program is October 1, 2019 — September 30, 2024. The activity will be implemented in two phases:

• Phase I (1.5-2 years) Research, test approaches and collaboratively design a context-sensitive, multi-sectoral activity that sustainably reduces acute malnutrition.
• Phase II (3- 3.5 years): Activity Implementation and System and Institutional Strengthening

The System Strengthening and Institutionalization Lead (SSIL) will be primarily responsible for 1) building effective working relationships with government ministries, county-level organizations/officials, and local institutions 2) providing technical leadership and management in the development and execution of systems strengthening and capacity building efforts; and 3) ensuring close consultation and incorporation from relevant officials over the life of the activity. The SSIL will also be crucial to ensuring the sustainability of the DFSA interventions: S/he will lead efforts to build preparedness of county government and other local institutions to assume financial and technical responsibility for maintaining reductions in acute malnutrition after the DFSA implementation period is over.

Primary Responsibilities

Partnership and Capacity Building

• Along with Strategic Learning Lead, collaborate with the County Governments of Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu and Turkana to advance their strategic learning priorities to address acute malnutrition.
• Take the lead on multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement with relevant national, county and community-based government of Kenya (GOK) staff.

• Along with the M&E Lead, build county government partner capacity to use available nutrition and other relevant sector information for decision making, program planning, and performance and results monitoring.
• Lead DFSA efforts to build capacity of county government to plan manage, and evaluate nutrition programs, including allocation of capable human resources, effective institutions, and functional systems.

• Support county governments to effectively engage and advocate for resources from GOK and outside sources in support of county development priorities.
• Support county governments in the transition from DFSA Phase 1 (Research and Collaboration) to Phase 2 (Activity implementation) through joint development of detailed implementation plans (DIPs).

Project Design and Implementation

• Ensure linkages and concurrence between DFSA activities and GOK’s strategic plans at national and county levels (e.g. Kenya Ending Drought Emergencies Framework, County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs)).

• Ensure DFSA activity design is realistically viable for county governments to absorb and sustainably scale up following DFSA implementation.
• Incorporate strategies to address governance and systems-related drivers of acute malnutrition in each county of implementation into activity design.
• Incorporate lessons learned and best practices for capacity strengthening and institutionalization approaches from other projects and donors into DFSA activity design.
• Along with the DFSA Research & Design Lead and M&E Lead, develop and oversee the transition plan from Phase 1 (Research and Collaboration) to Phase 2 (Activity Implementation).

• Conduct program field visits to understand and document program results, both successful and unsuccessful, for improved program quality.
• Along with the DFSA M&E Lead, identify and monitor key metrics to measure institutional strengthening, including demonstrated management capacity around policies, strategies, guidelines, standards, and protocols for malnutrition; demonstrated leadership around malnutrition; capacity to manage data and research; effective use of data and research outcomes.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: CRS’ Country Representative, Head of Programming, Chief of Party, M&E Lead, Research & Design Lead, DFSA Technical Leads, M&E Officers, regional and HQ staff.

External: DFSA consortium members, USAID Food for Peace, county governments of Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, other related government bodies and authorities, and private sector service providers.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

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.

• Integrity
• Accountability and Stewardship
• Build Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Continuous Improvement and Innovation
• Strategic Mindset

Program Manager Competencies:

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.

• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning

MEAL Competencies:

• MEAL in Design: Developing project-level theories of change, results frameworks, Proframes, related MEAL system tools and competencies, and accompanying MEAL narratives.
• Accountability: Improving our accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms, and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements.
• Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action, decision-making and influence.
• MEAL in Management: Managing financial and human resources in a way that optimizes the quality, effectiveness, and utility of MEAL systems.

Qualifications and Skills:

• A Master’s degree in policy, communications, economics, agricultural/development economics, statistics, bio-statistics, nutrition, applied sociology, anthropology, or another relevant subject. Additional experience may substitute for some education.
• Five (with Master’s degree) to seven (with Bachelor’s degree) years’ relevant work experience preferably in a development setting with an international non-governmental organization, progressively increasing learning and coordination responsibilities in international development projects and at least two years of experience as a supervisor; Title II and ICT4D experience preferred.
• Experience working with large donors, USAID/FFP and/or USAID/FTF preferred.
• Demonstrated experience of successful provision of technical assistance to government ministries and/or decentralized government structures, including
  • Quantifiable milestones of Institutional capacity building achieved
  • Successful and innovative approaches to securing government buy-in for program or policy
  • Demonstrated success facilitating sustainable transition of activities and resources to government partners.
  • Demonstrated experience creating an environment conducive to learning and provision of feedback.
  • Knowledge of program quality standards, monitoring and evaluation standards, Catholic Social Teaching and the justice lens preferred.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with groups.
  • Experience with facilitation, capacity strengthening and partnership building through formal and informal training, with the capacity to empower staff through opportunities for professional growth and development.
  • Detail-oriented and excellent time management skills with the ability to meet deadlines and deliver required results in a timely and quality manner.
  • Flexibility to work both in a team and independently.
  • Demonstrated personal accountability and drive to serve others.
  • Cultural sensitivity, patience, flexibility and ability to work well in a multi-sectoral and multi-cultural team and to work closely, understand and support local Church partners.
  • Ability to work in a challenging and stressful environment with unexpected challenges.
  • Ability to travel for field missions for 30-50% level of effort as needed.
  • Excellent English language oral and written communication skills required.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook required.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.