Programme Management Unit (PMU) Coordinator at Concern Worldwide

Your purpose: 

• The person in this role will be managing the Horn of Africa Child Wasting Initiative (HoA CWI) Coordination Unit established to support the HoA CWI programme in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The unit will consist of a number of national technical advisors likely to include a Nutrition Advisor, Advocacy Advisor and Livelihood/Resilience Advisor. The Coordinator will also manage technical support from Head Office technical advisors.   
• The Child Wasting Initiative aims to i) address drivers and implications of wasting through a multi-sectoral programming approach; ii) support innovation in programming and partnerships, to prevent wasting; and iii) engage in active learning, contextual programme adaptation, and advocacy, to inform more effective local, national, and global wasting prevention strategies.   The Government of Ireland pledged to spend an additional €50 million on nutrition over the three years to 2026 to support the USAID/UN Call for Action, with a particular focus on the Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting. As part of this, Irish Aid’s 2023 Budget earmarked €5 million for the Horn of Africa (this initiative) which will run for three years to 2026.

You will be responsible for:

General:

• Coordination of all elements of the HoA CWI programme to deliver commitments in an efficient and effective manner including across systems and programmes.
• Key contact with Irish Aid and keeping track of donor deliverables and supporting the donor relationship.
• Lead on the co-creation and inception phase covering the first six months of the programme.
• Work closely alongside the Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia country programmes, providing programme support.
• Manage, support and consolidate internal and donor reports.
• Ensure compliance with requirements as set out by the grant agreement with Irish Aid. 
• Work closely with head office and regional colleagues on developing the research component of the programme.

Programme Management Unit:

• Manage, supervise and support the Coordination Unit as well as having a dotted line to the focal points country focal points.
• Meet regularly with country teams, carrying out regular visits to the programme area (the Mandera Triangle) to check and support progress of activities and expenditure against plan.
• Support the teams to host Irish Aid field or head office visits as required.
• Report and make presentations to the country teams on activities and opportunities to increase the added value of the programme approach, particularly any cross-border learning/opportunities.
• Attend appropriate coordination fora, including IGAD and other regional fora, representing the programme and reporting back to country teams and HO staff on the outcomes of such meetings.
• Regularly engage with the donor focal points on key issues and updates related to the programme’s operations
• Make recommendations on programme management procedures, systems and processes providing adequate justification. 

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E):

• Support the coordination of monitoring and evaluation of the HoA CWI programme
• Ensure adherence to monitoring and evaluation guidelines, frameworks and indicators and provide technical support to embed M&E and accountability in programme implementation.
• In coordination with programme country members, ensure and enhance primary stakeholder ownership of the programme via community participation and consultation and use of participatory approaches in M&E.
• Communicate widely amongst country team and externally, best practice developed through implementation, based on evidence.
• Ensure that monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools are applied consistently across the programme; that there is effective M&E of all programme activities, and that M&E reports are regularly sent to HQ and Irish Aid as appropriate.

Research, Advocacy, Communications and Visibility:

The Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating research, advocacy, and communication activities of the programme including:

• Work with the Head Office research team to coordinate the research plan co-created with Irish Aid during the inception phase.
• Support the advocacy goals of the programme in particular at regional level.
• Feed into case studies and profiles of the programme across countries.
• Produce briefing papers, press releases and other publications, approved for wider dissemination to influence practice and policy in the sector and promote the work of the programme.
• Ensure that documents produced for external advocacy, communication and visibility purposes are approved by individual country teams prior to dissemination.
• Ensure that Concern Worldwide and Irish Aid identity are clearly visible/identifiable on all documents for public consumption.

Finance and Donor Compliance:

Assisted by the Irish Aid Finance focal point and the GCU focal point, support the Country Financial Controllers (CFCs) or other designated finance staff and budget holders to assure:

• Overall financial oversight of the programme budget and expenditure. 
• Compliance with the donor agreement.
• Development and implementation of work and expenditure plans and ensure that programmes are implemented within agreed and approved budgets through undertaking regular budget monitoring of expenditure against budget. 
• Internal and donor financial reports are submitted in a timely manner and up to high quality standard. 
• Support any audits of the programme.
• Implementation of recommendations from due diligence assessments and continuous monitoring to ensure controls and risk mitigation measures are in place.

Accountability:   

• promote and ensure compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) commitments and quality criteria within the programme
• ensure that all programme and partner staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Concern's Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that information about Concern's commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities 
• ensure that the CRM is functional, effectively implemented and accessible in all programme locations, enabling safe reporting of both programmatic and sensitive complaints, including safeguarding concerns 

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

• Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level, such as public management, development administration or a relevant social science. 
• A background in nutrition, livelihoods, policy-related programming and familiarity with the Horn of Africa region are desired and a distinct advantage for candidates.
• Proven experience (at least 5 years) in programme management and leadership positions working with national governments, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs.
• Experience working on strategic or operational research.
• Experience of working with major institutional donors.
• Experience in the Horn of Africa region.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.
• Strong coordination skills specifically with the ability to effectively coordinate among between country teams.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, INGO and regional and national government structures.
• Strong understanding of gender, equality, conflict sensitivity and protection issues.
• Experience in the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems (results-based management).
• Experience of working in or managing complex programmes and models of working.

Desirable:

• Strong experience of financial management and donor compliance processes.
• Previous experience in a similar role an advantage.
• An understanding of accountability as applied within humanitarian and development programming.