Senior Program Officer at Pathfinder International

Summary of Role:  

The Senior Program Officer will primarily provide project management and technical support to climate change programming in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Senior Program Officer will provide overall program management during the full project lifecycle by establishing or supporting sound project and program management practices to ensure successful outcomes. For the assigned countries, this individual must understand the country contexts, technical design, day-to-day implementation, and results of the program and be able to provide information on these at any given time. The Senior Program Officer is responsible for coordinating with country teams, partners, and donors on the assigned country program(s), contributing to donor deliverables and issues regarding the implementation of the program as needed. The Senior Program Officer is in regular contact with the Country Director(s), project country team leaders, and other program and technical staff within the assigned portfolio. The Senior Program Officer will also provide general programmatic and administrative support to Pathfinder for the implementation of the project. In addition, the Senior Program Officer will support sustainability of project activities through participating in the identification of additional sources of project support, including funding and strategic partnerships. The position also has responsibilities for external engagement, including planning and organizing of participation in regional and national forums.

This individual is expected to contribute to the development and monitoring of project workplans and help to track project spending and programmatic achievements. The Senior Program Officer will also work with a multi-disciplinary team and may serve as a Pathfinder spokesperson on behalf of the project to promote the project goals, achievements and strengths to key stakeholders. The Senior Program Officer will collaborate with other members of the project team to ensure that deliverables meet the needs of intended populations and identify opportunities for technical assistance that will advance the project team’s technical strategies, drawing on state-of-the-art knowledge and practices in the areas of family planning, reproductive health, gender, and youth.

Key Responsibilities:

Program management Support: 

•  Lead the development and coordination of country strategic and annual workplans, including country scoping/planning visits, mobilizing technical, program, and finance team staff and guiding their contributions. 
•  Monitor program implementation and completion of deliverables against approved workplans. 
•  Participate in and support facilitation of annual country program review meetings. 
•  Ensure relevant key themes, innovations, and learning are included in workplans and applied in program implementation and that learning is documented and shared with Pathfinder globally. 
•  Proactively troubleshoot problems as they arise, including those related to program implementation, human resources, management, finance, grants, partner coordination, etc. 
•  Coordinate with MERL and country teams to develop and submit performance management plans (PMP) and monitor program data to inform program performance against expected deliverables and targets, as outlined in the PMP. 
• Participate in regular program review and coordination meetings, as appropriate. 

Training and development support:

•  Identify key knowledge gaps and country team needs and coordinate with global teams to address those needs. 
•  Work in close collaboration and mentor Program Coordinator (PC). 
• Monitor and support the recruitment process for country staff. 

Technical support:

•  Coordinate, compile, and/or edit country/project inputs to quarterly and annual narrative reports as well as other relevant technical reports. 
• Work collaboratively with technical advisors to ensure that technical assistance and short-term technical assistance (STTA) travel is coordinated and well-aligned with program needs and in compliance with established procedures.

Financial support:

•  Work collaboratively with finance staff and country teams to prepare project budgets, review and monitor spending, and submit financial reports to donors. 
• Monitor partner spending and issues and work with country/project team to resolve them. 

Communication:

•  Maintain regular communications with and provide continuous program and management support to country teams in the assigned country programs.
• Support countries in knowledge sharing efforts, including adapting guidance, developing knowledge products using templates and other tools provided by the KM and communications teams, and sending knowledge products developed by country programs to the KM team for internal dissemination. 

Business Development:

• Contribute to Pathfinder’s business development efforts, including donor relations and outreach and proposals, as needed, including responses to competitive bids. Inputs into program designs, staffing plans, workplan and budget alignment, adherence to donor and RFA guidelines, as appropriate, and other tasks as assigned. 

External Engagement:

• Identify and organize opportunities for external engagement, including planning project presentations and participation in regional and global conferences. 

Compliance Support:

• Support country team to develop Compliance monitoring plans and track activities, in alignment with all donor and Pathfinder policies, rules, and regulations. 

Required Education and Work Experience:

• Master’s degree in management, public health, business, marketing, social science or related discipline.
• 4 years’ experience in working in international development, preferably in implementing programs in developing countries. 
•  Experience in project design 
• Experience living or working in developing countries that aids in understanding of program context, field realities, and technical needs.

Preferred Competence and Work Experience:

•  Country Specific Public Health System: Basic understanding of the countries’ public health systems. 
•  Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Good level of knowledge of contraception and reproductive health principles and rights, practices, and services, including program strategies and indicators, and the latest developments in the field. 
•  Climate Change and Health: Solid understanding of the effects of climate change on health, including access to SRH services, and climate change effects on the functioning of health systems.
•  Program Operations and Development: Intermediate skills in implementing and managing global health program operations in the developing world. 
•  Proposal Development: Intermediate skills in project management-related tasks within proposal development from concept to full proposal. 
•  Leadership: Demonstrated skills as a leader in program or project management as part of health and health service delivery strengthening in developing countries. 
•  Program and Project Planning and Management: Intermediate skills in program and project management and planning to fulfill performance objectives, including the timely implementation and reporting of donor-funded program activities. 
•  Operations and Financial Management: Basic knowledge of operations and financial management in developing countries. 
•  Change Leadership: Ability to demonstrate a high degree of flexibility in managing change across a broad group of stakeholders in an inclusive manner. 
•  Presentation Skills: Ability to make presentations on results/products to diverse stakeholders. 
•  Community Relations: Intermediate skills in facilitating working relationships between project teams, donors, partners, government officials, and communities. 
• Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning: Basic skills and practice in MEL to inform program performance against expected deliverables.