Programme Director at CARE

JOB SUMMARY

The Programme Director will lead strategic programme planning to promote a programme approach that builds synergy between various relief and development initiatives which support a specified impact group to overcome poverty and social injustice. In addition, the PD will help to mobilise resources and funding to ensure the country office responds effectively to drought/floods and other emergencies in Kenya.

The PD is responsible for overseeing the development of coherent programme strategies to promote the empowerment of women and girls. Current community-based activities that build the resilience of pastoralists to drought, provide care and maintenance to refugees, mobilize GS&L, and support people living with HIV AIDS, promote adaption to climate change, market engagement in livestock and small holder agriculture, disaster risk reduction, and AIDS prevention within a complex political, economic environment in Kenya. The Programme Director manages a team of professionals focused on the design, funding, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of multi-donor, multi-sector programmes that should effectively address the underlying causes of poverty, by improving livelihood security, promoting social equity, and creating an enabling environment for beneficiaries in line with CARE’s Programming Principles.

The PD will directly oversee all projects being carried out in the field to ensure high quality implementation, compliance with donor and contract requirements and best practices. Therefore, the PD must also ensure that systems and people are in place to ensure the effective management of projects and programmes.

The Programme Director (PD) working closely with, and is supported by the IO and IP units at CARE Canada and will liaise with the Programme Quality Unit in ECSARO, as well as with interested CARE International members (CARE UK, CARE USA units, CARE Deutschland etc).
The Programme Director will work closely with, and will be supported by, the programme units at CARE Canada and colleagues in the East Central Southern Africa Regional Office (ECSARO) as well as by other CARE International members who work with CARE Kenya. The PD is expected to form close relationships with all CI members to enhance CARE Kenya’s profile as a preferred Country Office to work with. This will require the PD to give evidence of excellent performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

• Program management, strategy and emergency response
  • Assist the Country Director in leading the development and implementation of overall program strategy.
  • Overall responsible effective programmatic and financial management of CARE Kenya programs through effective project cycle management.
  • Ensure timely submission of accurate, comprehensive, and high quality, project narrative (and financial) reports in line with agency and donor guidelines.
  • Encourage a culture of learning and innovation, ensuring that all projects capture and document lessons learned and best practices.
  • Ensure that CARE programmes and projects are managed in a manner which achieves stated goals and objectives, is in line with CARE policies and procedures and donor rules and regulations, and demonstrate sound resource management.
  • Monitor the CO programs and projects to ensure that they are implemented in a professional manner in line with the project proposal and with donor rules and regulations through project visits and the review of annual implementation plans and activity reports. 
• Resource Mobilization & Business Development
  • The Country Office is currently pursuing an aggressive resource mobilization strategy. The Programme Director will track business opportunities for new projects and programmes.
  • The PD will promote strategic relationships with CARE International (CI), donors of all types, CSO partners and the Government of Kenya.
  • The PD will inspire innovative ideas from programme and project staff through regular programme meetings and open discussions and capture ideas from staff in the field.
  • In addition, the PD will seek and foster new donors, and will be expected to liaise and maintain positive relations with current donors.
  • The PD is responsible for monitoring pipeline development and ensuring that the pursuit of funding opportunities and proposal development is in line with program strategy.
• Knowledge Management & Learning
  • The Programme Director will encourage project Managers and Staff to engage with their project work as part of the Knowledge Management and Learning Framework where accountability, gender transformation and resilience will be among the markers of change and impact. 
  • The PD will foster communication between projects and programmes and inject a spirit of unity across the CO programme teams.
  • Key programme and project staff with the responsibility for M&E will be clearly directed on how to contribute to PIIRs, and other key target data bases for measuring impact and reach, and ensure that PIIRs data is captured, documented and sent to CARE International in a timely manner each year.
• Financial Management
  The Programme Director will coordinate closely with the Assistant Country Director Program Support and the Finance Manager to ensure that programme and project staff understand the Country Office Finance policies and any CARE International finance directions such as the CI Shared Programme Costs (SPC) Policy as well as understanding the concept of the Direct Programme Costs (DCP). Project budgets are expected to be managed tightly and responsibly to avoid losses and/or underspending.
• External Relations & Partnerships
  • Develop and enhance relationships between the CO and other parts of CARE and external organizations so that CARE can maximize its impact on poverty and social justice.
  • Establish and maintain good relationships with relevant – counterparts/departments of the government, CI members, the locally-represented multi/bi-lateral donors, foundations, international and national NGOs, CBOs and other civil society organizations.
  • Ensure timely reporting and communications with CI members, donors, government and other key actors.
  • Ensure cordial media relations and act as CARE spokesperson as required. 
• Staff Management
  • Provide proper supervision and management for all direct reports and lead the establishment and functioning of a strong, effective and coordinated programme team.
  • Ensure the proper implementation of CARE's performance management system for direct reports, including job description and IOP development, regular feedback, mid-term reviews and annual performance appraisals.
  • Proactively address performance issues through regular, constructive and honest feedback and coaching, as well as disciplinary actions.
  • Identify necessary staff development, career development and succession planning strategies for direct reports.
  • The PD is responsible for determining staffing levels and composition within the Program Division of the CO.
• AUTHORITY/DECISION MAKING
  The Programme Director is one of the senior CARE representatives in Kenya and as such is responsible for problem solving at a variety of levels. S/he will need to be able to analyse and resolve situations as they arise on a variety of subjects ranging from programming decisions to issues related to government and donor relations.
  •  Signing Authority – CAD $150,000
  • Supervision; Supervises Sector Managers, Program Managers, Program Quality & M&E Manager
  • Decision Making: Makes important decisions under general policies and procedures which have a broad impact on the normal operations of the organization. Independent action is required, although intended actions may be checked with other members of the organization

CONTACT/KEY RELATIONSHIPS

• CI Learning and Technical Units
• ACD PS/Support
• Unit Heads
• Government Officials
• Donors
  WORKING CONDITIONS
  The position is based in Nairobi but with regular visits/support to the Sub offices. Travel will constitute about 30% of the time.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES
Required: Bachelors Degree in related field

Desired: Masters Degree in related field

EXPERIENCE

Required: 5 years in senior management position in relief/development field.
Desired: 8 years in a senior management position in relief/development field including 2 years’ experience in coordinating programmes in SEAD and/or water/sanitation, health/nutrition/AIDS.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Required:

a) Programme Management

• Demonstrated experience in leading strategic and operational planning
• Extensive conceptual skills including development of programme strategy
• Advance writing skills in English
• Demonstrated experience in budget development and programme design (including concept preparation and proposal development), implementation and evaluation.
• Significant Experience in and rapid and slow onset emergency response and refugee programming.

People/Relationship Management

• Demonstrated leadership and interpersonal skills
• Ability and interest to coach and develop staff
• Experience with the management of a diverse workforce
• Strong representation and negotiation skills
• Demonstrated cross cultural communication skills

Financial Management

• Knowledge and experience with financial management as demonstrated by:
• Ability to manage a complex budget
• Donor compliance and reporting

Information/Knowledge Management

• Ability to establish a learning culture within the CO

External Relationships/Fundraising

• Experience in successfully managing institutional partnerships with national and international NGOs
• Experience in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with donors and government counterparts.

Desired

• Experience and knowledge of operationalizing a rights-based approach.
• Experience and knowledge of livelihood security framework
• Experience in programme design and oversight in SEAD, water/sanitation, or health/nutrition/AIDS sectors
• Demonstrated experience with proposal development with range of international donors (i.e. USAID, EU, ECHO, DFID, CIDA, UNHCR, WFP….)
• Experience and knowledge working with People-Soft financial system
• Experience and skills in organizational change processes.

COMPETENCIES

• Stress Management
• Negotiation skills
• Adaptability
• Building Partnerships
• Coaching
• Communicating with Impact
• Delegating Responsibility
• Facilitating Change
• Political Acumen
• Strategic Decision Making
• Emotional Intelligence