Program Manager II & Head of Office at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Job Ref Code: PMM72519
Location: Yola, Adamawa
Band: 10
Department: Emergency & Early Recovery/Programs
Reports To: Deputy Country Representative - Emergency

Context

• Now in its eighth year, the Lake Chad Basin crisis has been estimated to affect 10.7 million people in one of the world’s poorest, most drought-prone regions.
• As of February 2017, 7 million people in Northeast (NE) Nigeria are in severe need of humanitarian assistance, of which 4.7 million people are estimated to be food insecure.
• Despite a scale up in humanitarian assistance, significant gaps remain, as thousands of people affected by the conflict have not been reached with adequate humanitarian support.
• CRS has worked in NE Nigeria for over three years, providing humanitarian assistance to communities in Borno and Adamawa States.
• CRS’ work has now expanded to early recovery and development assistance in the NE states of Adamawa, Borno and Adamawa where CRS has offices.

Job Summary

• Through the Head of Office, Adamawa State, CRS will continue to offer high quality humanitarian and development assistance to communities in Adamawa State. Based in Yola, the Head of Office (HOO) Adamawa will oversee CRS’ operations support in Adamawa State.
• S/he will maintain coordination and communication with key operations personnel based in NE Nigeria for the agency’s humanitarian and development assistance ensuring integration with the country program operations and program quality standards.
• The HOO supervises the heads of 3 projects based in Adamawa: Water for Agriculture, a GIZ funded poultry project, and IITA. In this capacity, the HOO plays a coordination role rather than one of daily, routine supervision.
• The HOO supervises the Adamawa office in maintaining quality implementation, overseeing the overall administration, logistics, coordination and finances.
• The HOO focus is to assist the office team stay abreast of the multiple activities, grant technical financial and policy oversight, provide guidance and support to the partner organizations, support the capacity building of CRS staff with active hands-on collaboration, and maintain open channels of communication and coordination with programming and operations staff with the NE main office in Maiduguri.
• The HOO will also manage the quality and timeliness for all financial and administrative reporting.
• He/she will promote coordination between other offices in the NE and ensure integration and collaboration across CRS’ development and humanitarian assistance.
• S/he defers to DCR/NE authority on major issues of policy and procedure and is the chief security officer for CRS in Adamawa State.

Specific Job Responsibilities
Operational Quality and Management:

• Oversee specific and clearly defined operational directions and day to day activities as indicated in the donor agreements, successful implementation of operational strategies, M&E, financial, programmatic, and staff management.
• Supervises the heads of 3 new CRS Programs based in Adamawa: The CoP for Water for Agriculture, a GIZ funded poultry project and IITA (there is one program manager in charge of the IITA and Poultry projects).
• Serves as operational point person for the program and provides strategic and technical leadership to CRS staff in Adamawa and partners for all of its operational components.
• Oversees management and maintenance of up to date operational documentation related to all project approvals, monitoring and implementation in both hard and soft copies.
• Promotes strong operational linkages and exchange with other CRS offices engaged in similar programming to ensure the sharing of best practices and expertise, and particularly across the northeast operations and the country program.

Partnership and Capacity Building:

• Establishes and maintains excellent collaborative working relationships with local partners
• Manages relationships, negotiations and intensive communication efforts with partners in all phases of grant/project implementation
• Facilitates coordination with partners, including knowledge management, learning and capacity building for partner staff
• Promotes the involvement of partners at all stages of the project cycle

Reporting:

• Ensures timely and quality preparation of donor project narrative reports, quarterly performance indicator tracking tables, baseline and final evaluation reports, as well as other reports needed/required by the local government, donors, the region or headquarters as per reporting schedules.

Security:

• Supervises the Security Officer for Adamawa State and oversees overall security management in Adamawa State; ensures cohesion, application of security instructions and guidance as well as regular updates of Adamawa State specific security procedures and manuals.
• Attends and/or ensures CRS’ attendance at cluster security meetings in Adamawa State and ensures sharing of security information as appropriate with staff.
• Establishes a network system among the Deputy Country Representative/NE, and security staff, including the Country Program’s Security Manager, that monitors security reports for immediate action, as appropriate for enhanced Adamawa specific security management.

Budgeting, Financial Planning and Compliance:

• Ensures proper financial management systems are in place and followed in coordination with the Awards Management Officer (AMO) and finance team/department.
• Ensures grant/project management compliance with donor regulations.
• Ensures the review and timely submission of financial reports by partners working in close coordination with the AMO, finance team and other resource management staff in North East Nigeria.

Representation, Coordination, and Communication:

• Leads regular team meetings, staff meetings, partner meetings and program (technical) meetings with other implementing NGOs/Government agencies and institutions in Yobe.
• Ensures systems are in place for the proper documentation of meetings and timely circulation of resulting information/outcomes.
• Ensures CRS active participation and/or leadership as relevant in local sectoral or multi-sectoral coordination forums and the regular sharing of information and data with other agencies to inform collective analysis and planning.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Supervises and mentors operational staff working on specific-based project support activities
• Ensures timely and quality adherence to CRS Performance Management System for all staff under his/her supervision.
• Prepares employee job descriptions, performance plans and performance appraisals for projects officers/assistants that are engaged for specific clearly defined projects in coordination with other program and operations managers.

Qualifications and Skills

• Master's Degree in Development, Project Management, Business, Organizational Development, Non-formal Education, Psychology or Public Administration; Significant work experience in a directly related field will be considered in lieu of graduate degree.
• Minimum of 8 (eight) years of experience in project management, within international organizations or the private sector, including: management of human resources, project activities and/or budgets;
• Experience working in security compromised areas
• Experience managing an office in a field-based setting
• Experience with high level representation with various partners
• Demonstrated experience in community mobilization, organization and mediation among local actors
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English. Working knowledge of either Hausa or Kanuri highly desirable.
• Strong cross-cultural skills and experience working with people from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds
• Demonstrated capacities to establish and maintain strong, collaborative working relationships with donors, government officials, local organizations, communities and other stakeholders
• Proven ability to multi-task and meet deadlines
• Proven ability to develop proposals and write reports meeting donor requirements
• Must be able to work independently and represent CRS
• Proficiency in computer applications (MS Word, Excel)
• Willingness to travel within northeast Nigeria
• Must be familiar with and committed to gender equity in programming and management practices

Personal Skills:

• Demonstrated strong ability with multiple project grants management, including project design, budget preparation, expenditure tracking, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, etc.
• Ability to work independently, but also coordinate effectively as part of a team.
• Ability to lead a multi-cultural team with a high level of respect for local culture.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Experience with capacity strengthening and partnership building.
• Capacity to work closely with, understand, and support local partners.
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in local language.
• Strong computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point).
• Experience in working with grants funded by USG, UN Agencies preferred.
• Knowledge of Sphere emergency guidelines.
• Ability and willingness to work and live in diverse, challenging, complex, and potentially unstable environment.
• Commitment to gender sensitive programing and management

Language Required:

• Fluent written and spoken English
• Fluency in Hausa or Kanuri or any other local languages is a distinct advantage.