Consortium Manager at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Background / Context

• Since 2015, NRC Nigeria has been working to help displacement affected communities meet their basic needs, improve their livelihoods, access essential services, and enhance their resilience to future shocks through our six core competencies: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Shelter, Education, Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA), Livelihoods and Food Security (LFS), Camp Management, and Protection. NRC provides immediate assistance during the onset of emergencies through the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). In 2021, NRC reached over 269,000 people with assistance.

Job Description

• The Consortium Manager will report to the NRC’s Head of Programmes for administrative and human resource matters; while also  reporting to and being accountable to the Consortium Steering Committee, which will consist of all consortium members, Country Directors (or designated representative).
• The Steering Committee will develop and agree on a set of clear guidelines for the Consortium Manager to follow. The Consortium Manager will operate independently from partner’s operations.

Generic Responsibilities
Some responsibilities associated with the role include:

• Coordinating with consortium members to ensure high quality implementation of activities, compliance with donor and consortium rules, and accountability to beneficiaries.
• Ensuring effective coordination and communication among consortium members, steering and technical committees, programmatic and finance/support teams across partners, donors, and other stakeholders. Coordination is one of the key elements of the position.
• Recruiting and managing consortium-specific staff, consultants and sub-contractors as needed to carry out activities.
• Managing the consortium budget, assets and resources.
• With the Steering Committee, developing and implementing a multi-year consortium strategy (programmatic and financial).
• Acting as a focal point for the consortium. Representing the consortium to external stakeholders - donors, government, coordination bodies, and local and international NGOs. Include the Steering Committee and other consortium staff in representation as much as possible and as appropriate. Network with relevant actors to help achieve consortium objectives.
• Responsible for all aspects of grant management including but not limited to submitting high-quality proposals to donors, financial and programmatic reporting, grant filing, partnership agreements, and sharing grant information (reports, proposals, agreements) with consortium members.
• Coordinating the monitoring and evaluation of member activities as needed for reporting, learning and possibly advocacy purposes.
• Coordinating the Steering Committee meetings and implement the agreed course of actions.
• Ensuring compliance and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures.

Specific Responsibilities
Representation:

• Protect and promote the vision, mission and interests of consortium partners towards external stakeholders;
• Represent the consortium toward the donor(s) and government authorities and therefore communicate with the donor(s) and government authorities;
• Where relevant, expand the donor portfolio of the consortium by tracking funding opportunities
• Attend government, UN, NGO and donor meetings and present ongoing consortium activities;
• Ensure the visibility of the consortium amongst humanitarian, donor and government actors throughout the project;
• Effectively manage coordination with other actors (UN, NGOs) intervening in a similar sector;
• Ensure the continuum of consortium PR activities, including formal presentations, engaging media for coverage on success stories, updating project-specific and regional fact sheets, and documenting publications featuring the consortium in the media;
• Oversee the consortium’s communication activities including media visits, photographer’s mission, videos, etc.;
• Lead the drafting and dissemination of position papers, statements, reports and releases on the consortium’s engagements.

Internal Coordination:

• Effectively manage partnerships between the different parties of the consortium to ensure smooth collaboration;
• Ensure regular and open/transparent communication between consortium partners;
• Regularly communicate with consortium steering committee represented by Country Directors on project activities;
• Facilitate regular (e.g. monthly, quarterly) consortium steering committee meetings to discuss programme and financial issues, disseminate minutes and follow up on action points;
• Carry out weekly catch ups with consortium key focal points.
• Support the development and maintenance of a coherent consortium strategy across all partners;
• Promote harmonization of approaches and methodologies across all consortium partners by developing and monitoring use of common tools, as well as creating opportunities for experience sharing and learning;
• Coordinate the development of all technical tools related to the consortium’s project (ToRs for consultants and evaluators, ad hoc reports, capitalization reports…).

Project Cycle Management:

• Define project implementation modalities and methodologies (including, but not limited to technical specifications, identification and registration of beneficiaries, distribution and sensitization);
• Organize project kick-off, review and close-out meetings;
• Together with the Project Managers of consortium partners, plan the various stages of project implementation and set direction by prioritizing and organizing activities and resources to achieve project objectives.
• Project Implementation Follow-up
• Oversee and monitor the work of consortium and local implementing partners, ensuring that technical quality and standards are considered and respected during project implementation;
• Support the Project Managers of each partner to implement all aspects of the project
• Conduct regular follow-up of work plans, identify and address any delays in a timely and effective manner;
• Monitor output achievement, cash burn rates and ensure a timely completion of the project.

Project Quality Control:

• Conduct periodic field visits to validate progress reports, identify problems and issues to address during Consortium Management Team meetings and make recommendations for improvement;
• Ensure the project progress is effectively monitored through regular data collection, analysis of indicators and activities and documented with proper sources of verification;
• Advise consortium Project Managers to adapt implementation of the project according to monitoring and evaluation findings;
• Advise on and assist with project reviews conducted by internal and external monitoring and evaluation team;
• Coordinate and put in place a program capitalization system in collaboration with each focal point from each consortium partner.

Grant Management:

• Ensure that contractual obligations are met in terms of project deliverables;
• Ensure the activities are implemented according to the approved donor and partnership agreement;
• Ensure that donor rules and procedures are understood and respected by all parties, sharing information and conducting training if required on proposed systems and processes for consortium management;
• Develop a reporting schedule that is agreed by all consortium members;
• Ensure external reporting for all the consortium members according to donor and NRC requirements is respected by all according to agreed deadlines;
• Working closely with NRC finance focal point, compile, prepare and submit all reports to the donor based on individual reports from the Other Members and promptly provide copies to the other Members.
• Collect and consolidate narrative reports from consortium members for donor reporting;
• Prepare documentation for any project modifications, including budget revisions, amendments or extensions. Ensure such changes are made in close consultation with the consortium partners
• Together with the Country Finance Manager, manage and negotiate any budget changes in accordance with donor and NRC criteria.
• Inform the Other Members about any significant variations of Project Activities, project expenditure or reporting deadlines.
• Supervise and provide technical oversight in the development of the M&E plans and tools.
• Ensure efficient management of financial resources, including the review and program approval of partner financial and narrative reports. Monitoring expenses against spending plans and according to donor and NRC policies.
• Lead regular technical review and planning meetings with the technical teams from the partner organizations.

General:

• Protect and promote the vision, mission and interests of consortium partners towards external stakeholders;
• He/she is not a voting member of the CSC (Consortium Steering Committee), nor be the chair of the consortium steering committee.
• In collaboration with the consortium partners, revise and update the triggers, definitions and terminologies used in consortium.
• Review existing response strategies and packages across the sectors, if gaps are identified, then advocate with the specific clusters for clear response modalities
• To share alerts and gaps with consortium partners and provide support to the coordination mechanism as a whole, and supporting sector integration.

Professional Competencies
These are skills, knowledge and experience that are important for effective performance.

Generic professional competencies for this position:

• Advanced University Degree in relevant field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in senior project management and/or coordination for an international organisation with responsibility for programming in a humanitarian, conflict or post-conflict context; or equivalent; specific experiences and knowledge on Rapid Response Mechanism.
• Proven experience in project cycle management and grant management.
• Strong communication, inter-personal, facilitation and diplomatic skills, including the professional credibility to provide coordination and sometimes guidance to member organisations.
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities.
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal, with strong writing and editing skills.

Context / Specific Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• Knowledge about RRM and Emergency Response in Food, Wash, Shelter/NFI, Protection, etc.
• Experience working with the ECHO, DFID, UNICEF, etc.
• Experience with external representation.
• Experience working in complex emergencies, volatile contexts.

Behavioural Competencies (max 6):

These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioural competencies, the following are essential for this position:

• Working with people
• Handling insecure environments
• Strategic thinking
• Empowering and building trust
• Influencing
• Initiate action and change
• Analysing.

Performance Management:
The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The Job Description
• The Work and Development Plan
• The Mid-term/End-of-trial Period Performance Review Template
• The End-term Performance Review Template
• The NRC Competency Framework.

What We Offer
Female candidates are strongly encouraged to join our work culture that empowers every employee to share ideas and take responsibility: At NRC we think outside the box. We encourage ideas and give responsibility to all employees at all levels, to help solve the complex issues that we face. You will have many opportunities to be heard and take the initiative

• 12 months fixed term contract renewable subject to funding
• An opportunity to match your career to a compelling cause
• A chance to meet and work with people who are the best in their fields.