Concern Worldwide Programme Quality Adviser - Sudan

Contract Grade: B

Contract Length: One Year (Renewable)

Date needed By: ASAP, but not later than first of January 2013. (Including Visa processing time)

New Post or Replacement: Replacement;

Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Unaccompanied

Exact Job Location: West-Darfur (May extend technical support to other parts of the country programme)

Reports To: ACD-Darfur

Responsible For: Programme Support Unit (PSU) - group of technical advisers (WASH, H&N, and FIM Advisers).

Liaises With: Field Manager, Programme Accountant, and Systems Manager among other key staff.

Job Purpose: To provide technical and programmatic support to the West Darfur Programme Support Unit (PSU) – group of advisers - and together with them ensure enhanced programme quality and required technical support to the field is provided in both emergency and longer term development work. A key part of the role is to help build the capacity of key national staff. The Programme Quality Adviser will ensure national counterparts of the PSU are properly coached and mentored through actions such as jointly developing programme proposals, organizing programme assessments and surveys, as well as designing appropriate monitoring tools. The work of the Programme Quality Adviser is founded on Concern Worldwide’s policies and guidelines, in particular the PCMS.

Main Duties & Responsibilities (Programme development, Technical support, Training and supervision) The Programme Quality Adviser will discharge the following main duties and responsibilities and will be directly answerable to the Assistant Country Director (Darfur):

•Support the ACD Darfur in developing good quality programme proposals and reports through providing technical support to the relevant staff within the PSU and elsewhere. This should include both long term development/rehabilitation type work and short-term emergency response work as necessary. •Working closely with the Field Manager (FM), understand the needs of the programme areas and facilitate technical support needed by the Field teams from the PSU. •Take an active role in the implementation of the Country Strategic plan (currently being finalized). •As a member of the West Darfur Management Team, contribute effectively to the overall programme direction in West Darfur in line with the Country Strategic and Annual Plans and relevant policies of Concern Worldwide. Lead in reviewing contextual analyses and other assessments and improving on programme design and integration. •Lead in ensuring adherence to the Concern Programme Cycle Management Systems (PCMS) approach in all programme development processes and the development of proposals as relevant related to food/livelihood security, water and environmental sanitation, nutrition and health sectors. •Support the ACD Darfur in mainstreaming Equality, Disaster Risk Response (DRR) and HIV & AIDS across the West Darfur programme. Also contribute to ensuring the integration of accountability throughout the programme and work place and the achievement of Preparing for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) action plans. •Continually monitor the external environment, propose adjustments to programme plans or new interventions as necessary in light of the changing external environment.
•Ensure the ongoing development of effective annual, quarterly and monthly work plans and monitoring tools, and provide required technical support to the FM and field teams.
•Liaise on monitoring and evaluation activities with the M&E unit and support in developing monitoring systems which provide timely, accurate, disaggregated information on impact and involve all stakeholders in their development and use •Ensure the production of good quality, accurate, timely reports both for donors and internal use. •Provide leadership to the West Darfur Programme Support Unit by creating a positive and creative working environment and providing technical advice, direction and support as necessary. •Ensure that all advisers and managers reporting to him/her invest in developing the capacity and skills of national PSU and other key staff through provision of on the job training and mentoring, objective setting and performance reviews, etc. Assist direct reports in providing this capacity building to national programme advisers and other relevant staff as necessary (specific objectives and phase out strategy will be developed for this action). •Assist in the preparation of programme budgets and revisions. •Provide feedback and consultation to the ACD, systems and Field key staff on the effective use of programme resources and assets, ensuring accountability, transparency and value for money •Encourage innovation and learning and, in line with Concern procedures in this regard, help ensure that lessons learned are documented and shared (within and outside of Concern), encouraging the wider application of such learning where appropriate •If specifically required by the ACD-Darfur, provide technical assistance in project monitoring to specific local national NGO’s and capacity building activities in identified issues. •Undertake any other related duties as may be assigned by the ACD. (Note: Concern Sudan is currently developing its multi annual strategic plan, hence the holder of this post may be asked to provide support to other programmes within the Sudan country programme as well).

PERSON SPECIFICATION 1. Education & Qualifications Required:

Essential: •Third Level qualification in a relevant discipline (Development Management, International Development, Rural Development, Community Development, Engineering, Agriculture, Health, Education, etc) •Emergency and or DRR experience

Desirable: •Post graduate qualification in project designing and management or relevant discipline

1. Experience Required: Essential: •At least 3 years overseas experience worked with a reputable international NGO, with a good knowledge of project cycle management, Equality, HIV and AIDS, and Mainstreaming approaches, preferably in protracted humanitarian context •Strong advisory skills in programming, and proposal development •Strong planning, monitoring and organisational skills with proven programme planning and emergency management and development experience as well •In depth knowledge and experience in budgeting, monitoring expenditure with the use of management accounts and other tools •Knowledge and experience in a range of participatory and gender sensitive approaches •Very strong analytically and excellent proposal and report writing skills, with close attention to detail •Excellent communication, networking and persuasion skills, very good mentoring and capacity building experience.

Desirable:
•Experience of working in post conflict environment, particularly in Africa. •Previous overseas Concern experience •Experience of working with partners

1. Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality Requirements:

•Self-motivated, progressive and proactive. •Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity. •Empathy with Concern’s goals and commitment to capacity building, protection and participation. •Good communication and training / facilitation and capacity building skills. •Good organisation and advisory skills including priogramme planning, monitoring and evaluation. •Experience of conducting and analyzing nutrition surveys, baseline surveys and market assessment •Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team. •Flexible and adaptable to a changing environment. •Ability to work under pressure often to strict deadlines. •Knowledge of computer applications i.e. Microsoft word, Excel.

1. Any Other Special Requirements (e.g. international driving license, specific computer skills etc.) •Familiarity with humanitarian law and principles of humanitarian action (international code of conduct and humanitarian charter), familiar with recovery and resilience programming
   •Familiarity with Sphere guidelines and people in aid, code of best practice •Knowledge of Humanitarian Accountability Principles

How to apply:

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date 16th December 2012 CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on Concern ensuring that the names of any new employee or volunteer do not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List). Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will not be made pending a clearance check being conducted on the applicant. For additional information please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office. Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.