Deputy Country Director | ReliefWeb

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Name of the position: Deputy Country Director Programs

Country: Kenya

Base: Nairobi

Direct line manager: Country Director

Line management of: Senior Program Officer

Starting date:

As soon as possible

Contract Duration:

Founded in 1979, Action Against Hunger is an international humanitarian organization that delivers programs in over 40 countries. Recognized worldwide as a leader in the fight against hunger, our mission is to save lives through the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition, especially during and after emergency situations and conflicts. From crisis to sustainability, AAH tackles the underlying causes of malnutrition and its effects. By integrating our programs with local and national systems, we further ensure that short-term interventions become long-term solutions. With Head Offices in France, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States and Canada, our international network shares its combined resources, breadth of experience and technical expertise in pursuit of a world without hunger.

Action Against Hunger has been present in Kenya since 2001. Currently the organization is implementing program activities in West Pokot, Isiolo, Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia, Kakamega and Samburu.

The Positions and responsibilities:

Action Against Hunger Kenya is looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of Deputy Country Director Program (Kenya), based in Nairobi. The role reports hierarchically to the Country Director and Technically to the Senior Program Officer.

Goal:

The Deputy Country Director Program (DCD-P) will provide leadership, strategic direction and oversee management of all aspects of the Program including Line Management of the Head of Department for Health & Nutrition, M&E Manager, SBCC Coordinator . As a member of the SMT, the DCD-Program will be part of all key strategic decisions taken by the Kenya mission and is expected to contribute to the strategic development of the Programme/mission.

The Deputy Country Director -Program’s core responsibilities will include but not limited to the following:

Objective1:Coordinate technical country strategy and support provision of operational management and integration of all technical areas

· Work with the Country Director to provide leadership to the development and maintenance of a comprehensive needs-based program strategy that is responsive to the dynamic needs of the most vulnerable populations built on the program strengths of Action Against Hunger, legal frameworks and globally.

· Provides strategic direction and support to the Technical Coordinators, PM"s and support the field teams in ensuring the effective delivery of program activities and the successful integration of activities with all other aspects of AAH programming.

· Proactively identify new programming opportunities, needs for assessment or consultants / interns to prepare ground for futures opportunities.

· In partnership with the Technical Coordinators, lead the program development process to ensure the creation of robust and appropriate programs that meet the values and objectives of AAH as an organization and donor requirements and expectations to ensure ongoing funding.

· Responsible for the promotion of technical integration and sensitization of staff on its applications, including transversal policies such as gender

· Visit AAH field activities regularly and report on problems, challenges and obstacles while building an intimate knowledge of fieldwork realities and generate recommendations and lessons learnt reports to share within the mission.

· Capitalization of integration and reporting information and data.

· Leads on the development and rollout of new and more effective systems to improve program implementation.

· Lead and oversee the development and implementation of field-based research projects and ensure compliance and quality

· Regular participation in Coordination meetings at the capital and field level.

· Regular communication with the advisors at HQ to support an integrated programmatic approach and ensure programs are technically supporting all sectors

· Responsible for updating and maintaining ER PREP plans and proactively preparing for and leading emergency response activities

Objective 2: Program Quality Assurance

· Oversee the quality implementation of ongoing programming based on robust grant management and monitoring and evaluation systems and the facilitation of Technical Department.

· Ensure that funding for programming is spent in a coherent, transparent and optimal way.

· In coordination with CD and Head of Department, responsible for the technical briefing and debriefing as well as management of consultants and external specialists arriving to support the mission.

· Ensure the collection and capitalization by the DCD and Tech coordinators of digital and physical AAH Information on information gathered through HQ reports, AAH programming, partnerships, partners, UN system, clusters, and other avenues of data collection.

· Ensures Mission Technical Coordination Meetings (MTCMs) happen on a monthly basis, and submits minutes to Country Director and Coordination.

· Provide formal and informal capacity building trainings to staff.

· Final Mission-level validation of program and technical guidelines and policies.

· Ensure that quality to AAH and donor compliance for program, reporting, and financial grant requirements are met.

· Ensure that monitoring and evaluation of programming informs quality implementation.

· Coordinate closely with Log and Head of Region to ensure that security, procurement, HR and financial protocols are designed to support quality programming.

· Closely monitor program spending and follow up spending plans with Head of Finance and PMs

Objective 3: Donor Compliance, Reporting and Documentation

· Lead proposal preparation through a needs based approach ensuring all departments work together

· Ensure Narrative, Budget, PPP, Workplan, Budget forecasts, ongoing monitoring and kick off meetings take place for every program

· Ensure that all programs are compliant with donor protocols and reports are submitted on time to HQ for validation

· Ensure all donor reports are completed in a timely manner with the relevant input from the field teams and submitted to HQ for validation

· Ensure that workplans are followed to ensure budget forecasts are met and studies (KAP, RSCA, SMARTs etc.) are planned and executed timely

· ensuring the overall planning and follow-up of technical reporting for donors, authorities and internal requirements (Activity Progress Reports) in coordination with the support departments

Objective 4: Representation with external stakeholders

· Responsible for representation of AAH in partnership-related meetings at a strategic level for workshops, working groups, etc.

· Lead, in liaison with the CD, partnership proposal preparation through furnishing of evaluation/assessment data and coordination.

· Identification and evaluation of potential partners and partnerships at country level. Lead the due diligence process to assess potential partners capacity and document capacity building needed.

· Carries out follow-up evaluation of partnership (programming and partner relations), maintains lessons learned and proposes action points for future improvement.

· Represent AAH to donors, UN and partner INGOs, and national and local government officials (programs).

Objective 5: Human Resources and Career Development

· Direct manager of the Technical Coordinators

· Supervision of externally hired consultants for any program matters

· Responsible for the validation of technical departmental HR needs for international staff.

· Responsible for the proper induction and debriefing of managerial staff.

· promoting the commitment to AAH Charter and prevention of frauds and power abuses

QUALIFICATIONS

· Bachelor of Arts or Science in related International Relations/Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, International Development, Public Health, Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Demographics or related field

· Minimum 3 years work experience in similar setting and responsibility

· Flexible and adaptable to changing work conditions

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

· Significant experience with INGOs. Previous experience with AAH in emergency and post-emergencies is an asset.

· Excellent management skills (HR, projects, stress management).

· Advanced knowledge of donors’ guidelines and procedures (ECHO, DFID, OFDA, FFP etc.)

· Excellent ability to multi task

· Ability to organize, train and motivate a multicultural team

· Excellent diplomatic and negotiation skills

· Disciplined and able to work and arrive at decisions autonomously with minimal guidance.

· Fluent in English (professional English needed).

· Excellent drafting and written skills.

• Ability to pay attention to detail


• Previous experience as Field Coordinator

· Self-starter with a strong desire to promote and implement continuous improvement endeavors

COMPETENCIES

· Integrity

· Resilience

· Problem solving

· Technical credibility

· Decisiveness

· Influencing/negotiating

· Innovation

· Vision and strategic thinking

· Capacity to reconcile different and sometime divergent priorities

What AAH will offer:

ü Start date: As soon as possible.

ü Duty station: Nairobi Office.

ü Remuneration package: Very Competitive salary package with additional benefits to include:

§ Career development opportunities with AAH

§ Comprehensive medical cover for self and dependents

§ Opportunity to work in a good and friendly environment with a dynamic and motivated team