Deputy Country Director - Program Implementation [readvert]

Role purpose:

Deputy Country Director, Program Implementation (DCD-PI) has a significant share in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office.  The DCD-PI in her/his capacity is responsible for the implementation of all program implementation (with the exception of research / technical projects) in-country including the management of all sub-offices, humanitarian preparedness, and response (including DRR).  Performs other related tasks as required and as assigned by his/her supervisor.

Scope of role:

1. Reports to: Country Director
2. Dimensions: Save the Children works nationally in Ethiopia with approximately 1,700 staff and with an annual budget of approximately $80-100 million.
3. Number of direct reports: Director of Program Implementation, Chief of Parties, Humanitarian Director, Supply Chain Director, National Program Directors

Key areas of accountability:

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team:

• Provide the leadership for Program Implementation and contribute to country office leadership
• Support the development of an organizational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our Members and donors
• Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with government, donors, partners, and local and international NGOs
• Provide the leadership to implement the Country Strategic Plan
• Support the implementation and follow-up of the CO KPI Improvement Plan, audit recommendations, and other general CO risk management plans.
• Contribute to strategic development and delivery of programming, in both humanitarian and development contexts, in line with the Save the Children mandate, strategy and Theory of Change
• Lead and/or champion change management initiatives
• Contribute to global knowledge and learning in Save the Children

Oversight and Management of Program Implementation

• Responsible for overall coordination of program implementation and delegated responsibility for field delivery of high-quality programming in line with the objectives of the country strategy
• In collaboration with the senior Program Implementation team and SLT, define and implement an effective, efficient, and sustainable operating model, including defining and developing the role of Save the Children and its partners
• Serve as an overall budget holder for most programming; manage and support budget holders for individual projects and grants
• Ensure programs are implemented in ways responsive to the communities and children in line with Save the Children principles, values, and strategic plan and following Save the Children compliance procedures. This includes working with government and national NGO partners to strengthen national capacity
• Ensure preparation of timely and high-quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports
• Through the Director of Program Implementation, oversee all area and field offices and ensure all relevant SCI processes and procedures are in place with the support of the various heads of departments
• Ensure systems are in place to monitor on-time, high-quality, sustainable delivery of programs (including regular spot checks of area and field offices)
• Through the Supply Chain Director, oversee procurement, warehouse, construction, and fleet
• Support Country Director to coordinate overall delivery of SCI KPIs
• In close coordination with the members of the Senior Leadership Team, participate in the program proposal process and ensure that all programs progress in accordance with grant agreements, are completed on time and on budget
• Support the Deputy Country Director-PDQI in conceptualizing and designing cost-effective, innovative, and high-quality programs to serve difficult to reach children

Budget Management

• Ensure expenditure is authorized in accordance with the budget authorization procedures within the scheme of delegation
• Monitor for significant variances between budget and actual expenditure   
• Ensure appropriate action is taken for a budget under/overutilization identified working closely with Award team
• Ensure that direct report budget holders prepare reports on the financial performance of their award as required either by donors or by other internal demands.

Humanitarian Response Management (through the line management of the Humanitarian Director)

• Strengthen the Ethiopia CO organizational readiness to respond to emergencies in line with global SCI humanitarian goals and benchmarks
• Ensure that the CO designs, updates, and implements a full set of humanitarian preparedness actions, drawing on SC Member input and resources
• Mount appropriate and timely responses at scale to all emergencies consistent with established benchmarks, plans, and organizational policies, and in close cooperation with incoming surge teams
• Ensure that all CO staff across departments and sub-offices are familiar with, adhere to, and implement the procedures and processes detailed in the Rules and Principles for humanitarian response
• In coordination with the Country Director and Deputy Country Director-PDQI, maintain consistent and coherent engagement in key inter-agency emergency preparedness and response coordination mechanisms including the Cluster system

Risk Management

• Chair the Country Risk Committee ‘CRC’
• Provide oversight of CO Risk Management Plan and drive key mitigations forward with functional leads 
• Ensure CO SLT’s decisions on risks are captured in Country RMP
• Ensure mitigation action plans made by functional heads and the Country Risk Committee are implemented and are supporting programme implementation.
• Submitting the CO Risk Management Plan to the Regional Operations Director and Regional Head of Risk and Compliance on a quarterly basis.

Project Management Methodology (PMM) and PRIME

• Ensure all Project Staff including the senior ops team take the full PMM course across the country,
• Work with SLT to ensure support staff and functional leads take the express PMM course,
• Ensure all new projects are PMM compliance in up taking tools and procedures,
• Draw an action plan for all continuing awards to be PMM compliant.
• Support and coach Ops SLT, Area/Field Managers, and project staff to use the new procedures and tools  
• Define approach for monitoring and embedding use of procedures and tools
• Lead the rollout of the PRIME system in Ethiopia.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development

• Ensure appropriate staffing within the program implementation team, including area and field office staff, programs, and the Supply Chain team
• Ensure that all direct reports understand and are able to perform their role and support as needed
• Manage the program implementation team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff and implement the talent review program
• ·Recruit / develop a diversified team

Representation

• Proactively seek and maintain, active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, donors, partner agencies, the UN system, and local and international NGOs
• Interact regularly with the international donors and the NGO community to ensure awareness of SC programs and to collect up to date information about the plans and programs of other actors

Safety and Security

• Support the Country Director on the day-to-day management of safety, security, and access and thru a dotted line of the Head of Safety, Security and Access, ensure that each operational area (i.e. all area offices and field offices) holds a clear, updated, and understood contingency plan to respond to various foreseen and potential scenarios
• Emphasize and support Area Managers in ensuring that national security guidelines, and in particular those on travel and incident reporting, are adhered to
• Ensure that all safety and security minimum operating standards and in-country guidelines and procedures are met by all sub-offices
• Promote a culture of security awareness and a shared duty of care amongst staff

Accountability:

•   Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modeling Save the Children values
•   Holds suppliers accountable to deliver on their responsibilities

Ambition:

•   Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and takes responsibility for their own personal development
•   Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
•  Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale

Collaboration:

•   Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
•   Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally.

Creativity:

•   Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
•  Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an entrepreneurial approach

Integrity:

•  Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence
•   Displays consistent excellent judgment

Job Requirements

Qualification

• Recommended a minimum of 12 years of experience in a non-profit environment, including senior leadership experience and field operations, experience ideally running both emergency and development programs
• Master’s Degree in development or other social sciences or relevant degree plus experience
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills; excellent people management skills, experience in managing and developing a team
• Excellent external representation skills at a high level with the government, donors, and other partners 
• Solid project management skills related to organizational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
• Significant knowledge of international humanitarian and development systems, institutions and donors, and of procedures, accountability frameworks, and best practices in emergency management
• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills, effective negotiator, with the ability to positively influence cross departmental and cross-sectoral working relationships
• Ability to think creatively to solve problems with effective and efficient ways to accomplish goals
• Ability to make decisions, work under pressure on a number of competing tasks meeting deadlines
• Ability to work successfully in a complex political environment and on sensitive issues

Desirable

• Flexible and adaptable to dynamic changes and a fast-paced work environment
• Experience in solving complex issues through analysis, the definition of a clear way forward, and ensuring buy-in
• Demonstrated experience working on complex, multi-partner projects in an international setting
• Experience in complex, rapidly changing environments
• Experience in, and/or knowledge of, Ethiopia or the region is preferred
• Good understanding of sectoral programs (i.e. Education, Livelihoods, WASH, Child Protection, Health & Nutrition) and a working knowledge of the program priorities of the Country Office 
• An in-depth understanding of national and international development issues in particular in relation to children
• Willingness to travel to implementation sites for technical monitoring and supervision visits
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours, and work with incoming teams in the event of major emergencies
• Fluency in written and spoken English 
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values, and principles including rights-based approaches
• Strong leadership; communication and time management skills
• Experience with multi-sectoral nutrition projects such as USAID ENGINE or USAID Growth through Nutrition

Additional job responsibilities

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience

Equal Opportunities

• The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Equality Policies, supported by relevant procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

• We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

• The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy.

Health and Safety

• The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SC Health and Safety policies and procedures.
• We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. The duty station of the position holder will be in Addis Ababa This role is offered on the basis of national terms and conditions only.

The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realize the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

How to apply

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at http://www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.

Interested applicants who meet the minimum requirements should apply using this link: ? https://stcuk.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=210007DK