About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.  

For nearly 60 years, CRS has taken the lead in responding to natural and man-made disasters affecting Ethiopia's most vulnerable communities. Moving beyond emergency response, CRS' disaster mitigation and recovery projects in drought and flood-prone areas have rebuilt individual and community assets through non-food aid in the form of agriculture, livestock, health, nutrition, and water and sanitation assistance. CRS's humanitarian work in Ethiopia also provides livelihoods support to farmers and entrepreneurs, promotes gender equality, mobilizes for immunization and mitigates the impact of COVID-19.

The Tigray Program Quality Program Manager I will provide support to CRS’ emergency response in Tigray, Ethiopia; represent the CRS Ethiopia SMT with leadership presence in Tigray, including liaising with local authorities, partners and UN agencies; and backstop CRS’ emergency programs. This position will support functions in Ethiopia linked to program quality, business development, human resources and partner engagement.

As part of CRS family, you will join the more than 5000 strong and vibrant individuals working globally to accomplish the mission of CRS. CRS/Ethiopia invites you, the qualified candidate, to apply for the following position.

Job Title:  Program Manager I – Program Quality

Band: 9

Reports To: Head of Programs

Country/Location:  Ethiopia/Mekelle

Employment term: Definite term - Two years

Job Summary:

As a member of Programs Team, you will facilitate achievement of high-quality project objectives by leading the Program Quality Unit for the Tigray non-JEOP emergency programming and advancing CRS work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your coordination and relationship management skills will ensure that CRS applies best practices related to programming and partnership, and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve. The Tigray based program team covers monitoring evaluation accountability and learning (MEAL), WASH, Health & Nutrition, Shelter & Settlements, emergency response including NFIs, protection, inclusion, safeguarding and gender integration. You will work to strengthen CRS and partner capacity in the above areas, in liaison with the CRS program quality technical team in Addis. This will include managerial support for program quality staff in Tigray, facilitating workshops around and following up workplans across workstreams.

Job Responsibilities:

• Manage and implement all activities throughout relevant project cycles - project design, start-up, implementation and close-out - to ensure efficient and effective implementation in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices. Ensure project team and partner staff use the appropriate systems and tools.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, contribute to the recruitment process of project staff, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Champion learning with project staff and partner teams. Analyze and evaluate project performance data following MEAL policy. Proactively identify issues and concerns and use participatory processes to overcome implementation obstacles.
• Act as a key resource person in project design and proposal development in respective programming area, gap-filling and taking on growth responsibilities, as needed.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, contribute to the recruitment process of project staff, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Coordinate the identification of staff capacity and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and capacity strengthening and required interventions to support quality project implementation
• Help identify, assess, and strengthen partnerships, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools and approaches.
• Coordinate and monitor financial and material resources relevant to project needs. Through planning and oversight ensure efficient use of project resources
• In addition to the above, the cope will cover the following in particular:

Strategic planning and coordination

• Coordinate with partners in Tigray to achieve high levels of program quality through technical oversight and guidance; consortium-wide learning; and effective management of human, material, and financial resources as per USAID/BHA regulations
• Assist the Head of Programs to review progress on implementation of programming in Tigray according to the proposal, budget, detailed implementation, work-plans, and donor agreements
• Onboard, lead and support program staff in Tigray in developing and implementing efficient technical service delivery that may consist of capacity building, feedback mechanism from consortium partners and performance monitoring system to measure progress
• Support development of quarterly progress reporting among partners implementing in Tigray

Program Quality, Monitoring and Learning

• Provide technical direction to program quality activities/innovations
• Manage a team of technical staff who will coordinate and lead implementation of all program quality activities with partners
• Enhance cross-learning across the different sectors through review reflections, and partner meetings
• Support the communications team to identify and develop solid success stories, write-up of lessons learned and human-interest pieces

Representation

• Support SMT in Addis to liaise between programs and other stakeholders in Tigray, including local administration, international agencies, and NGOs
• Represent non-JEOP programming on the Mekelle CRS SMT
• Represent CRS at external meetings as related to technical sectors

Job Requirements

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience

• Master's or Bachelor's Degree in Management, International Development, Social Science, related field with 4 years' relevant experience for MA degree or 6 years' relevant experience for BA degree for an international NGO. Additional education may substitute for some experience.
• Additional demonstrated ability to lead a technical team in one or more of the following technical areas: MEAL, Emergency Response, WASH, Health & Nutrition
• Minimum three years’ experience in a senior position that demonstrates mentoring staff to achieve program results
• Personal qualities include flexibility, persistence, and ability to work well with people and cross-cultural skills
• Excellent partnership skills and the ability to interact effectively with donors, collaborating agencies, and local partners demonstrated through close work experience with international NGOs
• Knowledge of USAID and USG grant regulations and procedures. Prior management of USAID funding required; knowledge of Title II policies and procedures preferred
• Demonstrated ability to work both strategically and at an appropriate level of detail to lead a complex program and consortium, excellent analytical skills
• Computer literate, with strong knowledge of MS Office applications, spread sheets, database programs, and statistical software packages

Personal Skills

• Analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to make sound judgment
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented
• Attention to detail, accuracy, and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities
• Strong facilitation and creative problem-solving skills.

Required/Desired Foreign Language: Tigrinya and English essential. Amharic a plus.

Travel Required: 35%

Key Working Relationships:

• Supervisory: 5 or more Senior Project Officers/Project Officers
• Internal: Head of Programs, Country Representative, CRS Addis Senior Management Team and technical leads, CRS Ethiopia partnership unit, CRS Ethiopia safeguarding, finance, protection, and gender units.
• External: Tigray implementing partners, donors and stakeholders.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Trusting Relationships
• Professional Growth
• Partnership
• Accountability

How to Apply

You should fill the application form through this link CLICK HERE

And attach your up-to-date CV on / before the application deadline January 24, 2022.

You will be contacted only if selected for written exam/interview. Phone solicitations will not be accepted. These job opportunities are open to Ethiopian nationals only.

 CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. 

 ** Qualified women are highly encouraged to apply**