Deputy Country Director

Location

Aden

Travel

50% (in-country)

Job Family and Level

Program Management & Leadership Family M8

Job Profile

Your role will be to provide strategic, programmatic, and operational leadership across all areas of Relief International’s program implementation in Yemen. You will ensure that humanitarian and development activities are delivered safely, effectively, and in line with RI’s standards and donor requirements. Operating in dynamic context, you will adapt operational strategies to fluctuating access, security challenges, and coordination constraints.

The Deputy Country Director of Program (DCD – P) shares the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office operations. The DCD-P, as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) for Yemen, is accountable for overseeing the quality and delivery of RI’s programming in the Country, drive the CO strategic plan, and work closely with Country Director on new program development initiatives, program advocacy, and innovation.

The DCD-P will be responsible for ensuring development of high quality, evidence based, high impact, innovative programs that deliver immediate and lasting changes in the communities RI works in. In coordination with key in-country, regional and global stakeholders, s/he is responsible to ensure the compliance with technical standards in program design and implementation.

Key Responsibilities

Accountability and Complexity

Leads country level or functional teams and/or is responsible for a specialized program of moderate/ large resource requirements, risk, and/or complexity

Adapts plans and priorities to meet service and/or operational challenges

Is a people manager and directly manages other team members or specialized teams.

Leads in representing RI in large complex contexts: externally with donors, partners, and communities

Ensures programs are delivered safely, and services are high quality, and ensures effective management of operations, funding, and teams

Strategic oversight and representation

Provide leadership, strategic vision, coherence and direction to the country program as a member of the SMT

As delegated by the Country Director, takes the overall leadership in leading coordination for the development and updates of Country Strategy which reflects needs on the ground as well as the RI Global Strategy

Support development of cross-team coordination mechanisms to ensure effective collaboration and integration across key programs related departments (e.g., awards, supply chain and operations)

Promotes safe programming as an integral component of all departments’ work.

Lead and/or champion change management initiatives.

Program and Budget Management

Responsible for effective management of program implementation, including the delivery of high-quality programming, in a timely, on budget and compliant manner in alignment with internal system and processes as well as donor regulations.

Ensure preparation of timely and high-quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports

Ensure adequate coordination between program teams (i.e. PMs, Technical Advisors, MEAL, Awards and Partnership, and Grants) for quality, timely and compliant delivery of all interventions.

Serve as overall budget holder for all programs; manage and support delegated sub-budget holders for individual projects.

Regularly monitor program’s expenditures, ensuring they are on track and swiftly raise identified risks for prompt action.

Program Development

Support fundraising, ensuring the development of high-quality concept notes and proposals, and engage effectively with donors and relevant stakeholders.

Ensure programs design have a strong evidence base resulting from learning via needs assessments, programs’ data and situational analyses.

Ensure that the country office has high quality, cost-effective and evidence based multi-sector programs reflecting RI global initiatives and theory of change.

Ensure gender, protection and environment mainstreaming across different RI sectors of intervention.

MEAL and Knowledge Management

Ensure the establishment and implementation of a robust MEAL system that provides timely and accurate project results data by embedding MEAL across program implementation.

Ensure the development and implementation of quality evidence and learning plans, ensuring outcomes and impacts are captured, documented, reported, and inform decision making.

Ensure plans to promote accountability to affected populations (AAP) are high quality and inform programming.

Ensure effective collaboration between MEAL staff, technical advisors and thematic specialists in the development of sector log frames, indicators, implementation plans, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks and related tools.

Quality Assurance

Ensure RI programs comply with internal and international quality standards.

Ensure effective working relationships with RI regional and global technical advisors, procuring technical support as needed to support program efforts.

Set up Quality Benchmarks according to RI program quality standards and will ensure with the Program Technical Advisors regular monitoring and quarterly reviews.

Support capacity development of technical experts, maximizing their role as technical support providers to field teams and local project partners.

Ensure evidence-based approaches and learning are captured and documented to support quality reporting and proposals to donors.

Risk Management

Lead on the Portfolio Review and Project Risk analysis on a monthly basis in coordination with the program team and SMT and responsible for submission to Desk Team on a monthly basis.

Actively contribute to the development/update and oversight of the Country Risk Register on a quarterly basis as delegated by the Country Director and drive key mitigations forward with functional leads.

Ensure mitigation action plans identified by functional heads are implemented and are supporting programme operations.

Behavior and conduct

Ensures that behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies.

Acts with integrity and holds themselves accountable for being respectful, inclusive and professional.

Reports any concerns.

Management and leadership

Ensure the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies.

Be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members.

Embrace diversity and model inclusive and equitable behavior.

Ensure own actions and the actions of the teams’ members they manage do not adversely impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve.

Ensure donors, partners and communities are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms.

Ensure safeguarding is embedded in all the work we do.

Be responsible for ensuring a culture and systems in place for reporting.

Report any concerns.

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

5-7 years of experience working in senior management positions, or similar role, in a humanitarian context.

Master’s degree in a relevant field or bachelor’s degree with commensurate work experience.

Knowledge of and experience working with key institutional donors including USG, ECHO, EU, FCDO and UN agencies among others.

Proven experience in new program development, project management and coordination

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

Experience in more than one of RI Thematic sectors: Health and Nutrition, WASH, Livelihood

Excellent interpersonal, communication skills;

Experience of managing and developing a team

Excellen