Afghanistan: Head of Program - Consultant

About Islamic Relief Worldwide Afghanistan:

Islamic Relief Worldwide – Afghanistan Country Office is an international nonprofit Non-governmental humanitarian organization with its head quarter in Birmingham (UK). It enjoys consultative status with the Economic and social Council of the United Nations and is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for International Red Cross and red Crescent Moments and NGOs in Disaster Relief. IRA started its humanitarian activities for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan and Afghan people inside Afghanistan in 1992. Since then, IRA continued providing assistances in emergency relief, food security, women empowerment, girl education, orphan sponsorship, health, emergency education, shelter, ramadan and qurbani programs.

Job Description:

The Head of Program- Consultant - Expatriate is accountable to fulfil his/ her roles and responsibilities in line with IRW’s code of conduct, values and principles, and to report to his/her line-manager regularly on the basis of annually defined key performance indicators (KPIs).

JOB PURPOSE:

• To provide strategic leadership and expertise to the program in Afghanistan
• To ensure the program meets Islamic Relief Quality Standards
• To provide timely and high quality proposals and reports to donors
• To ensure the development and utilization of best practice for technical interventions
• To network with, and represent Islamic Relief to partners (government authorities, donors, INGOs, local NGOs, CBOs etc)

Program Development (at least 40% of time):

• Provide strategic direction to the program, to ensure it works towards reducing poverty in a sustainable manner and responds to emergencies effectively
• Take a lead role in the annual strategic planning process
• Design programs and projects based on the Country Strategic Plan and Emergency Preparedness Plan
• Proactively identify opportunities to build key stakeholder relationships, and take the initiative to follow up with necessary action
• Develop timely and good quality donor proposals to expand the program, using a participatory approach involving all relevant stakeholders
• Work with the Country Director to diversity the funding base through developing existing or new relationships with donors

Implementation and Quality of the Program (at least 25% of time):

• Make key decisions in relation to the program implementation, and offer solutions to problems that arise during the implementation of programs
• Ensure the program meets Islamic Relief Worldwide Quality Standards and international Codes of Conduct
• Ensure the programs are implemented and evaluated in a consultative and participative manner through regular field visits, project reviews and meetings with beneficiaries.
• Ensure the timely submission of high quality reports to HQ and donors, according to the appropriate guidelines

Management:

• Actively participate in the Country Management Team (CMT) meetings and decision making.
• Facilitate team building across the Program, Islamic Relief Afghanistan and the wider organization
• Motivate the program team and ensure they have clear objectives and receive meaningful feedback on their performance
• Provide HR Management to ensure the short and long-term success of the program, including recruitment, staff development, security etc.
• Deputize for the Country Director whenever requested to do so (it is estimated this task will involve up to 10% of the Head of Programs time)

Networking and Communication:

• Build relationships with donors, UN Clusters, Government agencies and other INGOs in Afghanistan
• Ensure regular and effective communications are maintained within the program, and with the Regional Desk at HQ including finance and other departments
• Ensure visibility of program through quality reporting and contributing to IR webpgaes and annual reviews.

Budgetary responsibility:

• Assist the program team to develop, finalise and closely monitor the program budget
• Work closely with the Finance Department to ensure effective financial and budgetary control of the programs, according to IRW’s policy and procedures
• Ensure corrective measures are taken to address over/under spends in the project budgets

Job Requirements:

Education:

• University degree or its equivalent in management, social science, international development, public administration, or a related field
• Post graduate qualification in social science, international development, public administration or related field is preferable.

Experience:

• 7 to 10 years’ experience of working with various International NGOs in developing countries.
• An in depth understanding of national and international development issues in particular in relation to community development.
• Relevant experience in project development
• Experience of developing proposals for a variety of donors
• Experience of successfully fundraising and dealing with EC, ECHO, UN and DFID
• Experience of developing links with INGOs, Government agencies, Institutional donors and other stakeholders
• Experience of and commitment to participatory management and maintaining a supportive, open environment to ensure the learning and development of all staff.
• Experience of managing and mentoring local and international staff.
• Familiarity with the Millennium Development Goals, Sphere Standards, Do no harm policy, Red-Cross/Red-crescent Code of Conduct, Humanitarian Accountability Program etc.
• Experience of Programing in Conflict/post conflict countries.

Skills:

• Good interpersonal skills including the ability to listen, sensitivity to other peoples’ views and perspectives, and conflict resolution.
• Experience and excellent program development skills for donors like ECHO, DFID, SIDA etc
• Strategic leadership skills
• Good organisational skills and a practical knowledge of support service management
• The capacity to develop and maintain an understanding of and be sympathetic to the social, cultural and political context of the post
• Ability to represent, liaise and negotiate at different levels (national, provincial and local).
• Excellent communication skills
• Knowledge/familiarity/expertise in program areas: e.g. Livelihoods, Health, Education, Community Development, Microfinance, etc
• An ability to work under pressure with limited support.
• Knowledge/familiarity with country/region
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel
• Committed to Islamic Relief Worldwide values and code of conduct.

Interested and qualified expatriate and only outstanding national candidates can submit a cover letter and updated CVs to the following email address: vacancies.afg@islamic-relief.org.af

Preference will be given to the expatriate staff already present and have right to work in Afghanistan only extraordinary National staff may also be considered

The closing date for accepting applications is 04:00pm, Wednesday 17 October 2018.

Please clearly state the Vacancy Announcement number and title of the position you are applying for in the subject line.

CVs will be reviewed on daily basis and interview will take place before the deadline due to the urgent need of the role.

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply!