Director of Program Development, Quality & Learning job in Port au Prince, Haiti

Position description

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.

Now, and for the future.

Program/Department Summary

Mercy Corps helps communities develop their own ideas to solve Haiti’s most daunting problems by using innovative approaches to bring Haitians new social and economic opportunities and to make their country more secure, productive and just. Established in January 2010, Mercy Corps Haiti has offices in Port-au-Prince, Jeremie, and Miragoane and more than 80 staff implementing programs in WASH, financial inclusion, economic development, agriculture, natural resource management and humanitarian response. Mercy Corps’ economic development work is guided by the principles of pro-poor development and demand driven strategies. Mercy Corps takes a progressive approach to development that leads communities and entrepreneurs from relief to sustainable livelihoods to resilience.

Mercy Corps Haiti is going through a transformational change at this moment. As a catalytic organization, our future impact will increasingly focus on sustainability and transformative change, supporting lasting improvements in the lives of the communities we serve. This ambition will be supported through several key drivers, including: evidence-based programming, learning generation to influence systems change, scaling impact through Mercy Corps and strategic partners, stronger knowledge management and impact measurement, expanded partnerships and alliances, greater commitment to gender equity and diversity and strategic advocacy and fundraising.

General Position Summary

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Haiti, the Director of Program Development, Quality and Learning (PQL) is responsible for driving cross-functional engagement in the development and delivery of Country Program Strategy, developing annual plans and reporting on results. S/he is responsible for ensuring development and delivery of high quality, evidence-based, innovative programs that contribute to Mercy Corps Global Strategy and Mercy Corps Haiti new strategic vision. The Director of PQL ensures that a robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) system is in place, that the country office engages in the collection and use of evidence and that this is shared across the global organization, and that reliable data is used for decision-making. One key aspect of the role is ensuring capability building, mentoring and coaching of the Program/Project Managers in order to support program quality in line with global standards and key performance indicators. As a senior leader in the country office s/he plays a representational role with the government, donors, partners, peer agencies, and others. The Director of PQL supports strategic positioning with donors and partners and leads on project design to ensure that the country office strategy can be delivered in line with Mercy Corps vision.

As one of the most senior staff in the Country Office, the Director of Program Development, Quality and Learning must demonstrate the qualities of agile leadership. This role plays a key role in defining and pursuing the strategic direction for Mercy Corps programs in Haiti, ensuring the relevance, coherence, safety and impact of our programs. It is essential that the Director of Program Development, Quality and Learning builds and maintains strong relationships across functions within the Country Program.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION, PLANNING & REPORTING

Lead the development/updating of the analysis of the country context ensuring community, partners and other stakeholders’ participation as necessary.
Lead the SLT to develop/update and drive forward the Country Program Strategy that is in line with the global strategy.
Provide leadership on development of the Country Annual Implementation Plan, monitoring of progress against the plan, and completion of accurate, on-time Country Annual Report of outcomes and impact, aligned with the Global Results Framework.
Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic and cross-cutting strategic priorities in line with the Country Program Strategy, including gender equality, to guide current and future Mercy Corps programming and Humanitarian Principles.
Support ownership and commitment to the Country Program Strategy by all staff and departments through clear communication, regular feedback on progress and engagement of all functions in updates.
Participate in global discussions and working groups to represent country programs, in learning for a, in strategy design and policy development.
Support change processes and roll out new ways of working to improve achievement of the Country Program Strategy.
Drive Innovation and thought leadership at all levels in the CO (strategy, programme, project and individual levels).

PROGRAM DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

Lead strategic resource (financial, materials & human) mobilization drive and ensure the Country Program is always resourced to drive programme design and development.
Work with CD and SMT to set funding targets and drive implementation at all levels ensuring the entire Country Program is committed to and aware of these contributions to these targets.
In consultation with the Country Director and Members, ensure technical engagement with donors to pre-position and prepare for opportunities, and engage in strategic positioning work directly as appropriate.
Lead the identification of new initiatives and opportunities that respond to identified needs and the country strategy, in coordination with the Country Director and Program Managers, as well as the Regional Program Director, headquarters-based Senior Program Officer, Technical Advisors and other relevant staff.
Play a leading role in designing innovative projects/proposals, including:
- Engaging with technical experts as needed to ensure high quality, evidence-based designs that draw on needs assessments, learning from past programs and program standards principles.
- Ensuring partners are identified and appropriately engaged in program design, linking with Operations as need be for assessments, especially to strengthen gender sensitivity at design stage.
- Ensuring proposal designs and their budgets include robust MEAL plans that are aligned with the Global Results Framework and build in critical learning questions.
- Ensuring the project budget will enable the project to be delivered as designed.
- Incorporating community participation into design, as relevant.

PROGRAM QUALITY AND PROGRAM TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE

Ensure the Country Program delivers high quality, multi-sectoral programming in both development and humanitarian contexts (as appropriate).
Monitor and advance technical and operational quality of programmes, including conducting regular field visits to provide feedback on quality benchmarks, soliciting inputs for design of new programs and collecting ideas for innovation.
Monitor program Key Performance Indicators and, in partnership with other functions, take steps to improve the quality programming platform to meet agreed upon standards.
Work closely with the Director of Operations to ensure procedures are followed throughout the project cycle and across the portfolio.
Ensure Program/Project Managers proactively and regularly communicate planned requirements for program design, learning and implementation to relevant Country Program departments/functions.
Oversee program startup and ongoing program management and administration of teams across various field locations.
Ensure that program implementation is responsive to communities and partners and consistent with Mercy Corps’ relevant program guidelines, principles, values, quality standards and strategic plan.
Ensure that beneficiaries are effectively targeted according to established and well-defined criteria and processes.
Develop partners’ MoUs and contracts and ensure that partners are delivering in accordance with the agreements.
Support the PMs and team in the development and ongoing refinement of implementation strategies.
Integrate community approaches, gender sensitivity and capacity building into all activities as appropriate.
Ensure program implementation is on time, target and budget, using effective M&E systems to reach desired impacts (adaptive management).
Create and maintain systems ensuring effective and transparent use of financial resources for timely and informative reporting in line with donor and Mercy Corps policies and procedures.
Conduct frequent field visits to all project sites for monitoring, quality control and program staff mentoring and coaching.
Ensure that community feedback mechanisms are in place, functioning, and clearly communicated to staff and beneficiaries.
Review all draft reports and ensure that reports are ready for submission to HQ on time.
Lead and coach the Program/Project Managers to enable them to successfully deliver against the Country Program Strategy.
Ensure effective working relationships with Mercy Corps global, Member and regional technical advisors, procuring technical support as needed to support program and advocacy efforts, including during Emergencies.
Ensure that program technical experts engage in larger communities of practice within and external to Mercy Corps, to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches and conduct timely and useful review of project reports to support quality reporting for Members and donors.
Ensure that the different technical sectors of the Country Program are coordinated, integrated and support each other to optimize programs and projects.

DRIVING EVIDENCE, MEAL AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Work to develop a monitoring system that provides timely and accurate project results by embedding MEAL across program implementation. This requires ensuring effective collaboration across MEAL staff, Technical Specialists, Technical Advisors and program implementation teams to develop logframes, indicators, implementation plans, quality benchmarks, monitoring and evaluation frameworks and related tools.
Lead programme quality improvements by monitoring and improving Programme KPI performance, including resourcing and conducting high-quality evaluations to demonstrate outcomes and impact and ensuring that accountability mechanisms are in place for all projects so that identified actions are resolved, with critical issues escalated to senior management.
Ensure the research, evaluation and policy work of the Country Program contributes to generation of evidence for development and improvement of program quality, sound decision making and policy influencing internally and externally.
Establish effective program learning and knowledge management systems to support adaptive programming and innovation that improves outcomes for children through service delivery, policy & advocacy and campaigns.

STAFF MANAGEMENT, MENTORSHIP, AND DEVELOPMENT

Ensure appropriate staffing of Program Development and Quality team, and engagement of additional technical support when needed to deliver quality project design and delivery.
Ensure that staff proactively build and maintain technical, managerial and leadership skills, , providing coaching opportunities when needed.
Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback via regular performance reviews.
Supervise, hire and orient new team members as necessary.
Provide team members with information, tools and other resources to improve performance and reach objectives.
Contribute to country team-building efforts, help team members identify problem-solving options and ensure the integration of all team members into relevant decision-making processes.
Be comfortable and able to manage a team remotely and with limited travel based on the security situation.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT

Ensure compliance with donor and Mercy Corps regulations related to programming.
Review BVAs with Finance and Program managers to identify any issues and undertake any necessary budget revisions.
Ensure program close-out begins in a timely manner to minimize any significant under or overspends at the end of the grant (i.e. final variance for all grants should be within 5%).

INFLUENCE, ADVOCACY & REPRESENTATION:

Guide functions and thematic tracks to identify advocacy issues and lead them at the national level.
Ensure Mercy Corps is represented in the relevant networks.
Develop and / or participate in various networks for opportunities to extend the program and defend interests.
Ensure Program issues are subject to pressure and advocacy at national and other levels.
Ensure programming models are demonstrated/documented and scaled up in line with strategic directions.
Undertake an in-depth analysis of the powers and policies of the country's structures, systems and networks to identify opportunities for changes in law, policy, budget and behavior at the national level that will achieve the goals and objectives strategies set by the national office.
Lead and manage the design and implementation of the influence strategy in coordination with staff and partners, taking an integrated approach to influence.
Revise and update the advocacy strategy according to the evolution of the context.
Ensure strong links with programs and monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) so that advocacy and policy approaches are evidence-based.
Monitor and report on progress in influencing and its contribution to change, including to donors where appropriate.

Supervisory Responsibility

Project Directors, Program Managers, CARM Manager, MEL Manager, Safeguarding Manager, Program Development & Knowledge Manager and other staff as needed.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Country Director
Works Directly With: All program staff, both national and expatriate in Haiti; HQ-based program, operations, recruiting, human resources, finance, and technical support teams.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Qualifications

BA/S or equivalent in international studies, social science, management, economics or other relevant fields. MA/S preferred.
7+ years of experience with European and US institutional and private donors, including proposal development.
5+ years overseas experience, including at least 3 years in a senior management position.
Experience managing humanitarian relief and/or transitional programs in areas affected by insecurity and natural disasters.
Previous experience working in Haiti or similar contexts strongly preferred.
Proven track record in program design, proposal writing and development, and donor reporting.
Be trained and knowledgeable in design, monitoring, and evaluation concepts and methodologies. M&E experience should include conducting assessments and surveys, program design using a logical framework approach, selecting indicators, implementing monitoring plans, coordinating evaluations and data analysis.
Experience supervising international and national staff, starting up programs and working in difficult environments.
Experience managing programs in relevant technical areas including Participatory Community Development, Livelihoods, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation, Economic Recovery, Women’s Empowerment and GBV programming, Peacebuilding, Civil Society Capacity Building and Youth.
Knowledge of major donor requirements and compliance issues.
Strong management skills with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues.
Understanding of advocacy, policy, and government systems in the host country.
Strong skills and proven experience in leading strategic planning, change management and program management processes, also from the knowledge and learning perspective.
Strong skills and proven experience in new program development, project design and proposal writing with corporate, foundations and/or institutional donors.
Skills in training, capability building, coaching, mentorship, problem solving, and project cycle management.
High level of self-awareness and willingness to take feedback for growth and self-development.
Proven experience as a team player and leader in an international organization.
Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
History of working effectively with host country government, national and international NGO partners, and collaborating with other actors, including the private sector.
Solid knowledge of and experience with security protocols is essential.
Fluency in written and oral French and English is required.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will be conscientious, with excellent judgment and will display an entrepreneurial spirit that is both creative and flexible. S/he will combine strong communication skills, creativity, initiative, participatory leadership and tactful decisiveness to assist in the development and implementation of Mercy Corps’ country strategy. Prioritizing, problem solving and simultaneous attention to detail and strategic vision are essential. The individual will be a strategic thinker able to bring ideas to implementation in growing program operations. They will have exceptional proposal development skills and an outstanding ability to design, implement and manage innovative programs that respond to current needs. An interest and ability to travel and work in remote environments, and awareness of and sensitivity to multi-cultural international development work and ability to train and facilitate dialogue among a diverse group of individuals with various skill sets and working styles is required. An even temperament and a good sense of humor are appreciated. Language proficiency in English/French is a must.

Application instructions

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