TEAM/PROGRAMME:
South Sudan
LOCATION: Juba GRADE: TBC CONTRACT LENGTH: 2 yearsCHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3: the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.
ROLE PURPOSE:
As a key member of the Senior Management Team, the Director of Program Operations shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office. The Director of Program Operations in his/her capacity is responsible for implementation of all programming in country, including the management of all sub offices, emergency preparedness and response (including DRR), and logistics and supply chain for the Country Office in South Sudan.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Country Director
Dimensions: Save the Children Currently works in 6 states throughout South Sudan with the Country office located in Juba , and 10 Field Offices. The organization currently employs over 500 national and 50 International staff with the annual funding portfolio of around US$50 million. Save the Children South Sudan delivers child centred programmes on child protection, food security and livelihoods, Health and nutrition, WASH, education and child rights governance.
Staff directly reporting to this post: Deputy Director Program Operations, Heads of Programme Implementation (3), Head of Humanitarian Response, Head of Supply Chain, and Consortium Program Managers (2).
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:
- Leadership of the South Sudan Country Office
- Deputize CD in their absence.
- Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate 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 design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to program needs
- Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with: host government authorities, donors, partner agencies including major institutional donors, and local and international NGOs
- Ensure that the required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles during emergencies, working closely with the Regional Office
Oversight and Management of Program Operations
- Responsible for overall coordination of program implementation and delegated responsibility for field delivery of high quality programming in line with Save the Children standards and the objectives of the country strategy
- In close coordination with the Director of Program Development and Quality and Director of Finance, participate in program proposal process and ensure that all programs progress in accordance with grant agreements, are completed within time and on budget.
- Working with Director of Program Development and Quality, participate in conceptualizing and designing cost effective, innovative and high quality programs to serve difficult to reach children
- Serve as overall budget holder for most programming; manage and support budget holders for individual projects and awards and ensure project expenditure is in line with work plans and commitments to donors and members
- 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 program implementation team workingwith Head of Awards team, in preparation of timely and high quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports
- Coordinate overall funding process from both donors and Save the Children Members. This including: developing funding strategies, participating in the development of award proposals, and identifying strategic leads and concepts
- Oversee all sub-offices through the Heads of Programme Implementation
Supply Chain, Inventory and Procurement
- With support from Head of Supply Chain, ensure that the country office supply chain capacity and systems meet the Minimum Operating Standards and are able to satisfy the programming requirements
- Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency Supply chain procedures are detailed in the Country Office Emergency Preparedness Plan in order to enable rapid scale up
- Ensure goods and services procured are cost effective and of standard quality
- Ensure procurement processes are effectively implemented
- Work closely with the procurement team in negotiating the best deals with suppliers
- Ensure proper record keeping, maintenance and control of inventory
- Ensure proper documentation and recording of fixed assets of the organisation
- Manage the fixed assets
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 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 South Sudan.
Emergency Response Management
- Strengthen the South Sudan CO organisational readiness to respond to emergencies in line with global emergency goal and benchmarks
- With support from Humanitarian Manager, ensure that the CO designs, updates and implements a full set of emergency preparedness actions, drawing on 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 emergency response
- In coordination with Country Director and Director for Program Design and Quality maintain consistent and coherent engagement in key inter-agency emergency preparedness and response coordination mechanisms including the Cluster system
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development – Program Operations
- Ensure appropriate staffing within Program Operations, including field offices staff
- Ensure that all staff understand and are able to perform their role in an emergency
- Manage 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
- Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process.
- Establish result based system and follow up
- Manage the performance of all staff in the Program Operations work area through:
- Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations;
- Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
- Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
- Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans
BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
- Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
- Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
- sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
- Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
- Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
- Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
- Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
- Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
- Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
- Willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential :
- Substantial management experience in an NGO environment, including significant field operations experience running both emergency and development programs
- Robust experience of NGO emergency program cycle management, and with experience of working within a complex and matrix organisation structure
- A very good understanding and working knowledge of at least 3 of the sectoral programs priorities of the Country Office
- Substantial experience in logistics/supply chain including procurement
- Significant knowledge of international humanitarian systems, institutions and donors (including OFDA, DFID, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, UNHCR, OCHA, ECHO) and of procedures, accountability frameworks and best practices in emergency management
- Substantial experience and knowledge of effective financial and budgetary control and securing and managing grants from major institutional donors
- Solid project management skills related to organisational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
- Ability to analyze information, evaluate options and to think and plan strategically
- An in-depth understanding of national and international development issues in particular in relation to children
- Previous experience of managing and developing a diverse team and the ability to lead, motivate and develop others
- Demonstrated credibility with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels of an organization
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
- Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours, and work with incoming teams in the event of major emergencies
- Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles including rights-based approaches
- Fluency in written and spoken English
- Experience working in South Sudan/Arab countries
Desired:
- Juba Arabic (minimum conversational)
- Master’s degree in related field
- Previous working experience in South Sudan
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 the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and 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.
Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.