01 Project Director

ATTRACTIVE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFESSIONALS

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, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

CRS is seeking to hire a Project Director.

This position is contingent on receiving funding from the donor.

BACKGROUND:
CRS is seeking a three-year U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local and Regional Purchase (LRP) grant. The project will support the Burkina Faso Ministry of Education (MoE) to improve school canteen procurement systems. Based in Ouagadougou, the LRP targets the supply of locally produced and procured nutritious foods for public primary schools in the Center North region.

Primary Responsibility:
The Project Director will be responsible for the overall management of the program. This includes all aspects of food supply chain management, similar to a “Farm to Fork” approach, involving producers, and transporters, as well as institutional capacity building with the School Feeding program of the Ministry of Education, Literacy, and Promotion of National Languages (MENAPLN)to strengthen and implement local procurement mechanisms to ensure sufficient nutritious foods for grade school children attending government schools in the Centre Nord Region. The position requires significant coordination with partners including the Ministry of Agriculture, mayors, School Management Committees (COGES), and others at the national and local levels as well as project management skills for timely start-up, implementation and close-out involving close financial and commodity management; office management; and staff supervision.

The Project Director will focus equally on program quality and on management quality. The ideal candidate will have prior experience managing LRP and institutional capacity strengthening programs, or similar.

Job Responsibilities: (not an exhaustive list of the skills, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position)

Leadership and Program Quality
• Lead CRS and stakeholders to ensure the project’s strategic objectives and results are fully accomplished and meet expected technical quality standards for both food safety, quality assurance, and the CRS Project Management Standards;
• Lead the planning of project activities in line with program targets for improved small-holder farmer productivity, improved child nutrition, increased government capacity, and stronger food market systems (processing, wholesaling, retailing, food service, and transportation) for school feeding; work with the project team and partners to develop annual implementation plans; track progress on a regular basis to ensure timely completion of activities and prepare and share timely reports on project advances.
• Ensure program activities and approaches; document lessons learned; adopt best practices in gender-responsiveness, protection, governance, and participant accountability;
• Oversee the project’s monitoring and evaluation system, ensuring it is compliant with the CRS MEAL policy, including regular technical reviews, and using data analysis as the basis for measuring performance and decision making.
• Ensure that M&E data/results are integrally linked with learning and programmatic adjustment as program plans evolve;
• Ensure a gender audit is conducted at the beginning of the project and that the resulting recommendations are taken into consideration for a higher impact of the intervention;
• With the partner, ensure communities are active actors in the project implementation and that CP commitments as regards the participation of the different community groups are realized;
• Ensure integration and coordination of program interventions with other USG funded programs in the geographic target areas, and with other stakeholders for consistency and to avoid duplication;
• Ensure the delivery of quality training, technical assistance, and administrative and financial support to all partner agencies and government.

Management and Administration
• Manage project budgets, including tracking of financial and material resources and timely reporting; provide support to project partners for timely reporting and financial liquidations. Approve project expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors;
• Ensure staff compliance with all USDA and CRS administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations;
• Oversee timely procurement, efficient distribution and delivery of food commodities;
• Actively promote compliance with key CRS policies and procedures relevant for the effective operations of a CRS sub-office. For example, orientation training for new sub-office staff should address relevant internal controls. Attention should be paid to the CRS Internal Control Policy (POL-FIN-ICS-024), the Segregation-of-Duties Procedure (POL-FIN-ICS-024.02), the Financial Resource Control in Cash Environments Procedure (PRO-FIN-CAS-007.01), the Agency’s Procurement Manual, and the Staff Safety and Security Guidelines.
• Ensure coordination with Operations for commodity logistics, admin, HR, procurement, etc., and with the Head of Operations, take timely, concrete actions to resolve any recommendations arising from audits and periodic monitoring of internal controls at the Country Program’s office.

Representation and Advocacy
• Closely coordinate with the MENAPLN on institutional capacity development plans to build centralized and decentralized capacity for strong school canteen management
• Provide leadership and oversight to project partners and contractors to accomplish objectives and meet sub-award or contract terms and work cooperatively and productively together;
• Serve as primary contact to USDA (via the HQ Donor Liaison) for the project, taking responsibility for addressing all project matters, collaborating with the CRS Country Representative and Head of Programs on overall donor relationships;
• Strengthen linkages with existing and potential partner agencies, and GoBF, in collaboration with CRS Country Representative, the Head of Programming and MGD Chief of Party;
• Oversee project communication strategies including compliance with donor’s branding and marketing requirements as well as CRS’ marketing and communication procedures.

Human Resource Management
• Lead, manage, and supervise a team of CRS and partner staff to meet program objectives;
• Conduct periodic reviews of staff performance per CRS’ performance management system and mentor staff to ensure high levels of motivation, commitment, capacity, and teamwork;
• Manage recruitment for the program, in collaboration with CRS country program management, to ensure optimum service delivery via recruitment of competent and qualified staff.

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience
• Master’s degree (BAC +5) in International Development, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Marketing, or related field
• Prior knowledge and experience in managing food supply chains, particularly LRP, highly desired
• Knowledge of informal food production, processing, and marketing systems, highly desired
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience with at least 5 years’ experience in management
• Experience implementing ICT solutions (M&E and distance learning) highly desired
• Previous supervisory experience required
• Previous experience managing USG funds
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team, but self-motivated and accountable
• Excellent written and spoken English and French
• Strong computer skills

Personal Skills
• Very good strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Very good relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.
Required Foreign Language: Excellent English and French language oral and written skills required

Travel Required: up to 30%

Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory:
MEAL Officer, Procurement Officer, and Field Coordinator
Internal: Head of Programming, MGD Chief of Party, Country Representative, Head of Operations, LRP MEAL Officer, Systems Strengthening Manager, Admin Manager, Human Resources, Procurement Officer, Project Team, HQ Education Advisor, Regional Technical Advisors (Financial Officer, Nutrition, WASH, Commodities)

External: Ministry of Education, Literacy, and Promotion of National Languages; Ministry of Agriculture; Primary school parents and teachers; Commune-level government officials

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

Program Manager Competencies
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each program manager to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning

MEAL Competencies
Within the agency’s MEAL Competencies Model, these are identified as key MEAL competencies related to the program manager’s roles and responsibilities.
• MEAL in Design
• ICT for MEAL
• Learning
• Management in MEAL

Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.



What we offer
CRS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, vision and the opportunity to work in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that is committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.