Team Lead – UK CSSF Project: Governance, Peace & Stability Mechanism for Yemen

ABOUT ARK Group:

ARK Group is a social enterprise, empowering local communities through the provision of agile and sustainable interventions to create greater stability, opportunity, and hope for the future.

We believe that resilient communities are the foundation of local, national, regional and international development and stability – and ultimately a safer, peaceful and more prosperous world. At ARK, we have delivered research and programmatic interventions validating this approach in over twenty countries since 2008. As a social enterprise we work in partnership with communities, our donors, and other implementers to build local capacities, generate opportunity and bring about sustainable change.

PURPOSE OF POSITION:

ARK and its consortium partners are seeking a Team Leader for a new Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) project in Yemen: Governance, Peace and Stability Mechanism for Yemen (GPSY) funded by the Government of the United Kingdom. The consortium is currently delivering programming in Yemen, and previously delivered together the CSSF-funded Yemen Stability in Support of Peace (YSSP) project in 2018/2019 which, based on lessons identified, recommended the creation of the GPSY.

Based in Amman, Jordan, the Team Lead will have primary responsibility for administering projects and partners funded through the programme. The programme will fund projects that are led and implemented by communities, support legitimate and representative local administrations, and support inclusive local and national peace agreements.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Team Lead will manage the overall operationalisation of the fund and management team, including acting as the first port of call for potential applicants to the fund, reviewing and developing concept notes and proposals for review and approval, performing a risk assessment and due diligence function with regards to all potential projects and partners, and being responsible for day to day monitoring of projects funded under the fund. The Team Lead will also be responsible for:

• Working to develop the capacity of applicants to the fund – particularly Yemeni organisations who may not be able to demonstrate initially the necessary skills or access, through the proposal development process and as specific outputs within their proposals, building local ownership;
• Receiving and developing funding proposals, managing disbursements to successful applicants, monitoring project implementation and reporting to the GPSY governance structure.

Other duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provide technical leadership and management oversight to ensure all activities and partners achieve the initiative’s targeted results;
• Serving as the programme’s principal liaison with CSSF and other relevant FCDO counterparts and implementing partners involved with the programme;
• Annual programming of activities and budgets;
• Coordinating programme teams;
• Managing and supervising the work of programme personnel and subcontractors;
• Managing consortium relationships and compliance with CSSF stipulations;
• Liaising with key national and state actors and representing the programme at an institutional level with the local host country national governments and the donor community;
• Recruitment and human resource management, including operational oversight;
• Identification and management of risks and opportunities.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• MBA or Masters degree or equivalent in International Affairs or closely related subject, including all relevant technical areas related to the scope of the intended programme;
• Experience in FCDO/HMG Funds Management, preferably in Yemen;
• Extensive experience managing multidisciplinary teams for governmental donors;
• Proven track record in programming and designing funds management, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, or capacity building development programs;
• Excellent networking skills and experience convening and managing local NGOs, CSOs, networks and other organisations and liaising with donors;
• Ability to work in complex and fluid environments;
• Experience with the DFID, UK FCO, and/or FCDO/CSSF;
• Considerable experience in disseminating learning and capacity building to practitioners, governments and industry actors and ability to generate robust learning and research from programmes;
• Significant prior experience in leading and managing large, complex international development projects, particularly in a fragile or humanitarian context;
• Fluency in English is a requirement; Fluency in Arabic preferred.

MORE ABOUT OUR COMPANY:

What Makes Us Different

We pride ourselves on being the first people able to access and operate in challenging fragile and conflict-affected environments. We are expeditionary by design and our systems and structures enable flexible and agile responses while ensuring safe, effective and compliant delivery.

Working with and through teams drawn from the communities in which we operate enables us to deliver impactful interventions built on intimate local understanding. In collaboration with our global network of international and local experts, we integrate nuanced understanding of the challenges we aim to solve with best practice and field-leading innovation to deliver programming that meets short-term stabilisation objectives and builds the evidence base and knowledge needed to lay the groundwork for long-term peacebuilding and development programming.

What We Do

We enjoy sectoral experience in civil society development, good governance, protection and human rights, refugees and migration, stabilisation, gender, security and justice, as well as cross-cutting experience in programme design and learning, organisational development and management, research and analysis, needs assessments, MEAL, communications and capacity building.

Our People

Today, our team covers a diverse range of professional backgrounds; from diplomacy, humanitarian, development and the military, to the UN, civil society groups, multilateral organisations, journalism and the private sector.

They bring sectoral expertise in civil society development, good governance, protection and human rights, refugees and migration, gender and security and justice, as well as practical experience in programme design and learning, organisational development and management, research and analysis, needs assessments, MEAL, communications and capacity building. The multi-disciplinary and multi-national nature of our team means the research we undertake and the programmes we deliver are grounded in empirical need and deliver measurable and sustainable impact.

ARK Group is an equal opportunity employer. We actively seek a diverse applicant pool and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. ARK Group does not discriminate on the basis of ability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. We welcome all kinds of diversity. ARK Group places human dignity at the centre of its development and stabilisation work and is thus committed to the protection from sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adults. All ARK Group employees and related-personnel are expected to share this commitment, and only those who also uphold these values will be recruited as part of our team. This vacancy is therefore subject to a range of due diligence checks.