Humanitarian Program Manager

Position: Humanitarian Program Manager

Location: Tehran, Iran (with frequent travel to the field)

Duration: 1 year with the possibility of extension

Reports to: Program Director

About RI:

Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in 18 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.

Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.

Relief International includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: RI-US, RI-UK, MRCA/RI-France and RI-Europe. Under our alliance agreement, we operate as a single, shared management structure. In addition, RI has country offices registered as affiliates of one of the alliance members in an additional 18 countries.

Position Summary:

RI is looking to expand its programming in humanitarian response, protracted relief and recovery, and development settings and is recruiting a Humanitarian Program Manager to oversee RI-Iran’s humanitarian and emergency response portfolio (including a number of concurrent ECHO grants as well as emergency response programming funded by institutional donors and private donations). The Humanitarian Program Manager, based in Tehran, will focus on designing new programs; providing technical support to quality and effective program implementation (including supervising activities, management of sectors, M&E, reporting), fund raising, advocacy and coordination with key actors; facilitating learning within the organization and building on best practices. The candidate is expected to be fluent in English – a knowledge of Farsi is considered an asset.

Position Responsibilities and Duties:

Leadership and Program Management (65%)

• Overall responsibility for the technical quality and standards for the implementation of Humanitarian grants (funded mainly by ECHO and private donations) across operational areas, in line with budgets and work-plans, focusing on producing the required deliverables
• Overall responsibility for supervising and supporting the timely and effective implementation of Humanitarian projects and activities, including achieving set indicator targets and objectives and adhering to global standards (including Sphere and the Core Humanitarian standards) and related donor contractual obligations.
• Conduct field visits to monitor implementation and consult with key stakeholders – and provide support to relevant members of the program team to ensure the timely and effective implementation of activities – determining gaps and needs and taking corrective measures within appropriate timelines.
• Conduct capacity building and/or mentoring activities for project staff and/or NGO partners as required. More specifically, mentor staff involved in Emergency Response and support the enhancement of the Emergency Response Capacity of the Organization.
• Coordinate with all RI-Iran sectors to integrate activities/indicators, especially through mainstreaming Protection and Cash programming.
• Liaise with the Grants & Partnership, Finance and Operations teams to ensure grants and programs align with forecasted expenditure.
• Coordinate closely with the Liaison department to ensure all authorizations are in place to implement project activities and MEAL activities.
• Communicate regularly with Heads of Office to discuss activity planning and implementation.
• Ensure appropriate links are established amongst humanitarian actions and the Development sector, incorporating the concept of ‘building back better’ as well as specific risk-reduction measures.
• Clearly define the training needs of staff and ensure they are able to access training and professional development resources appropriate to their skill gaps/needs.
• Manage the Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator, Coordinator: ECHO Grants and potentially additional team members as RI Iran’s Humanitarian team expands.
• Attend working groups with other international agencies when relevant and contribute to the development of harmonized and coordinated responses.
• Ensure that regular communication with donors to share updates on challenges and program progress takes place.

Strategic Decision-making and Program Development (15%)

• Contribute to the development of sector strategies and ensure all projects and activities are designed in coherence with other sectors.
• Provide leadership and take an active role in concept note and proposal writing and identify opportunities for future programming. Lead on the development of budgets, work-plans and logical frameworks, involving sector leads, heads of office and the Finance and M&E departments.
• In consultation with other staff, produce an annual work plan for activities that supports strategic priorities and aligns with the overarching humanitarian response.
• Promote adherence to standards and best practices, promoting local adaptation.

Monitoring and Reporting (10%)

• Ensure that MEAL plans/tools are in place for all Humanitarian grants.
• Take an active role in the monitoring of interventions; ensure the collation, analysis and sharing of data related to project activities and the overall context for the purpose of designing new interventions, and for donor advocacy and fundraising.
• Support the development of needs assessments and conduct in-depth analysis of needs assessment findings.
• Support field teams in ensuring that robust monitoring systems are in place and reviews are undertaken periodically.
• Develop SOPSs and tools for core sectors to mainstream child participation approaches throughout RI’s program.
• Lead on the development of project reports, including writing and providing data analysis for donor reporting and advocacy.

Contingency Planning and Capacity Building (10%)

• With the Program Director, take the lead on emergency preparedness and contingency planning.
• Identify urgent training needs in relation to technical standards and protocols for the delivery of key services to ensure their adoption and uniform application by all staff.
• Coordinate the dissemination of key technical materials and organize trainings with a special focus on standards and best practices.
• Lead on the strengthening of Emergency Response Capacity. Conduct workshops and ensure that a functioning roster of staff for Emergency Response is in place. Facilitate training when required.
• Draft internal alerts when alert thresholds are reached and develop situation reports when RI is involved in the response.

Areas of Expertise:

RI wishes to identify a Program Coordinator with demonstrated experience and expertise in:

• Programming in emergency, protracted crisis, and development settings with preference given to candidates with experience in Education (particularly ECCD), Non Formal Education (such as Accelerated Learning Programs), and Youth programming including (T)VET.
• Program design and development, most notably for the European Union (EU), ECHO, DEVCO, DFID, GFFO and global donors.
• Experience working in partnership with local organizations is desirable.
• Hands on experience designing and implementing programs in fragile states and for refugee and IDP populations.
• Strong technical writing skills for MEAL , reporting and strategic planning.
• Experience working with host-country governments/line ministries.
• Designing and performing needs / beneficiary assessments and M&E plans for projects.

Qualifications & Requirements:

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in demanding and often difficult environments.

• 5 years’ experience in relevant donor-funded projects.
• 2 years’ experience in a relevant field supporting project teams on full project cycle technical needs (design, implementation, MEAL)
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, tasks efficiently in high-stress environment
• Understanding and demonstrated ability and experience to train others on international standards related to education including INEE Standards etc.
• Speaking and writing fluency in English is required.
• Excellent time management skills, resourcefulness, with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work virtually with team members spread out around the world.
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
• Ability to think critically and creatively.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Excellent representation, presentation and communication skills.
• Creating an empowering and motivating environment; building relationships internally and externally.
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences.

RI Values:
We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

• Inclusiveness
• Transparency and Accountability
• Agility and Innovation
• Collaboration
• Sustainability