Millennium Water Alliance in Ethiopia Job Vacancy for Program Director

The Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) transforms people’s lives through safe water, basic sanitation and good hygiene practices. The MWA mission is to model collaborative pathways to full coverage in water, sanitation and hygiene for people in developing countries. MWA is a consortium of leading development organizations helping to bring safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education to the world’s poorest people. We work with governments, corporations, foundations, individuals, and other non-governmental organizations to advance best practices, share knowledge, build collaborations, and advocate for greater commitment to this global goal.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Ethiopia Program Director will work closely with the MWA Ethiopia team and MWA Ethiopia members to design and implement high quality program around the MWA Global Strategy and donor strategies in Ethiopia.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

· Reports to: East Africa Regional Director (If the East Africa Regional Director position is vacant then reports to MWA Executive Director in the interim)

· Staff directly reporting to this post: All MEL and other Ethiopia program-specific staff

· Other vital relationships:

o Internal: key relationships with MWA Executive Director and Program Director; East Africa Regional Director and Program Coordinator; MWA Ethiopia team.

o External: Strong relationships and leadership role with MWA Ethiopia members and donors; government leadership and other WASH sector actors in Ethiopia

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

· Provide leadership of MWA collaborative programs in Ethiopia

· Promote strong coalition building across MWA members in Ethiopia and provide consistent communication, shared learning and strategizing across MWA members

· Ensure high quality, well-coordinated program implementation and knowledge management and communication documentation of program learnings and outcomes

· Provide assistance with ongoing sensitization of the MWA regional and global strategies with MWA staff, members and collaborators

· Promote and support development of an organisational culture that reflects collegiality and peer support, accountability and high performance, innovativeness and continuous quality improvement, respect and effective team communication

· Establish, maintain, and improve working relationships with key Ethiopia donors, governments, strategic partners and other collaborators within the country

· Visit program sites periodically to learn and support implementation and new program development

· Provide high level representation and communication about program achievements to government and other key stakeholders

Programme Design and Technical Assistance

• With support from the Regional Director, ensure that MWA is implementing quality WASH programs that are government-led/supported and proactively utilising market-based approaches to attain sustainability and scale
• Oversee the design, implementation and monitoring of all longer term technical goals, objectives and activities of programs in Ethiopia
• Ensure that the different technical sectors of the program are coordinated, integrated and support each other to optimize programmes and projects
• Support members and program teams as needed with obtaining technical assistance and capacity
• Convene and lead regular country program meetings including country director meetings and technical working group meetings
• Lead the program teams in developing and submitting all necessary reports and documents to the local/country governments and to donors
• Provide grant reports to Regional Program Coordinator for review
• Stay informed about activities in the country and innovations that MWA might want to consider testing or using
• Ensure that program offices are keeping appropriate financial records and staying on budget

· Develop, in collaboration with MWA members, national and regional supporting strategies and take the lead in coordinating the implementation of those

· Lead program relationship development activities with government officials and supporting government in Achieving their WASH goals

Knowledge Management

· Collect and share ideas from programs that should be disseminated for mutual learning

· Oversee Knowledge Management so that all program minutes, reports, proposals, documents are accurately labelled and stored in a shared MWA repository

· Share lessons learned or interesting findings with global communications director to facilitate knowledge management and communications materials

· Help to position MWA as a regional expert via sharing of tools , presentations in high level forums and lessons learned

• Support members in documenting and share research, pilots, innovations and lessons learned. Ensure that MWA staff have time to generate knowledge management pieces for learning and sharing.
• Write and design communications documents to leverage program based evidence for advocacy and development and learning purposes, including internal documents, narrative articles, and external publications
• Coordinate workshops/meetings in collaboration with program/country offices by country or region or topic to facilitate knowledge sharing
• Collect and share ideas from programs that should be disseminated for mutual learning
• Produce at least two learning documents each year for sharing among members or in the WASH sector

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Oversee development, execution and periodic review of program MEL
• Convene regular learning events to ensure that all members are getting learning value from the program
• Utilize program learnings to influence modifications to the program to increase program value
• Support MEL personnel in analysis of field data to be used in program reporting, learning and program improvements, including qualitative and quantitative statistical analysis and narrative evidence from MWA programs

Membership Value-add

· Provide and promote regular communication and transparency among MWA staff and MWA members in the country

· Engage in frequent communication with members to ensure collaborative relationships and shared value

· Seek ways to provide and improve value for MWA members through the above objectives and other opportunities that are developed

· Continuously look for new strategic partners that may add value or collective impact to MWA programs

Additional Responsibilities

· Notice, understand and resolve any issues that develop between members or within the MWA Ethiopia programs.

· Exercise political acumen and elevate issues to appropriate level when needed

· Conduct performance reviews and future objective development and provide guidance, coaching, and/or remedial steps to staff

· Lead or serve on program teams as helpful to accomplish above goals or support MWA activities

· Present or facilitate sessions at national or regional events and represent MWA at events

· Engage in relevant regional networks to learn and represent MWA

· Develop thematic areas of expertise based on gaps in the country in MWA staff and utilize knowledge to support program development and implementation and knowledge management

· Additional duties as needed to support national or global objectives

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Masters in environmental studies, development, engineering, public health, or similar field with at least 7 years in design and implementation of programs in development context. Experience with international NGOs or UN Agencies is an added advantage. Good understanding of Ethiopian government policies and structures related to water systems desired.
• Experience in partnership development, maintaining strong professional relationships and effective at diplomatic communications.
• Strong ability to communicate (written and oral) and present publicly in both English and Amharic
• Experience in engaging with government, civil society and donors at a high/strategic level
• Experience in convening and leading meetings and leading teams towards a shared vision
• Experience/skills in implementing strategic plans, resource mobilisation plans and developing funding proposals
• Solid experience with developing and managing monitoring and learning systems, including Knowledge/experience/ skills in developing and using Logframes and/or Results Frameworks
• Good analytical skills
• Effective negotiator with the ability to positively influence cross departmental and cross sector working
• Resource management, training, capacity building, coaching, and mentoring skills
• Good understanding and knowledge of gender equity and diversity
• Ability and willingness to sometimes flexible hours depending on travel and pressing needs or the organization
• Commitment to and understanding of MWA vision and mission and principles guiding the alliance
• Ability to analyse information and transform it into both technical and non-technical written documents or presentations