Vacancy at Catholic Relief Services in Nigeria for Emergency Coordinator, Northeast Nigeria

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Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. 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.
 
Background
Now in its eighth year, the Lake Chad Basin crisis has been estimated to affect 10.7 million people in one of the world’s poorest, most drought-prone regions. As of February 2017, 7 million people in Northeast (NE) Nigeria are in severe need of humanitarian assistance, of which 4.7 million people are estimated to be food insecure. Despite a scale up in humanitarian assistance, significant gaps remain, as thousands of people affected by the conflict have not been reached with adequate humanitarian support. Communities are in immediate need of food, nutrition, WASH, emergency shelter, and NFIs to save lives and restore dignity. CRS has also identified agriculture and livelihoods as a key need and gap as the ongoing humanitarian response transitions to support early recovery and resilience. Social Cohesion forms an integral part of the overall response.
 
In order to effectively respond to the crisis, CRS’ Northeast Nigeria emergency and early recovery program provides a holistic support package including food assistance, nutrition, NFI, WASH, shelter, agriculture, livelihoods, and social cohesion for both IDPs and host families. Where possible, CRS seeks to maximize project impact, efficiency and effectiveness by adopting market based approaches through e-vouchers and empowering targeted communities through participatory approaches.
Specific Responsibilities
Duties include but are not limited to the following:
 
Program Management and Quality:

  • Ensure high quality project implementation to establish a reputation of CRS as an exceptional responder
  • Ensure the timely implementation of all project activities, in collaboration with geographical Heads of Offices and implementing partners
  • Ensure all emergency CRS and partner grants are managed effectively and within the duration of the agreement
  • Ensure there is close coordination of Emergency Response and Recovery activities with other CRS resilience and development programs in NE Nigeria
  • Ensure adherence with CRS guiding principles, program quality statements and standards by promoting the use of CRS Program Quality tools and manuals, including the Project Management Standards (PMS), ProPack III /SMILER for MEAL
  • Coordinate with the MEAL department to ensure quality, timely and relevant monitoring and evaluation, ensuring all emergency programs have quality beneficiary feedback mechanisms
  • Spearhead and mainstream consistent innovation and documentation of lessons learned as well as dissemination of those — both positive and negative — to the humanitarian community and donors
  • Provide support for the operationalization of Information, Communication and Technology for Development (ICT4D)
  • Track and manage the budgets for all emergency projects, conducting timely budget maintenance reviews and working with finance on correcting problems as they arise
  • Ensure accountability, gender equity, and protection principles are mainstreamed in all steps of the project cycle.
  • Coordinate field visits for staff, visitors, and teams travelling to the affected areas
  • Ensure that all activities strive to attain SPHERE and in-country Clusters’ standards
  • Be responsible for the final content of emergency project reports (review reports from PMs, provide feedback for improvement, support PMs to integrate the feedback, submit final reports to ED for review and submission).
  • Develop and maintain strong collaboration with CRS technical experts in the areas of emergency programs, shelter, Cash & Vouchers and other relevant sectors as needed
  • Be responsible for producing and maintaining up to date Past Performance References and Gateway records on all emergency projects.

Nigeria Emergency Programs Leadership:

  • Support the Emergency Director (ED), the Deputy Country Representative for North East Nigeria (DRC/NE) to operationalize the Emergency Response, and Recovery (ERR) Strategy for CRS Nigeria.
  • Support cohesive leadership to CRS programming in NE Nigeria, ensuring that priorities and opportunities identified are in line with ERR Strategy and goals
  • Ensure operating and other standards in the NE align and are integrated into the overall CP standards of operation, ensuring strong and collaborative working relationships with the Abuja operations and program teams
  • Ensure the emergency programs receives appropriate operational support for achievement of program outcomes
  • Lead emergency response teams, engaging them regarding their development plans, their professional aspirations, and managing/coaching them towards development objectives
  • Identify and manage talent by providing high quality mentoring and coaching of staff and partners
  • Address poor performance promptly and constructively, ensuring fair treatment of staff by identifying, documenting and providing adequate support to address performance and behavioral issues
  • Promote a work culture in line with CRS values: promotion of international and national talents, collaboration, and uniform adherence to CRS programming principles

New Programming:

  • Ensure new programming is in line with the ERR strategy
  • Lead the development of evidence-based, quality ERR proposals as opportunities arise. Perform as technical lead and/or lead writer as needed
  • Work with senior Nigeria staff to strategically use CP, regional private allocation funds to position CRS for further donor funding
  • Ensure needed project documents (such as proposal, SMILER, DIP) are in place for each new initiative and update as needed
  • Ensure Caritas and other partners’ capacities and visions are reflected in all activities

 
Capacity Building and Supervision:

  • Oversee project managers/officers and/or other CRS staff for emergency operations
  • Engage direct reports regarding their development plans, determine their professional aspirations, and manage/coach them towards development objectives
  • Provide high quality mentoring and coaching of staff and partners
  • Address poor performance promptly and constructively, ensuring fair treatment of staff by identifying, documenting and providing adequate support to address performance and behavioral issues
  • Promote a work culture in line with CRS values: promotion of international and national talents, collaboration, and uniform adherence to CRS programming principles
  • Whenever appropriate, organize CRS and Caritas combined responses to promote cross learning
  • Ensure that adequate staff (CRS and partner organizations’) are allocated to emergency activities to ensure quality implementation and follow up
  • Facilitate the necessary trainings (i.e. SPHERE standards, voucher methodology, etc.) for staff to implement quality programs.

Representation:

  • Develop contacts and partnerships with other humanitarian organizations in Nigeria
  • Coordinate with implementing partners through regular communication
  • Collaborate with key individuals, relevant Government Ministries, the local Catholic Church, counterpart institutions and NGOs, foreign and local NGOs, and UN agencies
  • Ensure CRS Nigeria is an influential and relevant actor in the NE humanitarian coordination structures
  • Promote the implementation of local area coordination in the NE response

 
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.
 

  • Serves with Integrity
  • Models Stewardship
  • Cultivates Constructive Relationships
  • Promotes Learning

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

Emergency Competencies:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff working in emergencies to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
 

  • Communicates strategically under pressure.
  • Manages stress and complexity.
  • Actively promotes safety and security.
  • Manages and implements high-quality emergency programs.

Qualifications:

  • Significant (minimum 5 years) experience in managing programs and human and financial resources, preferably in complex emergency situations
  • Possess a graduate degree in a development related field, or its equivalent
  • Sound management skills including a minimum of 5 years of field management experience in a development agency
  • Proven experience in establishing and maintaining effective partnerships
  • Proven track record of developing winning proposals for the US government, EU, UN, and/or other funding opportunities
  • Commitment to and understanding of gender sensitive approaches to programming and operations management
  • Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to navigate the humanitarian coordination system
  • Proven expertise in coordinating management and technical skill training programs to support the development of emergency response staff
  • Knowledge of CRS programming, Integral Human Development, SPHERE standards and Catholic Social Teaching principles preferred
  • Demonstrated knowledge/experience of integrating cross-cutting themes such as capacity building, gender, good governance, and peacebuilding
  • Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills
  • Excellent professional communications skills, both oral and written English
  • Ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions independently
  • Extremely flexible, and have the ability to cope with stressful situations in emergency environments
  • Demonstrated ability to provide leadership in strategic planning initiatives
  • Ability to work both as a motivating member and a leader of a diverse team
  • Strong computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point) necessary; familiarity with the application of ICT and GIS products in emergency preparedness and response an asset
  • Experience with staff care in emergency settings

Working Relationships:

Internal: Deputy Country Representative, Deputy Country Representatives (DCR/Operations, DCR/Agriculture, DCR/Northeast, DCR/Health), Heads of Operations (HoOPs/SCM, HoOPs/Finance, HoOPs/Northeast), Business Development, Emergency teams, Global and Regional Technical Assistants (including the Humanitarian Response Department),

External: Caritas Internationalis, Local Partners, Cluster leads and members, Emergency PVO Community, UN agencies, Donor agencies

 
Disclaimer: This JD is not an exhaustive list of the responsibilities of the position, and should the program transition into emergency response mode this position will include additional responsibilities as appropriate.
 
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Internal applicants are encouraged to apply within the first 10 days of posting.
EOE/M/F/D/V
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