Conflict has displaced over 3.4 million Iraqis within the country and brought 240,000 refugees from Syria to Iraq. World Vision has been responding to the crisis in Iraq since 2014 and works in the three governorates of the Kurdish region, Ninewa and Kirkuk serving over 930,000 refugees and internally-displaced persons (IDPs). The major concentration of the response work is on beneficiaries displaced living outside of camps, particularly those who have settled in unused buildings and non-camp structures who are underserved and highly vulnerable. WV Iraq provides humanitarian assistance in the following sectors: in-kind and cash-based Food Programming, Child Protection, Health, WASH and Livelihoods.
As part of WV Iraq’ Senior leadership Team (SLT), the Program Development & Quality Assurance (PDQA) Manager leads the Programmes Department, consisting of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Unit (MEAL), the Grant Acquisition and Management Unit (GAM) and the team of Technical Specialists.
The purpose of the position is to lead the MEAL unit to ensure that systems are in place to measure the quality of the programmes implemented by the operations unit, ensure high quality data is available to demonstrate impact and identify areas for improvements in programme implementation.
Further, the purpose is to lead the GAM unit to identify funding opportunities that will help WV to ensure its mid- to long-term presence in Iraq with innovative and high-impact programmes with a focus on the most vulnerable members of society, regardless of status or background.
Thirdly, the position will lead the unit of Technical Specialists to ensure holistic, quality designs are applied across all projects and funding streams.
The incumbent will therefore take a leading role in the definition of a mid-term strategy for WV in Iraq.
Strategic Leadership:
- Lead the development of mid- to long-term programming through solid designs and evidence-based practices that address root causes, increase resilience, transform systems and relationships, increase social cohesion and respond to all situations of fragility for vulnerable children in Iraq regardless of background or status.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure optimal integration of programming with field operations, grant acquisition and support functions.
- Lead the development of a mid-term strategy for World Vision in Iraq in line with Our Promise 2030.
- Actively engage in the Senior Leadership Team meetings and action planning.
Programme Quality:
- Provide key oversight, technical guidance and management support to the MEAL team.
- Ensure MEAL systems and processes are of the highest quality.
- Ensure that reports for donors and Support Offices meet high-level standards.
- Ensure a high functioning and active accountability system is in place for all WV projects.
- Ensure an active learning component to project and programming and ensure dissemination of learning on best practices to continuously improve program quality.
- Establish a centralized Information Management Systems that capture field level data and produce remotely accessible and easy to understand information on PDQA processes.
Technical Quality & Support:
- Lead the international and national-level Technical Specialists, ensuring holistic, quality designs across all funding streams according to prioritized child well-being and donor objectives, appropriate and contextualized evidence-based practices, and indicators for sustainability. All designs should respond to the specific situation of fragility for targeted communities.
- Ensure technical expertise is provided to the Operations unit.
- Work with flexibility and agility to ensure Technical Specialists are available to organizational needs, including grant designs (development of logframes, M&E plans, ITTs, work plan & budgets, etc).
- Ensure surge support is obtained, in consultation with the Response Centre and the Regional Office, from additional internal or external resources (e.g. Disaster Management Team, Technical Service Organization or consultants).
- Ensure appropriate external representation of Technical Specialists at the national and international level in line with external engagement priorities, which includes donors, partners, host government, academia, and other appropriate humanitarian stakeholders.
- Ensure WV Iraq’s capacity is expressed through technical briefs and capacity statements for use with external engagement and donor positioning.
- Ensure incorporation of internal and international humanitarian standards (Sphere, CHS and ICRC) into all project designs and implementation.
Resource Acquisition, Grant Management & Donor Compliance:
- Provide key oversight, technical guidance and management support to the GAM Senior Programme Officer and team.
- Ensure funds are raised through establishing adequate fundraising strategies that are in line with Our Promise 2030 strategy and the Iraq Response Strategy and based on diversified sources of funds to achieve ongoing mid- to long-term presence in Iraq.
- Ensure quality preparation of grant proposals, budgets, reports and other design documents for World Vision’s partnerships and major donors.
- Ensure appropriate budgeting and close collaboration with support functions to determine project and support costs at competitive ratios.
- Ensure that GAM systems and procedures are in place to support effective grant quality and compliance and positive audit results.
- Provide portfolio and projection analysis to inform the Senior Leadership Team, in particular the Response Director of trends and options.
- Ensure that grants are managed effectively through strategic reviews and monthly reporting tools.
- Ensure tracking systems are in place to track grant pipeline, all proposals developed, awarded, grants implemented and closed-out, grant compliance and implementation.
External Engagement:
- Serve as the central focal point for WV Iraq’s external engagement strategy.
- Develop external engagement strategies with SLT.
- Ensure that donor visits are strategic, well timed and smoothly executed and managed.
- Coordinate with other SLT members in representing WV at national level coordination meetings with donors and when appropriate, with other INGOs, local organizations, and high-level government officials.
- Coordinate WV Iraq participation in key donor meetings.
- Facilitate the growth of WV Iraq’s program by cultivating good working relationships with major (government/private) donors including ECHO, USAID, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, GAC, GOG, and other relevant in-country donor institutions, NGO community, local partners and World Vision Support Offices.
- Contribute to the development of communications and marketing materials for internal and external promotion on WV Iraq’swork.
Staff Management, Performance & Workload:
- Effectively manage the workload of direct reports.
- Support individual team members in achieving their performance management and learning goals.
- Ensure performance plans and reviews are done periodically for all staff within the GAM and MEAL units and among the team of Technical Specialists in a timely fashion and in line with P&C requirements.
- Build a functional Programme Department with national capacity.
- Organize and lead team building exercises and staff retreats.
Other Tasks:
- Abide by the security policies and procedures and actively contribute to a positive security culture.
- Assist with administrative tasks including financial reports, purchasing and organizing events/trainings as necessary.
- Undertake duty travels and participate in meetings as required.
- Attend and participate in capacity building events locally and internationally.
- Attend and participate in WV Iraq’s spiritual nurture events.
- Support change management and engagement processes.
- Serve as Acting Response Director (RD) in absence of the RD.
- Understanding of both humanitarian assistance/emergency relief and development work, especially of child-focused concepts, approaches and processes.
- Good knowledge and understanding of key aspect of humanitarian aid/emergency relief and development work including education, child protection, health livelihood, and WASH.
- Knowledge of major donor requirements and funding sources.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in English, including report-writing and proposal writing.
- Ability to engage with representatives of government, NGOs, UN agencies and donors.
- Excellent relationship building and people management skills.
- Thorough understanding of relief and development principles
- Good understanding of applicable standards, especially the Core Humanitarian Standard, and Inter-Agency standing Committee guidelines.
- At least seven years of experience in programme development roles or equivalent including at a senior level with international NGOs, including proven experience in project design and submission of winning proposals.
- Experience in humanitarian aid/emergency relief and development work.
- Exemplary knowledge of tools and methods used for Monitoring and Evaluation, such as statistics and SPSS.
- Outstanding written communication skills in English.
- Significant experience with a wide range of institutional donors and funding agencies, such as the European Union (including ECHO), UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, Global Affairs Canada, US government branches, branches of EU member state’s governments, especially of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:
- English written and verbal fluency required.
- Fluency in Arabic and/or Kurdish a plus.
- Solid knowledge in Microsoft Office.
- Prior experience with World Vision is a distinct advantage.
Work Environment:
- The position is based in Erbil, Iraq (Kurdistan).
- The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically to Baghdad and project sites which are located in the three governorates of the Kurdish region, Ninewa and Kirkuk.
- The position requires occasional international travel, mainly to the Regional Office in Nicosia, Cyprus (about twice per year).