The goal of Habitat for Humanity’s Puerto Rico Recovery Program is to address systemic barriers to achieving household and community resilience in Puerto Rico post hurricanes Irma and Maria. The focus of the program will be capacity building for homeowners and builders; repairs, reconstruction, and new home construction for disaster survivors; a tenure referral system; and assessments, advocacy, green building strategies and economic development supporting each part of the program.
Reporting to the Managing Director, the Head of Programs Consultant will oversee the development and roll-out of Habitat’s overall strategy and long-term vision for our Puerto Rico Recovery Program. This position will be responsible for quickly operationalizing, leading, and executing the recovery strategy for Phase I of a multi-phased approach. It will encompass supervisory functions, hands-on startup work, and external representation of the organization.
- Direct the overall recovery program activities for the Puerto Rico Recovery effort for the first 3-6 months, ensuring effectiveness and efficiency, while also minimizing organizational risk
- Supervise and steward the respective program departments – Construction, Capacity Building and Advocacy – including subject matter experts such as architects, engineers, and related program staff or consultants as projects require
- Lead and define the Operational Plan for Phase I of the program roll-out, including the development, functioning and management of the implementation systems
- Further, refine and develop Habitat’s programmatic approach and operations around Habitat’s goal to assist disaster-affected families in Puerto Rico access safe, affordable and resilient housing.
- Form productive partnerships with other stakeholders to collaborate on addressing housing and reconstruction issues
- Represent Habitat for Humanity at external meetings and support the Advocacy manager in identify ways that the organization can be a leader in advocating for land tenure
- Ensure program activities are operating effectively within organizational policy and in compliance with standards and codes applicable to Disaster Response, the construction industry and Habitat for Humanity
- Maintain and travel to current/proposed project areas to identify potential implementing partners, perform assessments, aid with project formulation and implementation; as well as manage the deployments of needed experts to project sites
- Provide oversight, monthly analysis and manage the project budgets ensuring efficient and effective use of resources (budget, timescales, deliverables, and impact)
- Establish metrics and reporting systems for the programs team and interventions; ensure that adequate monitoring and evaluation is conducted for all projects and provide regular reports to HFHI and other stakeholders, including capturing lessons learned and promising practices
- Provide programmatic inputs/details to resource development team in the development of funding proposals
- Work cross-functionally with headquarters staff and other departments locally to ensure effective program delivery as per approved contractual and donor requirements and overall organizational commitments
- Minimum 10 years of project management experience developing and executing high-quality strategies for large scale, > $20M USD, complex (disaster recovery preferable) programs
- Strong leadership skills and strategic thinking ability
- Experience engaging with government authorities on issues related to the better execution of programs
- Skills at building relationships and forming formal partnerships
- Familiarity with construction technology
- Ability to take initiative and work with little supervision
- Experience working in the housing sector
- Management Project Management, Architecture
- Experience managing USG grants
- Strong oral and written communication skills
Desirable:
- Strong oral and written communication skills in English and Spanish
- Experience with the housing sector in Puerto Rico
- Master’s degree in relevant field such as Management, Engineering, Disaster Recovery
- Proven ability developing and leading the creation of capacity building programs (for disaster recovery preferred)
- Experience working in a non-profit organization
- Experience working in the low-cost, residential housing construction sector
- Working knowledge of, or experience in, the field of Disaster Risk Reduction
- Community Development experience
- Preference for Appreciative Inquiry / Community Canvassing