The goal of the Emergency Response (EMR) team is to reduce suffering and save lives in regions affected by acute natural disasters, disease outbreak, and complex emergencies. The EMR team reduces suffering and saves lives in regions affected by acute natural disasters, disease outbreak, and complex emergencies through fast, flexible emergency response funding, capacity building, and innovative learning initiatives that enable communities to build back better in emergency settings where need outstrips capacity.
The Senior Program Officer will support the development and oversight of a portfolio of complex grants and contracts to advance the Emergency Response Strategy. This role works closely with the Deputy Director, Emergency Response, our key external partners, and the programmatic teams to support strategic direction, identify interdependencies, track progress and key learnings.
The SPO will focus their time predominantly on the Learning and Innovation Initiative. This initiative requires deep partnership with the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WSH), Maternal, Neonatal & Child Health (MNCH), as well as Financial Services for the Poor (FSP) teams. As part of the Learning and Innovation Initiative, this role will also support the analysis of the key lessons learned from the Refugee and Protracted Crises work and additional strategic projects as needed.
- Lead, develop and/or facilitate the implementation of concurrent initiatives requiring complex, multi-disciplinary, cross-functional, internal & external stakeholder, and project/change management.
- Perform research and provide clear and insightful written analyses as needed to inform and support strategic directions, trade-offs and funding decisions including drafting proposal analysis recommendations and progress report analysis for existing grants for review by foundation stakeholders. Analyze grant budgets. Review grantee reports.
- Regularly report on progress and consolidating initiative level learning, identifying barriers and gaps to achieving initiative outcomes and proposing solutions.
- Support the development of the operational capacity of government agencies or implementation partners.
- Guide relationships with select, critical grantees or government partners.
- Consult with grantees and other partners to enhance the impact of projects and ensure optimal learning. This may include: site visits, providing operational guidance and convening meetings of key stakeholders.
- This role is responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with foundation strategy teams as well as grantees and partners in the field.
- Ability to work effectively and sensitively across barriers such as language, culture, and distance, International and developing country work experience is preferred.
- Ability to be flexible, to work well in a small team environment, and adapt to other duties/projects, as assigned.
- A sense of humor
- 7years of direct experience overseeing international emergency relief/humanitarian response programs required. 12+ years of experience preferred.
- Exposure to at least one of the programmatic areas in which the EMR team operates (e.g., financial services, water & sanitation, maternal and childhealth), strongly preferred.
- Excellent written and oral communications skills and the ability to communicate with a broad and diverse audience. Superb relationshipmanagement skills to work with internal stakeholders and members of the global professional community as an authority within the humanitarian field.
- Ability to prioritize, focus and achieve results in an exciting and complexenvironment
- Work on complex matters or unique issues. Analysis of situations requires evaluation of intangibles. Exercise self-guided judgment in developing methods, techniques and evaluating criteria for obtaining results.
- Represent the foundation with stakeholders (may include: public and private entities', grantee organizations, other funders, universities, think tanks, government agencies). Collaborate with foundation colleagues in related program areas to take advantage of cross-sectorial grant-making.
- Meaningful familiarity and understanding of the foundation’s priorities and culture.
- Ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, enthusiasm, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a complex team effort.
- Ability to travel 20 – 40% of the time
This is a Limited Term Employee(LTE) role and the anticipated duration of this role is through the end of 2018.