Associate Director, Program Operations

The Associate Director in Program Operations manages Habitat for Humanity International’s (HFHI) Asia Pacific Area Office (AP AO) Program Operations – Disaster Risk Reduction and Response (DR3) team. It includes technical, and subject matter experts involved in developing programs for improved capacity to effectively mainstream and implement risk reduction initiatives within National Organizations (NOs), and Habitat Branches across the spectrum of emergency, recovery, and developing programs. This position is also responsible for addressing natural hazards, man-made, or complex humanitarian emergencies, liaises with regional shelter, and DR3 actors.

1. Leads Habitat for Humanity International Asia Pacific (HFHI AP) readiness through the acceptance and adaptation of the programmatic framework, Theory of Change (TOC), and strategy development to improve programming design and HFH country offices to respond to disasters and humanitarian emergencies:

• Establishes the development of HFH AP Program Response Deployment by pre-identifying needed roles and existing skills/capacity throughout HFH AP Area Office in coordination with AP Human Resource, Learning & Organizational Development (HRLOD) team
• Leads the development and implementation of HFH AP strategy, standard operating procedures, and protocols for program support, and humanitarian emergency response deployment
• In coordination with relevant departments in AP AO, leads capacity building and training efforts for AP AO , NOs and Branch Offices personnel on program response protocols including but not limited to simulation exercises on deployment safety and security, working in emergency environment, logistics and procurement, field assessments, coordination and communication, standards and cross cutting issues, self-care, and stress management
• Works closely with HQ, NOs, Branch Offices, and Partners in conducting assessments in support of conceptualization, and design of program interventions for improvement of DR3
• Identifies and develops partnerships with agencies to increase HFHI disaster responses in regional and country level

2. Builds capacity and provides support to HFHI and HFH National Offices, Branch Offices and Partners to design and implement HFHI programs

• Leads strategic partnerships with other organizations in the areas of housing and human settlements in alignment with the HFHI strategic plan
• Provides direction, leadership, and backstop support for the development, implementation, and management of all program interventions within AP
• Provides supervision in design and implementation of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) projects by NOs, including behavior change components
• Ensures that quality program development is integrated, and addressed in country level strategic plans, and programs within AP
• Ensures communication and sharing of information with HQ, and provides high quality strategic and operational support to HFH’s NOs, Branch Offices, and Partners in the AP region to mainstream D3, Mitigation, and Climate Change Adaptation measures in HFH’s regular housing projects
• Supports the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter (TCIS) through construction expertise in order to implement market-based initiatives conducive to increasing families served with owner-driven housing interventions, incremental improvements, and community-level capacity building
• Assists in the alignment of country programmatic strategies to encompass HFHIs TOC, programmatic framework, and metrics systems

3. Advances the development of the HFHI AP DR3 Community of Practice, Housing Solutions and Construction Appropriate Technologies (CAT) as a mechanism to mainstream risk reduction throughout all HFH programming in Asia Pacific

• Participates actively in the HFHI Global Program Task Team, DR3 and WASH Community of Practice
• Leads HFHI AP DR3 Community of Practice and liaise with other HFH related communities of practice such as CAT, Urban, and WASH
• Creates opportunities of collaboration for on-going interactions between subject matter experts (SMEs) throughout AP in Urban Development, CAT, Housing and Land Policy, Housing Support Services, Market Development, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene
• Ensures that the program implementation follows the housing quality standards (HQS) and construction quality assurance processes for Habitat’s housing solutions, site development and infrastructure interventions

4. Supports interventions in urban settings (land tenure issues, slum upgrading, infrastructure, governance, urban disaster response and resilience, etc.) by NOs and AP AO

• Engages with external and internal Community of Practices and contribute to the development of HFHI-programmatic approaches, in alignment with humanitarian shelter sector promising practices and industry-accepted standards
• Assists and participates in the effective rollout of a community based feedback mechanism within all HFH AP housing programs

5. Engages and connects HFHI to peer agencies and networks (internal and external), authorities and donor communities

• Provides representation of HFH within AP at appropriate tables (e.g. regional shelter cluster, humanitarian and relief networks, shelter conferences and symposiums, GFN, HQ, UN agencies, IFRC, DFID, OCHA, ECHO, USAID-OFDA, etc.)
• Assists with regional pre-positioning with Foundations, Organizations, Institutions (FOI) and corporate donors
• Engages in the development of industry-wide position papers, best practice documents and standards on behalf of HFHI-AP and HFHI
• Supports resource development and fundraising initiatives by contributing content for grants, proposals and reporting; develops relationships with relevant international donors

6. Department Management and Organizational Strengthening

• Leads, managers and develops the team through empowerment, coaching and mentoring
• Leads mitigation measures for risks identified within the Program Operations department during Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process
• Provides technical leadership to NOs and AP AO initiatives
• Serves as member of the board of trustees for designated countries as may be assigned
• Assists in nurturing an organizational culture and maintain systems that create an environment that implements Habitat for Humanity’s code of conduct and related policies

• Other related duties as assigned by Supervisor

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree with preference for postgraduate degree in social sciences, development studies, architecture/engineering or project management
• 10+ years working experience on managing humanitarian response and development projects and programming for poor communities, pro-poor social or housing policy, or developing low-cost housing solutions in both rural and urban environments

Qualifications:

• Experience coordinating or working with other development and humanitarian actors such as the UN, Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, World Bank, National Governments, Institutional donors (EU, USAID, FCDO etc), INGOs, and INGO coordinating bodies, etc.
• Track record in stewardship, servant leadership, and project management; preferably with work experience in multiple Asia Pacific countries