Chief of Party II–Education Resilience Activity (ERA)

JOB DESCRIPTION

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Job Summary:

As Chief of Party, you will provide vision, leadership and overall management of the USAID, Education Resilience Activity (ERA) in Pakistan project to serve the poor and vulnerable. The key objective of the Education Resilience Activity is to support Pakistan to improve the education systems’ climate resilience and inclusiveness of marginalized populations – particularly girls and children with disabilities. Your strategic leadership, management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in Education Resilience field. As a senior leader you will represent the program and CRS vis-à-vis key strategic stakeholders and partners across different government reports, consortium members, civil society, and communities. You will also proactively manage staff safety, access, and mitigate different accountability and security risks. You will collaborate with Ministerial stakeholders and other critical partners to provide strategic and high-level support for effective capacity building at the local level and sustainability of the project interventions.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of the USAID Education Resilience Activity (ERA) project, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Serve as the primary point of contact to USAID as well as Government of Pakistan, other donors, the private sector, civil society organizations and community actors and stakeholders and act at all levels (national, regional, and community) and provide overall strategic direction in the design, management, implementation, monitoring and overall quality assurance of the project.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability. Ensure coordination between program and operations leads. Ensure the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL policy and procedures.
• Effectively manage senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
• Promote, uphold, and model commitment to the efficient use of agency and donor resources. Ensure compliance with USAID grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to USAID. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
• Represent CRS programming in international circles, highlighting innovative work. Publish program results and deliver presentations. Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
• Manage relationships with consortium partner organizations, including organization of review/planning workshops. Coordinate the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation inline with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Excellent relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching/mentoring skills.
• Strong communications and presentation skills; able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Established leader in Education sector as demonstrated by peer reviewed publications, conference presentations etc.
• Demonstrated experience of successful program management, including management of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects, with complicated logistics.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Ability to represent and present at high levels.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.

Required Languages – English languages required to perform the job

Travel– The position is based in Islamabad, but the job requires travel up to 50% of the time.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Deputy Chief of Party, Senior Technical Advisor Inclusive Education, Director of Finance and Operations and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Advisor.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Country Program Staff (including Country Manager, Head of Programmes, Head of Operations, Finance Manager etc), Regional/HQ Team including RD, DRD PQ, TAs Education, Resilience and Private Sector

External: USAID, Gov’t of Pakistan Ministry of Education at Federal and Provisional levels, UN/INGO/NNGO education sector actors, Disable People Organizations/Networks etc

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development, International Relations or a relevant technical area. PhD preferred.
• 10 or more years’ relevant management and technical experience in similar education intervention activities and experience managing complex international donor-funded development activities in challenging environments (USAID experience preferred).
• 7 years’ experience, managing donor funds, including multi country grants. Excellent knowledge and experience in budget management.
• 5 years of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning.
• Experience in strengthening the climate resilience of education systems.
• Strong experience in inclusion of marginalized populations – particularly girls and children with disabilities.
• In-depth knowledge of USAID approaches and regulations.
• environment. Experience coaching and mentoring senior program staff.

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

Note: All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside their home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical examination.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or global telecommuter, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer