Head of Program – Pakistan

WORK CONTEXT

Cesvi has been working in Pakistan since 2005 while supporting the earthquake victims, floods-affected populations, conflict-affected IDPs, returnees, and host communities.

Cesvi has invested in development projects in remote regions in the country. In the emergency context, Cesvi developed expertise specifically in Health, WASH, Shelter & NFIs, Food Security & livelihood, and Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction (DRR) with protection, gender, and inclusion (PGI) as cross-cutting sectors.

CESVI has been working with different donors, such as ECHO, the EU, OFDA/USAID (now USAID-BHA), UNFAO, UNWFP, UNOCHA, UKAid/FCDO, Italian Cooperation, SDC, PIDSA, PHPF, and more. Since 2017, Cesvi Pakistan has been actively operating in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In Sindh, Cesvi has executed multiple projects in districts like Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, and Tharparkar over the past decade, including flood relief and COVID-19 response efforts funded by ECHO in the last two years.

Currently, Cesvi Pakistan is implementing three projects funded by ECHO in Sindh, Balochistan, and Punjab.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the guidance and supervision of the Cesvi Head of Mission (HoM) and Regional Manager, the Head of Program will coordinate and be responsible for all the activities related to program management and the following deliverables:

• Oversight and technical backstopping of Cesvi programs to ensure quality program delivery and effective grants management
• Analyze Cesvi programs and update Cesvi Pakistan country strategy for effective engagement with diverse actors at strategic, partnership, donor, and stakeholder levels
• Ensure timely and quality implementation of ongoing projects about contractual obligations
• Work with all departments/units, i.e., logistics, finance, and program, to follow up on project and program activities and achievements
• Liaise with area coordinators, MEAL, and technical coordinators to ensure the production of quality reports across areas, projects, and donors
• Ensure implementation of effective contract management, compliance, and upward and downward accountability principles across the country program
• Channelized energies for effective pre-positioning and positive relationship development with key donors, partners, and potential allies
• Coordination with other organizations working on similar and diverse themes for synergy development, networking, and promoting Cesvi’s work
• Maintain a record of calls for proposals and other opportunities for synergies and resource mobilization for timely and quality submissions
• Ensure that reporting guidelines, formats, philosophy, and deadlines for each project and donor are communicated clearly and standardized nationwide for new and ongoing projects
• The Program Manager/Head of Programs, in close coordination with and supervision of the HoM, will be in charge of managing and developing relations with donors and partners (national and international), promoting Cesvi’s strategy and brand, identifying calls, and writing winning proposals or negotiating new projects. S/He will coordinate all the writing process of a project, including but not limited to budgets
• Coordinate and support all proposal writings with program, finance, technical & logistics units, ensuring high-quality, well-written, and timely proposals meeting donors’ and Cesvi’s requirements, with guidance from the HoM
• Led resource mobilization process at Cesvi Pakistan and ensured a steady pipeline of concept notes and proposals for effective fundraising. Review of project proposals, ensuring quality and adherence to procedures of the donors & Cesvi
• Analyzes the strategies, activities, and opportunities of donors and key stakeholders in the country (monitoring calls, collecting information, fundraising strategy and planning, and ad-hoc meetings)
• Update on a weekly and monthly basis the external relations database, which documents the latest negotiations and proposal possibilities with several key donors
• Act as point of contact for donor communication, including organizing and hosting donor visits in the field
• Represent Cesvi, in coordination with the HoM, vis-à-vis partners (including Alliance-2015), stakeholders, clusters and coordination body and fora, and any other appropriate networks aiming at raising Cesvi’s profile within the country
• Support the strategic vision of Cesvi in Pakistan to serve more people with the highest quality programming possible and secure the necessary resources to ensure its realization, expanding Cesvi activities in the country and identifying new funding sources
• Keep a good knowledge of the Cesvi program, codes of conduct, and Cesvi Pakistan internal guidelines
• Develop relative autonomy in implementing their tasks and report the progress of activities to the (HoM)
• Timely report to the (HoM) about any problem arising during the implementation of any project that might harm the achievement of the project’s objectives or the organization’s values
• Timely inform the (HoM) and other colleagues of any issues that might endanger the security of people and goods related to the project
• Generally, guarantee availability and cooperation to any other Cesvi staff at any level
• Be available for any other tasks directly related to the activities of Cesvi in different geographical locations in Pakistan in case of emergency provinces in case of emergency
• Perform other duties, including administrative, as necessary and as requested.

REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, or any other relevant field
• Minimum seven years of proven experience in the development/humanitarian sector in managing international development programs and liaising with donors
• Proven experience in project planning, proposal development, report writing, resource mobilization, networking, partnership building, and working with INGOs
• Demonstrated experience in contract management and resource mobilization from key institutional donors, especially BHA, DFID, WFP, and ECHO & EU
• Superior organizational skills and ability to multi-task, work under pressure, meeting deadlines in a fast-paced, fluid environment
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills to build links with staff, partners, government officials, donors, and other relevant stakeholders
• Creative and flexible with problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated professionalism and diplomacy
• Ability to confidently represent oneself to high-level officials
• Confident and proficient in using MS Office, proficiency in English (written and spoken) is mandatory. Understanding of the complete project cycle and implementation is desired

Contract Duration

18 months (extendable)

Monthly Salary

500,000 – 600,000 PKRs/month.