Program Specialists

Job Summary:

A core member of the project team, providing backstopping support to the Crisis Response portfolio and acts as the primary focal point in coordinating grants/project teams from the HQ level. May support start-ups during the emergency phase of a start-up. They will be responsible for ensuring that their assigned portfolio of projects are meeting their deliverables on time, on scope, and are compliant with donor and organizational guidelines.

Accountabilities:

• Responsible for donor communications, including formal and informal reporting and ensuring the project teams are delivering high-level reports.
• Support project teams in coordinating budget realignments, approval requests for the donor, reviewing and editing submission before being submitted to the donor.
• Liaise with FHI 360 enterprise services as required to support project team on internal policies. May act as a liaison between Office of Compliance and Internal Audit and the project teams, as required.
• Act as the first point of contact on grant compliance queries from the project teams, providing high-level advisory on donor and subaward compliance.
• Develop compliance checklists, reporting matrices, and other support documents to ensure projects are compliant and in adherence to donor principles.
• Ensure projects have appropriate processes in place to identify and archive audit-relevant project documentation. Support routine audit activities as required.
• Work with the Associate Director, Programs and Operations to develop protocols to standardize the project’s approach to the scale up of programs in an emergency and/or in development phase. This may include the development of new staff orientation manuals, compliance and regulation assessment checklists, and corresponding training materials for staff.
• Participate in project start-up and implementation activities in new humanitarian emergencies and program development initiatives until permanent replacement is identified.
• For sub-awards, ensure that the project teams are compliant with FHI 360’s Grants Manual and donor compliance. Problem solves on any sub-award related queries from the project teams.
• Support on standardizing, developing, and updating grant templates across all CR projects, and ensure effective roll out to all teams.
• Facilitate quarterly and mid-year project reviews and coordinates with the Associate Director, Programs and Operations to identify improvements on the project teams/deliverables.
• Coordinates closely with the MERL Advisor to ensure baseline and endline reports are high-quality and compliant with donor guidelines.
• Other duties as required.

Applied Knowledge & Skills:

• Excellent understanding of USAID/BHA or other applicable policies and regulations.
• Demonstrated experience backstopping projects with local partners.
• Demonstrated experience assessing local regulatory climate and developing compliant field administrative policies and procedures in emergency response operations.
• Operational familiarity with international humanitarian architecture and core coordination processes for large-scale emergencies.
• May promote Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards and Red Cross and NGO Code of Conduct.
• Excellent verbal and written English skills required. French or Arabic language skills advantageous.
• Knowledge of international donor procurement regulations and United Nations (UN) coordination experience essential; expertise with fraud detection and investigation techniques necessary.
• May work in insecure locations with minimal infrastructure or amenities.
• Must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English.

Problem Solving & Impact:

• Exercise judgment within well-defined procedures and practices to determine appropriate action.
• Interact frequently with more experienced team members.
• Understand quality and timeliness goals for projects.

Supervision Given/Received:

• May have supervisory responsibility.
• Works under immediate supervision and guidance of more experienced professionals.
• Refers deviations, problems, and unfamiliar situations in assignments to supervisor.
• Receives instructions for new, difficult, or unusual assignments.
• Work is reviewed to ensure that results and methods used are technically accurate and in compliance with instructions or established procedures; review of work increases with more difficult assignments.
• Typically reports to an Associate Director or Director.

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree or its International Equivalent in Business Administration, Communications, Human Resource Management or Related Field.

Experience:

• Typically requires a minimum 5+ years of experience writing proposals, reports, and other materials specifically for BHA and/or other funded projects required. Diverse range of geographic experience preferred. Experience working in security compromised areas preferred.
• Prior work experience in a non-governmental organization (NGO), government agency, or private company of progressive program management experience in humanitarian assistance or related industry experience in a relevant technical area.
• Demonstrated experience in project start-up and at least one year of field experience.

Typical Physical Demands:

• Typical office environment.
• Ability to spend long hours looking at computer screen and doing repetitive work on a keyboard.
• Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time.
• Ability to lift/move up to 5 lbs.

Technology to be Used:

• Personal Computer/Laptop, Microsoft applications (i.e., Office 365, SharePoint, Skype/Zoom/Teams), cell phone/mobile technology, and standard office equipment.

Travel Requirements:

• Greater than 25%