Myanmar: Head of Development Programmes - Myanmar

Trócaire works in partnership with local and church organisations, supporting communities in over 20 developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to bring about lasting change. Trócaire envisages a just and peaceful world where: people’s dignity is ensured and rights are respected; basic needs are met and resources are shared equitably; people have control over their own lives; and those in power act for the common good.

The Myanmar Country Office in Yangon takes overall responsibility for the implementation of the Myanmar country programme, which currently focuses on humanitarian response, resource rights, women’s empowerment, gender-based violence and peace & development. Considering the strong geographic focus of Trócaire’s work in Kachin and Northern Shan States, a field office was opened in Myitkyina, Kachin State, in 2014.

For the candidate with the required experience and passion for the role, Trócaire offers a competitive package of salary and benefits.

Reporting to the Country Director, this is a Fixed Term Contract of two year and is based in Yangon but with frequent travel to the programme locations. The candidate will manage the Development team of 11 members (1 Gender Programme Manager, 1 GBV Programme Manager, 5 Programme Officers, 1 Programme Support Building , 1 MEAL Officer ) with 5 direct reports, and dotted line management to 3 finance team staff.

Safeguarding Programme Participants Policy:

Trócaire is committed to Safeguarding Programme Participants from Exploitation and Abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Global Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and the responsibility of all staff, consultants and other organisational representatives. Any candidate offered a job with Trócaire will be expected to sign Trócaire’s Safeguarding Policies and Global Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Programme Development and Management:

· Manage and deepen the current portfolio of thematic programmes on Gender, Resource Rights and Peace & Development that responds to the local context, and contributes to a clear strategic country vision and theory of change in line with Trócaire’s new Strategic Plan 2016-2021 and the Myanmar Country Strategic Plan.

· Ensure that Trócaire in Myanmar has a clearly identified niche and that our added value contributes to our partners’ work.

· Ensure that different thematic areas of work are mutually reinforcing and contribute collectively to the achievement of country-level outcomes in view of an integrated programming approach and to ensure strong linkages between our development, peace and humanitarian work.

· Ensure that the programmes in Myanmar contribute to Trócaire’s overall Strategic Plan and deliverables.

· Ensure safeguarding and accountability are considered in programming.

· Ensure that all our programmes promote policy and advocacy work, research and innovation.

· Ensure that all programmes effectively mainstream gender throughout the programme cycle.

· Ensure there is constant and open communication between the country programme team and head office, in particular the Programme team and Strategic Impact Unit. This should facilitate joined up thinking and learning that can contribute towards organisational goals and priorities.

· Identify learning priorities within each programme and facilitate the sharing of this learning with partners, across programmes, and externally as appropriate.

· Ensure regular communication with the Business Development Manager (BDM) in country and the Unit in HQ to guarantee all programmes meet the requirements of back donors and that relevant support is given to Programme Officers as needed to meet these requirements.

Specific to Programme Design:

· Provide technical support to the Development Team programme staff (women’s empowerment, GBV, resource rights and peace) to ensure that the programmes are designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated within the Trócaire Programme Management and Accountability Framework (PMAG).

· Provide the necessary support to the country team to undertake analysis (contextual/poverty/ power etc.) that informs appropriate programme strategies, location and target population.

· Ensure that Programme Officers have access to technical support required to carry out programme baselines and evaluations. This includes supporting the process of identifying appropriate consultants and other technical support where necessary, and providing guidance to the MEAL Officer.

· Ensure that HQ-based Programme Teams are aware of and engaged in the programme design process in order to create synergies across country programmes and that advice from the Programme Teams is taken account of.

Specific to Programme Implementation and Monitoring:

· Ensure that all programmes are being implemented within a clear M&E framework that includes regular monitoring by the Programme Officer, supported by technical advice from the MEAL Officer.

· Monitor the standardised reporting system for all programme partners in Myanmar, in line with organisational policy and any institutional funding requirements.

· Through a regular programme review process with the development Programme Officers, ensure that programmes are on track and challenges are dealt with.

· Assist programme staff to deliver high quality Annual Programme Reviews and donor reports that provide clear evidence of progress (or lack of) on an annual basis and that can be used for programme management, and ongoing learning and adaptation, as well as to highlight case studies for communication and advocacy.

Specific to Programme Evaluation:

· Ensure that all programmes are evaluated according to Trócaire’s evaluation policy and that learning from evaluations is incorporated into new programme design.

· Promote evaluation methodologies that foster internalisation of learning, and where possible promote elements of peer review and evaluation including with Partners.

· Together with Programme staff, identify and encourage participation at relevant thematic working groups, networks and learning forums at national (and possibly international) level in order to improve programme and advocacy impact.

Human Resource Management

· Line manage team members, ensuring that all are clear on the change to which they are contributing and on their roles and responsibilities.

· Implement an effective performance management system in line with organisational policy.

· Support, mentor and coach the team members as part of their professional development and to help them to be highly effective in their work.

· Ensure close coordination of finance staff with the Finance and Administration Manager and Business Development Manager on all aspects of partner financial management and grants management.

· Establish a team approach to programming, ensuring that programme staff work together to share learning and to exchange skills.

· Ensure regular team meetings for information exchange and strategic discussions as well as to facilitate rolling out of organisational programme processes and policies within the country team.

· Ensure that all programme staff complete an induction process that equips them to confidently and effectively deliver on their role.

Financial and Admin Management

· As a member of the country senior management team, support the CD and FAM to develop annual country budgets and participate in regular budget reviews.

· Organise and maintain quarterly team meetings together with the finance and programme officers to have oversight of programme budgets and to review and monitor expenditure of all programme partners in close coordination with the Finance/Admin Manager and the Business Development Manager

· Ensure regular visits by finance or programme staff to all programme partners to review systems and financial management and to provide support to partners in line with Trócaire’s Partner Governance and Finance Policy.

· Ensure that all programme financial reports are produced in a timely manner and to a high standard.

· Provide the necessary support to the finance/programme officers to take appropriate actions if problems with financial management or organisational governance are identified.

· Jointly with the BDM ensure that finance/programme officers are familiar with internal, and where relevant external (e.g. back donor), financial management guidelines and policies, including fraud policies, and that these are adhered to.

· Support the CD and BDM to develop, implement and review an Institutional Funding Strategy for Trócaire.

· Support the CD and BDM in identifying possible funding opportunities in-country.

Partner Relationships and Support

· Ensure that the Partnership Policy guides Trócaire’s engagement with partners in Myanmar and that all Programme staff are familiar with and implement the policy.

· Support Programme Officers to develop a Partner Capacity Building Programme with and for all partners in Myanmar. This should be developed using the Trócaire Partner Capacity Building Framework and should have a corresponding monitoring and review element for each partner.

· Provide the necessary support to Programme Staff to ensure that all necessary capacity assessments are carried out and analysed prior to entering into any new partnerships.

· In close coordination with the CD liaise with other Caritas/CIDSE/other like-minded agencies, in order to avoid any duplication, reduce transaction costs for partners and collaborate on capacity building, programming or advocacy initiatives.

· Manage any solidarity grants with Church partners of missionaries.

Policy, Advocacy and Communications

· Support the CD and the POs to pro-actively drive an evidence-based agenda / develop a country wide Advocacy Strategy ), informed by a contextually relevant power and stakeholder analysis, as well as a thorough risk analysis regarding sensitive messaging.

· Support programme staff to embed advocacy within programme strategies, and oversee country level advocacy initiatives led by Trócaire which complements desired outcomes of programme strategies.

· Support the development team to ensure Trócaire communications channels (online, offline) are being used to promote/highlight Trócaire Myanmar work, as well as to support advocacy initiatives.

· Support the CD and POs to respond to organisational needs for materials, or to host visits, related to organisational level policy, advocacy, campaigns, development education, fundraising and communications.

Risk Management

· Take responsibility for Risk Management at a programme level, ensuring that POs have the capacity to analyse and respond to risk at project and programme levels and that programme level risks are captured and managed as part of a country risk management strategy.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

· Fulfil other reasonable duties and responsibilities, as requested by the Country Director, including deputising for the CD when necessary or appropriate.

Person Specification – The ideal person will have

(E) Qualification

· Third level qualification in Development, Humanitarian or related field of study.

· Post-graduate qualification in a relevant area, or significant experience beyond that outlined below.

(E) Experience

· At least four years of demonstrable experience in the management of development programmes of substantial scale;

· At least three years’ experience of leading and managing teams as well as strong team-working skills and experience

· In-depth understanding of programming in a partnership model, working in a partnership-based NGO;

· Thorough understanding of safeguarding and accountability considerations in development work.

· Sound and up to date knowledge of development concepts, methodologies and techniques, including results based management, rights based approach and participatory methodologies;

· Demonstrable experience of promoting gender equity through programming and within an international organisation;

· Demonstrable experience of working to attract institutional donor funding and of managing large and complex donor grants;

· Solid experience of managing teams in a multi-cultural environment and playing a leadership role in ensuring cohesiveness, inclusion and development of staff at all levels;

· Experience of working in a faith-based organization;

· Experience of working with management information systems.

(E) Skills

· Excellent leadership skills;

· Ability to motivate staff to align behind a shared vision and objectives;

· Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to develop and implement a clear country level strategy in the context of organisational strategy;

· Demonstrated ability to manage multi-cultural teams of national and international staff well, and to implement performance management effectively;

· Ability to coach and help others develop in their professional lives;

· Excellent interpersonal and relationship management skills and demonstrated ability in using these with internal stakeholders (Trócaire staff in different locations) and external stakeholders (partners, Church, donors, host government etc.);

· Demonstrated ability to manage budgets and financial systems on a significant scale, in development and humanitarian contexts;

· Highly organised, with excellent planning, prioritisation and problem-solving skills;

· Excellent verbal and written communications skills

· Competent in Microsoft packages (Word, Excel);

· Fluency (written and spoken) in English;

(E) Qualities

· Understanding of, an empathy with, the role of the Catholic Church in development

· A strong commitment to the work of justice and an empathy with the ethos and work of Trócaire.

(E) Other

· Ability and willingness to travel within country and internationally including travel to HQ in Ireland.

To apply for this role, please click on; https://www.workable.com/j/7324432456 and complete the application form.