Context
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was founded in 1943 by the United States of America Catholic Conference of Bishops to assist the poor and disadvantaged. At the invitation of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM), CRS commenced its operations in Malawi in 1997 and with offices in Lilongwe and a sub office in Blantyre. Main areas of focus include Food Security, Agricultural Livelihoods, Health and Nutrition and Early Childhood Development.
Integrated (HIV Effect) Mitigation and Positive Action for Community Transformation (IMPACT) is a four year PEPFAR-funded program focusing on providing critical services for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and people living with HIV (PLHIV). The IMPACT program complements the Wellness and Agriculture for Life Advancement Program (WALA). WALA is a USAID’s Food for Peace funded multi-year assistance program (MYAP) led by CRS/Malawi and implemented in partnership with seven consortium partners. IMPACT provides wrap around services for OVC and PLHIV using the WALA Program as a platform and covers additional geographic areas through additional partners.
The WALA consortium partners include; Africare, Chikwawa Diocese, Emmanuel International, Project Concern International, Save the Children, Total Land Care and World Vision. IMPACT works with six WALA partners, and six additional partners: the Catholic Health Commissions for the dioceses of Lilongwe, Dedza and Zomba; Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM); the National Association of People Living with HIV (NAPHAM); and a private sector information technology (IT) provider, D-Tree. The rich mix of private sector, IT and traditional service providers brings valuable resources and expertise to provide high quality services in selected districts in the Southern and Central regions of Malawi.
The IMPACT consortium collaborates closely with the National AIDS Commission, the HIV Unit of the Ministry of Health, the HIV and Nutrition Department under the office of the president, the Bridge II program, and other key stakeholders in the HIV and OVC sectors in the targeted districts, with the objective of strengthening coordination, referral mechanisms and service delivery systems.
Primary Responsibilities
Reporting to IMPACT’s Chief of Party, the DCoP will provide leadership in all aspects of technical programming for IMPACT partners, with particular emphasis on implementation of program close-out plans. Coordination with the WALA-DCoP will be required to harmonize planning between IMPACT and WALA and ensure consistent communication with IMPACT’s WALA and non-WALA partners. The DCoP will track progress and monitor project work plans by all consortium partners, according to the master detailed implementation plan. The DCoP will be responsible for partners’ adherence to technical program quality standards in OVC and Care & Support in line with PEPFAR and MoH reporting guidelines, regulations and best practices, as well as those established by CRS and individual consortium member organizations. The DCOP will assume the duties of the Chief of Party while she is away on leave or travel duty.
Specific Duties and Responsibilities
Program Quality:
- Facilitate continued achievement of high levels of program quality through technical service provision
- Support and work closely with the Technical Quality Coordinators (Care & Support, OVC and M&E/Knowledge Management), the Senior Program Manager and other relevant technical staff from WALA (including VSL TQC) to ensure smooth coordination and unified communications through the final documentation, evaluation and close-out processes
- Work with the DCoP for WALA to align and harmonize the WALA and IMPACT close-out strategies
- Coordinate with the key program staff in the consortium as well as relevant stakeholders to ensure that implementation of close-out plans (including strategic documentation and final evaluation) are efficient and effective
- Guide assessment of technical support needs of consortium partners and facilitate provision of relevant and timely support
- Contribute to the identification, documentation, exchange and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices among the IMPACT consortium partners, with other programs implemented by CRS/Malawi and CRS/Global, with USAID, with Malawi’s Ministry of Health and HIV Unit, and with other national and international stakeholders
Financial Management:
- Ensure effective coordination and communication between technical and finance staff for effective service delivery
- Work with CoP and the grant management unit of IMPACT to coordinate financial aspects of programming
- Contribute to all required planning, budgeting and reporting exercises
- Track expenditure and analyze performance monthly for discussion with CoP
- Review partner budgets in relation to activity plans and discuss with CoP.
Reporting:
- Work with the M&E/KM TQC to analyze and interpret data from surveys and consortium members' reports
- Ensure fulfillment of donor's reporting requirements in a timely manner in coordination with Finance and M&E (Quarterly reports, Final (close-out) report, OP indicator reports, PEPFAR reports, CRS/APP etc.); Work closely with the M&E TQC in writing these reports and submit to the CoP
- Compile, polish and prepare final narrative report as well as statistical reports and forward to CoP for final review and submission.
Representation and Advocacy:
- Able to represent CRS and the consortium at partner events, especially those related to close-out and transition to community leadership
- In consultation with the CoP represent the Consortium on relevant technical forums (GoM, USAID, UN and others).
- Liaise with the respective TQC and strengthen linkages with technical persons from the relevant ministries and National Technical Working Groups to provide support the Technical Quality Coordinators
- Maintain technical linkages with SARO and HQ and keep the CoP, CR and HoP on the loop.
Key Working Relationships
Internal: All staff as well as relevant Technical Advisors from SARO and PQSD.
Internal: All staff as well as relevant Technical Advisors from SARO and PQSD.
External: Senior managers of IMPACT within consortium partners, technical team of USAID, relevant technical resource persons in NAC, OPC, Ministry of health, the Global Fund Country Coordination Mechanism member organizations, Bridge II, Dignitas and other relevant programs implementing HIV and AIDS programs in Malawi.
Minimum Qualifications and Experience
- MSC or PhD degree in public health, Social Science or related technical field with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in technical and managerial positions
- Experience in a CRS country program office and demonstrated proficiency with CRS procurement, human resource management and administrative systems
- Proven experience managing USAID/USG reporting, budgeting, procurement, and project management procedures (at least three years of management experience with USG funded and/ or PEPFAR program overseas, preferably in Africa).
- Experience with processes and regulations related to program close-out
- Excellent partnership and interpersonal skills to work in a team environment with dependable ability to dialogue, network, and work effectively with senior managers of local and international institutions.
- Excellent communication and writing skills in English
- Proven ability to work independently, plan strategically and analyze situations critically
- Able to travel up to 20% of the time (to other project sites in remote areas of the country, from Blantyre)
Disclaimer Clause
This Job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties and responsibilities associated with the position.
