Manager - Livelihood

Dhaka | Chittagong

Organization: IRC - International Rescue Committee
Location: Dhaka | Chittagong
Grade: Mid level - Mid level
Occupational Groups:
- Food Security, Livestock and Livelihoods
- Managerial positions
Closing Date:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

Program Brief

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading agencies working in post-conflict and development contexts, supporting communities in over 40 fragile, failed, and developing states. In this capacity, we work to restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted, struggling to endure, and wishing to advance on a path of development.

The IRC has been present in Bangladesh since 2017 and obtained registration with the NGO Affairs Bureau in March 2018. Since the IRC obtained registration in March 2018, it has moved quickly to expand its integrated emergency health and protection response through both direct and partner-based programming focused on primary healthcare, women’s protection and empowerment, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, child protection, Protection Rule of Law (PROL), Education and Economic Recovery and Development program. IRC will continue working in both the camps and host community, while meeting the significant needs of both refugee and host populations, as already existing vulnerabilities are compounded with cyclical monsoon and cyclone seasons that impose additional threats to the lives and protection of those refugees as well as vulnerable host populations. IRC will grow over time its geographic coverage within Cox’s Bazar and to other parts of the country, thus expanding its’ networks and partnerships around emergency preparedness and response work, reaching beyond the Rohingya refugees, also targeting the vulnerable host groups in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and Southern part of Bangladesh.

Purpose of the Role

The Manager - Livelihood will be responsible for the design, implementation, and evaluation of IRC’s livelihood programs in Bangladesh, with the overarching goal of enhancing economic recovery and resilience among vulnerable populations, particularly in the host communities and Rohingya Refugee camp of Cox’s Bazar. Key responsibilities include providing technical support for interventions, overseeing measurement, data driven programming, research, and documentation, fostering partnerships, and building capacity among implementing partners through training, mentoring, and organizational learning. This role encompasses the management of ERD’s core components, including livestock programming, climate-smart agriculture practices, vocational skills, enterprise and business development, Village Savings and Loans (VSLAs), cash transfer, market system strengthening. The Manager will work closely with private sector partners and government departments to ensure sustainable and impactful program outcomes, emphasizing community engagement and economic empowerment for beneficiaries. Reporting directly to the Economic Recovery and Development Coordinator, the Manager will also coordinate with IRC’s protection, health, education and Emergency preparedness and Response teams to ensure seamless, integrated programming across the host communities and Rohingya Refugee camp.

Highlights of Key Responsibilities

Technical Quality:

Support the quality operationalization of the IRC’s Livelihood recovery and development interventions in Bangladesh, ensuring that needs and priorities for programming and standards are in line with the context, needs, and gaps on the ground.
Develop innovative livelihoods restoration and recovery strategies, emphasize climate-smart agriculture, poultry and livestock management, and vocational skills training to recover and restore livelihoods of the disaster affected populations living in the cox’s Bazar.
Design comprehensive vocational skills development programs for the women and youth, including apprenticeship models and training initiatives that align with market demands.
Develop program implementation strategy, guidelines, and Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) related to business skill and entrepreneurship, vocational training, climate smart agriculture and livestock program, cash transfer, and apprenticeship program.
Conduct needs assessment, develop, and implement a capacity-building plan, and provide day-to-day mentoring support, and formal and on-job training support to partner staff.
Integrate climate-smart agricultural practices into the program design and implementation to enhance resilience and sustainability for the project participants
Develop training modules and guidelines for livestock, agriculture, entrepreneurship, vocational trades, small business, and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), with periodic reviews to adapt content and methods to context-specific needs.
Develop mechanisms and ensure USAID compliance during procurement and provide poultry and livestock input support to the participants in collaboration with the Department of Livestock, implementing partners and procurement team of IRC.
Engage private sectors for building technical skills and create job placement opportunities for the women and youth through developing apprenticeship programs.
Facilitate market actors within the host community to strengthen input and output market systems, ensuring project participants' access to business development services, markets, resources, and services to enhance their income-generating opportunities.
Ensure integration and inclusion in program delivery, children and young people of different ages, sex, Person with Disability (PWD) and ability are equally addressed in program implementation.

Program Implementation:

Work closely with partners to implement field intervention and achieve project results through providing regular program monitoring and necessary supervision support to the team. Monitoring findings are recorded and shared at different platforms (within IRC and partner) for the improvement of program delivery.
Provide technical training, technical support, guidance and mentor the livelihood team of local implementing partners ensuring they possess the necessary skills and knowledge in areas such as business training, livestock management, ensuring USAID compliance for livestock programming, VSLA operations, digital VSLA implementation, and market system development.
Coordinate with the Dream Start lab and implementing partners for supporting the VSLA members to adopt digital technologies in VSLA operation.
Facilitate training sessions for the project staff, market actors and community members to enhance understanding of livestock management, agricultural practices, and digital financial literacy.
Assist in developing and implementing climate preparedness activities and adaptation plans to protect and restore livelihoods, aligning with community needs and climate resilience objectives
Support partners staff to facilitate community meetings and build capacity to identify the community needs with the local community and actors to ensure program relevance and community ownership.
Ensure confidentiality and that data protection and information-sharing protocols are respected in line with IRC internal standards and inter-agency standards.
Ensure safeguarding policy is understood and followed in program delivery.

Program quality assurance and compliance:

Visit and monitor partner’s program performance and provide guidance and support to ensure alignment with IRC's objectives and quality standards.
Coordinate with IRC’s MEAL team to ensure field monitoring, study, assessment surveys, post distribution monitoring, and evaluation of project interventions
Design and implement an online, data-driven system for monitoring and following up on livelihoods programs, covering client selection, individual progress tracking, service access, and the effectiveness of skills development and interventions in VSLA, poultry, livestock, and agriculture.
Ensure compliance with donor requirements and report on program achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.

Partnership Management:

Collaborate closely with partners to monitor progress and provide ongoing support, ensuring quality program implementation by identifying staff capacity gaps and needs.
Participate in program activities to oversee and assist with the development of implementation plans, track expenditures and compliance, and coordinate with IRC's departments as needed to offer feedback and guidance for improvement
Develop and maintain effective partnerships and collaboration with local NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies and other partners related to the project interventions to enhance program reach and impact.
Develop partnership with private and public institutions to create opportunities for the women and youth participants of the projects developing business linkage and generating income.

Coordination & Representation:

Build and maintain partnerships with relevant partners, including the Department of Livestock, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), department of youth development, commercial banks, Chamber of Commerce and local employers.
Collaborate with IRC sectors protection, health, and education to implement integrated programs that address beneficiaries' multifaceted needs. Coordinate with the Food Security (FS) and Livelihood and Skill Development Sector (LSDS) to ensure host community programming aligns with ISCG and government guidelines.
Advocate for the livelihoods of vulnerable populations in government policy discussions and coordination platforms to strengthen service delivery systems. Coordinate with USAID projects in the target area to align interventions and leverage support, enhancing impact for clients and communities

Other Duties:

Consistently and dedicatedly monitor/assess the safety and security of field teams; promptly report concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaise with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for the IRC program.
Other duties assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs.

Minimum Qualifications:

Experiences:

A minimum of 5 years of experience in providing technical support or program management for livelihood programming with national and or international organizations particularly in the field of livestock development, climate-smart agriculture, market relevant vocational skill development, youth employment, and market system development in a development context.
Proven experience in developing women's digital Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) and facilitating access to finance through banks and financial institutions.
Experience in Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), support to small business owners, livestock farmers, and working in complex humanitarian settings.
Demonstrated knowledge and experience conducting market scoping, gap analyses and partners mapping for cash and livelihoods programming supporting women’s economic self-resilience within natural disaster settings.
Sound understanding of the local context and the livelihoods needs of vulnerable populations especially the host community and other sub-district of CXB.
Prior experience with USAID livelihood projects is highly preferred.
Experience in dealing with government officials, private sectors, donor agencies, and other NGOs
Demonstrated experience in working with a multi-cultural team (national and international).
Experience in partner dealings and management for program implementation.

Competencies: Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Strong facilitation and supervision skills
Good writing and analytical skills, including the ability to communicate technical matters to a range of audiences.
Competent in Windows, MS office programs, emails, and relevant database
Interpersonal Qualities: works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well.
Good coping strategies in stressful and emergency situations, calmness is a requirement

Language Preference

Strong communication skills in written and verbal English

Specific Educational Qualification

Bachelor’s/master’s degree in Agricultural Science, Business management, Development studies, or Social Science along with professional background in livelihood development field.

Professional Degree/ Certification

Standard of Professional Conduct:The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.

We do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization's page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.

Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify.
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.

Apply