Chief of Party - Cash Consortium

This role has an area focus and ensures compliance to DRC procedures and guidelines within the area. The Chief of Party contributes to the development of area strategies, which are translated into action plans and day-to-day tasks, and provides support and/or technical guidance to base operations.  

The Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY) aims to establish a cash transfer mechanism that provides first-line humanitarian response and supports the transition of the most vulnerable into safety net programming. The CCY aims to support conflict-affected households in 2021- which are expected to include newly displaced populations and Extremely Vulnerable Individuals (EVIs), across a total of 7 governorates.

The consortium will be led by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and co-led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with ACTED and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) acting as participating agencies.

Overall purpose of the role:

The overall purpose of the role is to:

• Responsible for providing vision, leadership and direction to the Consortium and its activities.
• Supervise project implementation and ensure the project meets stated goals.
• Ensure the consortium has a coherent strategy that responds to the requirements of people the project intends to support.
• Take a leadership role in coordination and advocacy among donors, key stakeholders and implementing partners.
• Responsible for the overall strategy and implementation, including
  • management of the consortium platform,
  • developing its role in the country/region
  • maintaining activities and deliverables as agreed upon with the Steering Committee.

Main Responsibilities:

Management & Leadership

•                  Monitor work plan and keep partners accountable to program commitments.

•                  Play a key role in driving joint advocacy initiatives and setting strategic vision.

•                  Lead the development of the CCY’s multi-year strategy and vision (2021 – 2022) and ensure successful role out of this strategy.

•                  Maintain strategic vision and provide the operational leadership for the CCY.

•                  Assist the CCY in planning its own development and in seeking funding support for its growth.

•                  Recognize opportunities for innovative action and explore implementation possibilities with the CCY.

•                  Maintain implementation momentum by consolidating implementation strategies and plans.

•                  Ensure high-quality technical program monitoring through hands-on guidance and support grounded in the program’s strategic objectives and adherence to donor requirements.

•                  Overall responsible for program and budget monitoring

•                  Recruit and directly supervise CMU project staff in line with DRC HR policies and input from the consortium members

•                  Co-Chair the project steering committee, ensuring key information on the project is available to senior members of the consortium and decisions are taken to support the effectiveness of the consortium

•                  Document and disseminate key steering committee decisions, roll-out the decisions and follow-up as required

Compliance & Support

•                  The Chief of Party will manage and guide a Support Services Specialist to provide supervision and monitoring of the programme support aspects of the consortium (including administration, finance, logistics, and human resources);

•                  Provide logistical oversight to consortium partners on contract inception, implementation, and closeout activities, including preparation of the sub-grants, sub-grant briefing materials for partners, required approvals, waivers, allowances, funding, procurement, property inventory, and audit file documentation as well as maintain a knowledge base of different processes and requirements for fund and project management

•                  The Chief of Party will provide support to the Support Services Coordinator, to verify all financial reports and expenditure, lead and coordinate the auditing process, maintain knowledge of all donor requirements and be able to provide advice to partners in finance, procurement, human resource, and visibility requirements. This will include staying updated on all relevant contracts entered into by the consortium and communicating to the donor as required.

•                  Oversee financial management, project accounting systems, sub-grant management, and ensure operational efficiency through monitoring partner financial reports, providing guidance on cost eligibility, acting as the donor focal point to clarify rules and processes, and supporting the implementation of corrective measures when required.

•                  Maintain country-specific and project wide risk register, consolidating agency specific risks at the consortium level, ensuring all risks have appropriate ownership, are monitored and mitigation and response measures are in place.

•                  Respond accordingly to risk escalation and ensure periodic review and discussion of risk management with relevant risk owners and relevant consortium governance bodies

Program Implementation & Strategy

•                  In coordination with the members of the consortium management unit, Steering Committee and Technical Working Groups, develop the consortium intervention strategy and Theory of Change;

•                  Facilitate and ensure the effectiveness of different governance structures, including the Steering Committee, Country Level Technical Groups, , Advisory Groups and other ad-hoc working groups deemed necessary;

•                  Ensure synergies and inter-communication between project governance groups and committees

•                  Facilitate the decision-making process within the project governance structure and that actions are documented and followed-up

•                  Ensure the timely delivery of agreed outputs of the Consortium and ensuring quality program implementation in line with the agreed strategy

•                  Ensure the effective implementation of project activities in country through direct leadership of the country-specific governance bodies and working groups.

•                  Supervise and coordinate the implementation of project sub-components and activities with partners

•                  Lead the work planning process with partners and coordinate between partners to ensure complimentary activities and sequencing among activities and between projects.

•                  Ensure quality technical inputs into the design and delivery of the program activities including field implementation

•                  Oversee activities between result areas to ensure that they are integrated and synergistic

•                  Ensure the timely delivery of agreed outputs of the consortium and ensuring quality program implementation in line with the agreed strategy

•                  Oversee planning, program design and delivery of consortium objectives, and budgets

Representation & Advocacy

•                  Serve as primary project representative to donor and other local and international stakeholders, responsible for addressing all project matters.

•                  In coordination with country level AWGs and relevant partner focal points, develop and maintain positive relations with relevant ministries and other government counterparts, donors, local organizations and program partners.

•                  Engage in and represent the consortium at the country level INGO and UN coordination architecture for livelihoods, promoting the values of the consortium, coordinating with external actors and representing the consortium. Ensure that meetings are documented and results circulated to appropriate staff, relevant partner focal points and other actors on a timely basis.

•                  Support the development of the Consortium Advocacy Strategy and promote the use of consortium-generated knowledge and learning;

•                  Provide strategic leadership on external communications in line with Steering Committee and AWG guidance

•                  Provide support to the development and roll-out of project communication strategies, including compliance with donor’s branding and marking requirements

•                  Assists with the coordination of visits of donors, and/or partners related to the project

•                  Establish project Advisory Group in coordination with consortium partners, donor and relevant stakeholders

•                  Lead on organizing joint consortium events, such as joint advocacy, research, project launch etc.

Reporting & Communication

•                  Monitor program implementation and ensure regular reporting by consortium partners;

•                  Review and approve final donor reports based on inputs from consortium partners compiled by the CMU Grants and Reporting Expert and CMU Support Services Manager

•                  Establish and maintain clear lines of communication with project staff

•                  Provide technical assistance, as needed, to partners on financial compliance and reporting

•                  Support the CMU Grants and Reporting Expert and CMU Support Services Coordinator to receive, consolidate, prepare and submit annual and quarterly financial and reports to the donor

•                  Ensure all partners are submitting timely financial and narrative reports in line with donor and DRC system requirements

•                  Review actual financial performance against the budget, and explain variances on a regular basis.

•                  Ensure that the Support Services Coordinator share regular budget vs actual reports to the consortium and other financial information required for effective project management.

•                  Ensure the online project management database is regularly updated

Business Development

•                  Identifying, researching and developing new funding opportunities within the CCY Consortium mandate and utilizing consortium member’s specific skills and capacities.

•                  Lead and coordinate and the development of full proposals, from conception to submission.

Experience and technical competencies: 

Required

• Master's degree in international relations, business administration, management, economics, social sciences or related field
• At least 7 years' experience from a similar role
• At least 4 years' experience in people management
• Experience with cash transfer programming.
• Previous exposure to cluster coordination and interagency coordination systems.
• Demonstrated ability with project grants management, including project design, budget preparation, expenditure tracking, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, supervision and performance.
• The ability for rapid analysis of very complex issues, strong decision-making, and translation of programmatic learning and priorities into operational strategies;
• Proven commitment to accountable practices and knowledgeable of quality assurance systems.
• Hands on experience in managing staff in insecure locations and strong human resource management skills in general.
• Good communicator and proven diplomacy with all types of stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently, but also coordinate effectively as Chief of Party.
• Ability and willingness to work in a remote and isolated location with ever-changing security scenarios;
• Ability to lead a multi-cultural team with a high level of respect for local culture.
• Strong computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point).
• Ability and willingness to work and live in diverse, challenging and potentially unstable environments.
• Full professional proficiency in English

Desirable

• Full professional proficiency in Arabic

Reporting: The Chief of Party will report to the Country Country Director (Yemen)

Conditions

Contract:           12 month’ contract. ; For Qualifed Expatriates staff, Terms of employment as per DRC Terms for Global Expatriates;This position is graded as Band E.

Availability:       1 March 2021

Duty station:      Sana'a This position is unaccompanied

Commitments: DRC has a Humanitarian Accountability Framework, outlining its global accountability commitments. All staff are required to contribute to the achievement of this framework. 

Application

Interested candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience are invited to submit updated CV and cover letter in English through the online application on www.drc.ngo under vacancies no later than 31 January

​

Gender Equality: DRC is committed to achieving gender parity in staffing at all levels.  In light of this, women candidates are particularly encouraged to apply to bridge the gender gap. 

​

Equal Opportunities: DRC is an equal opportunity employer.  We value diversity and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment based on mutual respect for all employees.  We do not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, disability status, religion, ethnic origin, colour, race, marital status or other protected characteristics. 

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate each of DRC’s five core competencies: 

Striving for excellence: you focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process
Collaborating: you involve relevant parties and encourage feedback.
Taking the lead: you take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.
Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.
Demonstrating integrity: you act in line with our vision and values