Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP)

ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading humanitarian and development agency working globally to provide relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of oppression and violent conflict. IRC has worked for over eight decades and today is involved in over 40 countries. We address both the immediate, lifesaving needs of conflict affected people in an emergency and the reconstruction needs in post conflict societies. IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation, creative partnerships, and thorough accountability to those we serve. The IRC has HQ offices in London, New York, Berlin and Geneva.

IRC’s International Programs focus on various relief, rehabilitation, and development programs for refugees, internally displaced persons and those affected by conflict in different regions worldwide. Each region is managed by a regional team that oversees the region’s country programs, which focus on different sectors, including health; water and sanitation; children and youth protection and development; protection; gender-based violence protection; economic development; civil society development; community-driven reconstruction; and refugee camp management. The IRC’s Latin America region is IRC’s newest and with the ambition of substantially increasing its portfolio across the three country programs which cover seven countries (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico). IRC’s country programs work closely with the Airbel Impact Lab, a center within IRC that combines on-the-ground expertise with disciplines like research, human-centered design, costing analysis, and behavioral insights. Within Airbel, the Evidence to Action (E2A) team specializes in reviewing and synthesizing multiple kinds of research evidence to support decision-making across the IRC.

Background:

Led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the USAID Research Utilization to Advance Education Evidence for Youth Violence Prevention (RUTA) in Northern Central America (NCA) project aims to assist key education stakeholders in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, to access, understand, and better utilize evidence in order to design, implement, and communicate about effective education programs and policies that contribute to violence prevention. Outcomes will be achieved through a multi-country and multi-sectoral integrated approach that achieves behavior change in key stakeholders’ use of evidence and tools to positively impact youth through education to reduce violence. The objectives include:

1.Gathering and curating existing evidence and knowledge on education’s role in violence prevention to address expressed needs of key stakeholders including local governments and civil society partners including local researchers;

2.Translating and disseminating evidence for use by key stakeholders;

3.Providing customized, demand-driven technical assistance to key stakeholders to help them utilize research findings and related best practices; and

4.Strengthening knowledge systems within countries in order to improve the use of evidence in decision making around education for youth violence prevention.

If awarded RUTA will leverage the IRC’s strengths in violence prevention, education programming, and evidence-based research, and will work primarily through partnerships across the NCA countries. RUTA’s project staffing and management structure will consist of a small, decentralized team with a Chief of Party based in one of the three countries and technical program teams in Tegucigalpa, San Salvador, and Guatemala City. The project is expected to be implemented for three years, from 2021-2024.

Please note: This position is contingent upon award. Within the current COVID context, deployment actions will be conducted remotely, until the resumption of travel for the position is approved by the RVP.

Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) -- Major Responsibilities:

The DCOP will lead program management, oversee day to day operations of the program activities across the three countries and will be responsible for partnerships and grants and MEL. The RUTA project includes 12 consortium members across the 3 countries. The DCOP will assist the COP in providing program leadership, direction, and implementation expertise to drive the vision and purpose throughout the three countries, among the 12 consortium members and the various program stakeholders.

The DCOP will lead coordination among partners to ensure efficient and timely implementation of activities; facilitate fluid communications throughout the consortium; and manage IRC’s program staff. The DCOP will be a secondary liaison with USAID missions and with the USAID team in Washington DC and will assist the COP to ensure that the proposed project is implemented in accordance with the cooperative agreement, USAID regulations, and internationally recognized quality of assistance standards. The DCOP will work closely with IRC country program, regional, and HQ leadership to ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with IRC policies and principles. In addition, the COP will be the primary representational link with USAID staff and will liaise USAID to provide project updates, discuss strategies, obstacles, performance plans, and progress against targets.

Job Responsibilities:

• Support the COP in providing strategic and technical leadership and direction, defining and implementing activities to achieve the greatest impact toward project goals and objectives; serve as Acting COP in COP’s absence; 
• Provide financial and operational management that optimizes resources through sound budgets, consistent financial tracking, and timely submission of reports to the donor. 
• Ensure project delivery meets all standard operational policies and procedures; 
• Oversee M&E processes and planning to ensure progress on indicators and accurate documenting of means of verification;
• Supervise the effective administration of the subgrants pool, and that all awards align with IRC and USAID policy;
• Manage consortium partnerships and maintain collaborative partner relations; 
• Support reporting to USAID through both formal and informal debriefings, and consolidating and editing annual and quarterly reports; 
• Assist COP in maintaining active and cooperative relationships with all key stakeholders, including government officials, project partners, other implementing agencies, and related institutions; 
• Represent the project and the organization in public, as assigned, and support the distribution of information about project achievements and lesson learned; 
• Support project staff by creating and maintaining a work environment that promotes teamwork, trust, mutual respect, and empowers staff to take responsibility.