Sustainability and Capacity Strengthening Specialists at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Sustainability and Capacity Strengthening Specialist

Locations: Kaduna, Lagos and Akwa Ibom   
Department: Programs
Band: D-2
Reports To: Organizational and Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor

Background
4Children will implement a two year project focused on providing technical assistance to PEPFAR OVC implementing partners (IPs), Government of Nigeria entities and networks to graduate and transition OVC households and children from care and support. To support these efforts, the project will strengthen programming around sustainability planning, case management and referral of OVC and vulnerable households to health facilities, household economic strengthening activities parenting, and youth/adolescent girl programming, as well as supporting the development of a HIV-sensitive social service system.
 
Job Summary

• The Sustainability and Capacity Strengthening Specialist will work as part of a team led by the 4Children Sustainability Director to support PEPFAR OVC IPs as they strengthen the capacity of government and civil society organizations (CSOs) partners to lead, coordinate, and sustain the OVC response in Nigeria. More specifically, the Sustainability and Capacity Strengthening Specialist will be based in one of three zonal offices.
• S/he will provide technical assistance (TA) to IPs in organizational development and private sector engagement.
• The position will focus on:
  • Support the development of novel funding mechanisms;
  • Strengthening key business functions and processes that enhance organizational sustainability of OVC-serving CSOs and networks;
  • Work in collaboration with IP and 4Children staff and technical advisors to ensure systems and processes are in place at the CSO and network levels to facilitate the graduation/transition of OVC and their households, including appropriate case file management;
  • Support planning, monitoring reporting and learning around sustainability, graduation and transition.

Specific Responsibilities
Develop novel funding mechanisms:

• Assist the States, LGAs, CSOs and networks to identify and develop alternative funding sources to sustain, complement and expand the coverage of the OVC services.
• Collaborate with IPs to conduct private sector mapping
• Collaborate with the lead IP, Zonal Coordinator, OVC-serving network, government and the private sector to developed a State-level pooled fund to support vulnerable children
• Support the lead IP, State, network and private sector to put in place a governance structure and accountability mechanisms to ensure transparent management of the pooled fund
• Support IPs to work with CSOs to strengthen their business development skills and marketing
• Support IPs to work with CSOs to diversify funding through social enterprises/cross subsidies; strengthen CSO financial systems and management procedures
• Support IPs to work with CSOs to increase community engagement and mobilization to address the needs of OVC through by increasing transparency and accountability
• Support IPs to work with CSOs to develop a value proposition and conduct value-for-money calculations
• Identify opportunities for linkages with other USG-funded and donors supported projects and organizations to support 4Children Nigeria project objectives.
• Generate novel approaches for fund generation from all sectors of society

Strengthen Business Processes and Systems:

• Provide strategic leadership in the contextualization of standardized approaches to sustainability planning with a focus on strengthening OVC-serving CSOs and networks
• Collaborate with 4Children technical staff and IPs to identify ways to incorporate sustainability planning, graduation/transition into on-going project activities such as social service and health system strengthening, case management and household economic strengthening.
• Identify any gaps in understanding or application, by IP and CSO/network staff, of key sustainability related terms or principles, and address them through dialogue, provision of tools, etc.
• Support IPs to conduct/update CSOs capacity assessments and capacity strengthening plans to align with sustainability plans; ensure that findings for any additional capacity assessments in the areas of sustainability, linkages, household economic strengthening, planning, quality improvement, knowledge management and learning are incorporated into capacity strengthening plans.
• Support IPs to develop capacity strengthening approaches to address the needs of partner CSOs/networks based on assessed; approaches will include a mix of mentoring, on-the-job training, exchanged visits and limited targeted, outcome-focused training.
• Collaborate with 4Children staff and technical advisors to develop/identify guidance, training and other resources to support IP CSO capacity strengthening efforts
• Support IPs to develop tools to track and monitor improvement plans
• Support IPs as they work with CSOs and networks to put in place the staffing, systems and structures to support high quality service delivery that supports graduation or transition of OVC and their households
• Conduct training needs assessment to identify a limited number of targeted, evidence-informed training.
• Contribute to the development of standardized SOPs that describe the process CSOs will undertake to graduate or transition OVC and household from the program, including case file management.
• As needed, facilitate zonal-level trainings in collaboration with 4Children and IP staff in areas of expertise

Planning, Monitoring, Reporting & Learning:

• Participate in annual sustainability planning workshop
• Co-facilitate with 4Children zonal colleagues an annually sustainability planning/monitoring workshop with OVC stakeholders in order to take stock of progress made toward the transition of the OVC program and plan for the following year.
• Prepare and submit monthly and quarterly progress reports on the transition activities to the 4Children national office for review and submission to USAID or CDC.
• Support IPs to implement, monitor and review sustainability plans as needed, and report on progress made in plan implementation.
• Conduct joint monitoring trips with IPs to monitor progress of CSO/network capacity strengthening plans; provide support supervisions as needed.
• Monitor the development of pooled fund mechanism.
• Liaise with OVC IPs to gather lessons learned and case studies around sustainability planning, graduation and transition from similar programs and share this information to inform 4Children Nigeria’s approach to sustainability planning.
• Facilitate exchanges among IPs/CSOs within zones to encourage uptake of promising practices
• Conduct regular monitoring of activities to ensure appropriate approaches to capacity strengthening are used.
• Ensure project planning, reporting, budgeting and financial management pertaining to the sustainability components of the zone completed in a timely manner.
• Liaise with 4Children Nigeria Knowledge Management Advisor to transfer strategy documents, tools, case studies and other relevant IP resources to the States, including the LGAs, Networks and CSOs.
• Remain current on agency guidelines, learning initiatives and policies related to capacity strengthening

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Additional Competencies:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each Technical Advisor to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning

MEAL Competencies:
These are rooted in CRS MEAL Policies and Procedures and used by each program staff to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Evaluation: Supporting project and program evaluations and reviews by ensuring the quality of evaluation methods, tools, and data and facilitating the use of evaluation results to inform decision-making and enhance learning.
• Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action.
• Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: Sustainability Director, Senior Zonal Coordinator, Zonal Coordinators, 4Children Technical Advisors for Case Management and Household Economic Strengthening, Organizational Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor, Government System Strengthening Technical Advisor, Advocacy Technical Advisor and other; CRS Nigeria Programming, Finance, Procurement, and HR/Administration, Department of Program Impact and Quality Assurance Technical Advisors in Capacity Strengthening.
• External: PEPFAR OVC IPs, OVC-serving CSOs and networks, private sector actors, relevant State-level TWGs, select State-level Ministries/bodies e.g., Planning, SMWASD, SACA, and UNICEF.

Personal/Professional Skills:

• Excellent project management skills with the demonstrated ability to successfully lead, manage and coordinate partners to meet and report on project objectives in a timely manner.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and organizational skills as well as good judgment and vision.
• Sound coordination skills and a demonstrated ability to multi-task.
• Diplomatic, flexible and resourceful.
• Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated experience working successfully in cross-disciplinary teams and facilitating team efforts in the workplace, as well as working independently.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, representation and networking skills.
•  Strong capacity to facilitate collaboration between partners (government, CSO, private sector, NGOs, interiaotnal organizations) and different departments (programs, finance, etc.).
• Strong leadership, advisory, mentoring and negotiation skills.
• Business oriented with entrepreneurial spirit.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Organizational Development, Psychology or Public Administration or concomitant professional experience.
• At least 5 years of experience in progressively increasing responsibility in the design and management of complex, large scale capacity strengthening programs in developing countries.
• Expertise in institution/organization strengthening methodologies, including tool development;  organizational capacity assessment; development, implementation and monitoring of improvement plans; developing and/or improving business processes, policies and procedures to support sustainability and transition to local ownership.
• Demonstrated business development skills and ability to structure funds to leverage private sector resources for social investments.
• Demonstrated experience in project management, within the private sector or international organizations, including: partnership, strategy development, accountability mechanisms, human resources management, project monitoring and evaluation, preparation and analysis of work plans and budgets.
• Professional training and experience with adult learning methods; developing training materials; training and facilitation.
• Strong understanding of the OVC National Plan of Action and OVC care and support programming preferred.
• Experience in social enterprise development and management highly desirable.
• Excellent understanding of USG rules and regulations pertaining to award management.
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Travel:

• The Sustainability and Capacity Strengthening Specialist will be expected to travel within Nigeria.    

Application Closing Date
23rd May, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download the CRS Application Form below, fill and send with a detailed 3-page resume in a single file document to: [email protected] Title of the position and desired location must be stated as the subject of the email.

Click here to download the CRS Application Form

Note: Applications sent in the required format will be considered and only short listed candidates will be contacted.