Senior Program Advisor (SPA) at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 100 countries. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or nationality. As CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, strengthening and building the capacity of partner organizations is fundamental to the work of CRS. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on health, vulnerable children, agriculture, extractives and governance, and peace building programming.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Senior Program Advisor (SPA)

Location: Abuja
Department: Global Fund Malaria Program
Band: E-1
Reports to: Technical Director
Supervises: Program Support Officer, Zonal Team Leads.
Position type: Full time

Context
CRS has a long and rich history of collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). Since 2003, CRS has been awarded over $290 million in Global Fund resources to implement programs in 27 countries. In Nigeria, CRS is a sub-recipient (SR) on the Global Fund HIV and Malaria grants and will assume the role of principal recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant starting January 2017. As PR, CRS will partner with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate the 2017 long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 7 states.  CRS will also manage and oversee SRs to deliver a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.

Job Summary

• The position of Senior Program Advisor(SPA) will provide oversight in coordinating the planning process and implementation of the program activities to achieve donor targets in accordance with the work plans, approved deadlines, within the budget limitations and donor guidelines. Experience and understanding of the Nigeria health systems context.
• The SPA must also ensure integration of other CRS activities and programs with the GF/NFM programs in the 24 high-burden states where these projects coexist.
• S/he will provide training, accompaniment and technical support to Zonal team leads and will liaise with counterparts in Federal and State Ministries of Health to ensure adherence to national strategies and guidelines for malaria prevention.

Specific Job Responsibilities
Program Management:

• Provide support to the Technical Director in managing the sub recipients (SRs) under the GF/NFM PR grant.
• Coordinate the planning process and ensure that SRs’ program activities are implemented according to the work plans, approved deadlines, and within the budget limitations
• Ensure that the CRS Zero Cash Policy is respected at field level programming.
• Coordinate capacity building activities for the CRS GF Malaria staff and partner staff.
• Able to derive trends from potentially complex analytics.
• Ensure the proper execution of the monitoring and evaluation plan and the elaboration of the various trip reports with the assistance of the multidisciplinary team.
• Manage program budgets, including tracking of financial and material resources for sub-recipients, according to the policies and guidelines of GF and CRS.
• Conduct program-wide quarterly program review meetings for the 24 GF malaria states, coordinate the analysis of the quarterly M&E reports and follow up with appropriate actions and feedback.
• Conduct and coordinate PR-SR meetings to review grant achievements, analyze reports and SR performance ratings.
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting of program finances and progress status of the sub-recipients to the management structures of CRS and GF.
• With key program staff and stakeholders, ensure the Global Fund Malaria Program’s strategic objectives for malaria implementation and LLIN mass campaign activitiesare fully accomplished and meet expected quality standards.
• Provide oversight to sub-recipients in development of the Malaria Annual Operational Plan across the 24 high burden states.
• Work with relevant key stakeholders to identify pertinent operational research questions which can be answered within the program, design appropriate studies, implement them, analyze data and document the findings.

Budget Management:

• With support from the grant management team, work with the GF/NFM sub-recipients in budget management, forecasting and analysis of burn rates.
• Actively participate in activities to ensure appropriate budget planning and financial reporting by partners.
• Able to derive trends from potentially complex analytics in relation to supply chain management, finance and performance indicator data.
• Review actual financial performance against the budget, and explain variances on a regular basis.
• Actively participate in activities to ensure sub-recipients remain in compliance with CRS and GF donor rules and regulations for management of resources.
• Participate actively in the monthly Budget Comparison Report (BCR) meetings.

Partnership Management:

• Act as primary contact/support for CRS sub-recipients, including sharing new information and ensuring healthy relationships are maintained between sub-recipients and the state government.
• Represents CRS at national level technical meetings with other malaria partners as delegated by the Technical Program Director.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL):

• In collaboration with the MEAL team, track progress towards relevant performance indicators, analyzing reasons for shortfalls and adapting program strategies as needed.
• Supportthe design and implementation of feedback and response channels to enhance accountability of malaria program services.
• In collaboration with program and SR staff, provide guidance and technical oversight to partners and other collaborating agencies to ensure that lessons learned and best practices for malaria programming are documented and disseminated.
• Facilitate learning exchanges among SRs and government ministries on malaria program management and support quality improvement initiatives. 

Management and Administration:

• Support elaboration of Program Update/Disbursement Requests (PU/DR) in collaboration with other program staff.
• ReviewSR program reports and provide feedback on implementation progress and performance, identify solutions to address challenges and weaknesses.
• Ensure implementation of activities in compliance with all CRS and Global Fund administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: Global Fund Malaria Program Team, Deputy Country Representative, Country Representative, Head of Operations, Finance, Procurement and Administration Staff, Regional and Senior Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors for PQ and MQ
• External: Global Fund’s Fund Portfolio Manager and Nigeria Country Team, SRs, State Ministries of Health (SMOH), National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) within the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH), Technical and Financial Partners, partner health facilities, Local Fund Agent (LFA)

Agency Wide Competences (for all CRS staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

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

Qualifications and Skills

• M.D/MBBS required with significant field experience in clinical and/or community-based malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment or post graduate degree in health management or public health.
• At least 8 years relevant experience in public health with a strong preference for candidates with at least 5 years’ experience in malaria programming . Some health-related community development experience is required.
• Experience managing developmental programs is required and providing technical assistance to partner organizations; knowledge and experience of programmatic and technical service delivery challenges highly desired.
• Ability to work both in a team and independently and ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training.
• Experience with, and a demonstrated commitment to, community-based approach to development.
• Experience with GF donor funding requirement a plus.
• Excellent analytical and information seeking skills, good decision-making skills.
• Experience with participatory planning and evaluation methods preferred.
• Strong inter-personal and public relations skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly and at short notices.
• Excellent English language oral and written communication skills. 
• Proficiency in MS Office suite, including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Willingness and ability to travel in-country (sometimes on short notice) up to 50% and out of the country up to 10%

Application Closing Date
12th December, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download the "Application Form Below" and send with a detailed 3-page resume in a single file word document to: [email protected]

Click here to download Application Form (MS Word)

Note

• Title of the position and desired location must be stated as the subject of the email e.g. Senior Program Advisor - Abuja.
• Applications sent in the required format will be considered and only short listed candidates will be contacted.