Program Manager, Orphans & Vulnerable Children's Program at Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria)

Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria), is a Not-for-Profit Humanitarian and Development Agency established by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), to coordinate at the national level, the social development interventions of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Caritas Nigeria works to fight hunger, disease and ignorance as well as respond to humanitarian crises and emergencies by mobilizing resources from within and outside the Church to meet the basic needs of affected persons, regardless of religion, nationality or ethnicity.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Program Manager, Orphans & Vulnerable Children's Program

Location: Umuahia, Abia
Employment Type: Full-time
Job Category: OVC
Project: 4GATES PROGRAM
Program: Health
Number of Positions Available: 1

Program Background

• The Global Action Towards Epidemic control in Sub-national units in Nigeria (4GATES) program is a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment program being implemented in Abia, Delta, Enugu and Imo States.
• It is a 5-year program (October 2017 to September 2022) implemented by Caritas Nigeria and its consortium partners; Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Pro-Health International as the sole Implementing Partner for PEPFAR in these states.

Summary of Role

• The Program Manager will provide technical support and supervision in collaboration with 4GATES OVC Team to ensure the successful planning and implementation of the OVC program. S/he will also provide technical support and expertise, coordination and supervision of all CBOs in the state; will be responsible for managing the budget of the partner CBOs.
• The incumbent will coordinate Community Based organizations (CBOs) in the management and implementation of the 4GATES OVC program as well as to conduct community development activities related to the project.

Description of Roles & Responsibilities
Program Management:

• S/he will work with the State Program Manager to support the implementation of high-quality care and support activities for orphans and vulnerable children.
• The incumbent will coordinate the implementation of OVC program activities in line with PEPFAR guidelines within the state.
• Support CBOs to develop detailed annual work plans.
• Provide technical support to the CBOs to finalize their annual budgets, conduct review of budgets against project targets, budget notes and justification, making recommendations and follow-up implementation.
• Ensure budgets, financial and programmatic reports are sub mitted on a timely basis.
• Identify programmatic areas that are lagging behind on service coverage, initiate dialogue and required actions
• Work with the State Program Manager to manage partner CBOs’ budgets, including monthly request for advance.
• Work with different units to ensure the provision of all resources required by partners for program implementation.
• Monitor CBO budget spending closely and address issues of overspending or under spending as they arise.

Grants Management:

• The Program Manager, Orphans & Vulnerable Children’s Program will be responsible for ensuring compliance to USG regulations and terms and conditions of the sub-agreements.
• S/he, in collaboration with the Grants & Compliance Unit, interprets USG regulations to local partners and assists with trainings on compliance, conducting financial reviews, follow-up of recommendations, identifying training needs, and the development of organization specific plan to address the needs.
• Serve as point of contact on compliance issues with CBOs and the OVC Technical Team.
• Monitor monthly reports for liquidation, update budget analysis and advice the Senior Program, and Grants & Compliance Manager accordingly.
• Follow up to ensure that compliance issues raised during liquidation processes are closed.
• Monitor allocated partner agreements and budgets and ensure compliance with Compliance Manuals and donor guidelines.
• Ensure that partners keep supporting documents for all financial transactions, keep ledgers for Fixed Assets, Purchase Requisitions, Cash Receipts and Disbursements.
• Take part in the mid-term/ Dashboard evaluations and final evaluations of the project.
• Provide State Team Leads with updates on CBO progress to be used in reports to USG, Nigerian government, CCFN and other stakeholders

Reporting & Supervision:

• The Program Manager, Orphans & Vulnerable Children’s Program, will report to both the Senior Technical Specialist, OVC and the Senior Program Manager in the State.
• S/he will work very closely with all members of the OVC Team in the state, Caritas Nigeria Program Area Leads, the State Team Lead, the Associate Director, Care & Treatment, the Business Official/Grants Manager, the Program Director and the Chief of Party.

Additional Responsibilities

• The Responsibilities (Above) are not all-inclusive. The employee will also perform other related tasks as required and will be responsible for reporting and communicating progress and achievement of the specific assigned tasks.

Desired Qualifications, Skills and Experience
Qualified applicants must have:

• Master's Degree in Public Health, or International Health or in Management or Social Sciences.
• Minimum of five (5) years working experience in OVC Care and Support and at least three (3) years’ demonstrated experience in managing programs that address the needs of vulnerable children and adolescents, adolescents living with HIV, OVC, caregiver support, economic strengthening, child protection, violence against children, case management, early childhood development, OVC policy and advocacy.
• Experience and knowledge of ART Surge Response is a major requirement.
• Previous experience providing technical assistance and developing successful proposals for external donor funding is required.
• Demonstrated skills in project reporting, preferably for PEPFAR-funded OVC programs
• Experience in business development, project design and proposal development in OVC programming, including technical writing.
• Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training applying adult learning principles and practices.
• Experience with OVC program monitoring and evaluation especially NOMIS, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation. Knowledge and practical skills in OVC care and support.
• Knowledge and understanding of pediatric home-based care, gender, stigma and discrimination.
• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in OVC programming.
• General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
• Good verbal and written communication skills to manage project communications and disseminate project information are required.
• Demonstrated capacity to collaborate with colleagues, teams and partner organizations to achieve results.

Application Closing Date
6pm; 16th September, 2021