Senior Project Officer / Program Manager at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Project Officer / Program Manager

Location: Abuja (FCT)

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 has been a Co-Principal Recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant since January 2017. As a Co-PR, CRS partnered with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2017 long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 6 states. CRS also supervised and monitored an SR and supported a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.
• For the 2018-2020 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS remained a Co-PR with NMEP, strengthening the synergy and collaboration with NMEP to improve efficiency and impact. CRS will work closely with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2018- 2019 long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 7 states (CRS will implement directly in 2 states and provide ICT4D support for SFH to implement in 5 states).
• In addition to SFH, CRS will also oversee 2 other SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium), in providing support to the 13 states supported by the Global Fund, for a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.
• For the 2021-2023 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS will remain a Co-PR with NMEP and provide robust oversight to the 3 SRs (Society for Family Health, Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium). CRS will work closely with NMEP, 3 SRs and other partners, to scale up the implementation of life saving interventions and improve access to quality malaria services in the 13 GF supported states.
• These critical interventions include malaria treatment and prevention services such as Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, LLIN campaigns, Social and Behaviour Change campaign, and testing and treatment interventions.

Job Summary

• The GF Malaria Program Manager (PM) will support the Senior Program Manager (SPM) to provide oversight to the sub-Recipients on the GF-Malaria grant in achieving donor targets for the Global Fund malaria case management and program management components, in accordance with the Detailed Implementation Plan (work plans) and approved budget, paying attention to deadlines and CRS/donor guidelines. Support the Senior Program Manager to monitor SR training and provide technical support to SR staff, and liaise with stakeholders in Federal and State Ministries of Health to ensure adherence to national strategies and guidelines for malaria prevention, testing and treatment.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

• Provide oversight to the 2 service delivery SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium); and support the team in providing oversight to the ACSM SR (Society for Family Health)
• Provide support in ensuring that SR program activities are implemented according to the approved work plan and budget, paying attention to agreed deadlines and expenditure pattern
• Participate in monitoring and supervision of program activities implemented by the SRs, ensuring that activity reports are developed, and feedback provided to SRs
• Provide support to the SPM in ensuring that SR reports are of good quality and submitted on time, with strict adherence to the PR-SR Agreement, CRS policies and GF policies and guidelines
• Participate in quarterly program and operational review meetings with the SRs, NMEP, Global Fund and other partners, and follow up with appropriate actions and feedback
• Participate in Programme Management and Case Management Sub-committee meetings with NMEP and partners
• Participate in other PR-SR meetings to review grant achievements, analyze reports and SR performance; and provide strategies for improving grant performance
• Support and participate in budget planning and financial reporting by SRs, including budget management, forecasting and analysis of burn rates
• Support and participate in reviewing actual financial performance against the budget for the various SR budgets, and explain variances on a regular basis
• In collaboration with program and SRs staff, provide support and technical assistance 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 between SRs and government ministries on malaria program management
• Review SRs program reports and provide feedback on implementation progress and performance, identifying solutions to address challenges and weaknesses
• Ensure implementation of activities in compliance with all CRS and Global Fund administrative and operational procedures and policies
• Organize and lead the implementation of all assigned project activities as outlined in the detailed implementation plan in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
• Ensure learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities and guiding partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences. Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
• Coordinate and oversee working relationships with all local project stakeholders and serve as the liaison between them and the project team to mobilize local actors and promote project activities and impact.
• Supervise and perform ad-hoc inspections of various processes and resources at project sites to ensure timely project activities implementation and adherence to established process standards and procedures. Ensure proper tracking of resource use for project activities through periodic budget reviews and follow-up with and assistance to implementing partner.
• Support and coordinate capacity building and technical support activities to ensure assigned project activities are implemented per project guidelines and standards.
• Coordinate provision of any logistical and administrative support to staff and partners.

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Chief of Party, CRS Global Fund Malaria Program Team, Deputy Country Representatives, Country Representative, Head of Operations, Finance, Procurement and Administration Staff, Regional and Senior Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors for PQ and MQ, GFSU.
• External: Global Fund’s Fund Portfolio Manager and Nigeria Country Team, Sub Recipients, State Ministries of Health (SMOH), National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) within the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Technical and Financial

Basic Qualifications

• MD/MB.BS Degree 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.
• Minimum of 6 years of post NYSC relevant experience in public health with a strong preference for candidates with at least 3 years’ experience in malaria programming.
• Some health-related community development experience is required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with GF donor funding requirement is a plus.
• Ability to interface with multiple stakeholders, representatives, and partners in a professional manner on an ongoing basis.
• 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.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Experience managing development sector programs is required.
• Experience in malaria programming at the field level 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

Required Languages:

• List languages required to perform the job

Travel:

• Must be willing and able to travel up to 60%.

Agency-wide Competencies (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.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

What We Offer

• CRS offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, vision, generous retirement savings plan and the opportunity to work in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that is committed to improving the lives of the poor throughout the world.
• Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Application Closing Date
18th August, 2022.