Senior Program Officer

Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. The IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war and disaster. Currently operating in over 40 countries, the IRC restores dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure across the world-leading the way from harm to home.

IRC has been working in Pakistan since 1980 and managing and delivering large, complex programs in most difficult and hard-to-reach geographies of the country, to provide needs-based support including health, education, protection, environmental health, climate change, governance, and livelihood for displaced, poor, and disaster-affected communities. With continuous support from the federal and provincial governments, and generous donors including FCDO, ECHO, GFFO, UNHCR, SIDA, Irish Aid and Australian Aid Agencies the IRC is currently implementing projects to serve refugees, internally displaced people, marginalized and flood-affected communities across the country. Working in partnership with local civil society and in close coordination with communities, district, and provincial governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces ensures IRC’s success in serving people in need.

Job Overview/Summary: The Senior Program Officer under the supervision of Emergency Team Lead ensures that project activities goals, and objectives are successfully implemented and monitored; the prioritized technical sectors/areas are well coordinated into the overall programming and projects being implemented appropriately. The Sr. Program Officer supports the team in oversight of the implementation of multiple projects, ensuring that all project management roles are covered properly including HR, Supply Chain, Finance, Program Administration, and Implementation.

Major Responsibilities: Actively participate in all aspects of the overall project management with a focus on timely and quality results, teamwork, participation, empowerment, accountability, and client focus. The incumbent will work with numerous counterparts, implementing partners, and technical experts. Major duties as well as technical, programming, and management responsibilities are described below. 

Project planning and Management Responsibilities: 

• Provide support and backstopping for assigned programs, ensuring all program objectives and goals are met in compliance with donor regulations.
• Work with field personnel on project related services and serve as primary point of contact between assigned field offices.
• Provide technical assistance, as needed.
• Track project deliverables and financial targets.
• Contribute to the monitoring of project performance in assigned topic and/or geographic area.
• Prepare, review and/or edit project progress reports (monthly, quarterly, annual, etc.) to ensure quality, and work with supervisor and field team to revise target goals if necessary. Apprise supervisor/management of any critical issues as they arise.
• Frequent travel to field to monitor program implementation and provide technical assistance.
• As relevant, serve as the main point of contact for partner organizations.
• Represent team at meetings, conferences and workshops, as needed.
• Provide updates, reports and critical analysis of field and report to program lead. Coordinate with relevant departments to ensure effective support to the field, and to provide accurate information to the field regarding implementation and regulations.
• Coordinate the identification, hiring and supervision of national staff and consultants for project and field offices.
• Coordinate the preparation of program budgets and spending plans.  
• Analyze project expenditures against budget and coordinate with relevant department/staff on invoicing of clients.
• Analyze work plans against project deliverables.
• Ensure adherence and compliance to IRC and donor policies and procedures.
• Participate in, coordinate and/or lead program development and proposal preparation efforts, as needed.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Key Working Relationships:

 Position Reports to: Emergency Team Lead

 Position directly supervises: Program Assistant

 Other Internal and/or external contacts: With IRC sector managers, partners, representatives of Govt. departments, and partners

 Job Requirements:

 Education:

Master’s Degree in Education, Social Sciences, Project Management or any other relevant subject.

 Work Experience:

At least 2 years of relevant experience in relief/ development projects working in diverse teams; Experience of working in a large complex organization, preferably with an international NGO providing support to emergency response projects.

 Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Sound knowledge of the software (Microsoft Windows, MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint),
• Excellent report writing and editing skills.
• Proven track record of supporting teams to meet project timelines.
• Ability to analyze data for project course correction.
• Excellent communication and analytical skills, including the ability to develop and deliver presentations.
• Strong leadership, negotiation and consensus building skills.

 Language Skills:

Strong English language skills both written and oral; knowledge of local languages preferred.

 Working Environment:

Works well in and promotes teamwork, flexible and able to handle pressure well.

The IRC Core Values and Commitments.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Adult Safeguarding, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

IRC is committed to ensuring that IRC staff is suitable to work with children and have the knowledge s/he needs to uphold and abide by the IRC’s Child Safeguarding Policy as well as Adult Safeguarding Policy.

Level of interaction with Adult (Above 18): Frequent direct contact with adult and less frequent direct contact with children.

IRC ensures that its staff must actively practice the roles and responsibilities related to client responsiveness, accountability to people in affected communities and must have competencies to solicits and listens to feedback and other’s perspectives, responds to feedback with maturity and sensitivity and takes appropriate decisions and makes changes to behavior or actions in response to feedback.

IRC recognizes that gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of our organizational mission. As such, IRC is committed to the promotion of gender equality in all aspects of our operations and programs. Our organizational policies, procedures and actions demonstrate this commitment

Female candidates and persons with disability are highly encouraged to apply.