Program Manager

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is a US non-governmental organization that has been operating in Vietnam for nearly 20 years. CRS projects assist local counterparts to build capacity in the areas of Education, HIV/AIDS care and treatment, Disaster Risk Reduction and emergency preparedness and response. Reflecting our commitment to carry out quality programming to benefit the poor, we are now seeking a dynamic Vietnamese candidate for following position for our Program based in Ha Noi:

Title:    Program Manager, for Together – Strengthening Community Resilience to Natural Disasters project in Coastal Vietnam
Reports to:    Country Manager
Supervision:    Project Officer/s 

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

The Program Manager (PM) for Together – Strengthening Community Resilience to Natural Disasters project in Coastal Vietnam, has primary responsibility for the overall management and coordination of a two year’s project called “Together -Strengthening Community Resilience to natural disasters” in one province in coastal Vietnam and supervision of the project staff.  The PM will ensure strategic direction and achievement of projects’ objectives for CRS and Vietnamese partners, as well as compliance with donors’ and CRS program quality standards and CRS/Donor administrative and financial requirements. Special emphasis is placed on promoting collaborative relationships and networking and advocating CRS Emergency Response and DRR approaches to donors and like-minded organizations in Emergency Response, DRR/Climate Change sector and relevant Vietnamese government departments and agencies such as Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.  The PM is also responsible for promoting and ensuring a learning process internally and externally throughout the project implementation processes.

This position is based in Ha noi with about 40% travel to project sites.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:    

Country Manager
Head of Programs
Project officer/s
CRS Vietnam DRR staffs
CRS Administrative and Finance staff
DRR Technical Consultants
CRS M&E and Emergency Preparedness Response Training Technical Advisors

External:    

Central-level partners
Provincial, district and community level partners
Donors as required and as assigned by Country Representative

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Management:

• Manage the  project including high project quality, Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Accountability, and budget management
• Lead the development of detail implementation plan, annual activity and budget plan for the project.
• Facilitate the annual and quarterly project activity plan for the project/s’ partners
• Lead the project team quarterly planning meetings to review and reflect progress and results, identify gaps and solutions and share technical ideas for the projects with partner, CRS and others.
• Ensure project learning process at all stages of the project based on the Donor’s requirement and CRS Standards
• Support to the project PO/s with technical and management inputs relating to project implementation processes.
• Lead and coordinate with the project PO/s to set up project M&E system following CRS Asia and Donor’s standards, develop tools for tracking project indicators and results of DRR project/s.
• Provide technical support and regular visits to the project sites (Quang Nam province) to ensure the project quality.
• Support and contribute to development of  any new  similar projects and proposals in collaboration with HoP, Country Manager, the internal DRR team and  local partners
• Participate in development of any DRR strategy within CRS Vietnam and regionally. 

Financial Management:

• Compliance: Ensure sound financial management of the project. Ensure compliance with  the project donor such as MAC Foundation and  if necessary, with USAID/OFDA, Caritas Australia, CRS and Vietnamese government regulations and practices for the project budgets with relevant partners
• Budgeting: Develop the annual project’ budget. Provide oversight, guidance and support to the project staff in management of project finances through budget planning, preparation of Annual Program Plans, quarterly cash forecasts, and project balances, including verification of liquidations submitted by the project PO/s.
• Financial Reporting: Coordinate with Finance team and project staff and partner/s to ensure effective tracking and  timely reporting on budget expenses,  including financial reports to external donor/s, partners, monthly, quarterly and ad hoc financial reports, as required.

Partnership:

• Facilitate and support the project PO/s in process of signing project agreements with relevant partners (district, provincial and district government agencies) including extensions as necessary.
• Maintain positive and strengthen partnership with diverse partners, at central and provincial levels both.
• Maintains regular and respectful communications with the partners and extend all supports as needed, in close coordination with the Supervisor and the DRR team and project staff.
• Ensure that project staff relate to local partners in a manner consistent with CRS partnership principles.
• Build capacity of partners in DRR and Emergency Response, effective project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, learning and accountability of project activities.

Monitoring/Learning/Reporting and Documenting:

• Donor Reports: Ensure high quality donor reports, in timely manner and in required format. Develop case studies along project reports, to promote the project learning and achievements.
• Monitoring and Learning: In coordination with M&E Officer, Country Manager and CRS Technical Experts, lead and facilitate design and timely implementation of base line, mid-term and final evaluations of the project. 
• Ensure strong learning and reflection processes in the project 
• Provide regular and timely trip reports to the supervisor
• Documenting: Provide technical inputs to develop documentation of the CRS DRR models, lessons learned and project best practices and ensure sharing internally with DRR staffs, CRS Asia as well as external forums/stakeholders. 

Advocacy and Networking:

• Governmental agencies: Contribute to advocacy and relationship-building at the district, provincial and ministry levels. Provide technical ideas as necessary in policy review of Vietnamese legislative documents and other project documents to work with relevant ministries on topics relating to DRR and Climate Change Adaptation. Maintain positive working relations with relevant government bodies, international organizations and local partners.
• DRR and Climate Change Adaptation sectors: Collaborate with Vietnamese and international organizations involved in emergency response and DRR/CCA issues.  In coordination with the  DRR PM and other DRR team members, represent CRS in the DRR/CCA Sector Working Group in NGO Resource Center attend external meetings and networking activities related to DRR/CCA and promote CRS CBDRR/CCA models and approaches.

Emergency Response

• Coordinate and support in the event of any emergencies in the project area or in the country, in conducting  participatory assessment, analysis, preparation of sitreps, Emergency Response project design and implementation

Personnel Management:

• Coaching and Performance Appraisal: Provide  management supervision, support and guidance to  the project staff  as necessary for maintaining program and management quality in all aspects of the project. Conduct bi-annual coaching sessions and annual performance reviews for the project staff.
• Training: Identify and provide or coordinate capacity building/ training for the project staff, including technical and managerial aspects.

Job Specific Competencies

• Master degree, preferably in rural development, natural resources management, agriculture.  Further specializations on Disaster Risk Reduction/climate change adaptation and / Emergency Response are desired.
• At least 5 years proven experience of managing development program and projects related to disaster risk reduction, emergency response, climate change adaptation, integration of climate in rural development and/or related domains.
• Technical knowledge on designing and managing disaster risk reduction initiatives, Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM), participatory capacity vulnerability analysis, and climate change adaptation (CCA) projects.
• Technical knowledge and practical experiences in Emergency Response, including SPHERE and other humanitarian standards.
• Working experiences of integrating DRR/CCA into Livelihood and other development programs
• Practical experiences  in developing and facilitating DRR/CCA related training
• Must be strong in participatory approaches and learning process, capacity for innovation and to promote new initiatives. 
• Working experience with NGOs or international development organization is preferable
• Sound experience in resource management e.g. people, finances, assets
• Ability to network and coordinate with government and non-government organizations at local and national level
• A good team builder, problem solver, honest and transparent, strong interpersonal skills and must have the ability to lead the implementation processes in the field. 
• Fluent in written and spoken English and Vietnamese
• Able to travel (at least 40% of total time) to program/project areas

Required application documents:

• Curriculum Vitae in English, with names and addresses of three references (preferably former supervisors)
• Application Letter in English
• Copies of diplomas, certificates

Please send completed applications to:

Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang
Administrative Officer
CRS, No 1 Alley 7, Nguyen Hong Street, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi.
Or email: [email protected]
Deadline for Applications: November 15, 2013

CRS is an equal- opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or HIV/AIDs.