Director of Programme Development and Quality (PDQ)

Director of Programme Development and Quality (PDQ)

The Opportunity
As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in the SRO, the Director of Program Development and Quality (PDQ) is responsible for driving cross-functional engagement in the development and delivery of Country Strategy Plans (CSPs), developing annual plans and reporting on results. S/he is responsible for ensuring development and delivery of high quality, evidence-based, innovative programs for children, in all contexts, that contribute to Save the Children’s global Breakthroughs: Learn, Survive, Be Protected.
The Director of PDQ ensures that a robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) system is in place, that the country office engages in the collection and use of evidence and that this is shared across the global organization, and that reliable data is used for decision-making.
The Director of PDQ supports strategic positioning with donors and partners and leads on programme and project design to ensure that the country office strategy can be delivered in line with child rights programming principles and support a gender transformational approach.
As a senior leader in the country office s/he plays a representational role with the government/authorities, donors, partners, peer agencies, Save the Children members and others.

SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Country Director
Location: Amman, Jordan with frequent travel to Syria Area Offices
Staff directly reporting to this post: 6
– Technical unit: 1) Senior Education TA; 2) Senior CP TA; 3) Programme Advisor (Inclusion and gender); 4) Durable Solutions TA; WASH TA; Cash/FSL TA; Public Health/Nutrition TA
– NBD Unit: 5) NBD Manager
– MEAL Unit: 6) Senior Research and MEAL Manager

Role Dimensions: As one of the most senior staff in the Country Office, the Director of Program Development and Quality (PDQ) must demonstrate the qualities of agile leadership. S/he plays a key role in defining and pursuing the strategic direction for Save the Children’s programs in Syria Response Office, ensuring the relevance, coherence, safety and impact of our programs for children in all contexts. This is a challenging role requiring an individual who can work with complexity and multiple tasks at one time. It demands dedication to demonstrating outcomes for children, experience in integrated child rights programming and a highly motivated leader. S/he has specific oversight for ensuring that programs demonstrate thematic excellence in contributing to Save the Children’s three priority Breakthroughs for children: no child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday; all children learn from a quality basic education; and violence against children is no longer tolerated.
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
Strategy, Planning and Reporting
* Lead on the development/updating of the Child Rights Situation Analysis, including analysis of country context and taking into account child rights principles, ensuring participation and buy-in from all relevant staff, partners and other stakeholders as necessary
* Lead the SMT to develop/update and drive forward the Country Strategy Plan (CSP) that is in line with the global strategy, Ambition 2030, with child rights and gender equality at the core of all programming and advocacy work.
* Provide leadership on development of the Country Annual Plan, monitoring of progress against the plan, and completion of accurate, on-time Country Annual Report of outcomes and impact for children, aligned with the Global Results Framework.
* Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic and cross-cutting strategic priorities in line with the CSP, including gender equality and Save the Children’s Common Approaches.
* Support ownership and commitment to the Country Office strategy by all staff and departments through clear communication, regular feedback on progress and engagement of all functions in updates.
* Participate in global discussions and working groups to represent the Syria Response Office, and the voice of children, in strategy design and technical leadership.
* Support change processes and roll-out new ways of working to improve achievement of the CSP.
* Drive strategic thinking that is underpinned by thought leadership and Innovation.
* Support CD to provide leadership and direction for the response office to become a Learning Organization.
* Proactively participate in the identification of risks for the organization, its beneficiaries and its staff including reputational, physical and monetary risks with a specific focus on the area of Program Development and Quality.

Program Design and Development
* Lead strategic resource mobilization in close consultation with the CD.
* Review and position for opportunities that will drive the CSP (e.g. GPE, ECW).
* Play a critical role in identifying nurturing and strengthening strategic partnerships, including development of consortium with local and international civil society organizations, NGOs, governments etc., in advancing the country and global strategy.
* In consultation with the Country Director and Members, ensure technical engagement with donors to pre-position and prepare for opportunities, and engage in strategic positioning work directly as appropriate.
* Play a leading role in designing innovative and high impact programmes/projects and proposals, including:
– Engaging with technical experts as needed to ensure high quality, evidence-based designs that draw on needs assessments, learning from past programs and child safeguarding principles;
– Ensuring partners are identified and appropriately engaged in program design, linking with Operations and partnership as need be for assessments at design stage;
– Ensure new programmes and projects are built on a strong evidence base resulting from learning, drawing on needs assessments and situational analyses that include participation of children and other stakeholders
– Ensuring proposal designs and their budgets include robust MEAL plans that are aligned with the Global Results Framework (and therefore advance towards our Breakthroughs), incorporate evidence (specifically, Common Approaches) as relevant, and build in critical learning questions.
– Ensuring the project budget will enable the project to be delivered as designed.
– Incorporating child and community participation into design, as relevant.
– Introduce innovative approaches to secure flexible funding to invest in quality, evidence and learning

Programme Quality and Programme technical excellence
* Ensure that the Response office delivers high quality, multi-sectoral programming in a context sensitive way recognising the diverse contextual realities (humanitarian/nexus/early recovery) of Syria:
– Monitor and advance technical and operational quality of programmes, including conducting field visits to provide feedback on quality benchmarks, soliciting inputs for design of new programs and collecting ideas for innovation.
– Monitor program Key Performance Indicators and, in partnership with other functions, take steps to improve the quality programming platform to meet agreed upon standards.
– Work closely with the Director of Operations to ensure Quality Framework standards are met and procedures are followed throughout the project cycle and across the portfolio (PMM).
– Ensure technical experts proactively and regularly communicate planned requirements for program design, learning and implementation to relevant departments/functions.
* Build and lead a team of program technical experts needed to successfully deliver against the CSP. Ensure effective working relationships with SC global, Member and regional technical advisors, procuring technical support as needed to support programme efforts:
– Ensure that programme technical experts engage in larger communities of practice within and external to Save the Children, to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches and conduct timely and useful review of project reports to support quality reporting for Members and donors
– Ensure that the different technical sectors of the Country Office are coordinated, integrated and support each other to optimize programmes and projects.
– Ensure that child safeguarding and safe programming is embedded in program design and considered throughout implementation to ensure that we do all we can to ensure children in our programs are safe, in line with our child safeguarding policy.
– Maintain oversight of the country office technical capacity and development (with HR), ensure that positions are adequately funded (with Finance), and secure specialised expertise to fill gaps, when needed.
Research, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, Learning – and Knowledge Management
* Oversee a monitoring system that provides timely and accurate project results by embedding MEAL across program implementation. This requires ensuring effective collaboration across MEAL staff, Technical Specialists, Technical Advisors and program implementation teams to develop log frames, indicators, implementation plans, quality benchmarks, monitoring and evaluation frameworks and related tools.
* Lead programme quality improvements by monitoring and improving Programme KPI performance, including resourcing and conducting high-quality evaluations to demonstrate outcomes and impact and ensuring that accountability mechanisms are in place for all projects so that identified actions are resolved, with critical issues escalated to senior management.
* Ensure the research and evaluation work of the Response Office contributes to generation of evidence for development and improvement of Common Approaches, sound decision making and policy influencing internally and externally.
* Accountable for the establishment of effective programme learning and knowledge management systems to support adaptive programming and innovation that improves outcomes for both boys and girls.

Representation, Networking and External Engagement
* Support in establishing, maintaining, and improving active and regular working relationships with: partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs
* Conduct briefings at external events on priority issues for the SRO as required

Partnerships
* Lead on ensuring sufficient TA support to the partner organizations across access points
* Support partnership modality by ensuring their participation in the design and implementation of area and sector-based plans for SRO
* Conduct periodic review of annual plans in PDQ area with partner organizations to ensure common vision in technical areas
* Ensure PDQ Team is adapted to the partnership modality and their service to the modality is done so, it strengthens the model further

Emergency preparedness and response
* Lead on developing programmes that are adaptive and can respond to spikes in the humanitarian crisis as and when necessary
* Ensure excellent coordination and cooperation with incoming technical advisors as well as surge teams during emergencies
* Lead on ensuring the appropriate level of technical input into any new emergency response

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development
* Ensure appropriate staffing of Programme Development and Quality team, and engagement of additional technical support when needed to deliver quality project design and delivery.
* Ensure that all PDQ staff understand and are able to perform their role in delivering first-class, quality programs for children in both development and emergency contexts through effective on boarding and clear work plans.
* Manage individual and team performance using principles of leadership agility, and Save the Children’s performance management system.
* Ensure that staff proactively build and maintain technical, managerial and leadership skills, including competencies in child rights programming, child safeguarding, gender equality and Common Approaches, providing coaching opportunities when needed.

In order to be successful, you will bring/have:

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
* At least 10 years’ experience in an NGO environment, including experience directing and implementing programs for children in both emergency and development contexts, preferably with solid experience in more than one of the Save the Children priority sectors: education, protection, emergencies
* Recognized leadership role in relevant technical areas at both field and country level
* Master’s degree in Social Sciences, in an area of social development
* Very good understanding of Syria context
* Experience in working with partner organizations in humanitarian or development settings
* A general appreciation of the issues concerning the NGO sector, both development and humanitarian issues
* Solid experience of developing and managing monitoring and learning systems
* Good analytical skills. Effective negotiator, with the ability to positively influence cross departmental and cross sector working
* Credibility to lobby, influence and represent Save the Children at all levels
* Resource management, training, capacity building, coaching, and mentoring skills
* Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming teams, in emergencies
* Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles including rights-based approaches
* Fluency in written and spoken English and knowledge of Arabic will be an asset
* Ability to work within a team

The Organisation
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
* No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
* All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
* Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
Application Information:
Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.
We encourage qualified women and persons with disabilities to apply.