TITLE: Director of Programme Operations

TEAM/PROGRAMME:
Program and Operation

LOCATION:
Cairo with frequent travels to the field offices

GRADE : Executive National / International full (for non Egyptian)

CONTRACT LENGTH: 24 months extendable

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3: the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; ore because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:
In the MENAEE Region, Save the Children currently operates a significant portfolio of programmes across Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. It has a workforce of over 2,000 staff and an annual expenditure more than US$ 300 million in 2023. A large portion of these programmes consist of responses to large humanitarian emergencies (Yemen, Ukraine, and Syria). We also work in countries with chronic humanitarian situations (Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq) as well as regular, smaller emergencies (Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece, and the refugee and migration influx into Turkey and Europe).
Save the Children’s Egypt Country Office has over 400 staff and volunteers and a current annual expenditure of around US $18 million. The CO has Field/Programme offices in Asuit, Minya, Beni Suef, Aswan and Alexandria. In Greater Cairo there are 5 Hubs that deliver services for migrant and refugee populations.
The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Quality and Impact, GRSS, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal and external technical working groups and communities of practice.
As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Egypt, the Director Programme Operations shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office (CO). The Director Programme Operations in his/her capacity will be accountable to the Country Director for overseeing the Programme Operations Department and co-accountable with other senior leaders for risk management –in both emergencies and development programming contexts.

SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Egypt Country Director
Dotted Line: MENAEE Operations Director
Staff directly reporting to this post: 3 Senior Program Managers, Head of Supply Chain, Partnerships Manager, Head of Awards Management and Donor Compliance, Senior Response Manager (Temporary)

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
As a member of the Senior Leadership Team:

• Provide the leadership for Program operations and contribute to country office leadership

• Via regular budget forecasting ensure appropriate funding for shared costs in all locations

• Ensures relevant coordination meetings are scheduled for inter-departmental collaboration (day-to-day, information sharing, review, decision-making)

• Coordinates functions under his/her line management at country level for effective delivery and field support

• Design and supports the implementation of a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to program needs. Right-size projects and field offices based on available budget and funding pipelines

• Support the development of an organizational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors

• Help establish, maintain, and improve active and regular working relationships with government, donors, partners, and local and international NGOs

• Provide the leadership to implement the Country Strategic Plan

• Support the operations and follow up of the CO KPI Improvement Plan, audit recommendations and other general CO risk management plans.

• Contribute to strategic development and delivery of programming, in both humanitarian and development contexts, in line with the Save the Children mandate, strategy and Practice of Change

• Lead and/or champion change management initiatives

• Contribute to global knowledge and learning in Save the Children

Oversight and Management of Program Operations

• Responsible for overall coordination of program operations and delegated responsibility for field delivery of high-quality programming in line with the objectives of the country strategy

• In collaboration with the program Operations team and SMT, define and implement an effective, efficient and sustainable operating model, including defining and developing the role of Save the Children and its partners

• Serve as overall budget holder for most programming; manage and support budget holders for individual projects and grants

• Ensure programs are implemented in ways responsive to the communities and children in line with Save the Children principles, values and strategic plan and following Save the Children compliance procedures. This includes working with government and national NGO partners to strengthen national capacity

• Ensure preparation of timely and high-quality progress reports, program reports, and donor reports

• Through the Senior Programme Managers, oversee all area and field offices and ensure all relevant SCI processes and procedures are in place with the support of the various heads of departments.

• Ensure systems are in place to monitor on time, high-quality, sustainable delivery of programs (including regular spot checks of area and field offices)

• Through the Head of Partnership and project Managers ensure the appropriate management of all current and potential partners in line with the country’s partnerships strategy and CSP

• In close coordination with the members of the SMT, participate in program proposal process and ensure that all programs progress in accordance with grant agreements, are completed on time and on budget

• Support the PDQ director in conceptualizing and designing cost effective, innovative and high-quality programs to serve difficult to reach children

• Maintain open and transparent relationships with SC members and CO RO/Centre counterparts.

• Support the development of funding strategies, participating in the development of award proposals, and identifying strategic leads and operational delivery concepts and strategies

• Oversee and monitor operations KPI’s are delivered in line with SCI benchmarks and expectations (KPIs 1 and 2)

Award Management & Donor Compliance
Through the Awards Coordinator.

• Define the strategic direction of the awards management unit and undertake effective planning that supports the unit to establish and maintain an efficient and effective awards management process

• To use key performance indicators and other management information to identify and address operational issues that could impact negatively on the delivery of programmes

• Work with SMT to engage with donors and identify possible funding opportunities in line with CO strategy

• To support in the development of a Country Office funding strategy that enables proactive engagement across Save the Children globally and with donors to secure funding opportunities in a timely manner, making recommendations and flagging issues to Senior Management

• Provide strategic support to the SMT on all aspects of award management including pipeline management and donor compliance, champion Award management at the Country Office

• Ensure the production of high quality and timely reports that accurately reflect the impact achieved and lessons learnt during the implementation of an award

• Work with program and partnership staff to ensure relevant donor requirements are effectively communicated and understood by implementing partners.

• Ensure Coordination between Award, Finance and Programme teams for Partner’s monitoring, finalization of review report and implementation of corrective actions

• Lead on monthly portfolio review meetings, maintain oversight of all high-risk awards, and mobilize relevant staff as needed to ensure quality implementation and corrective actions are implemented.

• Ensure projects are properly kicked-off, monitored, closed out, and implemented with compliance.

Supply Chain Management

• Through the Head of Supply Chain, oversee procurement, warehouse, construction, and fleet .

• Ensure that the country office supply chain capacity and systems meet the minimum operating standards and are able to satisfy the programming requirements.

• Ensure appropriate and adequate emergency supply chain procedures are detailed in the Country Office Emergency Preparedness Plan in order to enable rapid scale up.

• Ensure goods and services procured are cost effective and quality aligned to the SCI Essential Standards.

• Support the Head of Supply Chain to assess the implementation of the procurement processes to ensure they are effectively and consistently implemented.

Budget Management

• Ensure expenditure is authorized in accordance with the budget authorization procedures within the scheme of delegation

• Monitor for significant variances between budget and actual expenditure

• Ensure appropriate action is taken for budget under/overutilization identified working closely with Award team

• Ensure that direct report budget holders prepare reports on financial performance of their award as required either by donors or by other internal demands.

Humanitarian Response Management

• Strengthen the Egypt CO organizational readiness to respond to emergencies in line with global SCI humanitarian goals and benchmarks

• Ensure that the CO designs, updates and implements a full set of humanitarian preparedness actions, drawing on SC Member input and resources

• Mount appropriate and timely responses at scale to all emergencies consistent with established benchmarks, plans and organizational policies, and in close cooperation with incoming surge teams

• Ensure that all CO staff across departments and sub offices are familiar with, adhere to and implement the procedures and processes detailed in the Rules and Principles for humanitarian response

• In coordination with the Country Director and PDQ Director maintain consistent and coherent engagement in key sector emergency preparedness and response coordination mechanisms ( as relevant)

Risk Management

• Chair the Country Risk Committee ‘CRC’

• Provide oversight of CO Risk Management Plan and drive key mitigations forward with functional leads

• Ensure CO SMT decisions on risks are captured in Country RMP

• Ensure mitigation action plans made by functional heads and the Country Risk Committee are implemented and are supporting programme operations .

• Submitting the CO Risk Management Plan to the Regional Operations Director and Regional Head of Risk and Compliance on a quarterly basis.

Project Management Methodology (PMM) and PRIME

• Ensure all Project Staff including senior ops team take the full PMM course across the country,

• Work with SMT to ensure support staff and functional leads take the express PMM course,

• Ensure all new projects are PMM compliance in up taking tools and procedures,

• Draw an action plan for all continuing awards to be PMM compliant.

• Support and coach Ops senior team, Area/Field Managers and project staff to use the new procedures and tools

• Define approach for monitoring and embedding use of procedures and tools

• Lead the rollout of the PRIME system in Turkiye.

Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development

• Ensure appropriate staffing within the program operations team, including area and field office staff, programs, and the Supply Chain and Partnership

• Ensure that all direct reports understand and are able to perform their role and support as needed

• Manage the program operations team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly

• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate and ensure availability of appropriate professional development opportunities for staff and implement the talent review program

• Recruit/ develop a diversified team

Representation

• Proactively seek and maintain, active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, donors, partner agencies, the UN system, and local and international NGOs

• Interact regularly with the international donors and the NGO community to ensure awareness of SC programs and to collect up to date information about the plans and programs of other actors

Safety and Security

• Support the Country Director on day-to-day management of safety, security and access and thru a dotted line of the Head of Safety, Security and Access, ensure that each operational area (i.e. all area offices and field offices) holds a clear, updated and understood contingency plan to respond to various foreseen and potential scenarios

• Emphasize and support Area Managers in ensuring that national security guidelines, and in particular those on travel and incident reporting, are adhered to

• Ensure that all safety and security minimum operating standards and in country guidelines and procedures are met by all sub offices

• Promote a culture of security awareness and a shared duty of care amongst staff
  

BEHAVIORS (Values in Practice )
Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team

• takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same

• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children

• engages and motivates others

• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

• values diversity; sees it as a source of competitive strength

• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest; encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
  

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Recommended a minimum of 12 years of experience in a non-profit environment, including senior leadership experience and field operations experience ideally running both emergency and development programs

• Good working knowledge of Egypt and MENAEE context

• Master’s Degree in development or other social sciences or relevant degree plus experience
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills; excellent people management skills, experience of managing and developing a team
• Excellent external representation skills at high level with the government, donors and other partners
• Solid project management skills related to organizational development projects and international, cross-functional teams with a proven history of delivering results
• Significant knowledge of international humanitarian and development systems, institutions and donors, and of procedures, accountability frameworks and best practices in emergency management

• Excellent conceptual and analytical skills, effective negotiator, with the ability to positively influence cross departmental and cross sectoral working relationships

• Ability to think creatively to solve problems with effective and efficient ways to accomplish goals
• Ability to make decisions, work under pressure on a number of competing tasks meeting deadlines
• Ability to work successfully in a complex political environment and on sensitive issues
• Flexible and adaptable to dynamic changes and fast-paced work environment

• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in

• Demonstrated experience working on complex, multi-partner projects in an international setting

• Experience in complex, rapid changing environments

• Good understanding of sectoral programs (i.e. Education, Livelihoods, WASH, Child Protection, CASH base intervention) and a working knowledge of the program priorities of the Country Office
• An in-depth understanding of national and international development issues in particular in relation to children
• Willingness to travel to operations sites for technical monitoring and supervision visits
• Ability and willingness to change work practices and hours, and work with incoming teams in the event of major emergencies
• Fluency in written and spoken English, working knowledge of Arabic is high advantages
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles including rights-based approaches