JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: Head of Program Implementation (HOPI)
REPORTS TO: Deputy Director Programme Operations – Humanitarian (DDPO – Humanitarian)
GRADE: NAT2
REPORTING TO POST
Directly: 5 Sector Managers, Programme Operations Coordinator, Community Mobilization Coordinator
Indirectly: projects’ teams
LOCATION: Maiduguri, Borno state, Northeast Nigeria with frequent travel to remote and insecure locations. Provides technical support to teams in Yobe and Adamawa
DURATION: 12 months
CHILD SAFEGUARDING
Level 3. The responsibilities of this post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children and young people. In the overseas context, all posts are considered level 3.
INTRODUCTION
Save the Children International is a 'dual mandate' organisation and as such equal priority is given to both humanitarian and development work. This is the only way we will be able to ensure that some of the fundamental rights that we believe children have, such as survival, safety and constant access to protection and education can be guaranteed. Save the Children will support programmes in both sudden onset and chronic emergencies as part of a commitment to work with children through humanitarian interventions.
Save the Children in Nigeria has experienced a rapid scale-up of its humanitarian response over the past four years. The response is focused on the northeast of Nigeria, which experienced a massive humanitarian crisis due to the insurgency and counter-insurgency operations, coupled with climate change impacts, natural disasters, disease outbreaks and acute malnutrition crisis. Save the Children humanitarian response in the northeast focuses on sectors like FSL, Nutrition, Education, WASH and Child Protection.
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ROLE
The HOPI is responsible for the direct oversight and overall management of SC’s humanitarian projects in northeast Nigeria. The HOPI supports the Deputy Director Programme Operations (Humanitarian) and the Director Programme Operations by providing information on the progress of the programmatic interventions, providing direction to individual Sector Managers on their projects and ensuring a multi-sectoral and/or integrated approach across programmes where feasible.
The post-holder will develop a response strategy, identify needs and resources and elaborate programme recommendations for the emergency response in line with Save the Children Nigeria SMT and regional response priorities. In coordination with the PDQ Team (TAs), the HOPI will support Sector Managers to incorporate the relevant thematic advisory to provide appropriate design, training and MEAL functions for programming in Northeast Nigeria. The HOPI will establish working relations with other agencies, looking for opportunities for partnership and harmonisation of approach and with donors to ensure resources are made available to the response.
The HOPI will negotiate the positioning of the humanitarian response within the Country Programme and ensure suitable resourcing of the response, manage programmes or country support functions, negotiate, and network at an international level. HOPI will ensure that all relevant Save the Children policies and procedures with respect to child safeguarding, safety and security, code of conduct, equal opportunities and other relevant policies are in place. The post holder will play a strategic role in defining the effective scale-up and management of the Save the Children emergency programme to maximise impact and enable positive change for children.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
Programme Support:

• In collaboration with the Deputy Director Programme Operations (Humanitarian), assume overall oversight of the programmatic side of the SC Nigeria humanitarian response in Borno.
• Lead and manage multiple grants (across the 5 sectors), and contribute to the achievement of the response strategy by ensuring strict compliance of programme activities with Save the Children national and global policies and procedures and with relevant donor regulations and agreements, SPHERE guidelines and the NGO code of conduct.
• Ensure the integration of other sectors to strengthen the quality and geographical coverage of the humanitarian response to include new areas of need and additional sectors like early recovery/resilience
• Take overall leadership and oversight on the management of response budgets of annually US$ 34 million, keeping relevant stakeholders informed and ensuring any corrective actions are taken to meet donor guidelines
• Review all donor project reports as per the reporting matrix and work with the respective Sector Managers to finalize drafts at the field level before submitting them to CO and SC Member
• Ensure all donor project reports meet the respective donors’ guidelines
• Support on the revision of the response master budget for the Nigerian response, based on direction from the Deputy Director Programme Operations (Humanitarian).
• Coordinate with the sector managers, TAs, and the awards team to ensure the preparation of timely programme and donor reports on project activities in compliance with internal SC requirements and any relevant external donor requirements.
• Work with the Sector Managers and TAs to develop scaling up plans for programming, based on existing Nigerian experience and the experience during the early months of the response
• Establish project monitoring plans and systems for identifying and tracking the indicators and develop processes/procedures and forms to support monitoring and inform learning.
• Through embedding direct and remote processes into each sector programme design, ensure strong accountability to beneficiaries
• Perform other tasks as outlined by the line manager

Capacity Building:

• Coach and train Sector Managers on PCM/PMM to ensure coherent project management
• Ensure that all programme designs and budgets sufficiently incorporate pre-deployment training requirements and capacity building plans and performance management systems are in place. Ensure training plans include capability statements and measuring systems to allow the development of the requisite competencies in staff at each level to ensure timely delivery of a quality response
• Coach and mentor international and national staff and partners and link into wider organisational talent development mechanisms.

Representation & Advocacy & Organisational Learning:

• Represent Save the Children’s emergency response on a national, regional and international level to donors, the media and members of the humanitarian community.
• Help shape broader sector strategies through influence of and leadership within inter-agency coordination forums, ensuring the specific needs of children are being addressed
• Regularly undertake high-level representation and advocacy with Government partners and officials as well as donor representatives. Establish systems for communication with local Government partners, relevant line departments and community representations in the project area(s).
• Lead on organisational level operational practice, innovation and learning in consultation with the humanitarian team.
• Oversee the implementation of Save the Children policies and procedures with respect to child rights and safeguarding, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential

• Substantial management experience (i.e., at least 5 years) in a humanitarian setting including significant field operations experience in both emergency and development programmes
• Robust experience in emergency programme cycle management, and experience in working within a complex organisation structure
• Experience in international humanitarian systems, institutions, and donors, and procedures, accountability frameworks and best practices in emergency management
• Education: MA / MSc level (or equivalent field experience)
• Experience in managing multi-donor, multi-site programmes (including ECHO, FCDO, NORAD, ECW and BHA) of USD 10m+ in the first phase of response at the regional or country level
• Experience in international level representation with key stakeholders, and co-ordination with other NGOs/UN
• Experience in international media representation and advocacy
• Award management and experience. Good understanding of donors ‘requirement
• Experience in developing and negotiating successful partnerships with institutional donors
• Proven ability to influence change at an operational and strategic level
• Proven reporting and communication skills
• A high level of written and spoken English
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. A good understanding of the SC mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support

Desirable

• Previous experience in northeast Nigeria or the Lake Chad basin
• Previous experience with Save the Children

The Organization
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 workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information:
Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/jobs We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.