El Salvador: Project Director, Tertiary Violence Prevention Project

Organization: Catholic Relief Services
Country: El Salvador
Closing date: 13 Jul 2017

Job Title: Project Director, Tertiary Violence Prevention Project
Department/Country: CRS/El Salvador
Position Type: Full-time
Job Location: San Salvador, El Salvador
Band: E
Reports To: Country Representative

CRS/El Salvador (CRS/SV) is seeking a dynamic and visionary project director to lead a new, five-year Tertiary Violence Prevention Project. Building on CRS/SV´s existing tertiary prevention efforts, the Project Director will be empowered to lead a project focused on reforming and strengthening human rights-centered tertiary violence prevention for increased citizen security in El Salvador by working closely with government, civil society, private sector, and communities.

Introduction:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and commitment to serving those in need.

CRS has worked in El Salvador for over 50 years, with signature programs in agriculture, water, and youth livelihoods and leadership.

CRS/El Salvador began its work in Tertiary Violence Prevention over 10 years ago by providing youth at risk with opportunities to transform their lives through programs focused on livelihoods and leadership.

In recent years, CRS/El Salvador has expanded our work to prisons, where we directly support inmates in their rehabilitation process through multiple interventions, as well as train prison staff in rehabilitation models and skills.

As a result of our ongoing tertiary violence prevention efforts, and based on the needs and request of the Salvadoran government, CRS/El Salvador is embarking on a long-term project to transform tertiary violence prevention in El Salvador for both minors and adults, focused on strengthening effectiveness of government tertiary prevention models and processes, increasing the availability of quality rehabilitation and reintegration programs, and increasing the legitimacy of tertiary prevention policies.

CRS/El Salvador is seeking a project director to lead our efforts, working closely with government, civil society, private sector, and communities to improve citizen security and human rights through strengthening tertiary violence prevention.

Job Summary:

The Project Director will provide the vision and overall leadership to the Tertiary Violence Prevention Project Team. S/he will be responsible for overseeing the overall management of the project including the quality of programmatic implementation (including monitoring, evaluation and learning) and administrative elements of the project, including the coordination of all consortium partners, and monitoring the budget. S/he will also serve as the primary point of contact to donor as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders. He/she is responsible for ensuring compliance in donor grants including oversight of partner budgets, finance and administration, and donor reporting. The PD is responsible for ensuring that project results are achieved on time and on budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability; and that the budget is consumed as planned.

The PD will be a senior leader from the human rights and/or criminal justice development sector responsible for leading all aspects of the development, implementation and consolidation of the project, including ensuring that it contributes to the thought leadership within tertiary violence prevention sector in Latin America and positions CRS as a leading agency in the field of tertiary violence prevention.

The PD will operate within the organizational structure of CRS while coordinating the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in the implementation of the program interventions. The successful candidate will also be responsible for representing the project to major stakeholders, especially the donor and key relevant ministries and agencies within El Salvador.

Job Responsibilities:

Program Quality

Lead the design and implementation of the Tertiary Violence Prevention Project with an innovative program lens, designing pilot solutions to existing rehabilitation and reintegration issues.
With key program staff and stakeholders, ensure the project's strategic objectives and results are fully accomplished and meet expected technical quality standards through annual and quarterly activity planning and budget forecasts.
Ensure that vision and plans for the project are innovative and are in line with CRS agency and country program strategies.
Lead quarterly technical review of implementation plans for the project and ensure appropriate actions are taken to meet implementation timelines and commitments.
In collaboration with project staff, provide guidance and technical oversight to partners and other collaborating agencies to ensure that best practices and lessons learned are documented and disseminated.
Coordinate with the Monitoring and Evaluation department to oversee the design and implementation of the project's monitoring and evaluation system, using appropriate forms, procedures, and tools for data collection and analysis as the basis for measuring, documenting and reporting of project performance and outcomes.
Ensure that Monitoring and Evaluation lessons learned from results of project monitoring and evaluation are incorporated into the design and execution of program activities to meet stated objectives and needs of the beneficiary populations.
Integrate project interventions with other CRS programs as appropriate through linkages with other service providers.
Ensure that processes are anchored in CRS ProPack methodologies, Integral Human Development (IHD), the Justice Lens, the Gender Lens and CRS Partnership principles.

Management

Ensure staff compliance with all CRS administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations.
Approve project expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.
Carry out quarterly financial tracking and reporting systems, review the budget comparison report to ensure that spending and project implementation is aligned while analyzing the progress toward goals and against burn rates.
Proactively identify and address financial issues and concerns in concert with other staff and partners to ensure adherence to financial guidelines and maintain transparent systems and records.
Ensure accurate and timely reporting of project finances and progress status, review actual financial performance against the budget and take corrective action to ensure that project expenses match the execution of activity plans and accurate effort reporting.

Representation and Communication

Oversee the development and implementation of program communication strategies that emphasize and maximize:
Opportunities to represent CRS programming in international circles and highlight the innovative and evidenced based results of project interventions.
The production and wide dissemination of project best practices and effective interventions.
In collaboration with CRS supervisor, act as primary program contact to donor and other local and international stakeholders, and be responsible for addressing all program matters.
Represent CRS at external meetings with international and domestic stakeholders.
In specific instances, prepare and deliver presentations of the project ongoing activities, challenges/opportunities, and results achieved.
Strengthen linkages with existing and potential partner and government agencies.
Ensure that all communication materials developed are in compliance with donor's branding and marketing requirements as well as CRS marketing and communication procedures.
Collaborate effectively and regularly with regional/HQ management and technical advisors, especially with regards to sharing and reviewing important communication with the donor and other stakeholders.

Human Resources

Manage recruitment portfolio for the project, in collaboration with Human Resources Department and CRS country program management, orient, and support the professional development of supervisees, providing timely, respectful feedback.
Conduct periodic reviews of staff performance in keeping with CRS' performance management system and mentor staff to ensure high levels of motivation, commitment, capacity, and teamwork.
Supervise and coach a team of CRS and consortium staff to meet program objectives.
Oversee the management of the relationship with partner organizations, ensure regular communication and organization of review/planning workshops.
With program staff, lead the identification of performance gaps and training needs of CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high quality training, technical assistance, and administrative and financial support to all partner agencies, including the selection and coordination of consultants.

Scope: Supervises the Tertiary Violence Prevention Project team members including the Technical Manager, Policy Manager, MEAL Manager and Grants and Finance Manager.

Qualifications:

Master´s degree in the social sciences, law, governance, human rights, public policy or related fields.
Demonstrated understanding of tertiary prevention principles, theories, and concepts, and their application in Latin American settings.
Ten years of relevant international working experience in a management role, preferably with five years' experience working in El Salvador, contributing to or managing complex, multi-component projects related to violence prevention.
Proven track record of successful program management, including management of multi-activity projects, complicated logistics and large budgets.
At least five years experience managing donor funds and supervisory experience, including performance evaluation, coaching and mentoring.
Demonstrated ability to engage and partner with a wide range of key actors, including private sector, national government agencies, academic and research entities, NGO peer organizations, grassroots organizations, and community members.
Demonstrated ability to manage multi-year and multi-component budgets.
Experience with program monitoring including development of indicators, data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation.
Knowledge of CRS Partnership strategy and Partner management experience an advantage
Excellent report-writing skills.
Computer skills (Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, SharePoint, SalesForce).

Personal Skills:

Proven leadership, and ability to build and motivate diverse and talented teams
Proven experience in building and maintaining institutional linkages
Ability to work to meet deadlines in multiple tasking environments
Excellent organization, planning and analytical skills; detail oriented
Ability to think critically, effectively manage change and problem solve
Excellent communication and inter-personal skills, with demonstrated strength in relationship management
Ability to be flexible, persistent, and diplomatic and to gain respect among staff, local community leaders, church and secular partners, as well as local government ministries and donor organizations.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a multi- cultural team, yet be self-motivated and accountable for program implementation and work independently if needed.

Required/Desired Foreign Language:

Native fluency in English and excellent English writing skills especially with the ability to produce quality written reports for the donor in English on a timely basis. Fluency in written and spoken Spanish.

Travel Required:

Ability to travel nationally and internationally as required up to 25% of the time.

Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory: Technical Manager, Policy Manger, Grants and Finance Manager, MEAL Manager.

Internal: Country Representative, Head of Programs, Deputy Regional Director, Technical Advisors, HQ specialists.
External: All project partners, Government officials, public and private sector stakeholders, donors, industry experts, local/international NGOs, and local and international Catholic agencies.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.