Deputy Director of Programs Colombia

International Rescue Committee · Bogotá

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The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

As the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela continues, the risk of hyperinflation and mobility restrictions severely limit access to basic goods and services. To date, around 8 million Venezuelans have left the country. The IRC has responded to the crisis by supporting Venezuelans within Colombia, providing health, nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), economic recovery, protection, and education services.

At the same time, escalating violence and armed conflict have generated serious protection risks in Colombia and Ecuador. This escalation of violence adds to the existing pressures in both countries, which host 2.8 million and 441,000 Venezuelan migrants, respectively. Across the region, escalating violence and conflict are now generating new waves of internal displacement or confinement, directly disrupting access to services, deteriorating health and protection systems, and widening gaps in the provision of care.

In this context, the IRC works, together with local organizations, to support communities affected by conflict in both Colombia and Ecuador in accessing basic goods and services, including education, health, and protection.

JOB PURPOSE

The Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) position is a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and is central to the successful implementation of IRC programs in Colombia. Under the direction of the Country Director (CD), the DDP is responsible for leading program strategy in alignment with local government policies and strategies; guiding sound project management following industry best practices; supporting business development efforts; and ensuring compliance with donor regulations.  The Deputy Director of Programs for Colombia will manage all programming in Colombia, as well as partner-led outreach programs in Ecuador, and will provide leadership to all program staff based in, or traveling to, these countries. 

The responsibilities of this position are aligned with the IRC’s global strategy and reinforce program excellence, gender equality, and greater client voice and choice. This role requires an innovative and pragmatic individual, willing to take smart risks within contexts constrained by security considerations. The DDP must be able to adapt and adjust programming to new scenarios as the context evolves, in order to ensure both staff safety and effective program delivery.  The role must comply with IRC security protocols, designed to protect staff, partner organizations, and clients, and to foster a culture of safety among program staff. 

The DDP will lead the development and execution of the Country Strategic Plan and will be responsible for overseeing technical coordinators and project leads based in Colombia. The position will report to the Country Director for Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, and will coordinate closely with other senior staff based in Caracas or Bogotá; with Regional and Global Technical Advisors in health, protection, economic recovery and development, education, and MEAL; and with the IRC’s Emergency Unit.

The DDP will be based in Colombia and will be required to travel up to 30% of the time.

Languages: Fluency in both English & Spanish required.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Strategy, Design, and Business Development 

• Lead efforts for sustainable program growth, proactively identifying opportunities for new programming initiatives and prioritizing multi-year funding opportunities to support them.

• Implement the IRC’s business development strategy in Colombia, identifying donors and funding opportunities, and expanding and strengthening the IRC’s donor base.

• Coordinate with the regional team, technical advisors, Colombia staff, and partners to submit innovative, high-quality proposals; lead the drafting of technical proposals and budgets.

• Collaborate with Communications, MEAL, and Grants to implement the IRC’s positioning strategy, sharing the impact of the IRC’s work with clients in Colombia and Ecuador.

• Ensure, together with Technical Unit staff, that project design reflects the IRC’s program quality standards and industry best practices. 

• Provide guidance, strategies, and tools to ensure that programming decisions are based on the findings and analysis of needs assessments (primary and secondary data), on input from communities and clients, and on a thorough understanding of context, technical best practices, and operational feasibility.

• Formulate integrated program initiatives so that technical sectors complement one another and promote the incorporation of protection principles and gender-sensitive approaches.

 Program Management – Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation

• Provide overall leadership and management of the IRC’s program portfolio in Colombia and Ecuador, ensuring strategically coherent program direction, well-managed growth, and compliance with IRC and donor regulations.

• Support the Country Director in designing, implementing, and updating the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for Colombia, in order to guide decision-making and define our added value, based on updated context analyses and needs assessments. 

• Continuously seek ways to strengthen the capacities of program team members, both individually and collectively.

• Ensure that detailed, realistic, and feasible project implementation plans are developed, and adapted as needed to better respond to changing contextual needs, in collaboration with the program and operations teams.

• Coordinate with other Senior Management Team members on appropriate management, compliance, and performance standards, as well as effective systems for budget management, knowledge management, and risk management.

• Collaborate with the Security Coordinator to ensure that appropriate security protocols are developed for effective yet security-conscious program implementation. 

• Support program staff in collecting, documenting, and disseminating lessons learned and best practices, incorporating them into the design of new projects. 

• Together with program staff, develop effective, results-oriented MEAL plans that accurately reflect the impact of our work on the lives of our clients, including methodologies and tools to strengthen the quality of data collection, analysis, and reporting.

• Review M&E and accountability data with program staff to identify and address areas for operational improvement.  Ensure that feedback channels are responsive to client profiles and that client feedback is addressed and incorporated into adaptive management processes.

• Work through the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS), a comprehensive set of compliance tools for establishing, managing, and closing partnerships and grants. 

• Serve as a liaison with partner organizations and support partnerships staff to ensure that all partners understand their role and responsibilities, and feel that they can share feedback with the IRC. 

• With the support of partnerships staff, lead the country program’s localization strategy, developing relationships with local actors and supporting the exchange of operational and technical capacities with strategic local partners, with the goal of supporting their transition toward directly receiving funds. 

• Ensure that safeguards risks and measures to mitigate them are addressed consistently throughout the GCP cycle (e.g., ensure compliance with Safeguards Minimum Standard 5).

• Incorporate the necessary staff into program design and budgets to mitigate safeguard risks and meet the minimum standards (e.g., support compliance with Safeguard Minimum Standards 2 and 5).

• Model accountability and commitment to safeguards among all staff, partners, clients, and others with whom we work; build a culture of safeguards in which our clients and staff trust the IRC and feel safe raising their concerns.

 Grants Management

• Ensure quality grants management, compliance with donor requirements, and quality information management related to programs and grants. 

• Oversee all internal and external reports with the program and finance teams, ensuring high-quality, well-written, and timely reports that meet donor, IRC, and partner requirements; conduct thorough reviews and/or corrections of all external reports produced by the program, grants, and business development (BD) teams.

• Ensure that program and grants teams conduct routine monitoring visits to implementation sites to ensure donor compliance and the quality of program implementation.

• Coordinate with the program, grants, and finance teams to ensure sound budget management, expenditure control, and timely contractual documentation, including the submission of complete and timely financial reports.

• Ensure that all program leads and grants staff adhere to the IRC’s program management cycle, and that program staff are well trained to properly manage project budgets.

• Ensure that program coordinators and project leads regularly review budget versus actual expenditure reports; provide leadership and management support to ensure effective monthly grant review meetings.

• Mitigate potential risks by collaborating with the finance and operations departments to ensure that program staff fully understand the financial and administrative processes involved in project budget cycles.

• Ensure the timely, complete, and compliant closure of all grants. 

 External Representation and Advocacy

• Develop a solid understanding of IRC programs in order to professionally represent the IRC to implementing partners, government, and donors;

• Support the Country Director in developing strong relationships with donors, collaborating on visits and on the development of appropriate advocacy actions; 

• Build and maintain strong cooperation with partner organizations through regular communication, cooperation, and, where appropriate, joint decision-making;

• Act as the focal point for program-related communication between the IRC’s country programs in the region and global offices;

• Oversee programmatic input into advocacy efforts, both at the national and global levels.

Staff Management and Development

• Identify, recruit, and onboard new IRC staff, including operations (HR, administration, security, and supply chain), programs, compliance, finance, and partnerships management. Onboarding will be supported by focal points within the IRC. 

• Lead or support recruitment for key program positions, including developing terms of reference and technical tests, as well as participating in interview panels.

• Create a supervisory environment that places clients at the center of our work; that focuses on both team and individual results; that views mistakes as learning opportunities; and that emphasizes the importance of collaboration, accountability, and recognition as key elements of a successful work environment.

• Comply with the IRC’s performance management system, providing regular, timely, and thoughtful feedback, performance evaluation, and professional development to all staff under their supervision, ensuring that they do the same with their own direct reports.

• Strengthen the capacities of program staff in key project management principles, tools, and approaches, and ensure that these new skills are used in day-to-day work.

• Support high-performing staff in taking on greater levels of responsibility.

• Provide leadership support for the successful implementation of and compliance with the IRC’s Global HR Operating Policies and Procedures.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

• The Country Director, the Operations, Finance, and People & Culture Coordinators, and all members of the SMT and Extended SMT in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. 

• Other staff based in Colombia and Venezuela, including operations, finance, and grants.

• Technical Advisors (globally based) and any roster staff needed to support program staff in Colombia or Ecuador.

• The Awards Management Unit, to support all compliance and reporting for partners, as well as proposal development.

• The Global Supply Chain, to procure goods and support partners in their procurement processes.

• The Communications and Advocacy units, to support key messaging at external meetings.

• Global Security, to support any risk analysis and mitigation.

• Emergency Unit.

• Humanitarian organizations, including INGOs, IGOs (e.g., the Red Cross), the UN, and local organizations.

REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in Development Studies, International Relations, Social Sciences, or a related field;

• Minimum 5 years managing teams in Latin America;

• Minimum eight years of management experience working in a humanitarian or development setting, with at least five years of program management experience at international NGOs.

• Demonstrated experience successfully leading multidisciplinary teams in cross-cultural settings, including active mentoring and coaching. Strong leadership, motivation, and team-building skills;

• Experience managing security in complex and rapidly evolving security contexts.

• Demonstrated ability to handle stressful situations in a healthy and constructive manner.

• Experience managing protection, ERD, and/or health programs, a plus.

• Proven ability to negotiate and work with partner organizations. Experience in strengthening organizational capacities and building partnerships is valued.

• Proven ability to develop winning proposals aimed at public and private sector donors.

• Prior experience managing programs funded by U.S. government agencies, DFID, the EU, foundations, and private donors is required; prior experience in competitive environments is valued.     

• Proven ability to manage projects through to completion, on time, within budget, and with the expected results.

• Ability to respond to multiple priorities in a timely manner while producing high-quality results.

• Strong budgetary and fiscal oversight capabilities.

• Proven oral and written proficiency in English and Spanish, required.

• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, especially Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Professional Standards: All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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