BRACED Consortium Manager

Reference: KK/SS/BCM

Reports To: Country Director, South Sudan
Responsible For: (Staff): BRACED Programme Quality Officer
Liaises With: - BRACED Consortium Director (London), Assistant Country Director Programmes, Country Financial Controller, Consortium Partners, Government, UN

Job Purpose

The purpose of the role of the BRACED Consortium Manager is to ensure the effective implementation of the BRACED consortium funded by DFID in South Sudan. The Consortium Manager – BRACED will work with all consortium partners to deliver the South Sudan BRACED programme. BRACED will be the first large climate resilience project to work in South Sudan. This 3-year £5 million GBP programme will be managed through a consortium composed of core partners (Concern Worldwide, Lead organization; ACTED, FAO, Oxfam and Sudd Institute).

Key elements of this position include providing overall representation of and coordination between member partners, liaison with donors and other external actors, including other BRACED consortia funded by DFID and actors implementing programmes related to resilience building, climate and the environment; and management of the Consortium Coordination Unit in South Sudan established to support the programme.

This position requires travel to programme and other relevant locations.

Tasks & General Responsibilities

Under the direct line management of the Country Director of Concern Worldwide South Sudan and with the assistance of any personnel employed for the purposes of consortium coordination; ensure that all elements of the BRACED Consortium coordinate effectively to deliver the commitments of the consortium in an efficient, effective and economical manner.

Strategic Management

•Developing and maintaining relationships internally between consortium members (ACTED, FAO, Oxfam and Sudd Institute) and externally with relevant actors (including GoSS, UNEP, ERP, University of Juba).

•Strategic management of the BRACED programme, identifying opportunities for increasing impact of the consortium approach, ensuring regular strategic reflection, influencing sectoral actors based on evidence and identifying additional funding sources to fund the resilience building strategy.

•Communicating with the team/partners a clear and exciting vision for the work of the BRACED consortium in South Sudan.

•Representation and communication of consortium programme initiatives to relevant stakeholders.

•Coordination, monitoring, review, evaluation and sharing lessons learnt from the activities of consortium members to support the achievement of outcomes and impact.

•Coordinating knowledge sharing events, and advocacy initiatives and ensuring learning are effectively translated into programme design

•Ensures that the programme is fully designed and implemented according to the approved programme proposal and in accordance with the requirements of DFID

•Review the consortium organizational structure and recommend for revision as appropriate. This should include reviewing all functions and appropriate systems to support the Partners effectively.

•Ensure ongoing relevance of the project, adapting intervention approach/content associated with contextual and organisational changes and opportunities

•Explores the scope for further possible partnerships between the Consortium and various governmental and non-governmental organisations for effective implementation and enhanced sustainability of the project.

Consortium Coordination Unit Management

The Consortium Manager manages all staff employed in this unit in collaboration with Consortium Members. This is done through ensuring the following:

•Management, supervision and support of the Consortium Coordination Unit to ensure that the team fulfil its responsibilities.

•Providing secretariat support to the consortium.

•Reporting and making presentations to the Consortium members on activities and on opportunities to increase the added value of the Consortium approach.

•Ensuring effective communication and information sharing between the members of the consortium and with other relevant actors and stakeholders according to the advocacy and communications strategy of the consortium.

•Attendance at appropriate coordination fora, representing the consortium at such meetings and reporting back to the relevant consortium groups on the outcomes of such meetings.

•In consultation with relevant technical Consortium member staff ensure that monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools are applied consistently by Consortium members; that there is effective M&E for all Consortium Programme activities, and that M&E reports are regularly sent to consortium members and relevant external funding agencies as appropriate.

•Make recommendations to the lead agency and consortium members for changes to Consortium procedures, systems and processes providing adequate justification to allow a decision to be made.

•Conduct regular programme visits to ensure the Consortium Members have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the programmes to ensure accurate representation of the BRACED Consortium.

•Development of proposals, activity plans, reports and other relevant Consortium Programme documents for consortium members that meet the requirements of external funding agencies.

•Supports the convening of the steering group(s) as well as the advisory committees, under the respective chairs leadership

•Oversee effective coordination and implementation of the programme and ensures compliance of all Consortium Members with donor rules and regulations

•Facilitates the Steering Committee meetings on a monthly basis during inception then on a quarterly basis and enables an effective learning and sharing culture across partners

•Facilitates the Consortium Management meetings (Project Managers from each Consortium partner) on a monthly basis and enabling an effective learning and sharing culture across partners.

•Monitoring and reviewing performance of staff and holding partners accountable for meeting the success criteria and delivering any improvement goals which have been identified; giving corrective feedback where required and taking decisive action in the case of poor performance

Management of Risk

•Manage the BRACED South Sudan’s consortium risk including financial and security risks, in collaboration with the Country Director of Concern and all Partners and ensure compliance to policies and procedures. Regularly review and update risk register and ensure appropriate mechanisms in place to reduce the risks.

•Manage security/conflict risks by continually reviewing security management plans and in collaboration with national and international stakeholders and Concern South Sudan.

•Ensure compliance to all policies and procedures and take appropriate actions in case of deviations.

•Work closely with finance assistant to ensure appropriate control and compliance in overall financial management with specific focus on grants and sub-grants management

Finance, Procurement and Donor Compliance

Support the country financial controllers or other designated finance staff of Concern South Sudan and consortium member agencies to assure the following finance and grant compliance activities.

•Be responsible for overall financial oversight of the consortium budget and expenditure.

•Ensure that compliance to donor agreements are adhered to within the Consortium Coordination Unit and Consortium members

•Ensure development and implementation of work and expenditure plans and ensure that programmes are implemented within agreed and approved budgets through undertaking regular budget monitoring of expenditure against budget.

•Ensure that internal and donor financial reports are submitted in a timely manner and up to high quality standard.

•Support the Lead Agency in conducting internal and external audits of the Consortium Programme.

•Ensure implementation of recommendations from due diligence assessments and continuous monitoring to ensure controls and risk mitigation measures are in place.

•Ensure efficient and reliable procurement of goods and services in a transparent and accountable manner, ensuring value for money for the organisation and justifiable use of donor funds.

•Ensuring compliance with relevant legal frameworks in all contractual, financial, labour and taxation matters.

Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)

Support the coordination of monitoring and evaluation of the Consortium Programme:

•Ensure adherence to monitoring and evaluation guidelines, frameworks and indicators for the Consortium Programme and provide technical support to embed M&E and accountability in consortium implementation.

•In coordination with consortium members, ensure and enhance primary stakeholder ownership of the programme via community participation and consultation and use of participatory approaches in M&E.

•Organise and facilitate meetings with Consortium members on progress, learning from consortium programming and innovations, analysing challenges and developing solutions to develop learning points in order to share learning and contribute to the development of best practice.

•Communicate widely within the consortium and externally, best practice developed through implementation, based on evidence.

Advocacy, Communications and Visibility

The BRACED Consortium Coordinator is responsible for coordinating advocacy, communication and visibility activities of the Consortium Programme including:

•Maintenance of the Consortium website.

•Production of briefing papers, press releases and other publications which are approved by the Consortium members for wider dissemination to influence practice and policy in the sector and promote the work of the consortium.

•Ensuring that high quality translations of documents are produced where required.

•Ensuring that documents produced for external advocacy, communication and visibility purposes are approved by individual consortium agencies prior to dissemination.

•Ensuring that the Consortium identity is clearly identified on all documents for public consumption.

Accountability

The Consortium Coordinator is responsible for coordinating and documenting accountability activities agreed by Consortium members and tracking progress against the consortium accountability framework.

Human Resources, Training and Capacity building

•Ensure competent and empowered human resources are available based on current and future needs for the delivery of Consortium outputs.

•Ensuring Human Resources policy and procedures are followed, with support from the Concern Human Resources Manager.

•Ensuring adequate resources are available and are utilised for effective recruitment, development and retention strategies, including training and performance management enabling staff to understand and deliver the BRACED South Sudan programme.

•Enabling the recruitment and retention of highly competent, enthusiastic staff, consultants and service providers with a learning attitude.

•Identification of training needs of staff recruited to support the consortium.

•In consultation with consortium members, identification of their training needs and that of the partners/contractors with whom they work.

•Planning and where appropriate the provision of interventions to meet the identified training needs.

Person Specification

Essential

•Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level, such as public management, development administration or a relevant social science. A background in climate and environment, policy related programming and working in similar contexts are desired and a distinct advantage for candidates.

•Proven experience (at least 5 years) in senior programme management and leadership positions working with national governments, INGO’s, NGOs, CBOs, para-statal organisations, other civil society groups and the private sector.

•Experience of working with major international donors, particularly DFID.

•Excellent written and spoken English languages skills.

•Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.

•Strong coordination skills specifically with the ability to effectively coordinate among consortium members.

•Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, INGO and Government structures and to represent the consortium at national or international level fora

•Thorough understanding of gender, equality and protection issues.

•Strong experience of financial management and donor compliance processes.

•Experience in the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems.

•Experience of working in or managing a consortium model of working.

•Knowledge the key tools used by donor agencies, such as logical frame works, results chains, theories of change, results-based management and financial administration systems

Desirable

•An understanding of accountability as applied within humanitarian and development programming.

•An understanding of programme participant protection policies and international humanitarian standards and how to apply these across a range of international actors.

•An understanding and knowledge on resilience and how it relates to climate change, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian assistance.

•Experience of working in South Sudan.