Programme manager Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R), South Sudan

Cordaid believes in a world without poverty and exclusion. We strive for a just and sustainable society where every person counts. We stand for knowledge and talent sharing between North and South, between farmers and businesses, between activists and policymakers. Where poverty, conflict and exclusion divide societies, we connect people and communities. We stand for professionalism, expertise and solidarity across borders. We make a difference where it is most needed.

Together with more than 800 organizations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America we structurally improve the living conditions of the poorest and most excluded populations - the bottom billion. We do that where natural disasters strike, where conflicts tear up communities and where underdevelopment keep families in extreme poverty. In the Netherlands we are known as Cordaid Memisa, Cordaid Mensen in Nood, Cordaid Kinderstem and Cordaid Microkrediet.

For its Emergency Response programme in South Sudan, country office Juba, Cordaid is looking for a Programme Manager - Emergency Preparedness & Response (EP&R)

Introduction
Cordaid has been working in South Sudan for over 20 years. Its programme focuses on several intervention areas, including health, emergency response, community-based disaster risk reduction, food security, security and justice and women leadership. Cordaid manages and supports this programme largely from its country office in Juba, with other staff in project areas. The Juba country office has about 15 staff, and includes staff accommodation for about 10 staff as well. To address the plight of the large number of returnees and IDPs that have settled in different parts of South Sudan as a result of the January 2011 referendum, the violence that broke out in December 2013 and other humanitarian emergencies, Cordaid together with local and international Caritas partners is involved in programmes to strengthen longer term disaster risk reduction as well as the emergency preparedness and response capacities of its partner organizations and the communities they work in.

Position and responsibility
The Programme Manager EP&R is responsible for designing, managing and coordinating Cordaid’s emergency preparedness/response programmes in South Sudan. The Programme Manager will also support the capacity-building of local partner organizations in these areas.

The Programme Manager EP&R will report to the Cordaid Country Director in Juba and liaise closely with the relevant technical officers of the Unit Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Response at Cordaid HQ in The Hague. The Programme Manager EP&R will also cooperate closely with the Programme Manager CMDRR of Cordaid in South Sudan, as well as liaise and coordinate with other programmes implemented by Cordaid in South Sudan.

General objective of the posting

• Support programme development and strategic position of Cordaid on EP&R;
• Support capacity development of selected local partner organizations in the areas of EP&R;
• Connect to the CMDRR (Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction) programme of Cordaid partners in South Sudan where feasible;
• Contribute to Cordaid South Sudan’s contingency planning and that of partners;
• Identify, develop and support new EP&R proposals and projects;
• Acquisition, Networking, representation and coordination within the Caritas Diocesan and International network, International NGO community, UN agencies and clusters and potential back donors (ECHO, EC, Dutch Embassy, UN agencies, Private funds, and others);
• Any other responsibilities that can reasonably be asked from the position.

Specific objectives:
Programme development and strategic positioning:

• Explore opportunities and threats for the Cordaid programme on EP&R in South Sudan as well as the strengths and weaknesses of Cordaid herein;
• Explore potential local partner organization to cooperate within Cordaid’s EP&R programme.
• Actively contribute towards the design and updating of Country Strategic Plans and Annual Work Plans.

Capacity Development on EP&R:

• Help organize and facilitate trainings for staff of local partner organizations in the areas of emergency preparedness & response, based on International Humanitarian Standards.
• Provide technical assistance on EP&R and accompany/backstop staff of local partner organizations to enable long-term skills-transfer;
• Improve learning, linking and coordination between partner organizations, key stake holders (CI members, local Caritas, local government, institutional donors, etc.) to strengthen networks and establish contingency plans;
• Support documentation of human interest stories, lessons learned, best practices and strategic opportunities related to Cordaid and partners’ programmes and projects.

Identify, Develop and Support Proposals and Projects:

• Support and cooperate with local and International partners in screening proposals (work plan / budget / logframes) using project cycle management and reporting for ER projects;
• Support proposal development for Caritas Internationalis, ECHO, OCHA and/or other donors on EP&R;
• Support project development to strengthen and build upon linking ER and EP and linking with CMDRR;
• Responsible for planning evaluation and audits (with support of financial experts) as foreseen per contract;
• Regular visits to project sites to monitor progress of projects funded by Cordaid and back donors;
• Responsible for reporting to Cordaid HQ and others based on partner reports and visits.

Networking, Representation and Acquisition:

• Identify and establish contacts with relevant organizations and stakeholders as strategic to Cordaid’s EP& R interventions in South Sudan;
• Explore added value of Cordaid and promote Cordaid’s interests within relevant clusters;
• Explore potential areas for collaboration and mobilize opportunities and resources;
• Provide regular humanitarian situation updates and ensure issues calling for intervention of the Cordaid Humanitarian Response team are reported in a timely manner;
• Represent Cordaid’s EP&R programme in relevant Caritas, UN and other humanitarian coordination / thematic cluster meetings, in coordination with the Country Director.

Qualifications

• Relevant education in Humanitarian Aid and related development studies;
• At least 5 years proven experience with analysing, developing, managing and monitoring emergency response programs and participatory needs assessments;
• Proven experience with developing, managing and monitoring emergency preparedness programs;
• Strong proposal writing skills (ECHO, EC, UN, etc.);
• Experience in assessing needs for and/or delivering EP&R training;
• Experience in building capacity and backstopping local partners in conflict-affected states, preferably in Africa;
• Experience in training local partners in EP&R and preparing contingency plans with them is an asset;
• Strong (financial) project management, analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Experience of working with internationally-funded programmes, including coordination, reporting and monitoring according to different donor templates (e.g. ECHO, OCHA);
• Experience in working with faith-based / church organisations is an asset;
• Knowledge of South Sudan’s socio- political environment is an asset;
• Be diplomatic, culturally sensitive and result-oriented;
• Experience in working in security sensitive environment in complex (post)conflict situations;
• Excellent English language writing and communication skills.

Specifics of duty station
The Programme Manager will be based in Juba, the state capital of Central Equatoria State in South Sudan. Juba has basic to fair medical facilities, some international shops and local markets and an international airport. It offers fair to reasonable opportunities for social activity. The safety and security situation in South Sudan remains volatile, but is constantly monitored by Cordaid and appropriate policies are in place, such as a curfew and the fact that South Sudan remains a single-posting country.
The successful candidate will have to travel regularly to the field (Upper Nile State, Unity State, Northern & Western Bahr El Ghazal, Central and Western Equatoria State) for project monitoring and for consultation and coordination meetings.