Team Lead (Consortium Director) - Reducing Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone

About the role: This is a new, 2 year role with accompanied terms based in Freetown, Sierra Leone with frequent visits to project areas and with a salary of Grade 6 €49,994 to €55,548.

You will report to the Country Director and the Programme Steering Committee. You will work closely with both local and international downstream partners and grantees, the Core Project Management Team, Concern’s Technical Advisors/Specialists, Programme Managers, Finance and system departments, Concern HQ and the donor.

We would like you to start in March 2021 (although start date remains to be determined depending on the global coronavirus pandemic and evolving context).

Concern Worldwide is leading a Consortium which intends to implement the Reducing Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone component of DFID’s Support to Adolescent Girls Empowerment in Sierra Leone (SAGE) (subject to the award of a contract by DFID).

SAGE is an integrated programme to improve the lives of adolescent girls, responding to the multiple and interrelated disadvantages they face. The “Reducing Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone” component of SAGE is a flexible and adaptive project that will contribute to the impact of reduced incidents of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) at local level in Sierra Leone. The project includes provision and management of grants to civil society organisations to implement small pilot projects with the potential to reduce prevalence of SGBV and FGM/C at local level with a strong focus on the empowerment of women and girls and challenging the underlying unequal gender relations and social norms driving and perpetuating SGBV. The programme is expected to run up to 2023, depending on the final approval by DFID.

Your purpose: The Team Lead (Consortium Director), reporting to the Country Director, will be responsible and accountable for the overall management and oversight of the project including: overseeing the contract management and implementation, risk management and financial accountability, donor reporting and liaison, external representation, relationship management with downstream partners and government counterparts, and ensuring compliance with Concern and donor’s policies and procedures. S/he will be responsible to provide direction and support to the team, and technical leadership to ensure high quality programming to achieve project results.

You will be responsible for:

• Setting, communicating and delivering the strategic direction of the programme and ensuring consistency of the overarching objectives of the project.

• Provide overall leadership and oversight of the project’s delivery and results and on planning, designing and the implementation of project activities in the light of donor strategic priorities and project design/objectives.

• Providing line management to the Core Project Management Team staff in accordance with the organisational policies and procedures.

• Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with downstream partners; maintaining regular communication, including negotiating scope of works, addressing requisite revisions in project work, and addressing issues that may arise.

• Representing Concern and the partners to the donor and serve as the key liaison to relevant government authorities.

• Oversee and monitor project risks (including financial, logistical and other support systems, security and safeguarding) and flag issues in a timely manner to the Concern Country Director and Programmes Director.

• Ensure that gender equality and diversity principles are upheld in the recruitment, orientation, performance and management of staff.

• Ensuring compliance with organisational and donor rules and regulations, particularly with respect to financial and contract management, budget and expenditure monitoring.

• Ensure adherence/compliance with Concern Worldwide’s Code of Conduct, Programme Participant Protection Policy, Safeguarding policy and associated policies.

• Promote and ensure accountability to programme participants and Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) and Do No Harm principles, and ensure high ethical research standards, particularly given the sensitive nature of the topic areas throughout programme implementation.

• Provide overall managerial and technical support throughout the implementation of the project across all pillars (while downstream partners will contribute specific areas of expertise).

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the project and lead on quarterly and annual work planning, programme implementation, M&E and donor reporting.

• Ensure that efficient systems are in place to support all aspects of the project, including grant management, M&E systems, and technical assistance provision, in compliance with organizational procedures.

• Ensure adherence to agreed project quality standards, M&E guidelines, frameworks for the project and provide technical support to embed M&E and accountability throughout all aspects of the project implementation.

• Manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders including the Government of Sierra Leone.

• Ensure the project design represents good value for money for DFID, takes into account the payment-by-results (PbR) mechanism and results-based-management (RBM) approaches.

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

• Appropriate qualification at Master’s degree level in relevant discipline (Project Management, Gender Studies. Public Health, or relevant Social Science discipline)

• Proven experience of working at senior programme management and leadership role equivalent to (Chief of Party or Team Leader) level with INGOs or international organisations or equivalent progressive experience in a relevant discipline.

• Proven experience working on Commercial Contracts and or consortia

• Experience and knowledge on adaptive programming and the ability to quickly identify risks and needs for adapting projects and reorient resources.

• Experience and knowledge in attitude, behaviour and social norm change.

• Ability and experience in building and maintaining effective relationships with senior representatives of donor, particularly DFID, INGO and Government structures and to represent at national or international level fora.

• Excellent written and spoken English languages skills.

• Strong analytical, interpersonal, communication and organisation skills.

• Strong coordination skills specifically with the ability to effectively coordinate, influence and negotiate with partners and grantees.

• Thorough understanding and experience of working on gender, equality and protection issues.

• Strong financial management and donor compliance skills.

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

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

• Knowledge of managing DFID projects or similar and good knowledge of DFID programme management processes and requirements.

• Understanding of the international evidence base on SGBV, including sexual violence towards girls and women, intimate partner violence (IPV) and FGM/C reduction.

• Experience working in and understanding of the local context, including the sensitivities on SGBV and FGM/C of Sierra Leone, or West African region. Prior expertise of working on these issues in Sierra Leone will be an advantage.

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by the closing date, CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries