Program Manager

The African Initiatives for Relief and Development (AIRD) works with several donors and partners to provide some of these much needed humanitarian services. The services AIRD provides include; Refugee and Non Food Items (NFIs) transportation, Construction, Infrastructure & Rehabilitation, Fleet Management, Workshop Management, Warehouse Management, Fuel Management, Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH). Our desire is to do even more for Persons of Concern (PoCs) by growing our activities and capacity in the areas of livelihoods, WASH and environmental interventions.  More information: www.airdinternational.org

AIRD seeks to recruit candidates for position of Program Manager for its Emergency Roster.

Being a fast paced and growing organization, AIRD will in situations including but not limited to supporting either existing country programs in both routine and emergency response, or to initiate a new program in a new location, require additional capacity in short notice. In such situations the Roster helps our country offices get critical support without delay.

The Roster facilitates emergency recruitment for both External and Internal candidates.  Candidates selected for the Roster will be ready for deployment on short notice. 

The Program Manager is responsible to: manage, coordinate, and monitor program activities and relationships with other Implementing and Operating Partners, Refugee Leaders and other project stakeholders to assist the achievement of the program objectives advancing AIRD work serving the beneficiaries. The Project Manager’s skills and knowledge of the program area will ensure that the AIRD’s WASH program delivers high-quality programming and builds on ongoing activities. while ensuring compliancy to AIRDs Standard Operating Procedures, Strategic Plan and Donor requirements.

Program Management:

• Conduct activities pertaining to Program management, supportive supervision and coordination of daily program activities in the field.
• Conduct regular field and site visits to ensure effective implementation of the program/ project activities at grass root levels
• Participate actively in preparing project proposals and budgets
• Supervise projects to ensure quality of activities being conducted and learning.
• Measure Project performance using appropriate tools and techniques
• Establish and maintain effective communication with the donor and other lead agencies regarding Program management matters
• Provide updates through the Country Director to the Head Office, Donors and Partners of operations and program progress on monthly, quarterly and annual basis
• Implement AIRDs SOPs and partnership agreements signed with Donors

Program Monitoring & Evaluation

• Develop, review or update existing questionnaires for monthly reports, quarterly reports, annual reports, comprehensive survey for the Country Program Offices
• Document, share reports and lessons to supervisors, partners and donors
• Monitor and evaluate AIRD’s operations reports, data, and other related documents received from the Country Program Offices
• Work with the CPD to establish, review and monitor the implementation of the Strategic Plan for AIRD relating to the program
• Review verification reports from the Program and provide feedback on program issues

Stakeholder/Donor Relations

• Attend inter-agency meetings, workshops and submit a brief summary report to the line manager.
• Perform any other duties as may be assigned by management

Required Languages

• Must be conversant in English and French (written and spoken)

Experience, skills and abilities

• Experience working with international development partners, international nongovernmental organization (INGOs) and donors (in particular USAID experience) is an asset
• Experience conducting M&E in humanitarian relief and development
• Professional competency in Microsoft Windows, Outlook, Word, Excel. Professional competency in major statistical analysis software like SPSS will be an added advantage.
• Ability to write clearly articulate proposals, reports, and correspondence
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Good analytical skills and ability to present complex information precisely
• Capacity to lobby, influence and represent AIRD at all levels

 Minimum Qualifications

• A degree or higher program related qualification – Livelihoods, Education, Nutrition, Environmental, Protection or other related field.
• Post graduate diploma in M&E will be an added advantage.

·         Minimum of five years of relevant international experience both in field and headquarters in humanitarian relief, recovery or development work.

·         Excellent writing skills in both English and French

·         Knowledge of program monitoring, evaluation and communication impact

·         Proven skills in networking and relationship building

·         Strong analytical and information gathering skills

·         Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and work well under pressure

·         Cultural sensitivity

·         Proficiency to use MS Office suite of applications and other IT systems

·         Ability to write clearly articulate proposals, reports, and correspondence

·         Strong analytical, communication and problem solving skills is necessary along with capacity to identify and articulate potential problems and provide possible solutions in concise and clear manner

·  Experience working with international development partners, international nongovernmental organization (INGOs) and donors is an asset

Personal characteristics

The Program Manager should demonstrate competence in some or all of the following:

• Analytical
• Aptitude: Possess excellent analytical skills and continually examine things and think of ways to help things work better. Should be naturally inquisitive.
• Attention to Detail: Pays meticulous attention to detail. The slightest error can cause an entire M&E to fail, so every detail must be reviewed thoroughly during the course of completing a project.

• Technical Knowledge: Possess a vast amount of technical program knowledge; understand a variety of computer programs and statistical analysis software that are commonly used during M&E.
• Behave Ethically: Understand ethical behavior and practices, and ensure that own behavior and the behavior of others is consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization
• Build Relationships: Establish and maintain positive working relationships with others, both internally and externally, to achieve the goals of the organization
• Communicate Effectively: Speak, listen and write in a clear, thorough and timely manner using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques
• Organize: Set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details, data, information and activities
• Solve Problems: Assess problem situations to identify causes, gather and process relevant information, generate possible solutions, and make recommendations and/or resolve the problem
• Ensuring value for money i.e. program/project monitoring
• Ability to work under hardship environment and with minimum supervision
• Willingness to travel as necessary, work the required schedule, work at different locations as required