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Project Coordinator, CREST
Key Responsibilities
- This position will work directly under the guidance of the Project Director for CREST and work in partnership to align on the responsibilities listed below. As the CREST project is based on the necessity of awaiting climate triggers, the Project Coordinator’s work may include roving support to projects outside of CREST. The Coordinator will be required to pivot rapidly back to CREST when climate triggers are met to launch the education response. The design of this roving mechanism will be developed between the CREST Coordinator, Director and the Education Technical Unit.
Project Management
- Responsible for the operational success of the project, which requires acute knowledge of project trigger mechanisms and project plans as well as a long-term vision of the project aims and vision.
- Collate inputs from all relevant stakeholders and support the Project Director and discerning what opportunities and gaps are present to finalize the project design.
- Lead in the development of the program’s rapid response mechanism and oversee its smooth deployment, which will require working across technical and operational sectors, such as supply chain and finance.
- Coordinate programming across multiple locations, ensuring consistency while also adapting to the unique needs of each locale.
- Work with partners to track long-range and short-term forecasts in order to prepare for a potential response.
- Support the project teams in developing, managing and implementing key project management tools, such as workplans, spending plans, procurement plans, etc.
- Ensure operational learnings are captured and implemented into updated program designs.
Project Operations
- Track project progress against high-level and detailed workplans and budget, working closely with implementing teams to meet programmatic, timeline and financial expectations.
- Prepare regular situational updates for project leadership on the status, challenges, and risks throughout the project.
- Coordinate with the grants and donor-facing teams to ensure reports and donor communications are comprehensive and compliant to donor and IRC expectations.
- Maintain strong relationships with project partners and vendors, managing vendor and consultant contracts and commitments.
- Develop a knowledge management system for the CREST project that documents and stores all elements of the project in a standardized, easy-to-use way.
Preferred Qualifications And Skills
- At least 5 years of project management experience in high complexity, multi-sectoral programming.
- Experience in cross-sectoral cash deployment, disaster risk finance, or climate effects on education in Kenya highly preferred.
- Exceptional advance planning and organizational skills. Able to effectively prioritize and follow multiple activities and deadlines simultaneously in a fast-paced and sometimes ambiguous environment.
- Analytical, strategic, and proactive in developing creative, innovative solutions to complex challenges.
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) is essential, with demonstrated exceptionally strong writing and presentation, communication and representation skills.
- Ability to navigate interpersonal and inter-departmental organizational and personnel dynamics to keep focus on goals and products.
- Flexible to adapt to changing requirements while also holding a firm sense of project needs and values.
- Must be able to work independently while being a team player with strong cross-cultural communication skills and sensitivity to interpersonal differences and a range of viewpoints.
- Strong commitment to the IRC’s mission, purpose and values
Project Director, CREST
Key Responsibilities
Leadership – 60%
- Provide strategic and operational leadership, vision, and direction for the project, defining implementation activities to achieve the greatest impact toward project goals and objectives;
- Develop, review, and monitor in coordination with key project staff, annual work and performance plans to ensure long-term and short-term priorities are on track;
- Oversee technical direction and project delivery to ensure activities are in line with the performance framework and meet all standard operational policies and procedures;
- Oversee management of partners and provide financial and operations support that optimizes resources through sound budgets, consistent financial tracking, and timely submission of reports to the donor;
- Report to donor through both formal and informal debriefings, annual and semi-annual reports;
- Maintain active and cooperative relationships with all key stakeholders, including government officials, project partners, other implementing agencies, and related institutions;
- Recruit, hire, and manage national staff and consultants as needed to carry out activities.
- Maintain a working knowledge of project financials, working with and supporting the financial officer to ensure that appropriate systems and procedures are in place and being follows.
- Represent the project and the organization in public and ensure distribution of information about project achievements and lesson learned;
- Support project staff by creating and maintaining a work environment that promotes teamwork, trust, mutual respect, and empowers staff to take responsibility.
- Ensure sign-off and submission of high-quality, timeline deliverables during inception and implementation phase.
- Collaborate with IRC operational and finance teams to ensure smooth pilot planning and implementation, ensuring that IRC systems are prepared to support effectively throughout the project life cycle.
Relationships and Communication – 20%
- Ensure that project communications are timely, relevant and accurate, including regular status updates.
- Liaise with other relevant project focal points in the region and in the sector to ensure that synergies and complementarities are incorporated in the CREST project.
- Represent project in conversations with key stakeholders, including the donor, coordination bodies, and policymakers.
- Enhance the visibility of education opportunities in climate crisis and expand the financial portfolio of this project.
Technical – 20%
- Serve as the main liaison with the HQ technical unit focal points, identifying when and how they can add most value, and ensuring that they provide technical insight and support to project activities and objectives.
- Lead needs assessment, design, and prototyping process, in collaboration with technical leads.
- Lead and document the process of developing and implementing integrated continency / preparedness plans to ensure educational continuity, as well as the technical design of the pilot, by engaging at different stakeholder levels including school, country, national and within the IRC.
- Monitor technical quality of implementation and lead process of continuous adaptation and improvement as pilot evolves.
- Work with partners to track long-range and short-term forecasts in order to prepare for a potential response.
- Regularly produce project learnings and oversee their internal and external distribution plan.
Preferred Qualifications And Skills
The Project Director for CREST will need to meet the requirements below:
- Must have 8-10 years of professional experience managing complex humanitarian programming that is large-scale, cross-functional, and multi-location, including overseeing teams across different locations, responding to complex humanitarian crises and/or post-conflict situations.
- Experience in cross-sectoral cash deployment, disaster risk finance, or climate effects on education in Kenya highly preferred.
- Exceptional advance planning and organizational skills. Able to effectively prioritize and follow multiple activities and deadlines simultaneously in a fast-paced and sometimes ambiguous environment.
- Analytical, strategic, and proactive in developing creative, innovative solutions to complex challenges.
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) is essential, with demonstrated exceptionally strong writing and presentation, communication and representation skills.
- Ability to navigate interpersonal and inter-departmental organizational and personnel dynamics to keep focus on goals and products.
- Flexible to adapt to changing requirements while also holding a firm sense of project needs and values.
- Strong commitment to the IRC’s mission, purpose and values.
- Must be able to work independently while being a team player with strong cross-cultural communication skills and sensitivity to interpersonal differences and a range of viewpoints.
- Experience with training and staff capacity building, managing and supporting partners, and representing projects to donors or clients.
- Advanced degree in relevant field desired, including Political Science and Public Administration, Climate Science, Disaster Risk Finance, International Relations, Public Policy; or equivalent experience.
Method of Application
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