The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. 

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday 
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated 

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued. 

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Save the Children International seeks to always be a child-safe organization by fulfilling its obligations to the community and through programme implementation carried out by the organization for safeguarding children and improve their living standards of the child.

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Position: Program Quality and Impact Director

Location: Aden 

Contract Length: 

The Opportunity:

ROLE PURPOSE: 

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Yemen, the Director of Programme Quality and Impact (PQI)  plays a key role driving the country office program strategy and creating a culture of impact.  They are also responsible for ensuring development of high quality, evidence based, innovative programs for children, in all contexts, that contribute to Save the Children’s global Breakthroughs: Learn, Survive, Be Protected. The Director of PQI ensures that programme principles and standards are upheld, and a robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) system is in place, and that reliable data is used for decision-making.  One of key aspects of the role is ensuring capacity building, mentoring and coaching of technical specialists. The PQI Director will develop strategic partnerships that contribute to organisational commitments to localisation.  The Director of PQI supports donor engagement and business development to ensure that the country office strategy and humanitarian response plans can be delivered

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Strategic leadership and thought leadership (15%)

• Contribute to a culture of impact in the Country Office (CO) and impact leadership operating models, under the leadership of the Country Director (CD), by positioning SC as a go-to Child Rights Leader internally and externally by leading child rights thought leadership and driving the uptake of our child rights programming framework.
• Drive the Country Office (CO) Impact Vision and Agenda
• Lead the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and annual planning processes, including contributing to the Humanitarian Plan (SCHP), Advocacy strategies, KPIS and other programme reporting. Ensure that it’s of high programmatic quality and evidence based, reflecting SC’s global themes, Common Approaches and Theory of Change 
• Support ownership and commitments to the Country Office strategy, and contribute to the funding strategy and country office leadership budgeting decisions
• Lead on the establishment and management of strategic partnerships in line with localisation efforts
• Engage in Save the Children’s International’s (SCI) networks on impact and quality, and lead the strategic partnership strategy to support the realisation of the CSP and SCHP, through active participation in global technical meetings, SCI’s technical working groups, national, regional or international learning events, amongst others
• Managing risk related to Programme Quality

Programme quality and Impact (30%)

• Facilitate the development and pursuit of thematic and cross-cutting strategic priorities, including gender equality, to guide current and future SC programming, influencing and Humanitarian Strategies
• Work closely with the Director of Programme Operations to ensure program quality standards are established throughout the project cycle and across the portfolio, including operational research to inform programme improvements
• Ensure new programmes and projects are built on a strong evidence base resulting from learning and evidence
• Promote innovation in programme design and implementation, including technology for development (T4D)
• Lead uptake of Common Approaches in programme design and implementation
• Ensure alignment to programme principles in implementation, including humanitarian principles and core humanitarian standards
• Ensure decision making is based on needs and informed by community and child engagement.
• Drive CSP milestone monitoring, annual plan, Programme KPI, SCHP and other key programme indicators reporting
• Drive the development and implementation of the learning agenda (led by MEAL), ensuring the use of evidence for programme improvement and strategy adaptation
• Accountable for support to the operations team to ensure programme quality and review strategic programme reports, logframes and MEAL tools
• Conduct regular field visits to support staff on quality and impact issues
• Shared responsibility with the operations team for quality in implementation and adherence to programme principles
• Participate in project kick-offs and close-outs for significant awards to ensure effective strategic direction, establishment of quality standards and dissemination of learning

Programme design, Strategic NBD and portfolio planning (15%)

• Ensure new programmes and projects are built on a strong evidence base, programme principles and best practice (including common approaches), resulting from learning and situational analyses that include the participation of children and other stakeholders. 
• Ensure new programmes and projects are designed through a strategic lens, driving our impact and influencing agenda
• Lead design discussions for high-valued/high-complexity/multi-sectoral proposals and strategy
• Align go/no go decisions and programme design to agreed CO priorities on the CSP
• Manage the needs/requests of SC members, donors and external partners to ensure quality results in programming 
• Drive quality at scale in new programmes/proposals
• Participate in the Country Office funding strategy by working closely with the SMT on strategic donor engagement e.g. new or high value relationships, ensuring new funding opportunities are line with global and country strategy
• Upskill and empower TEs to lead on strong project design into funding proposals and engagement with donors and partners
• Support emergency response preparedness planning, ensuring that the CO is ready to respond swiftly and effectively to humanitarian crises[1]
• Leads on fundraising for priority sectors where funding is limited in Humanitarian responses

Strengthening Technical Expertise (20%)

• Ensure effective working relationships with SC global and regional technical advisors and NBD/RM teams (depending on SCOM), procuring technical support as needed to support program and advocacy efforts, including during emergencies.
• Support capacity building and progressional development of thematic advisors, maximizing their role as Technical Leads for project design and technical support providers to field teams and local project partners 
• Support capacity building and professional development of NBD/RM staff, ensuring they are engaged with regional and global communities of practice and able to expand their NBD skills and experience (depending on SCOM)
• Ensure that Technical Specialists engage in larger communities of practice to link with the most relevant and evidence-based approaches and conduct timely and useful review of project reports to support quality reporting for Members and donors
• Ensure strategic TE workforce planning and budgeting for PQI team
• Lead the Programme Development and Quality team and manage TE Talent and performance: in line with CSP, SCHP and annual plan and through:
• Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measurable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations;
• Induction plan for new joiners based on Passport to Success
• Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
• Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
• Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ workplans 
• Ensure gaps are covered (use GEHSP/Region/Centre backstopping)
• Lead on ensuring technical staffing needs are met for emergency programmes

External representation and advocacy (10%)

• Represent Save the Children and strategically network with government authorities, donors, partners and other stakeholders to promote SC objectives and build relationships to facilitate success of our projects
• Contribute to advocacy initiatives that engage national government, civil society and political leaders, child rights and localisation networks and peer agencies with the goal of influencing policy and legislation in the best interests of children (note: in COs where ACCM report into PQI, the PQI leads)
• In coordination with Advocacy colleagues, ensure that we amplify children’s voices and influence duty-bearers at national, regional and international level to uphold children’s rights
• Act as Media spokesperson for CO where appropriate

Senior leadership function (10%)

• Provide leadership, strategic vision, coherence and direction to the country program as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT)
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects SC’s full spectrum mandate and values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a cross -team culture of learning, creativity and innovation in a productive work environment, and frees up people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent service for our members and donors

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS 

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks 

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s Degree in relevant social science, human rights, development studies, NGO management or equivalent fields, or equivalent experience 
• A minimum of seven years of progressive senior management and/ or development experience in an NGO environment, including experience directing and implementing programmes for children; humanitarian experience is desirable
• Experience in more than one of Save the Children's thematic sectors: education, child protection, child rights governance, health and nutrition, child poverty, emergencies 
• Basic understanding of advocacy, policy, and government systems in the host country
• Experience or understanding of fundraising (unrestricted funds) or business development (programme/restricted funding), particularly strong program development and project design skills 
• Credibility to advocate, influence and represent Save the Children at all levels
• Experience working with high level government agencies and academics on issues related to children
• Strong skills and proven experience in leading strategic planning, change management and program management processes; also from a knowledge and learning perspective 
• Developing and managing monitoring, evaluation and learning systems
• Excellent listening, inter-personal, communication and networking skills; and an ability to work with diversified populations 
• Skills such as training, capacity building, coaching, mentorship, problem solving, and understanding of project cycle management and coordination
• High level of self-awareness and commitment to growth and self-development
• Ability to research, write and represent well, manage time, multi-task and delegate tasks

Proficiency in English; local language working knowledge desirable

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.  A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers/apply

“Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer. Women are strongly encouraged to apply”

[1] 1 Please ensure the relevant policies and procedures are followed in rapid onsets

About Us

The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

· No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
· All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
· Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.