South Sudan: Senior Program Officer, Juba, World Vision South Sudan

This is your opportunity to use your special talents to help improve the lives and futures of some of the world's most vulnerable children in the most challenging humanitarian context today.

You can do this by joining World Vision (WV)–a global network of people committed to enhance the well-being and protection of children everywhere by empowering them, their families and communities to overcome the challenges of poverty and injustice.

The Senior Program Officer, Juba – South Sudan will facilitate programme development and resource acquisition for both emergency response (Cat III) and ongoing programming with high standards of appropriateness, timeliness, and effectiveness. The purpose of this position is to lead the design process of multi-regional, full proposals and concept papers, lead regional proposal development for grants over $4 million and provide the final review of all proposals and concept notes prior to submitting to donors and World Vision support offices. The position will also ensure that progress on grants is communicated timely with key stakeholders and donor visits are strategic, well timed and smoothly executed and managed

We believe that every child is a precious gift to the entire world and that their well-being concerns us all. We will not rest while children suffer in situations that can be changed. We are looking for people who share our beliefs and our passion.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:

Strategy Development:

· Contribute to the development and implementation of WVSS Resource Acquisition and Management Team strategies.

· Contribute to the development of regional External Engagement and Resource Acquisition strategies.

· Assist the Program Development Director in the development of support office and donor specific strategies that articulate SO and donor strategic intent and funding targets, sectors and geographic preference.

External Engagement:

· Represent WVSS at national (Juba) level coordination meetings with donors, stakeholders, INGOs, local organizations, and government officials. Provide updates on projects at coordination meetings. Provide key stakeholders within WVSS and Support Offices with updates of meeting outcomes and stakeholder priorities.

· Develop and maintain solid working relationships with major (government/private) donors including ECHO, EU, USAID, OFDA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, DFATD, DFAT, DFID, Irish Aid, FAO, and World Vision Support Offices, including hosting visits, responding to communication, and ensuring that support office and donor requirements are met.

Resource Acquisition.
Pre-proposal/opportunity tracking:

Activities include but are not limited to the following:

· Assist the Program Development Director in proposal development, design and grant acquisition.

· Assist the Program Development Director in research and trend analysis to ensure that WVSS is proactive rather than reactive in its fundraising strategies and donor engagement.

Proposal Development:

· Serve as proposal lead as assigned or support designated proposal manager, ensuring support/engagement of technical sector specialists, grant finance officer, and other key departments in project design.

· Prepare/write grant concept papers, proposals, budgets, and reports for World Vision’s partnership and major donors.

· Participate in project design, implementation, and evaluation in collaboration with the sector heads, operations team and Quality Assurance (QA) department.

Post-submission:

· Follow up with donor(s) and partner(s) as necessary. For awarded grants, ensure complete, smooth transition to project officer, which includes actively supporting the grant start-up process. If proposal is denied, ensure debrief from donor and disseminate lessons learned to all relevant parties.

· Assist the WVSS People & Culture department by clearly communicating the project staffing/consulting needs after winning a new grant.

Grant Management:Grant Start-Up*

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

· Develop guidelines for grant start-up workshops.

· Coordinate grant start-up with Support Offices, partners, and other key stakeholders.

Grant Implementation:

On-going grant implementation support includes, but is not limited to:

· Assist the Operations and Quality Assurance teams in monitoring program's progress ensuring goals and objectives are achieved and non-financial grant requirements are adhered to.

· Assist the Quality Assurance department that Design, Monitoring & Evaluation (DME) and accountability processes are followed. Support sector leads by providing DME documents such as logframes, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) plans, feedback mechanisms, work plans & budgets, etc.

· Provide grant and program related updates to PD&RA Director, key WV support offices, donors, and other stakeholders.

Grant Close-Out:

· Lead close-out process for assigned projects (includes final reports, asset disposal and assist the Quality Assurance team with the compilation of lessons learned).

· Coordinate with the Program Quality team to ensure that final evaluations are conducted as per donor contractual agreements.

REQUIRED SKILLS INCLUDE:

· Leadership experience in program design and development, funding acquisition, program monitoring and evaluation, information management, capacity building, and compliance.

· At least 4 years field experience in a relief or development environment.

· Previous experience with successful multi-million dollar donor proposal writing and budget preparation (USAID, ECHO, BPRM, UN agencies preferred).

· Must have a clear understanding of the working of the major WV partners (UNICEF, WFP, USAID, EU, CIDA, DFID etc), their requirements and standards.

· Must be able relate and represent WV to these major program partners, in a highly professional manner.

· Capacity building experience in project design, implementation, reporting, and evaluation.

· Must have a degree or equivalent in relevant fields of study such as International Development, Political Science/International Relations, Economics, Sociology, or other related field.

· Computer knowledge including Word, Excel, Lotus Notes and Power Point.

· Fluency in written and spoken English.

If you believe you have the skills and experience to fulfil this vital and challenging role that will enhance the lives of vulnerable children in South Sudan, we'd love to hear from you.

Find the full descriptionand apply onlineby the closing date 13 Sep 2014. For more information on World Vision International, please visit our website:www.wvi.org.