SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER (EDUCATION & SKILLS)

JOB SUMMARY:

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) is responsible for financial, programmatic, operational, and administrative support to the Education Team.  The SPO plays a pivotal role in ensuring the Education and Skills Team (E&S Team) is organized, has set operational and implementation plans, is tracking deliverables and is reporting accountable results to stay on track with donor obligations and support the team to achieve its strategic goal outlined in the team’s annual operating plan. She/he will work directly with all the Education & Skills Team members and will collaborate with other units, departments, country offices and staff. The SPO will mentor and supervise unit interns and provide guidance on the performance of their roles and responsibilities in coordination with the respective cluster supervisor. This person will have overall knowledge and understanding of education and adolescent empowerment programming and priorities. 

As a member of the Education & Skills Team, this position will participate in intellectual discussions in the education sector, advance CARE’s rights-based approaches, and promote understanding of the underlying causes of poverty that contribute to low levels of educational attainment.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Management

The SPO Provide cross functional coordination and management of centrally managed awards including US Government and privately funded projects. This includes: 

• Facilitate programmatic support to country offices to assess needs and provide support as needed
• Provide program support to ensure efficient processes for project start up and closeout 
• Conducting detailed reviews of project workplans to ensure alignment with donor requirements. 
• Develop monitoring trackers to track project implementation progress. 
• Liaising with Technical and MEL Advisors to ensure timely reviews of project reports and workplan. 
• Review, revise, and format project reports and workplans to ensure alignment with donor requirements. 
• Collaborate with Grants and Finance Managers to review project financial reports. 
• Liaise with country offices to ensure project operations and implementation are in alignment with donor requirements. 

Operations

The SPO provides support for key operational areas of E&S Team and the unit’s strategic plan and AOP. The position promotes team efficiency in the application of new systems and provides guidance on relevant applicable CARE policies and rules to help ensure that these are adhered to by the team. The SPO supports the E&S Team to anchor operational procedures including:

• Liaising with the procurement department to ensure all E&S Team and project focused procurements adhere to CARE policies and donor requirements.
• Lead procurement efforts for the E&S Team and provide support and advise to country offices on procurement processes. 
• Liaising with the appropriate teams to develop and manage consultant contractual agreements and payment processes.
• Ensure the team’s operating procedures are current and accessible such as: On-boarding, inventory management, project management tools, etc. 
• Provide cross-functional collaboration to ensure new staff are adequately on-boarded.
• The SPO, working with the Team Director, facilitates team scheduling and oversees the team calendar. 

Grants Management

The SPO will ensure compliance with donor and organizational contractual and reporting requirements. 

• Facilitate the submission and review of country office proposals and concept notes.
• Provide compliance reviews to country offices to ensure alignment with donor requirements.
• Develop and facilitate the execution of grant agreements for private funding between CARE and country offices.
• Lead the timely submission of donor reports to CARE relationship managers.
• Work with the Grants and Finance Managers to track project financials.
• Lead grant management for the team’s internally managed awards. 

Communications and Knowledge Management

The SPO actively supports program and grant management communications and knowledge sharing among CARE staff globally. 

• Supports the identification and documentation of evidence-based examples of effective programming;