Senior Project Officer

Background

• Catholic Relief Services (CRS) works in a wide variety of areas within the humanitarian and development fields, regardless of race, creed, religion, or gender, to advance our mission to assist the poor and vulnerable. Our team reflects this diversity. The CRS Egypt country program began in 1956 at the invitation of the Egyptian president Nasser by providing relief assistance to the victims of the Suez War. Over the following few decades, CRS Egypt moved from large-scale food relief to long-term poverty alleviation and development programs.
• Currently, CRS Egypt has three main programs: livelihoods, interfaith peacebuilding, and education assistance for refugees. Projects under these programs range from the provision of technical assistance and capacity building of partners, to the promotion of peace and tolerance, the provision of grants for refugees, and the protection and safeguarding of children.
• CRS Egypt currently holds a main office in Cairo, and the refugee support sub-office in Maadi with activities in Greater Cairo, Upper Egypt and the North Coast.
• CRS’s Peacebuilding and Partnership program is currently funded by the US Government through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) to promote peaceful coexistence in targeted areas stricken with sectarian violence in Upper Egypt as well as to support building the capacity of community-based organizations in the sector of women social empowerment.

Job Summary:

• As a member of the senior Peacebuilding and Partnership program team, the Senior Project Officer (SPO) will facilitate the achievement of project objectives through coordinating and reporting on all project activities and providing technical guidance and advice to staff and implementing partner(s) advancing CRS’s work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your coordination and relationship management skills will ensure the project for which you are responsible applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve.
• The SPO will report to the Program Manager and be responsible for day-to-day project planning and coordination among the team.
• The SPO will supervise two Field Officers who will serve as implementation leaders, managing and supporting activities and relationships with CBO partners. The SPO will also be responsible for the development, implementation, and consistency of the program’s technical interventions, as well as the day to day management of their staff’s learning and development.

Job Responsibilities:

• Organize and lead the implementation of all assigned project activities, as outlined in the detailed implementation plan, in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being.
• Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, contribute to the recruitment process of project staff, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Ensure learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities, guiding the team and local partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences.
• Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
• Coordinate and oversee working relationships with all local project stakeholders and serve as the liaison between them and all the project team to mobilize local actors and promote project activities and impact.
• Support and coordinate capacity building and technical support activities for CRS and local partner team staff to ensure assigned project activities are implemented per project guidelines and standards.
• Supervise and perform ad-hoc inspections of various processes and resources at project sites to ensure timely project activities implementation and adherence to established process standards and procedures.
• Ensure proper tracking of resource use for project activities through periodic budget reviews and follow-up with assistance to teams and local partners.
• Coordinate activities required for ensuring the financial and resource management of high quality project implementation.
• Conduct regular budget reviews to facilitate proper tracking of resource uses, and ensure all stastaff are well versed in financial pipeline management.
  Coordinate provision of any logistical and administrative support to staff and partners.
• Ensure project documentation for assigned activities is complete with all required documents and is filed per agency and donor requirements. Assist with preparation of trends analysis reports and documentation of case studies and promising practices.
• Engage and strengthen partnerships relevant to CRS Egypt peacebuilding and partnership programming, applying appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools, and approaches.
• Identify staff capacity needs and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and contribute to capacity strengthening and required interventions to support quality project implementation.
• Support compliance with agency and donor MEAL requirements
• Provide input to MEAL system design and review discussions
• Supervise quality data collection and management activities
• Lead simple analyses and reflective discussions on ongoing monitoring data
• Contribute initial findings and field-based insights to project discussions
• Foster respectful relationships with community members and stakeholders
• Promote honesty and integrity in work of MEAL Agents
• Implement activities according to MEAL DIP
• Contribute to reflective community-based conversations on ongoing project interventions
• Share insights and perspectives based on observations and interactions with community members, colleagues, and stakeholders