nternational Rescue Committee hiring FSF Project Director.

Role purpose
The FSF Project Director will be responsible for a 36-month AFD-funded grant titled Feminist Solidarity Fund for Girls’ Education (FSF). Through this project, FSF Consortium will support a range of feminist CSOs and WROs working in our 7 target countries and/or at a regional level to accelerate gender equality in and through education. These include:

• CSOs providing direct support to girls and their families to remove individual-, family- and community-level barriers to education.
• CSOs working directly with schools and other sub-national institutions to improve the quality of support for adolescent girls in school as well as access to education for out-of-school girls.
• And, CSOs conducting research and/or advocacy to advance the rights of girls, including access to education

Priority will be given to CSOs working with the most marginalised, vulnerable or under-served subgroups of adolescent girls such as those that have experienced violence, those living through multiple crises, those that are marginalized because of their gender identity and sexual orientation.

The FSF Project Director will be accountable for the overall delivery of the programme and have leadership responsibility for the overall management of this award, which will primarily be implemented through IRC and 3 other regionally-based consortium partners. S/he will provide strategic and operational leadership to develop and implement a successful program. Together with the Technical Advisors for the FSF project, the Project Director will ensure adherence to overall technical and programmatic quality in implementation, compliance with AFD rules and regulations, and the timely submission of all deliverables, including annual work plans, performance monitoring plans, reports as required. The Project Director will be responsible for ensuring quality, and consistency of programming across all the countries and to this effect, organize and lead on the regular virtual project review meetings, and the face-to-face Annual Project Review Meetings for all project stakeholders.

This role will also have the responsibility for ensuring coordination with other relevant IRC offices and teams, including the Awards Management Unit (Compliance, PGST), CRRD Technical Units (Education, and Women’s Protection and Empowerment), Regional and Country leadership, as appropriate.
In addition, the role will also ensure regular liaison with the AFD desk officer in Paris and in the countries of implementation, as appropriate.

Scope of role:
Reports to: Director of Strategy and Learning, Violence Prevention and Response Unit
Key areas of accountability

Project leadership, delivery, management, coordination and quality assurance
• Hold overall responsibility for high-quality design and implementation of all aspects of the program, based on actual needs and response analysis.
• Provide strategic guidance, strong leadership and ensure technically sound decision-making processes in coordination with the Technical Advisor and Steering Committee comprised of regional and country management staff.
• Serve as main point of contact with AFD and maintain regular communication (in French and/or English, as specified by the donor)
• Represent IRC in all relevant fora at all times.
• Ensure compliance with and adherence to IRC and AFD rules and regulations.
• Ensure timely startup and implementation of the program in collaboration with country program staff, partner(s) and relevant departments.
• Lead a well-functioning consortium of 3 partners
• Lead the establishment of and support a well-functioning team
• Uphold feminist principles through all aspects of work
• Ensure regular and on time monitoring, including in-country monitoring, and monthly reporting on all program management aspects including the Action Plan (budget and actual expenses analysis, work-plan progress and updating, data collection and analysis and monitoring of indicators, partner sub-awards). Document monitoring observations and outcomes and communicate them to key stakeholders. Flag and troubleshoot when issues arise during implementation.
• Take full responsibility for the delegated budget holding function on the programmatic aspects of the program, participate actively in award review meetings and contribute to financial decision making, ensuring that value for money can be effectively demonstrated to the donor. Support budget realignments and grant amendments/modifications
• Support baseline surveys, regular monitoring, review and evaluation, in cooperation with the partners.
• Foster an integrated approach by coordinating and cooperating with all related thematic areas during program implementation and for future program design and development.
• Produce high quality reports within agreed reporting schedules.
• Ensure that cross-cutting themes such as client responsiveness, gender and best use of resources (BUR) are effectively integrated throughout implementation. Ensure internal IRC policies and procedures (e.g. OTIS, PEERS) are followed.
• Ensure that established international, national and inter-agency standards and guidelines are followed.
• Document program learning, and incorporate analysis and lessons learned into new strategies/activities.
• Stay informed about programmatic issues and security and & political developments in the project regions and how they might affect program implementation

Job Requirements
• Master’s degree in International Development, Gender, Sociology or related field.
• At least 8-10 years of experience with a humanitarian and development NGO or multilateral agency with specific focus on leading programming for women and girls
• Experience in working within or in close collaboration with femisit/women’s movements and/or organisations in the GLobal South
• Experience in leading or managing consortia
• International field experience, especially in the region, preferred
• Program and/or grants management experience with key donors, such as AFD, USAID, DFID, and/or European Union/ECHO.
• Experience managing for donor compliance, proposal writing, budgeting, and representing implementers to donors
• Proven ability to lead, manage, and develop teams, including staff working at a distance
• Proven ability to manage multiple work streams and to coordinate across teams/functions
• Excellent relationship-management skills with colleagues in the field and HQ, senior stakeholders, and donors
• Ability to drive adaptive thinking and management, by creating a culture of open communication, problem solving and learning.
• Ability to travel internationally approximately 40% of the time
• English and French fluency required

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.