Interim Regional Programme Adviser Senegal

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Dakar (Senegal)
Grade: Unspecified
Occupations: Programme and Project Management

JOB DESCRIPTION

Background
The Central and West Africa Regional Office (CWARO) located in Dakar, Senegal, supports and provides oversight to NRC’s country programmes in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. All countries are experiencing a deterioration of the security situation, increasing humanitarian needs and displacements due to conflict. NRC’s programmes and advocacy support families affected by conflict in the shelter, food security and livelihoods, education, water and sanitation, camp management, and legal assistance sectors. NRC has over 1,300 employees working on the NRC regional response.
The Regional Programme Department, managed by the Regional Programme Director, is responsible for the strategic development of NRC programming in the region by maximizing the support to and the development of Country Offices’ (CO) as well as by exploring and creating synergies among COs. The Regional Programme Department is focused on research, policies, guidance and procedures, evidence and learning, capacity building, programme quality and donor relations. The department includes a Core Competency and Thematic Unit, and a Programme Development and Support Unit, made up of Regional Programme Advisors and a Regional Grants Manager.
This interim position of RPA was created in order to fill the gap left by the departure of the former RPA, during a particularly critical time. From December to January, the country teams will be developing important funding proposals (mainly ECHO, UN) and require regular support for quality control and compliance.

1. Role and responsibilities
• Compliance and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures
• Responsible for quality control of donor proposals and reports, and internal programme strategy documents and reports, in regards to NRC strategies and donor compliance.
• Provide specialist support, advice and guidance to programme development and to strategic planning in country programmes.
• Support evaluations in country programmes.
• Promote lessons learned and best practices into programme development in country programmes, including from M&E products (such as GORS and Evaluations).
• Responsible for PCM support, including facilitation and delivery of trainings, to country programmes within the region.
• Coordinate internal reporting and facilitate meetings between country offices the Regional Office and Head Office as required, ensure correct archiving of key Country Office strategy, programme and project documentation, and keep oversight of Country Office proposal and reporting deadlines.
• Responsible to stay updated on specific countries and/ or themes as assigned.

Critical interfaces
By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position:
• Country Director: if no Head of Programme is in place.
• Head of Programme in country: Discussions on strategic direction of programme, programme quality control.
• Grants Manager or Coordinator: Proposal development
• Regional and Head Office Core Competency and thematic advisers: liaison on new programme development, core competency strategies and M&E.
• Regional and Head Office Advocacy: dialogue on elaborating key advocacy priorities to support CO strategy and programming.
• Partnership and Advocacy HO; Institutional Partnership Section in Head Office; NRC Brussels; NRC Geneva.
• Organisational Development HO; Strategic Planning and Development: liaison on internal reporting, evaluations and GORS reporting.

2. Competencies
• Minimum 5 years of experience within the humanitarian/recovery context, with strong preference for NRC experience
• Specialist knowledge and expertise equivalent to an advanced university degree in a relevant field (e.g. international development, politics, social science)
• Experience developing proposals and reports for various key donors (NMFA, UN agencies, ECHO, GFFO, etc.)
• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities
• Fluency in English and French, both written and verbal
• Expertise/knowledge about humanitarian programming in Sahel is a distinct advantage