Program Director

Education, qualifications, skills and experience:

Education

MA in economics, development studies or equivalent.

Experience

Minimum of 8-10 years of direct experience working donors, development partners, NGOs, government organizations. Experience of working with community organizations and school operations is desirable.

Skills

• Proven project management skills and ability to manage multiple tasks.
• Proven ability to lead, manage and motivate a diverse team.
• Strong budget development, report writing experience, and public presentation skills.
• Knowledge of MS Office, particularly Word, Excel, Power Point and Access.
• Previous work experience with international donors/NGOs/government.
• Demonstrated expertise in writing and speaking in English and Urdu. Knowledge of other Pakistani provincial languages desirable.
• Experience developing and managing M&E systems.

Job Summary

• The Program Director as a member of the senior management team will support the implementation of all aspects of programmatic interventions in Pakistan, especially school operations.
• The Program Director holds primary responsibility for ensuring the smooth conduct of procedures and plays a leading role liaising with program partners, sub-grantees and government agencies and NGO’s.
• Working in tandem with other departments including finance, human resources, business development and training, the Program Director also ensures adherence to organization policies and the efficient use of donor funds and ensure that program funding is spent in a transparent and optimal manner.
• The Program Director will promote the technical integration and sensitization of staff on its applications and ensure that the focus of the organization remains on the rights and needs of children.
• The Program Director will ensure coherence of the program strategy with analysis of the donor landscape, humanitarian needs, communications and advocacy plans. Ensures that the DIL ongoing and planned projects are relevant to the context and in line with contractual obligations with our donors. Coordinate to provide support to program strategy in both technical and operational management aspect. Maximize on reporting the information and data related to Program activities
• Supporting the development of an organizational culture that reflects our values, promotes accountability and high performance and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our donors

Key responsibilities:

Strategic Planning

• Guide overall political analysis, impact assessment, and strategy development to advance program goals. Take a lead role in developing program strategies, contribute to country strategy and annual plans and budgets.
• Work with the Executive Director to provide leadership to the development and maintenance of a comprehensive needs-based program strategy responsive to the dynamic needs of education built on the program strengths of legal frameworks. Proactively identify new program opportunities.
• Provides strategic direction to project managers in ensuring the effective delivery of program activities and the successful integration of activities with all other aspects of program to meet program objectives through contributing to work plan creation and implementation.
• Prepare for and manage weekly & monthly meetings of the senior management team in coordination with the Executive Director.
• Other necessary tasks to ensure proper program implementation and project success.

Program Quality Assurance and Grants Management

• Oversee the quality implementation of ongoing programming based on robust grant management, monitoring and evaluation systems and the facilitation of technical departments.
• Serve as a member of the Senior Management Team and liaise closely with engineering, procurement and finance staff to ensure the smooth organization of all grant operations.
• Manage program development and grants to ensure strong adherence to internal systems and timely administration and implementation of grant activities. Provide policy guidance and ensure training on grant management policies, and their being closely followed per organization and donor standards and regulations.  Regularly spot check grantee documentation to ensure audit-ready compliance.
• Oversee the review, evaluation and monitoring of grant proposals and grant closings in line with grants timeline. Review all grant related documents to ensure they include all relevant information and comply with organization and donor approved processes and regulations. 
• Closely review donor reports to ensure they capture all aspects and fulfill the goals and objectives of the program.

Managing Program Implementation

• Provide overall supervision to the implementation and integration of activities in all programs, including allocation of resources and ensuring that appropriate controls are maintained at all levels.
• Ensure that plans are made for each project and the department’s budget and report on progress on expenditure and achieve their objectives.
• Be in regular contact and receive/review regular reports from all project managers and senior manager (external and internal projects).
• Ensure programs are implemented in ways responsive to the communities, in line with DIL principles, values and strategic plan and following the compliance procedures.
• Lead and oversee the development and implementation of field-based research projects and ensure compliance and quality.
• Visit field activities regularly and report on problems, challenges and obstacles while building an intimate knowledge of field work realities.
• Ensure that the project cycle is followed for each project, including kick-off meetings, drafting of PMF, appraisals, implementation of activities, mid and end-term evaluations.
• Review all projects progress once a month and make sure that they are reported to ED.
• Ensure that DIL’s contractual obligations on project targets & deliverables are met by the program teams.
• Overall responsibility for program relevance and beneficiary accountability for all implemented projects.
• Make regular program reviews and provides feedback to the program team.

Staff Management and Supervision: 

• Manage staff and create an environment of continuous learning, where staff is encouraged and supported to develop professionally.
• Direct management of senior program managers and senior grants manager. Contribute to drafting TORs and conduct regular appraisals of supervised staff.
• Ensure that relevant technical specifications / standards are being respected.
• Provide support from all departments to the field/area offices.
• To implement the necessary processes to measure performance against key indicators and member’s satisfaction, monitoring levels and taking corrective action to ensure ongoing, measurable improvement of the Executive Office