Democratic Republic of the Congo: Program Officer

Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

With headquarters in Kinshasa and field offices in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Katanga, the IRC is one of the largest humanitarian actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The IRC aims to save lives, to strengthen Congolese institutions and to reinforce social cohesion through carefully designed and professionally-implemented programs. The IRC has been working in the DRC since 1996 and currently operates in five core programming areas - primary health care, community-driven reconstruction and local governance, women's empowerment and the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence, education, and emergency preparedness and response with an annual budget of approximately US$ 60 million, $320 million overall portfolio and over 800 staff. These programs reflect IRC's guiding principles of capacity-building; participation; partnership; protection and promotion of human rights; and holistic programming.

Job Overview/Summary:

The Program Officer plays a vital role within a regional team that is supervising a regional portfolio of humanitarian relief and post-conflict recovery programs currently consisting in three provinces in DRC and work through partners in six other provinces of DRC.

Candidates should be well organized and self-motivated with demonstrable writing, management, and creative problem solving skills. The successful candidate will liaise with country programs, NY support departments, IRC UK (London), IRC Brussels, IRC Geneva, and our government relations office in Washington DC to resolve provincial office and/or regional issues.

The Program Officer should be capable of managing multiple and complex tasks; thrive under pressure; have strong people skills; and be capable of interfacing successfully with internal actors, donors and partners to resolve program issues. S/he should also feel comfortable in a representational role, speaking on humanitarian and recovery issues to policy makers, donors and other audiences.

Based at Headquarters in New York, the Program Officer works under the supervision of the DRC based Regional Director, in coordination with the Deputy Regional Director for Programs, Deputy Director of Grants and Program Support and manages the Program Assistance and / or Program Manager and any interns for the DRC region.

Major Responsibilities:

Coordination and Supervision

• In coordination with the Grants Team based in the DRC, provide grant management support for all non-European donor grants, including proposal submission, ensuring donor reporting requirements are met and dealing with donor related issues;
• Maintain a strong relationship with the RD, DRDP, DD Grants and Program Support - reporting on a regular basis and copying them on relevant communications - through an established communications protocol;
• Liaise with the Technical Units and NY support departments on proposals, reports, cost extensions and no-cost extensions, compliance issues for ongoing grants, and additional requests for information;
• Ensure that proposals developed for the DRC regional are approved using the IRC's Opportunity Tracking and Information System (OTIS) and relevant documents are uploaded into the system;
• Draft and coordinate the production of the IRC DRC Annual Report in collaboration with the DRC Grants Team;
• Work closely with NY and UK departments and units to provide ongoing support to country offices as requested and needed;
• Supervise the Program Assistant and / or Program Manager and any interns in carrying out necessary functions as they relate to provincial program support; and
• Coordinate with the Program Officers for other regions for information sharing and to establish a coherent program support and backstopping function between headquarters and the field.

Program Design & Strategy Support

• Review and provide substantive feedback on non-European proposals/reports;
• Review budgets and supporting documentation for proposals as needed in coordination with the Award Management Unit and Regional Controllers, and assist in creating budgets when necessary;
• Stay informed about programmatic issues and security & political developments in the region; and
• Facilitate follow-up on programmatic issues to ensure accurate and timely financial and narrative reports to donors.

Donor Liaison

• Coordinate with the regional fundraising initiatives with HQ departments including writing, proposals for funding opportunities in the region.

Advocacy

• Support advocacy efforts for the region as requested by the Washington DC office and Regional Director; and
• Participate as needed in advocacy and/or representational visits, events and meetings, either as the IRC representative or alongside the Regional Director or Country Directors.

Other Key Areas of Responsibility

• Provide coverage for key program/support functions in the field as requested, to assist with short-term gaps and emergency support;
• Translate written documents when needed from English into French and vice versa; and
• Participate in special projects as needed and other tasks as assigned.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree, and ideally a Master's degree, in a related field or at least three years comparable related experience;
• Three years of progressive work experience, ideally with a relief and development NGO;
• Two years of international field experience, especially in Africa, is highly desirable;
• Project management experience, including supervisory experience ideal;
• Program development and/or grants management experience;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Proven ability to effectively manage relationships (e.g., with internal actors, peers, donors);
• Effective people management skills: ability to lead staff and promote productivity in a pleasant work environment;
• Familiarity with countries in the region ideal;
• Solid organizational skills: ability to be flexible & work well under pressure in a fast-paced multi-task team environment;
• Good Computer skills: facility with MS Word, Excel, and email/internet software; and
• Fluency in French required with excellent reading / writing abilities.

Working Environment:

Standard office work environment

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

IRC et les employés de IRC doivent adhérer aux valeurs et principes contenus dans le IRC WAY (normes de conduite professionnelle). Ce sont l'Intégrité, le Service, et la Responsabilité. En conformité avec ces valeurs, IRC opère et fait respecter les politiques sur la protection des bénéficiaires contre l'exploitation et les abus, la protection de l'enfant, le harcèlement sur les lieux de travail, l'intégrité financière, et les représailles .

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