About CRS:

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Job Summary:

CRS has been present in Rwanda since 1960, and currently implements projects in nutrition, agriculture, youth entrepreneurship and peacebuilding. The Country Program has around 45 staff and implements its projects through local and international partners, with strong coordination/collaboration with Government of Rwanda structures. The FY20 program value is approximately $8 million.

A proposal-based position, as Chief of Party I you will provide leadership and overall management of a five-year USAID WASH program pending a successful bid for the award. Your leadership, management and technical knowledge will ensure the delivery of high-quality programming and advance the position of CRS as a leading agency in WASH programming. As a senior leader you will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks.

The Chief of Party (CoP) will oversee the development, management and implementation of the anticipated WASH project. The project is aiming to improve access to, and utilization of, safe drinking water and sanitation services in ten districts in Rwanda. The Chief of Party I is expected to lead a team to 1) strengthen decentralized WASH governance, including improving District WASH Boards performance and increasing public funding for the WASH sector, 2) Improve Rural Drinking Water Services, including improving capacity of district WASH services regulator, provision of reliable water services, and increasing funds for operations and maintenance, and 3) improve rural sanitation services through increasing user’s willingness to pay for sanitation services and products and availability of sanitation services and products.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation and management of the WASH program, including sharing how the project contributes to the thought leadership of the industry. Serve as the primary point of contact to USAID as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet donor expectations in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability. Ensure coordination between program and operations leads. Ensure CRS program quality standards are adhered to per MEAL policy and procedures.
• Effectively manage senior programming and operations talent. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching and mentoring. Strategically tailor individual development plans and complete performance assessments for direct reports. Oversee the development of staffing plans and the recruitment process of senior staff.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.
• Promote, uphold and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and USAID resources. Ensure compliance with USAID grants, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting to donor. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to USAID.
• Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures.
• Coordinate relationships with consortium partner organizations, including organization of review/planning workshops. Contribute to coordination of the roles and activities of staff from other consortium member organizations in implementation in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance.

 Required Languages – English fluency, French

Travel – Must be willing and able to in-country travel up to 25 %

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities.
• Presentation and facilitation skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions oriented and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Excellent English writing skills.
• Prior experience as a Chief of Party or comparable senior leadership position (in Africa is a plus).
• Demonstrated experience of successful program management, including management of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects with WASH
• Experience engaging partners (local organizations, private sector, government, etc.) and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus.
• Ability to represent and present at high levels.
• Experience in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), Web Conferencing Applications, and information and budget management systems.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Program staff

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Country Representative, Programming staff, Finance Manager, Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality, Regional Technical Advisors, HQ based Public Donor Liaison.

External: Donor, government agencies, partner INGOs and local NGOs, Caritas, peer agencies, community representatives.

*This position is contingent upon award of the funding opportunity CRS winning the project and the USAID’s approval of a CoP candidacy.

 Basic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in International Development, International Relations, Water Resource Management, Water and Sanitation, Engineering or relevant field. PhD Preferred
• Minimum of 7 or more years work experience in a program management position with progressive responsibilities for an international NGO preferably managing projects in WASH/water resource management.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience managing donor funds, preferably for institutional donors including for USAID. Strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
• Minimum of 5 years of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching senior program staff.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

· Integrity

· Continuous Improvement & Innovation

· Builds Relationships

· Develops Talent

· Strategic Mindset

· Accountability & Stewardship

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.