Team Leader, DR Congo Full Time Senior level

DAI is seeking an experienced Team Leader for a new and exciting programme in DRC, the Team Leader position is a full time 4-5 years role suited for individuals with experience in complex program management, ideally within the health sector.

The role

The Team Leader (TL) is responsible for the technical leadership and in-country management of the programme and staff in the Congo. The TL will be responsible for the programme’s overarching aim to strengthen health systems and improve quality, effectiveness, and affordability of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services to achieve sustainable impact in the Congo. The TL will provide leadership, direction and strategy for the programme and will be responsible for delivery of all programme outputs and for the meeting of all milestones. The TL will be responsible for leading the programme team through planning, implementing and managing the delivery of activities, reports, knowledge products and other results as approved in programme documentation or work plans. The TL will be responsible for representing the programme with a range of Congo government stakeholders, other donors, international and local partners, and civil society. S/he will regularly report to FCDO and will maintain strong working relationships with all relevant stakeholders.

Specific responsibilities:

– Project management

• Lead the effective and efficient delivery of the programme, through inception and implementation, and within budget, ensuring that FCDO expectations and programme KPIs are met or exceeded.
• Be the first point of contact in charge of liaising and communicating in a productive and politically sensitive manner with the client, programme partners, and key stakeholders.
• Build close relationships with the client, beneficiaries and other key stakeholders to assist with programme delivery.
• Meet with the client (in DRC and UK) on a regular basis and be available at a short notice for any ad-hoc requests.
• Ensure quality of programme outputs are fully aligned with DAI and client requirements through mentoring, training and monitoring of staff and partners.
• Ensure ownership of programme tools such as the detailed annual workplan and ensure that the programme is carried out in line with the agreed logical framework.
• Work closely with the Finance and Operations Manager to ensure effective and robust operational and financial management of the programme (including but not limited to: tracking, reviewing and updating key project documentation such as work plans, budgets, manuals; staff supervisory responsibility; compliance with DAI policies and client rules and regulations), in line with the programme’s budget, logframe, and Value for Money framework.
• Produce and submit quality assured programme reporting to the client on time, as outlined in the annual workplan. And deliver key monthly, quarterly and annual programme reports to DAI, and all other reports and plans as necessary.
• Manage performance and provide regular support to direct reports, ensuring high performance, accountability, and adherence to KPIs and programme deliverables.

– Technical and leadership

• Supervise the accurate implementation of both the inception and implementation phases agreed workplans, ensuring the programme is flexible, responsive, innovative and adaptive to change.
• Work closely with the team to provide technical direction, review all aspects of the programme and progress towards delivering programme outputs and outcomes, as well as financial (monitoring and forecasting), risk, and client satisfaction.
• Work closely with the various teams to ensure the use of adaptive approaches of testing and incorporating learning to improve programme delivery, results and to inform strategic choices.
• With the support of the team, develop, update and implement annual programme activities and strategy in line with timeframes established within the programmes workplan.
• Ensure programme strategies, plans and activities are gender sensitive, socially inclusive, and are sustainable.
• With the team identify programmatic areas of weakness, establish remedial action plans, and share knowledge and experience.
• In coordination with the team, develop effective relationships with key stakeholders including government officials at the national and sub-national levels, civil society, and the media, and attend high level meetings and events.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in health-related discipline; MD preferred.
• Significant years’ experience as a team leader or project director of donor-funded health programmes; experience with FCDO health programmes strongly preferred.
• Prior experience and technical expertise in maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, family planning/reproductive health, community mobilization, WASH, emergency preparedness, and/or health systems strengthening in the DRC or a similar context.
• Extensive experience working and delivering results in fragile and conflict-affected settings; previous experience in DRC required.
• Proven leadership and management skills, including a track record of managing and coordinating high-performance teams across multiple programme office locations, including the ability to coach, guide, and inspire the team members to meet their KPIs.
• Proven ability to cultivate effective working relationships to engage with the senior government and its counterparts at the national and sub-national levels, as well as other key stakeholders such as donors, other implementing partners, NGOs, civil society, academia, and the private sector.
• Strong familiarity with donor-funded programme requirements; knowledge and experience applying FCDO compliance and familiarity with FCDO terms and conditions, duty of care requirements, and due diligence, etc. will be highly desirable.
• Demonstrated capacity to manage financial resources effectively and transparently to achieve maximum impact and value for money.
• Previous experience leading consortia and managing local and international implementing partners to deliver results across a range of programme elements.
• Proven leadership guiding health programming through a flexible and adaptive programme approach, monitoring effectiveness, opportunities and challenges, and adapting implementation based on learning to achieve desired programme outputs/outcome.
• Ability to manage uncertainty, offering flexibility and thriving at the edge of change.
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver under tight deadlines on a continual basis.
• Superior interpersonal and communication skills.
• Excellent written and spoken French and English.

Tagged as: Congo, DAI