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Afghanaid Director – Programme Development & Knowledge Management

Afghanaid is an international NGO (www.afghanaid.org.uk), registered in the UK, specializing in Afghanistan since 1981. Afghanaid has been assisting and facilitating people-driven processes of emergency assistance, recovery and development to address rights, entitlements and fundamental needs of Afghans in some of the most remote areas of the country for nearly three decades. The Head Office is located in Kabul. Afghanaid works in four provinces, namely Badakhshan (north-eastern region), Samangan (northern region), Ghor (western region) and Nuristan (eastern region). 18 district offices and 4 provincial offices serve these provinces, which are well resourced with experienced and skilled Afghan women and men staff, with management support and technical guidance provided by a roving team of senior national and international sectoral specialists and managers based in Kabul.
The department:
This position sits within the Programme Development & Knowledge Management Department (PDKM), which covers following scope of work:
• Development of project proposals, concept notes and budget for funding bodies (multilateral, bilateral, Trusts and Foundations) • Internal and external reporting of various types on Afghanaid’s work • Internal and external communication and information to staff, supporters in the UK, to support fundraising in the UK • Development and maintenance of relationships with old and new funding partners • Advocacy on issues embedded in grassroots programming on poverty reduction and humanitarian action through coalitions and alliances with others at sub-national, national and global level • Knowledge management through result based M&E, research, policy briefing papers, documentation of best practices and lessons learned and commissioning mid-term reviews, evaluations, and impact studies • Capacity development of national and international staff in relevant areas
• Support the Managing Director and Senior Management in programmatic review, development of long term organisational strategy and policies
Job profile: 
Under the overall steer of the Managing Director of Afghanaid, the Director Programme Development & Knowledge Management (PDKM) is a key position in Afghanaid responsible for resource mobilisation both restricted and unrestricted, building partnership with institutional donors, civil society, volunteer donors, advocacy and knowledge management. The Director –PDKM will work closely with Programme Department, Finance, HR, Provincial Programme teams to ensure synergies in purpose and outcomes of the respective Departmental teams and their work with reference to development of a system that both follows progress and monitors and evaluates quality and impact on levels of poverty, vulnerability and inequality within the communities where we work in partnership with poor Afghan women and men in a manner that also builds the capacity of national teams.
  1. Responsibilities
  2. Programme Development: 1.1 Regular scanning of donor environment and mapping to keep internal donors database active and updated 1.2 Identifying and securing new sources of funding 1.3 Explore new donors and areas of partnership 1.4 Explore partnership with other development actors by alliance building, network, and consortium 1.5 Development of high quality proposals (concept papers, grant applications, technical and financial proposals) 1.6 Support programme department in the capacity assessment of local and national civil society organization for potential partnership and sub contracting relating to a specific project
  3. Grant management/contract compliance: 2.1 Ensure copies of signed contract/project agreement are circulated to relevant staff and original are kept in safe custody 2.2 Responsible for contract amendment, communication with donors 2.3 Support programme department in organising project inception workshop to discuss project agreement, its clauses, and terms and conditions 2.4 Ensure that contract/project agreement are being followed at all level 2.5 Managing contract and income information (through PDKM’s systems and procedures e.g. donor reporting schedule/database, income grid, etc.)
  4. Donor Reporting: 3.1 Responsible for update and timely dissemination of funding and donor reporting grid to relevant staff 3.2 Develop work plan for donor reporting and ensure it is followed for each reporting 3.3 production of quality and timely donor reporting 3.4 liaison with finance to provide regular feedback to programme teams on donor funds availability and its management 3.5 Provision of information internally and externally to service providers/donors and support management to achieve their targets within a specific area of department’s priorities and objectives
  5. Internal Reporting: 4.1 In consultation with PDKM team members, prepare and submit quarterly departmental management reports for BoT to Managing Director 4.2 Prepare and submit any other report as and when required
  6. Capacity Development: 5.1 Conducting / arranging learning and development initiatives for staff and partners in improving skills and knowledge in areas relevant to funding, donor contract management and programme development (e.g. FPA, LFA, proposal development, budget planning and management, sector-specific assessments, poverty profiling, research through secondary sources and web-based, donor reporting through impact oriented quality analysis and use of case studies and human stories) 5.2 Provide support to programme teams on their compliance with and use of the Afghanaid and different institutional donors policies, systems and procedures 5.3 Keep regular communication between PDKM and other departments including field functions 5.4 Keep Managing Director, and senior management informed of any projected inabilities to meet contractual obligations and of spend rates/significant budget variances. Also, be able to proactively mitigate risks through proposing remedial solutions 5.5 Act as commissioning manager for external evaluations together with MEL team 5.6 Cooperate closely with London office team to package information to raise funds at UK end and to support production of materials for UK based supporters and for specific Appeals
  7. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) 6.1 Support MEAL Specialist and M&E Coordinator for putting in place a monitoring framework and MIS to track result of the past four years interventions of the project, as well as of the current phase 6.2 Support the M&E staff and ensure collection, compilation and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data to measure progress and outcomes of the project
    6.3 Support M&E Specialist to ensure that capacity of relevant staff is built in M&E 6.4 Ensure that monthly and quarterly M&E reports are produced and circulated to senior management and relevant staff 6.5 Work closely with Programme Operations Team in the head office to ensure implementation on the key recommendations of external mid-term review and end of project evaluations
  8. Staff Management: 7.1 Task delegation to staff, provide day to day support to the departmental team 7.2 Arrange 1:1 meetings and team meetings, ensure circulation of meeting minutes and action taken 7.3 Explore capacity building and learning opportunities (in country and international) for departmental team
    7.4 Build capacity of PDKM team through formal training sessions, mentoring and coaching in the areas of project management cycle, reporting and proposal development 7.5 Support PDKM team in development and achievement of performance objectives 7.6 Review the performance of PDKM direct reporting team
  9. Other Duties: 8.1 Supports in investigation of any allegation of fraud or irregularities relating to restricted funds; 8.2 To ensure Afghanaid’s gender and diversity priorities are reflecting in all communications to donors and to feedback to programme teams when this is not addressed in the programme design and/or implementation; 8.3 Active Participation in the senior management team meeting and contribute toward policy formulation, development of organisational strategy and new programmatic approaches 8.4 To perform any other related duties as and when asked by the Managing Director
    Key Skills, Experience and Competencies Essential a) Masters degree in project management, international development, administrative and management science, social science or other relevant discipline b) Minimum 7 years experience in programme development, management and fund raising c) Experience or familiarity with requirement of institutional donors e.g., EC, DFID, ECHO, SDC, UNICEF with good understanding of RFA/P.
    d) Ability to guarantee effective and timely outputs
    e) Highly developed reporting and budget monitoring and management skills f) Excellent knowledge of community development and social mobilisation g) Proven management ability and inter-personal skills – team player h) Problem solving and leadership skills i) Proficiency in most common computer software including word processing, spreadsheets j) Ability to deal with difficult, often frustrating work situations k) A willingness to live, travel and work in isolated and possibly dangerous locations
Gender sensitivity a) Sensitivity to Islamic and traditional culture b) Commitment to support/develop capacity of the national staff and of rural communities c) Personal integrity and sense of humor d) Knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses e) Ability to manage conflicting priorities in personal workload f) Knowledge of exit strategies and sustainability issues

Desirable a) Previous work experience in Afghanistan b) Working in a conflict area c) Proficiency with databases d) Working knowledge of local language (Dari or Pashto)

How to apply: 
Only applications that address the stipulated duties and meet the required qualifications will be considered. Applicants are requested to submit their CVs along with Job application (please uploaded www.afghanaid.org.uk) and interest letter explaining suitability for the position at vacancies@afghanaid.org.uk Deadline for submission is 2nd October 2012. Please mark application as “Director – Programme Development & Knowledge Management ”
Only shortlist applicant will be contacted for test/interview