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Sub-regional Coordinator / Country Programme Manager P-5 - Latin America & Caribbean Division

Duty Station: Lima, Peru
Duration of Assignment:
Three-year fixed term (renewable subject to availability of funds and needs)
Organizational Cotext
IFAD is an International Financial Institution and a Specialized United Nations Agency whose mission is to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty. IFAD's headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and has decentralized offices in many countries. Its staff work with very poor rural people; their governments, communities and organisations in more than 90 countries to develop and finance programmes and projects aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and incomes.
Division Context 
The Programme Management Department (PMD) is responsible for the overall lending programme of the Fund, and is composed of five (5) regional divisions and a Technical Advisory Services Division.  The Latin America and the Caribbean Division (LAC)  is currently recruiting a Sub-regional Coordinator/Country Programme Manager, based in Perú with responsibility for as outlined below.
 Duties and responsibilities
Under the overall supervision and strategic, policy and management guidance of the divisional Director LAC, the Sub-regional Coordinator/Country Programme Manager (CPM) heads the sub-regional office in Perú covering IFAD funded projects in the Andean Region  and will be responsible for managing the country programme as assigned by the Director. Specifically, the incumbent will be required to:
Regional responsibilities
  • Manage the Perú sub-regional office and provide leadership and motivation to IFAD staff assigned to the sub-region
  • Build successful partnerships at country levels with IFAD collaborators and IFAD staff.
  • Provide advice to CPMs/CPOs working in the Andean Region on project design, participating in project design teams with the aim of ensuring both effective management arrangements for projects and project designs that lead to early start-up and effective implementation.
  • Provide advice to CPMs/CPOs on implementation support missions.
  • Review project Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in order to ensure improvement through integration of recommendations.
  • Share, both through formal training and hands-on practice, experience and knowledge in supervision and implementation and implementation support to mainstream good practice within the region and the division, aiming at improving efficiency and effectiveness as well as impact and results.
Country responsibilities
  •  Lead and manage the development and implementation of medium to longer-term strategies for IFAD's collaboration with governments and other national stakeholders for rural poverty reduction. This will entail analysis of the dynamics of rural poverty; country-specific rural poverty reduction strategies; and the definition of IFAD's value added in this context.
  •  Lead the design and supervision of the IFAD loan and grant financed rural poverty reduction programmes assigned by the Director. Support their implementation with a view to maximising development effectiveness, impact and sustainable development results. Analyse relevant information and assist in the periodic evaluation of results achieved.
  •  Lead loan and grant negotiations with the borrowing and donor governments, in accordance with IFAD's lending policies and criteria.
  •  Play a catalytic role in the development of pro-poor rural poverty reduction policies and in enabling the rural poor to advocate for institutional transformation.
  • Build effective partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders in rural poverty reduction, including government and non-governmental institutions, bilateral and multilateral financing institutions, civil society organisations, research centres and the private sector.
  •  Promote evidence-based knowledge management and learning in IFAD's country programmes.
  • Promote innovative approaches to poverty reduction and collaborate with partner institutions to facilitate their replication and scaling up.
  • Contribute effectively to the IFAD organizational change agenda, with particular reference to issues related to IFAD's direct supervision modalities.
  • Provide coaching and guidance to staff under her/his supervision.
  •  Administer the related budget for cost-effectiveness.
  •  Perform any other duties as assigned by the Director.
 Education and experience
  • Minimum requirement is an advanced university degree (Master's level or equivalent) in rural development, economics, public policy, social sciences or a closely related field.  
  • At least  10 years  of relevant post qualification professional experience at national and/or international level  with International Financial Institutions, international NGOs, rural development/financial institutions, Foundations or government services in the design and administration of rural development programmes with emphasis on rural project management , rural finance and market development.
  • At least three years of experience in managing teams and supervising and guiding staff.  
  • Experience in partnership building and management.
  • Good knowledge of policy oriented, programme based pro-poor approaches.  
  • Knowledge in pro-poor policy design and programme-based development approaches with International Financial Institutions/Development Cooperation agencies government agencies and international NGOs.
  • Relevant  professional experience in economically developing countries is required.
 Technical/functional competencies:
  • Leader and team worker/builder: Excellent management skills  able to deploy these in a multicultural setting. Capacity of leading results based teams  to deliver high quality products within tight deadlines to achieve stretching objectives;
  • Planner and organiser/decision-maker: Excellent judgement and the ability to think strategically, assessing and responding to new challenges in rural development. Able to set clear priorities within a boundless and often challenging agenda with tight deadlines.
  • Analytical skills: Analytical ability and thorough understanding of socio-economic issues as well as the capacity to lead specific analytical work.
 Communication
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Spanish and English; including the ability to set out a coherent argument in presentations and group interactions.
  • Capacity to communicate fluently with different stakeholders (civil society, government authorities, local communities, project staff).
  • Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft packages and electronic communication.
Other information
Applicants should note that IFAD staff members are international civil servants subject to the authority of the President of IFAD, and they may be assigned by him/her to any of the activities of IFAD, including field assignments and/or rotation within IFAD.

IFAD reserves the right to appoint a candidate at the appropriate grade commensurate with experience and knowledge.

Interested candidates are requested to apply by completing IFAD's Personal History Form (PHF) in English. A separate CV may be attached if you so desire, only as a supplement and not a substitute to the PHF. The application should be made through the online system only.

In the interest of making most cost effective use of funds and resources, we are only able to respond to applicants who are short-listed for interview. Candidates who do not receive any feedback within three months should consider their application unsuccessful.

Candidates may be required to take a written test and to deliver a presentation as well as participate in interviews.
Nationals of the host country cannot undertake international assignment in their home country.

Sub-regional Coordinator / Country Programme Manager P-5 - Latin America & Caribbean Division - deadline: 28 November 2012