Project Director (Stop Diarrhoea Initiative) - Save the Children (Apply by: December 08, 2015)

JOB DESCRIPTION
Project Director (Stop Diarrhoea Initiative) 
Save the Children, Bal Raksha Bharat, Gurgaon

1. POSITION VACANT: Project Director (Stop Diarrhoea Initiative)

2. ORGANISATION BACKGROUND: 

Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat (SC BR) is India’s leading independent child rights’ organization and works in 18 states across the country, to make a difference in the lives of the most socially-excluded children.

SC BR’s work in the areas of Child Education, Health & Nutrition, Child Protection and Humanitarian Response & Disaster Risk Reduction, has benefitted lakhs of children in India and last year alone reached over 8.5 lakh children. The organization has existed in India since pre-Independence days.

SC BRis a member of the International Save the Children Alliance coalition, a global network of organisations working for the betterment of the most disadvantaged children, in more than 120 countries across the world.

Please visit https://www.savethechildren.in/ to learn more about Save the Children and SC BR.

Save the Children BR (SC BR) is looking for an outstanding public health professional to lead the development and consolidation of a framework for impact assessment and learning, through which SC BRshall be able to build the evidence base for advocacy, measure progress towards the achievement of its objectives, build accountability to stakeholders and continually improve its work on the basis of learning.

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Project Director-Stop Diarrhoea Initiative (PD-SDI) for the proposed Diarrhoea Reduction Programme, shall be responsible for designing and development of a robust and comprehensive programme aligned to theUNICEF/ WHO ‘7 Point Plan’. The PD-SDI shall be responsible for the launching and completion of key research studies, which will ultimately contribute/ lead towards the development of a full-fledged intervention programme.

Key Job Responsibilities

Lead the design and development of a comprehensive Diarrhoea Prevention and Control Programme in six states in India, with a vision to transform it into a comprehensive programme that is evidence based, replicable, scalable and generating positive results for children in the targeted states/ locations.

The PD-SDI is expected to facilitate the following specific deliverables:

(1) Setting-up a Technical Working Group to provide advisory and technical support to the programme;
(2) Mapping of key stakeholders and partners engaged in the prevention and control of diarrhoea in the target areas and developing a comprehensive advocacy and campaign strategy;
(3) Establishing benchmarks by conducting a baseline survey and KAP study to assess the pre-programme situation, apart from a longitudinal study on the incidence of diarrhoea in the target areas;
(4) Developing a clearly defined programme design with a clear reference and relevance to the results of baseline study, stakeholder mapping and the longitudinal study on incidence of diarrhoea and put it under the larger frame of the UNICEF/ WHO ‘7 Point Plan’ on diarrhoea control;
(5) Maintaining systems for project operations and compliance in line with SC BR guidelines;
(6) Ensuring that all agreement deadlines during inception phase are met as per the agreed Time Frame / Gantt Chart and targets are achieved;
(7) Maintaining working relationships with project stakeholders (including government and other agencies);
(8) Overseeing the preparation and submission of narrative and financial reports to Donors well on time, as per the agreed Grant Agreement.

A. Project Representation

(1) Acting as primary liaison with all implementing states, resource and research agencies, and SC BRmanagement, through formal review meetings and on-going, informal updates of project progress, as and when required by Senior Management;
(2) Representing the project and SC BR to local and national government entities, the media, and CSOs.

B. Project Management

(1) Managing a diverse team of specialists, comprising of Capacity Development, M&E, Health and Advocacy professionals, providing results oriented strategic vision and leadership to the team and other stakeholders;
(2) Developing and overseeing the project's annual planning and high quality implementation of activities and deliverables, to achieve impact within agreed timelines;
(3) Overseeing project budget and ensuring that all financial activities are carried out in accordance with budget allocations;
(4) With support from state offices, preparing and submitting timely and accurate project and financial, donor reports, through appropriate channels within the organization;
(5) Ensuring that regular assessments, monitoring and evaluation, are conducted both against KPIs and to ensure quality, of the programme. This shall be done through frequent visits to field locations and interactions with all relevant internal and external stakeholders.

C. Technical and Advocacy Support

(1) Providing overall expertise and leadership in the areas of comprehensive proposal development, and high impact programme delivery.
(2) Providing technical assistance, support, and capacity development to state offices and other stakeholders directly associated with the programme;
(3) Facilitating partnership and promoting synergies among key stakeholders viz., Civil Society Organisations, Government Institutions, Govt. Departments like Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Academic and Research institutions, build on their distinctive strengths to effectively deliver the programme;
(4) Constructing concrete advocacy plans in consultation with SC BR - ACC team, taking cognizance of the key findings of studies like KAP research, Stakeholder Analysis and taking references of evidences generated through the existing programme. The advocacy plan would help to influence the government and local authorities to prioritize the Diarrhoea Reduction Programme, as an important health initiative to address childhood mortality and morbidity.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualification: 

Applicants must possess a post-graduate degree in Public Health, Public Health Engineering, Health Management Research, Community Medicine, or equivalent, from a recognized university or college.

Experience:

(1) Applicants must possess 12 years of experience in managing or supporting donor-funded community health programs and 10 years of experience of working in the health, water and sanitation sector;
(2) Applicants must also possess strong and salient experience in managing large scale, cross state Health initiatives, preferably on WASH related issues;
(3) In-depth understanding of Rural and Urban Health programmes, Women and Child Development programmes, School Health Education programming and Water and Sanitation programmes;
(4) Gender sensitive and child centric approaches to community health and WASH programmes;
(5) Experience in facilitating ‘Capacity building’ initiatives of local government teams, behavior change communication related to diarrhoea reduction and M&E of programs;
(6) Good experience of working with local partners, project cycle management; Also of
working in collaboration with local partners, government bodies, INGOs and donor agencies;
(7) Excellent knowledge of project cycle management;
(8) Planning execution and management of multi state, multi-activity programming;
(9) Proficiency in budget design, tracking and financial management;
(10) Capacity to build and effectively supervise a diverse team of employees, representing different thematic areas;
(11) Excellent writing skills and experience of leading program design and developing work plans with diverse teams;
(12) Expertise in designing and implementing or overseeing M&E systems;
(13) Good track record of working with and/or partnering with a variety of individuals and organizations, including state and national level government officials, national/ international technical agencies and donor organizations;
(14) Ability to identify possible new activities and elaborate proposals for new projects.

Skills and Competencies:

(1) Demonstrated interpersonal, problem solving, and conflict resolution skills;
(2) Ability to coordinate with state offices and key stakeholders;
(3) Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
(4) Computer literate in MS Office word processing, spread sheet, and presentation applications;
(5) Strong staff management and leadership skills.

5. COMPENSATION OFFERED:

The offered compensation for this position is attractive and competitive to market rates. The offer made to the selected candidate shall be commensurate with qualifications, experience and salary history.

7. LOCATION: Gurgaon

8. REFERENCE: PD-SDI

9. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senior Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025 
Phones: 011-2684-2162; 011-4165-3612; 011-4101-1564 and 011-4101-1565
Email: pd-sdi@sams.co.in

10. LAST DATE FOR APPLICATIONS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply to pd-sdi@sams.co.in  with a cover letter outlining how they fulfill the expectations of Save the Children, Bal Raksha, Bharat, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organization and expected compensation, by or before December 8, 2015. For further details please visit our websitehttp://www.sams.co.in