NGO JOBS

Organization: GOAL
Country: Ireland
Closing date: 28 Aug 2013

Background and role

GOAL is an emergency and development NGO established in 1977, currently operational in 13 countries world-wide. GOAL has an annual budget of approximately €70m and is supported by a range of donors including: Irish Government, UK Government, USAID/OFDA and European Union.

In GOAL, the Desk Officer is responsible for ensuring the Head Office and organisation wide coordination of information, donor submissions and contracts and staff movements. The Desk Officer will also facilitate the provision of Head Office support to the Country Director and senior in country team for the effective implementation of the country programme. At Head Office and at international level, the Desk Officer is the first point of contact for all information on assigned country programmes. Specifically, the Desk Officer:

• provides first line of contact between Head Office and designated Country Directors (CDs).

• facilitates and supports the Country Directors in the creation, implementation, monitoring and reporting of Country plans and programmes.

• represents GOAL externally with donors and in related fora.

• links country operations with all other Head Office depts., other country programmes and GOAL technical staff in respect of assigned countries.

Key Responsibilities of the position;

PROGRAMMES

1. Facilitate and collaborate with CDs in the creation of optimal country plans, and support and monitor the implementation of same.

2. Make recommendations on Technical Team support to field.

3. Review all programme narrative and financial submissions from the field and make recommendations for action.

4. Supports each country programme in the development of an annual monitoring and evaluation plan that shows how it contributes to country programme objectives and global objectives for GOAL

5. Work with in-country focal points to ensure the effective roll out of organisational policies and work with other members of the technical team in particular nutrition, WASH, health, livelihoods and HIV to develop integrated programmatic strategies were possible.

6. Support sudden onset emergency responses as required.

7. Ensure maintenance of accurate hard and soft copy files of all project/programme documentation.

8. Ensure maintenance of accurate project/programme information on the GMS and intranet country pages.

9. Ensure weekly field and desk reports are prepared and submitted on time and to a high standard.

10. Review field weekly and monthly reports and feedback to country programmes on same.

DONORS

1. Provide donor knowledge and support to CDs and review all field submissions of reports and proposals to donors for accuracy/completeness/timeliness.

2. Thoroughly review all contracts and letters of agreement from donor agencies and partners, highlight key conditions for field and relevant staff in HQ.

3. Initiate grant opening meetings with Operations, Finance and logistics departments in Head Office upon commencing a new grant – record and manage permanent filing of minutes.

4. Liaise with, and represent GOAL to, donors in relation to country and project specific matters, and in relation to new business.

5. Monitor donor websites and calls for proposals and report on new opportunities to Country Directors /(Deputy)Operations Manager.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

1. Review monthly financial reports with Finance dept. in the context of rolling country budgets for spend levels/discrepancies/gaps, etc and follow up with field informing senior management where there are concerns.

2. Review proposal budget for appropriateness and relevance. Raise queries with Finance dept. and country team.

3. Review and monitor annual country budgets, specifically including GOAL funding requests and commitments.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Liaise closely with Human Resources dept. regarding all overseas personnel issues including;

1. Review proposed new positions or extensions for relevance and budget and submit to Ops Manager for approval.

2. Provide detailed country programme briefing to new/outgoing GOALies and visitors.

3. Debrief recently returned staff in relation to country specific programme management challenges and successes.

4. Make recommendations for training and development needs identified in support of country programme staff.

LOGISTICS

1. Review high value procurements for relevant, appropriateness and budget.

2. Review and monitor grant specific procurement plans.

3. Stay abreast of in country logistics capacity and concerns and raise concerns when appropriate.

4. Review logistics checklists for new proposals.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

1. Stay abreast of current security context in fields relevant to assigned country programmes

2. Engage in discussion and review of changing security policies and procedures.

3. Include discussion on local security in review of existing and proposed programmes.

4. Include discussion on local security in review of existing and proposed staff and staff structures.

REPRESENTATION AND VISIBILITY

1. Ensure the relevant Donor visibility requirements are addressed appropriately in all submissions to donors.

2. Prepare specific briefs for senior management, media department, donors, and country offices as required.

3. Ensure that GOAL project information for external relations is current and accurate.

4. As appropriate represent GOAL in external sectoral networks – facilitate the exchange of technical information and identify opportunities for cooperative work and joint ventures with other agencies.

5. Participate in relevant (internal and external) discussion groups as required in order to assess future policy development.

KNOWLEDGE

1. Maintain a high level of knowledge on all aspects of GOAL activities and local operating environments for designated countries and keep Senior Management fully appraised on a timely basis on all important issues.

2. Maintaining a good working knowledge of the other GOAL countries of operation.

3. In coordination with the technical team and Operations department; maintain an overview of global country programming and advise on appropriate interventions which will facilitate more effective and integrated programming.

4. Stay abreast of current best practice in fields relevant to assigned country programmes and engage in discussion, working groups and planning exercises to ensure this informs GOAL’s own organisational development and programming.

Requirements:

1. A Masters level degree (or higher) in Development or related field.

2. Minimum 3 (three) years practical field experience in emergency humanitarian and/or development programs, with a particular focus on programme management.

3. Experience in report writing and proposal generation and familiarity with key donor monitoring and evaluation guidelines.

4. Appreciation of the aims and objectives of GOAL.

5. Adept in use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint

6. Fluent in spoken and written English with strong analytical skills

CANDIDATES MUST BE LEGALLY ALLOWED TO WORK IN IRELAND AT THE TIME OF APPLICATION

Fluency in French, Spanish or Arabic an advantage.

Closing date for applications: August 29th 2013.

How to apply:

http://www.candidatemanager.net/cm/Apply.aspx?&mid=YGTYD&sid=BEVGTAZ&jid...