FHI 360

Senior Programs & Communications Officer

Ngo & Social Services Jobs
Salary
TBA

Job Description

FHI 360 is a non-profit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways, by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in Public Health, Nutrition, Environment, Education, Economic Development, Civil Society, Gender, Youth, Research, Technology and more, creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 60 countries as well as all 50 U.S. states and all U.S. territories. FHI 360 Zimbabwe’s portfolio currently comprises various USAID-funded projects that work in different, but complementary thematic areas. Each of these projects is led by a project director/manager, with one of them serving as a Country Representative (CR). The projects are supported by a shared platform that is comprised of staff working in program management, communications, finance, administration, human resources. FHI 360 is currently seeking qualified candidates for the position of Senior Programs and Communications Officer (SPCO), which is part of Country Office (CO) platform team and reports to the CR.

Position Summary:
In close liaison with the FHI 360 Zimbabwe CR, the Senior Management Team (SMT) and other shared services staff, the Senior Programs & Communications Officer (SPCO) provides day-to-day program management, communications and operations support to all Zimbabwe projects and to the FHI 360 CO platform. Specific responsibilities include coordinating and/or contributing to work planning, budgeting, reporting, subaward management, documentation of lessons and successes for bilateral awards as well as CO platform functions such as FHI 360’s corporate registration, knowledge management (KM), strategic communications, business development and diversification (BDD) and more.

Position Title: Senior Programs & Communications Officer (SPCO)
Location: Harare, Zimbabwe
Supervisor: Country Representative, FHI 360/Zimbabwe

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:
Contributes to key program management and operations processes on bilateral awards, to ensure effective management throughout the entire project lifecycle. This may include:
Coordinating in-country project close-out and/or start-up under the guidance of the Project Lead and with oversight from the Regional Office (RO).
Supporting Country/Project Leads to promote staff awareness and understanding of award terms and conditions, donor rules and regulations, organizational policies and procedures, and statutory reporting requirements and assists the Country/Project Leads to monitor compliance with those.
Reviewing project reports and coordinating documentation of lessons learned, good practices, and success stories.
Assisting with preparation and/or review of project subawards, consultancy agreements and other types of procurement packages.
Supports financial management and monitoring, including budget development, pipeline analysis, review of workplans against budgets, etc.
Works with HR and project teams to ensure appropriate staffing plans and management approaches; this may involve developing Org Charts, position descriptions, staff hiring requisitions, consultant scopes of work (SOW) and terms of reference (ToRs), etc.
May serve as program/project lead on small award(s), as assigned.
Ensures that FHI 360’s various knowledge management (KM) platforms are updated, involving support to project teams in updating Vine, uploading deliverables to the USG clearing house, working with the RO and Corporate Communications to keep Connect (the intranet) and the website updated. It also involves maintaining an effective electronic filing and retrieval systems for CO documents and correspondence.
Handles strategic communication for the country office (internal and external) to promote visibility of the country office achievements and effective stakeholder engagement. This includes the following:
Facilitating publication of a periodic CO newsletter, updates to brochures, and creation of other communications products to document the work that FHI 360 does in Zimbabwe and the ensuring results.
Assisting the CR and Project Leads with both internal and external communications, for effective staff, partner and client relationship management; for instance, drafting approval requests for the donor, crafting emails to staff on strategic matters, reviewing MOUs, etc.
Drafting documents, presentations, aggregate project profiles, policies and terms of reference and such documents on behalf of the CO.
Organizes and may chair assigned meetings (e.g., the CO SMT), including drafting agendas, scheduling some calls (e.g., standing meetings with the RO), developing meeting materials and contributing to meeting minutes.
Supports event planning for high-level events.
Provides senior level support on CO Platform operations, in support of the Country Rep and Shared Services Director (F&A lead). This may include
Helping the CR and Finance & Admin (F&A) lead ensure that shared services respond to projects’ needs and that they are served efficiently, via monitoring of CO Platform activities, issuing client satisfaction surveys, and alerting the CR and F&A lead of any issues.
Encouraging integrated project activities and appropriate allocation of shared resources (i.e., office space, CO Platform staff time, etc.) across various projects in the country, via creation of budgets and trackers as well as facilitating collaborative meetings on such topics.
Coordinating efforts to remain in good legal standing, including renewals to our country registration and meeting statutory reporting requirements of the Zimbabwe government.
Assists the CR and Human Resources (HR) lead to ensure all staff welfare issues are addressed properly, efficiently and judiciously, including advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, safeguarding staff, implementing partners and beneficiaries, ensuring a favorable working environment, and promoting locally led development (LLD). Supports the CR and Security Focal Point with development, monitoring and implementation of the CO Safety and Security Plans. All of this involves developing and maintaining action plans, dashboards and trackers.
Contributes to the CO’s business development and diversification (BDD) activities, in collaboration with the CR, the SMT, the RO and HQ BDD units. This may include monitoring the daily digest of opportunities in country, tracking progress of capture or proposal work, serving as Technical Budget Lead (TBL) or Management and Staffing Lead (MSL) on bids, drafting terms of reference for BDD consultants, and tracking BDD activities on behalf of the CR/SMT.

Qualifications and Experience

Desired Knowledge & Skills:
Considerable experience in working in public health/international development programs funded by US government or other international donors, with progressive responsibility over time.
Ability to analyze and interpret issues, propose and implement solutions relying on knowledge of professional standards, principles and sound judgement.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Demonstrated management, supervision, networking and leadership skills working with large, complex programs.
Strong knowledge of strategic planning, administrative, and financial management systems.
Ability to work well with others and to develop and maintain compatibility among project staff.
Strong inter-personal and negotiation skills, including expertise in building effective relationship with key internal and external stakeholders.
Demonstrated success in multicultural environments is required.
Ability to manage tight deadlines and deliver high volumes of work with minimal supervision.

Minimum Required Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (business, international relations, communications, public health, social sciences or other relevant field). Master’s degree is an added advantage.
Program Management (PM) Certification preferred.
A minimum of six years’ of relevant experience with project/program management principles and practices as well as applicable rules, regulations, and policies associated with international development and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Familiarity with donor-funded, INGO/NGO-led international development programs in Zimbabwe.
Well-developed written and oral communication skills, including fluency in English.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications such as MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
Ability to travel to implementation districts at approximately 10% time.

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