Position Program Manager
Period of Performance On/About (From – To) July 2023
Maximum Level of Effort Long Term (LTTA)
Reports to:
At present: Deputy Chief of Party
Future: Country Director – Trinidad and Tobago
Location Port of Spain, Trinidad
Project Background
The Eastern & Southern Caribbean Youth Resilience Inclusion and Empowerment Activity will engage and empower youth and other key populations as partners and integrate interventions at the national and sub-national levels to improve youth, family, and community resilience to crime and violence. Based in Saint Lucia, Y-RIE also works in Guyana, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. The activity will address rising unemployment, high poverty rates, and waves of crime and violence. Y-RIE activities support the following objectives:
1) Government provided social services strengthened;
2) Education outcomes among focus youth improved;
3) Focus youth preparedness to enter the workforce improved;
4) Strengthen community and family systems.
Objective
Y-RIE expects to start program operations in Trinidad and Tobago in July of 2023, with a technical emphasis on two areas:
- School-based violence prevention (SBVP) which will respond to the rising trend of school-based violence by providing positive youth development and crime and violence prevention programming for secondary school students to reduce violence and victimization in schools; reduce classroom disruption, leading to productive teaching; and improve capacity within schools to mitigate and respond to instances of violence. Pending government agreements, these activities will be implemented in close coordination with the Ministry of Education.
- Tertiary prevention which will responds to Trinidad and Tobago’s crisis of high rates of incarceration and recidivism among youth by interrupting cycles of violence and recidivism through rehabilitation programming for youth in conflict with the law, providing pathways, skills, tools, and resources for youth to productively reenter society. Pending government agreements, these activities will be implemented in close coordination with the Judiciary’s Family and Children Division (FCD) through the Children’s Court.
Y-RIE is recruiting personnel with experience and qualifications that are suited to these technical areas.
The Program Manager will work under the supervision of the program’s Country Director and with technical guidance from the Technical Advisors and Program Manager, to provide technical and administrative support to Y-RIE country-level programming across the four objectives, though may have a lead role in programming for one or more objectives.
Tasks
- Advise the project senior management (COP, DCOP and Technical Advisors) on the evolution of the local political, social and economic situation and on how to continuously adapt the project to ensure effectiveness.
- Lead, and be accountable for, the design and implementation of work plan activities, ensuring context appropriate design, sound implementation, tailoring implementation to local needs, priorities, and timelines.
- Support active monitoring and evaluation of such activities in coordination with the MEL staff.
- Coordinate the effective implementation activities in program communities, families, and/or institutions.
- Coordinate and oversee delivery of technical assistance to beneficiaries and potential grantees.
- Coordinate transportation, lodging, logistics for both local staff and STTA consultants working in the region.
- Mobilize participants, and manage logistics for project events, meetings, and workshops.
- Build and maintain collaborative relationships with community and youth organizations, government and private sector, and other youth, justice, and security, stakeholders to implement project activities.
- In coordination with the Technical Advisors, Grant Officers, Monitoring and Evaluation teams, support the design, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of project and grant activities.
- Provide technical team with logistical support, liaising with admin and ops team, to ensure adequate and timely field support. This may include supporting the purchase of goods and services to enable the implementation of interventions by drafting purchase requests, developing vendor scopes of work or deliverables, and other duties, in collaboration with the procurement team
- Contribute to capturing success stories, and integrating programmatic lessons learned. Provide input related to regional activities for technical, financial and other reports.
- Ensure grants compliance with the Youth Resilience/ Y-RIE Grants Manual, USAID regulations and policies, DAI policies and procedures, systems, and internal controls.
- Monitor partners’ compliance with grant, implementation agreements and/or relevant contract terms and conditions in accordance with the DAI contract and applicable local laws.
- Submit progress and status reports as required on programmatic activities and implementation.
- Provide guidance to project partners in the implementation of the grants’ activities, including closure and disposition plans.
- Take the lead on co-designing and authoring co-designed grant proposals, implementation plans, and milestone / deliverable requirements.
- Troubleshoot program management challenges with partners, grantees, technical staff, and senior management or technical advisors as needed.
- Liaise with local communities and potential grantees in order to identify and design grants and other programming opportunities.
- Other tasks as assigned
Desired Qualifications
- Master’s degree (or equivalent) preferred, though relevant work experience may be considered in lieu of an advanced degree.
- At least 5 years of experience in community development, youth development, institutional strengthening, project management, and /or crime and violence prevention.
- Experience and demonstrated capacity to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders, including government representatives, community organizers and/ or at-risk youth.
- Experience with small grants design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- Strong leadership, interpersonal, technical and analytical skills, including an ability to interact effectively with government counterparts, local and community organizations.
- An energetic, forward-thinking and creative individual with high ethical standards and appropriate professional image
- An extremely well organized and self-directed individual with sound technical skills, analytical ability, good judgment, and strong operational focus
- Relevant experience in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean region preferred
How to apply
Please submit CVs to: https://fs23.formsite.com/OLJTgx/cb3ofv5zvy/index