Associate Program Director Recruitment

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a rapidly growing, global organization with operations in over 40 countries. We design innovative, cutting-edge approaches to solving development problems, rigorously evaluate these programs, and promote the adoption of those with proven impact.

This occurs both through the dissemination of results to policy makers, practitioners, and donors, as well as the actual design and implementation of new programs at a national level.

IPA-Kenya (IPAK) is IPA’s oldest and largest country office, and the center of a major IPA scale-up initiative –the Safe Water Program (SWP), which is pursuing a national scale-up of the Chlorine Dispenser System (CDS) in Kenya.

The program is the first of its kind not only in Kenya, but internationally, and offers the unique opportunity to transform child health and development based on rigorous evidence of the dispenser system’s cost-effectiveness and impact.

SWP currently serves 400,000 people in Kenya with access to safe water—this represents an 8X growth in program size in 2011. The program’s mission in Kenya is to reach at least 5 million with access to safe water, averting nearly 2.3 million cases of child diarrhea and over 2,200 child deaths each year at this scale.

A new role for SWP, the Associate Program Director will be responsible for ensuring a strong platform for accomplishing this through managing SWP’s operations, research and development and support teams.

The APD will be a senior member of SWP’s management team who will lead the core functions of SWP’s Kenya country program. Reporting to the Program Director, the APD will manage several officer-level staff as well as the Research and Evaluation Manager and Program Operations Manager.

They will liaise closely with the senior management of the Country Office to ensure compliance with all relevant systems and procedures and elicit support where required.

Specific Responsibilities

Core Functions Oversight and Coordination

• Coordinate activities between field operations, research/evaluation and administrative/information systems functions
• Lead coordinated planning processes for these core functions
• Provide supervision, guidance and support to several officer-level staff as well as the Evaluation and Research Manager and Program Operations Manager

• Contribute to strategic planning processes for SWP in Kenya and globally
• Take overall responsibility for executing major activities in line with program strategy

• Work with other senior managers to ensure a strong and continued focus on professional development of junior staff across the program—including maintaining staff development plans and identifying relevant training opportunities
• Ensure a strong set of practices are in place across the program around recruiting, performance management and other areas of human resource management
• Coordinate the annual evaluation process for SWP Kenya staff

• Lead the development of in-program policies and systems for administrative management, procurement, donor compliance, information systems and information technology management to facilitate the smooth functioning of SWP projects and office operations
• Provide oversight over these functions and build out the administrative support staff as needed
• Coordinate with administrative support offered by IPA’s Kenya country office and international headquarters

• Lead the budgeting process for the Kenya program, including appropriate delegation to senior managers and field office coordinators
• Prepare quarterly reports tracking budget versus actual expenditure
• Ensure appropriate financial data is collected for future program planning and cost effectiveness projections
• Lead monthly reviews of in-country expenditure

• Take overall responsibility for management of local relationships (i.e. at the district and provincial levels)
• Ensure external relations functions are appropriately documented, coordinated and delegated to headquarters staff and field offices
• Coordinate site visits by internal and external stakeholders

• Coordinate documentation of implementation lessons learned across the Kenya program
• Ensure best practices are well-documented and accessible to a variety of audiences— government partners, implementing partners in other countries, SWP staff within and outside Kenya, research programs within IPA
• Coordinate with IPA research programs generating knowledge relevant to SWP’s work—provide research question input, incorporate results into implementation best practices

• Significant management experience, including at least 2 years of senior management experience
• Experience managing within a cross-cultural team
• Experience coordinating operations and planning across organizational functions
• Sound knowledge of administrative and information management systems in a relevant context
• Significant work experience in Africa, ideally Kenya /East Africa
• Financial and budget management experience

• Strong written and oral communication skills; strong interpersonal skills
• Strong management skills, including demonstrated ability to develop skills and expertise of high-potential junior staff
• Demonstrated leadership skills especially in leading and empowering teams
• Strong critical thinking and judgment skills
• High level of comfort with information technology and databases
• High level of comfort with evaluation, research and data analysis
• Intellectual flexibility and willingness to form and adjust opinions based on evidence
• High degree of fluency with Microsoft Word and Excel
• Exposure to managing USAID grants a plus

• Driven by SWP’s mission of bringing safe water to millions of Kenyans, averting thousands of child deaths from waterborne disease
• A strong commitment to evidence-based practice and policy in the development field
• An entrepreneurial spirit – SWP is a dynamic program, with many opportunities for growth

• Cover letter explaining interest in the position and fit for the role
• CV/resume
• (Optional) A work sample—ideally, a tool or business document that showcases management skills

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted by email for an interview.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The application deadline is 22 January 2012.

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