Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to
the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the
world’s poorest countries Founded in 1968, Concern works in 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean with its headquarters in Ireland.
Concern started working in Malawi in 2002. Our Country Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 focuses on climate and environment, social protection, gender and social inclusion, sustainable food systems for food security and partnerships. For sustainable and lasting change, our advocacy and influence, people centred and evidence based approaches focus on system strengthening and resilience building as we seek to address the root causes of poverty.
Concern invites applications from interested candidates qualified for the following posts;
Programme Director
Contract Duration: 24 Months
Duty Station: Lilongwe Head Office
Purpose of the role: As a key member of the Country Management Team, the Programmes Director
is to play a leading role in the achievement of a strong multi-annual funding base for Concern in
Malawi, which supports the delivery of quality programmes in line with our Strategic Plan, assisting
theCountry Director in the direction, development, management and implementation of Concern
WorldwideMalawi’s high quality country programme.
Responsibilities and Tasks
- Provide leadership in the effective planning, development, management and integration of
Concern’s programmes. - Design new programmes, proposals, budgets, work plans and procurement plans in line with
Concern’s global Strategic and Country Strategies, programme development guidelines and
Government /donor priorities. - Foster team spirit and collaboration necessary to achieve programme and organisation goals in
Malawi and globally. - Identify and actively pursue opportunities to build partnerships with local NGOs on the basis of a shared vision and values and complementary expertise.
- Supervise all projects to ensure that strategies designed and written in the project document
are undertaken to a high standard. - Support capacity building of the team and partners on Concern’s organizational strategies
and approaches, including ‘How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty’ (HCUEP). - Ensure mainstreaming of equality, HIV/AIDS and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into programme work.
- Oversee the appraisal of potential partners’, development and finalisation of partnership
agreements and capacity strengthening plans and their management and implementation - Actively contribute to maintaining a strong and committed team of programme staff through
mentoring and skills development. - Capacity build and support in the management of technical advisors and consultants for quality
focused programming through all stages of the PCMS. - Rigorously manage all programme related finances e.g. budget expenditure tracking and analysis with key budget holders.
- Ensure strict compliance with donor contract requirements / reporting deadlines etc.
- Support the on-going development of participatory monitoring systems, particularly accountability downwards with communities and full compliance with the roll out of the CHS standards.
- Ensure that all programme staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability,
safeguarding and Concern’s Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that
information about Concern’s commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities. - Actively use existing Country and Programme Results Frameworks, Theory of Change, Logframes and PME plans to monitor appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness and effects of all interventions and systematically revise planned activities and strategies accordingly
- Research, analyse and disseminate relevant / new approaches, concepts and frameworks applied
to poverty alleviation, as well as information on national government initiatives - Represent Concern and maintain coordination and networking relationships with the government, donors and other national and international development actors.
- Oversee advocacy efforts at the national level to contribute towards achievement of country
strategic objectives; contribute to the development and review of programme and country
advocacy strategies and objectives.
Minimum Qualifications
- Minimum Degree in Development Studies or a relevant technical area (programme focus under
the new Strategic Plan includes; economic development, sustainable livelihoods, food security,
women’s empowerment, disaster risk reduction, Climate Change). - A minimum of 5 years’ experience working in a developing country context at least 3 years of which should be in senior programme management, including experience in planning, developing and evaluating complex programmes in technical areas similar to those in the Malawi programme.
- Experience of developing and managing large scale and multi sectoral programmes in a
development context. - Practical experience in participatory development approaches, facilitation, capacity building and building effective teams to work in poor rural and urban communities.
- Experience of programme development, the project management cycle and participatory
planning methodologies, including distance management. - Excellent understanding and experience in developing and utilizing rigorous planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes.
- Experience of strategic planning.
- Proven leadership ability, including ability to motivate and develop skills of others; Training,
capacity.
Method Of Application
Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, should send their CV (3 pages maximum
including contacts of 3 referees) and Cover Letter to [email protected] with the subject of the
email as “Programme Director ‘’. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, 27th March, 2024. Only
short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview.
Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be shortlisted on a regular basis and we may offer
post before the closing date.
Concern is an equal opportunities employer. Qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply.