Programme Development and Quality Manager

Job Advertisement

Position Title: Programme Development and Quality Manager
Location: Damascus
Country: Syria
Deadline Date: 24-Feb-2025

Job Details

Job Posting Organization:
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is an international humanitarian organization founded in Denmark in 195

• With a mission to assist refugees and internally displaced persons globally, DRC provides emergency aid, advocates for their rights, and works towards sustainable solutions for a brighter future. The organization has grown to employ over 7,000 staff and 8,000 volunteers, operating in multiple countries and focusing on conflict-affected areas, displacement routes, and host communities. DRC's vision is to ensure a dignified life for all displaced individuals, guided by core values of humanity, respect, independence, neutrality, participation, honesty, and transparency. In Syria, DRC has been active since 2008, providing support primarily to refugees and expanding its humanitarian efforts to assist internally displaced persons (IDPs) and vulnerable populations across the country.

Job Overview:
The Programme Development and Quality (PDQ) Manager plays a crucial role in coordinating and managing key program processes, particularly in program and proposal development. This position ensures timely reporting to donors and provides leadership to the PDQ team. The PDQ Manager is tasked with enhancing program quality by ensuring coherence, adherence to standards, and learning from experiences across the country program. The overall objective is to manage the Grants, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), and Information Management (IM) functions to support DRC Syria in delivering quality programming and maintaining accountability to beneficiaries, donors, and stakeholders. The PDQ Manager will develop a MEAL framework, including Community Feedback Mechanisms, to standardize systems and procedures across various intervention areas, working closely with the Head of Programme and sectorial Technical Coordinators to improve program quality and capitalize on best practices.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Programme Development and Quality Management: Coordinate the proposal development process, ensuring proposals reflect need assessments and include SMART indicators. Develop and implement the Quality Management strategy, participate in project meetings, and ensure that all MEAL and IM initiatives are budgeted during proposal design.
• Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning: Develop monitoring systems and tools to enhance program output tracking and quality evidence generation. Oversee technical surveys, operational research, and evaluations, ensuring rigorous methodologies and quality evidence. Train and support staff in integrating MEAL into their roles.
• Information Management: Oversee the development of a centralized data management system, ensuring compliance with data protection policies and supporting analysis for proposals and reporting.
• Management: Lead the PDQ team, prepare work plans, provide performance feedback, and manage external reputation.
• Accountability: Ensure compliance with humanitarian standards and integrate accountability policies into operations.
• Grant Management and Reporting: Maintain an overview of grants, support donor audits, manage communications with donors, and coordinate high-quality report development. Engage with donors and coordination bodies for effective external representation.

Required Qualifications:
Candidates must possess a minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL), as well as information management in humanitarian and development contexts. Prior experience in designing and overseeing MEAL systems at the country or consortium level is essential. Proficiency in statistical methods and qualitative analysis is required, with experience in programming languages such as Python and R being preferable. Candidates should also have experience in grants management, program quality, business development, and fundraising in humanitarian settings, along with strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Educational Background:
A degree in a relevant field such as Social Sciences, International Development, or equivalent work experience is required for this position.

Experience:
The position requires a minimum of 7 years of technical experience in MEAL and information management, with a strong background in developing MEAL frameworks, logical frameworks, and learning frameworks. Candidates should demonstrate the ability to manage large workloads, meet deadlines, and adapt to complex environments, as well as possess strong project management and data analysis skills.

Languages:
Fluency in English is mandatory for this position. Additional language skills may be considered an asset but are not specified as requirements.

Additional Notes:
The contract length for this position is 12 months, with a seniority level classified as Level F. The expected start date is 10-March-202

• Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and an updated CV, both in the same language as the vacancy note. Applications will close on 24-Feb-2025.