Programme Manager Register

Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.

Global Humanitarian Team Purpose

The GHT has designated responsibilities to support, coordinate and lead humanitarian policies and actions to reduce the impact of, prepare for and respond to crises, harnessing the resources of the whole Oxfam confederation to deliver support for Oxfam’s strategic plan.

The GHT works across Oxfam, in particular with Oxfam country teams, and others to maximise the quality and impact of Oxfam’s humanitarian programme by

· Delivering rapid, safe and high-quality emergency scale up capacity.

· Supporting programme strategy, operational design, humanitarian preparedness and response.

· Capacity building across Oxfam and partner organisations.

· Supporting the gathering of evidence to enable learning, innovation and advocating for change across the sector.

· Working with Campaigns and Policy to influence for greater respect of the basic rights of crisis-affected men and women.

· Working closely with affiliates in their roles as EAs, PAs, response work in media and policy for the best interests of the humanitarian programme as part of the one-Oxfam programme.

The Role

Oxfam GB is looking for candidates to be put on our Programme Manager Register. We are not recruiting for any specific opening at the moment, however, when there is any opening, the Register deployments vary in scope and length.

Programme Managers are typically responsible for a field office (such as Area Manager) or response lead for a medium-scale Oxfam emergency response. Programme Managers from the Register may undertake a series of deployments of varying duration for which specific Terms of Reference will be agreed with relevant parties, prior to, and/or revised in the early stages of the deployment.

Typically, Programme Managers are responsible for a budget of up to five million Euros, a programme that assists up to 200,000 people and manage team of up to 50 staff. Programmes could be in response to sudden onset emergencies or conflict crises, delivering assistance in the core areas of expertise of WASH, Food and Economic Security, Protection and Gender.

Specifically, Programme Managers from the Register, once deployed, may be involved in some of the following assignments, depending on the specific Terms of Reference for each deployment:

Programme Management

· Set up a new response in the first phase of an emergency, or scale up / manage an on-going humanitarian programme, typically at field office or country level.

· Lead or participate in assessments of emergency situations with an analysis of needs and gaps and proposals for Oxfam’s response.

· Develop or contribute to a clear response strategy, budget and action plan.

· Ensure that the programme is relevant and meets the populations’ needs, that communities participate in all stages of programme design and implementation and that a feedback and accountability mechanism is in place for beneficiaries. Adjust the programme design accordingly if needed.

· Develop programme objectives, proposal writing, budgets. Ensure quality and timely narrative and financial reporting to Oxfam and donors.

· Ensure sound budget management and monitoring of expenditure and field office / grant level

· Develop or ensure implementation of MEAL systems

· Support the use of key analytical tools and frameworks related to safe programming.

· External representation and effective coordination with government officials, the UN, donors & NGOs.

· Feed into Oxfam’s advocacy initiatives in-country and externally through coordination mechanisms

· Keep informed of relevant programme issues and contribute to wider programme learning – for example by initiating programme learning events and evaluations.

Team leadership and staff management

· Establish programmatic teams and logistics, HR, admin, finances and other business support services to enable rapid, large-scale delivery.

· Manage staff according to Oxfam procedures and policies, including performance management, ensuring that staff are supported and given opportunities and training for development.

· Ensure staff safety and security procedures are drawn up, implemented, revised and updated. Act as security focal point where required

· Foster an appropriate working culture in response teams built on Oxfam’s values.

· Support, coach and train Oxfam teams and partner organisations, with the aim of handing the programme over either to national staff or partners.

Partnerships

· Where appropriate work with local partners to design and implement programmes. Design partner-level agreements to enable responses in collaboration with local or national NGOs.

· Engage in a constructive dialogue with partners and assess capacities (local NGO, Civil Society or governmental). Design relevant and realistic partnership capacity development plans, with the objective of strengthening the partner’s humanitarian response capacity

· Promote local leadership, also including with non-traditional partners and CSO alliances.

General

· Promote collaborative working relationships with key stakeholders in regions (Regional Humanitarian Coordinators, Country Directors, country programme staff and partners) and Global Humanitarian Team colleagues in the Delivery, Strategic Focus Areas, and Quality and Capacity teams to support the delivery of effective, high quality humanitarian programmes in line with Oxfam’s vision for humanitarian preparedness and response

· Promote integrated, gender aware humanitarian responses which demonstrate accountability to beneficiaries and are consistent with Oxfam policies and international quality standards

· Ensure that programme design and implementation is consistent with Oxfam’s quality and accountability standards, emergency guidelines and protocols, the Core Humanitarian Standard and that work meets Sphere Standards and other external quality commitments.

Other

· Support field and country level contingency and preparedness planning for future emergencies

What we are looking for

Our Programme Managers will have:

· Ability to deploy at short notice to areas affected by crisis and support the rapid scale up of humanitarian programmes to meet lifesaving needs of affected people.

· Management skills: deployments usually involve managing a team to deliver the work, Programme Managers will need to demonstrate management competencies, of international and multi-cultural teams, in difficult and stressful environments.

· Behavioural skills: all deployments require the individual to successfully work with and mentor others often under challenging circumstances. Programme Managers should demonstrate competencies around “listening and creating dialogue” and “working with others” as well as networking skills.

When undertaking Oxfam’s roles, one is expected to role model Oxfam’s feminist leadership approach and we have selected the most relevant feminist leadership practices which we will use for assessment purposes (which you can read more about here):

· Self-Awareness

· Agility, Complexity and Ambiguity

· Relationship building

· Mutual accountability

Essential

· Significant experience of managing emergency programmes in complex environments, in particular as field Area Manager or response lead

· In-depth understanding of relevant humanitarian principles and policies

· Proven financial management skill and experienced in managing budgets in humanitarian programmes.

· Experience of leadership and people management of multi-cultural teams

· Confident representation and coordination skills.

· Excellent teamwork skills, and a track record of building trust within and empowering large teams, also over distance

· Proven influencing, negotiating, and networking skills with internal and external audiences.

· High level of self-awareness, and good stress and self-management.

· Ability to take initiative and make decisions in fast moving environments.

· Sensitivity to cultural differences, and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts.

· Ability and willingness to work calmly under pressure and in challenging and insecure environments.

· Can be deployed at short notice to areas affected by humanitarian crises

· Excellent communication skills

· Good written and spoken English

Desirable

· Knowledge and experience of working in resilience, disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness programmes.

· Experience working with partnerships and community-based groups.

· Working knowledge of one or more additional languages (especially French, Spanish, Arabic).

We offer

A Programme Manager role may give one an opportunity to make a difference in programme management in humanitarian responses; to act as a key contributor to a working culture built on Oxfam’s values where we are respectful and cognizant of power imbalances internally and between Oxfam, our partners and the communities we serve and to work with a group of passionate people that are specialists in their respective fields. Oxfam offers fair pay and a competitive benefits package.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults and beneficiaries with whom Oxfam GB engages. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

The post holder will undertake the appropriate level of training and is responsible for ensuring that they understand and work within the safeguarding policies of the organisation.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. Oxfam also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By applying to be on the register, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

About us

Oxfam is a global community who believe poverty isn’t inevitable. It’s an injustice that can be overcome. We are shop volunteers, women’s right activists, marathon runners, aid workers, coffee farmers, street fundraisers, goat herders, policy experts, campaigners, water engineers and more. And we won’t stop until everyone can live life without poverty for good.

Oxfam is a member of international confederation of 21 organisations working together with partners and local communities in the areas of humanitarian, development and campaigning, in more than 90 countries.

A thriving diverse Oxfam:

It’s people power that brings about change. To play our part as a global organisation working to overcome poverty and inequality, we need equality, diversity and inclusion across our community of staff, partners and volunteers. Together, we’re committed to becoming a more diverse workforce, better able to tackle the global challenges that face our world today.

To do that:

• We need to dismantle the unequal power structures that exist everywhere, this including Oxfam and the wider development and charity sectors.
• We need an inclusive Oxfam where everyone can bring who they are to our work and feels celebrated for the differences they bring.
• We want and need everyone, and that means we need you.

In response to Covid-19 if you are offered a role where you are required to travel between countries please ensure you have been briefed by the Hiring Manager about any changes to working or precautions you should take as part of your role.