Dominican Republic: Program Director, Dominican Republic

Program Director, Dominican Republic

About YOU: A driven and passionate professional hoping to work with an inspiring, dynamic team of leading human rights workers. Collaborative and hard-working, the candidate will have exceptional leadership skills, and the ability to support responsible growth of an office, and take HAI’s successful programming to the next level. This person has extensive management experience in diverse and challenging environments.

Organizational Background:Heartland Alliance International (HAI) is the youngest and fastest growing part of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, a family of organizations that has been leading anti-poverty and social justice work in Chicago for more than 125 years. HAI is comprised of nearly a dozen country offices implementing programs on a broad range of human rights issues globally, as well as the Chicago-based Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, which serves individuals from more than 50 countries. HAI has significant expertise in the fields of trauma-informed mental health care and access to justice for survivors of rights abuses. It is also an industry leader in access to high-quality and stigma-free health care. Across all of its programs, HAI promotes progressive, innovative approaches to human rights protections and gender equality.

Position Summary: This position is based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The applicant will be responsible for assuring compliance with and successful implementation of existing grants and contracts; leading the program development team in designing programs and drafting proposals; coordinating and ensuring the quality of donor reports; and serving as HAI’s country representative when the Country Director is on leave. Individual accountabilities and work volume will be established through the development of annual Success Objectives, within the framework outlined below. The position requires national and international travel (30%+).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

General Management, Financial Management & Administration

• Works with the Country Director and Director of Finance and Administration to develop spending plans for each program and help ensure program compliance with all donors’ contracting regulations, as well as generally accepted accounting principles

• Serves as Acting Country Director whenever the Country Director is out of the country, including communication and coordination with HAI HQ in Chicago

• In coordination with the Country Director, provides supervision and technical assistance to program and administration staff

• Other duties as may be assigned by the Country Director

Program Coordination, Grant Management and Development

• Leads the implementation of the projects.

• Directly supports project managers and other program staff to ensure effective program implementation, accurate data collection for reporting, and quality program implementation

• Supervises existing programs, assuring deliverables are being met in compliance with grant and contract requirements

• Provides technical support to Program Managers in monitoring and evaluation efforts across all of HAI’s DR programs

• In coordination with Country Director and others designated by the Country Director, participates in program development activities, including:

  • Drafting of proposals, particularly in the areas of violence prevention, access to justice, mental health services, HIV prevention, and other technical areas to be determined in consultation with Country Director;

  • Working with the Director of Finance and Administration to prepare budgets for proposals and other documentation;

  • Maintaining up to date donor mapping for funding opportunities and, together with the Country Director, meeting with donors and potential donors;

  • Meeting with LNGO and government partners and conducting needs assessments

• Lead reviews of monthly, quarterly, and annual reports to ensure compliance with all relevant standards; this includes ensuring conformity with relevant donor requirements, HAI internal regulations, and industry best practices

• Participates in annual planning of strategic goals.

• In coordination with Country Director, maintains appropriate relationships with government entities, non-governmental organizations, and civic associations.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Education and/or Experience: Degree in International Relations or related field (such as Political Science, Economics, Social Work or Law (JD)), and 4-6 years of relevant experience (or equivalent combination of education and experience), such as:

• Project management and project design experience;

• Experience working with NGOs, the UN, USAID, and other U.S.-government agencies;

• Experience working in developing countries and disaster/conflict environments including diverse cultural and linguistic settings;

• Ability to live and work in a conflict/post-conflict environment with limited physical amenities;

• Extensive knowledge and understanding of the unique, complex operating environment in Dominican Republic;

• Experience implementing international human rights programming;

• Experience working with and developing the capacity of local CBOs/NGOs; and

• Foundation in M&E concepts.

Business, mathematical, analytical skills:

• Excellent Excel skills required;

• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions;

• Ability to synthesize complex or diverse information, collect and research data, use intuition and experience to complement data and design work flows and procedures;

• Understands organizational and strategic implications of decisions;

• Ability to develop and implement cost saving measures;

• Ability to responsibly manage organizational resources; and

• Ability to align daily work with strategic goals.

Communication and Leadership Skills:

• Exhibits confidence in self and others;

• Has an ability to foster effective communication and teamwork with staff from a range of economic, cultural, ethnic and social groups;

• Inspires and motivates others to perform well;

• Effectively influences actions and opinions of others;

• Accepts feedback from others;

• Demonstrates the ability to lead strategic planning, program development and evaluation;

• Gives appropriate recognition to others.

• Excellent oral communication skills

• Effectively communicates utilizing a variety of technologies such as phone or video phone (i.e. Skype);

• Passionate about and personally engaged with human rights and social justice

• Leads by example and possesses a high degree of integrity

• Personally credible, with a professional demeanor that generates the trust and confidence of staff, partners and donors.

• Excellent written skills: writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet target audience needs, including cross-cultural needs; presents numerical data effectively; able to read and interpret written information;

• Ability to remain composed and professional in difficult circumstances; and

• Policy, advocacy and community organizing experience a plus.

Language: English and Spanish fluency in reading, writing and speaking required.

Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions, and operates all programs, services, and functions without regard to race, receipt of an order of protection, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, amnesty, physical or mental disability, protected veterans status, genetic information, sexual orientation, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, use of FMLA, VESSA, military, and family military rights, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, height, weight, or HIV infection, in accord with the organization's AIDS Policy Statement of September 1987.

Apply here: https://chk.tbe.taleo.net/chk01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=HEARTLANDALLIANCE&cws=38&rid=4980