Helen Keller
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Program Director, Integrated Nutrition Portfolio
(Strong preference for co-location in a Helen Keller
country office in Africa; other locations will be considered.)
Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in more than 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we are ensuring every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.
We are seeking a Program Director to lead a growing multi-country, cross regional portfolio of Nutrition programs focused on the five most life-saving actions: supplementing women with essential vitamins and minerals during pregnancy, supporting optimal breastfeeding, improving diets for infants and young children, screening children for acute malnutrition and getting treatment to them as early as possible and, delivering vitamin A. Ensuring that mothers and children in the 1,000 days window of opportunity receive this continuum of nutrition services has the potential to dramatically reduce child deaths and set children up for improved development. Our program also drives complementary food systems actions that improve women’s diets, protect and promote diets of infants and young children and secure access to essential nutrients.
The Program Director and their Program Management Team will support country offices in Africa and Asia to develop and implement new targeted initiatives and integrate those initiatives with existing programs, such as our flagship Vitamin A portfolio to capitalize on synergies to maximize our impact. While the programs are implemented by project teams in our country offices, a central team provides leadership, management, and a variety of programmatic and operational technical support to drive and support quality implementation.
This portfolio is being supported in large part by a substantial award from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which is expected to be supplemented by awards from other institutional and philanthropic donors.
Functional Relationships
The Program Director reports directly to a Regional Director and leads a Program Management Team (PMT) comprised of senior professionals across multiple disciplines, who in turn provide guidance to country office teams. Together, they liaise with members of Country Management Teams, including Country Directors, Finance Directors and Project Managers to facilitate the integration between finance and program work with the common goal of ensuring that project objectives are met.
The Director will liaise with donors, technical support staff, partner organizations, outside contractors, and implementers of other initiatives as required. They will represent the portfolio to key stakeholders, government officials, and donors at coordination fora and other related seminars and meetings.
Helen Keller has a matrixed reporting structure that respects both local line management and the accountability and oversight duties of remote subject matter experts, such as members of the
Integrated Nutrition Portfolio’s Program Management Team. Regular communication and a spirit of teamwork are essential to make this structure thrive.
Scope of the Position
The Program Director will provide strategic, managerial and technical oversight to the Integrated Nutrition Portfolio. In partnership with country office leaders, they will oversee all aspects of the implementation cycle, including planning and evaluation, and ensure program quality and effective personnel and financial management.
The Director will be expected to travel up to 30% to work directly with country program teams, and/or to represent the program to internal and external stakeholders.
Specific Responsibilities
Act as principal technical leader for the Integrated Nutrition Portfolio through own knowledge and network of technical experts in fields related to the various aspects of the portfolio.
Provide strategic vision and direction for overall program design, implementation, and proposal development related to the portfolio. Work closely with country teams to accomplish strategic goals.
Together with the Program Management Team, provide programmatic and operational leadership, coordination, and consistency across the portfolio throughout implementation sites in Africa and Asia.
Work in close collaboration with country leaders to develop, implement, monitor, and evaluate work plans, budgets, and quality implementation.
- Ensure accurate and timely reporting of project results and develop and implement appropriate monitoring and evaluation tools. Consolidate reports.
- Ensure compliance with donor requirements and Helen Keller standards, policies and procedures, and processes across the portfolio.
- Ensure timely and accurate review and reporting of results and expenditures and required interim and final reports.
- Provide and/or arrange for timely and regular technical support to country teams on project design, reporting and monitoring, ensuring feasibility and quality assurance through appropriate selection of national partners, adequate project management, and supervision.
Represent (and/or assign representation of) Helen Keller in formal and informal meetings with government officials, international donor agencies, and national technical advisory groups pertinent portfolio activities.
Facilitate linkages between relevant stakeholders that promote and build awareness of evidence-based approaches to nutrition programming with a particular focus on the first 1,000 days.
Identify opportunities and generate funding from international and bilateral agencies, and donor agencies.
Partner with country leadership to develop and nurture in-country donor relationships and identify potential partners to participate in joint proposals.
Lead and prepare concept papers and proposals and provide other information as needed for submission to donors and others for fundraising and marketing purposes.
Ensure sharing of lessons learned between projects and work with colleagues to document cross-cutting organizational learnings from project implementation.
Contribute to development of quality, evidence based technical tools and guides at the global level and promote the use of these materials in Helen Keller programs.
Guide team to assist program implementation teams to document and publish/present key programmatic results and lessons learned.
Model collaboration for your matrixed team: effectively consult and inform colleagues to maximize efficiency and knowledge sharing and integrate guidance and direction from subject matter experts in your office and elsewhere in the global organization to maximize performance.
Build a highly effective Program Management Team, recruiting, supervising, mentoring, and evaluating staff, and engaging in frequent performance conversations with team members.
Delegate authority, consult with, and guide staff to achieve goals and contribute to an atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development.
Ensure accountability to clients, partners, colleagues, and donors by providing ongoing feedback in a context of mutual respect.
Required Qualifications/Competencies
- At least a Master’s Degree in public health (PhD preferred) plus 10 plus years directly relevant work experience or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
- Strong scientific and research skills, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications and/or presentations at international conferences.
- Experience working overseas and in nutrition program implementation in either Africa or Asia is required.
- Demonstrated understanding of the synergy between the programmatic, operational, and financial components of public health initiatives.
- Demonstrated ability to lead capacity and knowledge sharing with internal and external colleagues.
- Experienced and capable manager with at least 5 years managing staff and fostering collaborative cooperation among diverse international teams.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, including an ability to effectively lead a team, communicate a vision, make timely and transparent decisions, and manage conflict.
- Strong oral and written English language skills required. French language skills a strong plus.
- Highly computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft software products or equivalent required; use of data analysis software is preferred.
- Collaborative, flexible and solution-oriented.
- Ability and willingness to work under pressure with a positive attitude, as a part of a global team.
- Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class or gender, with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards.
- Commitment to Helen Keller Intl’s work and mission
- Ability and willingness to:
- flex work hours to accommodate multiple time zones; and
- undertake international travel (approximately 12-16 weeks of travel per year).
PLEASE NOTE: all staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel internationally.
How to apply
To Apply
Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to HKI.Recruitment@hki.org noting the job title in the subject line. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
In the spirit of our founder and namesake, Helen Keller is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity in all its forms is fully valued.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer where all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need to request an accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact us at the email above or call: +1 646-356-1789