Project Officer

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is a US non-governmental organization that has been operating in Vietnam for 20 years. CRS projects assist local counterparts to build capacity in the areas of Education, HIV/AIDS care and treatment, Disaster Risk Reduction and emergency preparedness and response. Reflecting our commitment to carry out quality programming to benefit the poor, we are now seeking a dynamic Vietnamese candidate for following position for our Program based in Hanoi:

Title:             Project Officer   
Reports to:    Program Manager - Disability Network Capacity Strengthening 
Supervision:  N/A

PRIMARY FUNCTION

Ensure high program quality, efficient and effective implementation, monitoring and partner relationships for “Sustainability towards Capacity building for parent Association supporting children with disabilities” and “Social inclusion of people with disabilities through civil society action” (CBPA) projects in Hanoi. This project is funded by Irish Aid, Caritas Australia and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Quang Nam, Ninh Binh, Binh Dinh and Quang Tri provinces. It is a 3 year project (2012-2015) that aims for strengthening Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (DPOs) and parents associations and involves five key partners of Vietnam Federation of Persons with Disabilities (VFD), Hanoi DPO, Department of Labor Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) of Quang Tri, Quang Nam DPO, Ninh Binh DPO and Phu Cat district in Binh Dinh province.

The Project Officer will work closely with the project team in project planning and implementation,f partnership support, financial tracking, effective and efficient monitoring, evaluation, documentation and reporting systems. This position is based in Ha Noi with at least 40% travel to project sites.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:      

• Program Manager - Disability Network Capacity Strengthening
• Project team
• Finance and other team in CRS
• Country Manager (CM)
• CRS regional and HQ staff

External:    

• Provincial and district partners in Hanoi
• Disability related network and organizations;
• Disability Working Group members 
• Project consultants
• Project donors as assigned by PM, and CM

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

- Project Planning: Lead and facilitate partners to develop overall, annual and quarterly project activity plan for Hanoi DPO under the guidance of the Program Manager, including programming activities and budget. Planning sessions will be done with participation of local partners either at project sites or in office.

- Project Implementation: Provide direct supports to the relevant partners of DPO Hanoi in the implementation and monitoring of project activities in line with the approved plans and CRS procedures and regulations, with a focus on strengthening capacity of DPOs at different levels and parents association to build on their own initiatives. Facilitate linkage between DPO and parents association to support PWDs in community. Support local partners with selecting consultants for the project activity implementation which include procedures for contract with consultants and quality of consultancy services.

- Project Quality Management and Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning:

• Take responsibilities to work with Hanoi DPO and ensures high program quality by proactively taking role in supporting and establishing a strong community based approaches in the implementation process to ensure participation of most vulnerable households.
• Provide technical inputs to local partners for quality activity implementation, especially relating to inputs for DPOs and parents associations in developing their small grants or strategic plan.

• Monitoring and Learning:
  
  • With the support from the PM and M&E coordinator, lead in development of the M&E folders, including M&E schedule, data collection tools and guidelines, for the project.
  • Facilitate high degree of partner and community involvement in M&E processes.
  • Make regular field visits to project sites, meeting with project counterparts and participants to monitor quality or implementation of activities. Ensure timely data collection, analysis and reporting.   
  • Take proactive role in facilitating M&E reflection sessions as part of on-going project management and coordination meetings or as stand-alone events as needed.

- Reporting:

• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data in support of program management and reporting.
• Ensure regular recording of field trips and activity implementation relating to project implementation in Hanoi. Coordinate local partner to provide inputs for the periodical reports to submit to the Program Manager (Disability Network Capacity Strengthening and UXO Education) as required by donors and government agency.
• Provide regular recording, internal trip, activity reports and information for preparation of reports to donors, and others required by supervisor.

- Documentation:

• Participate in compiling lessons learned, designing and implementing events for exchange of program experience. Ensure effective recording and dissemination of results of model of DPO capacity building. Contribute to designing system to compile and disseminate best practices within and outside CRS.
• Designing and implementing events for exchange of program experience. Ensure effective recording and dissemination of results of all experience sharing activities. Contribute to designing system to compile and disseminate best practices within and outside CRS.

- Financial Oversight:

• Provide direct inputs and support to project team in developing and monitoring annual program budgets.  Maintain regular financial planning, review and adjustment.  Ensures that projects are in line with donor regulations, identifies areas that need immediate attention of the supervisor and ensures CRS standards and policies. Explains and communicates partners about CRS policies, standards and approaches under the close guidance of Supervisor.
• Take leading role for financial management of project expenses by partners and by CRS for activities implemented in Hanoi. Maintain regular financial management (including quarterly and activity advance and liquidation). This includes, but not limited to mechanism of correspondence and updating to partners relating to financial procedures and balances, advances, liquidation, payment requests and consultant payments.

- Partner Relations: Maintain positive and productive working relations with the district and provincial partners, relevant DPOs, CSOs and other government bodies. Communicate respectfully to the partners and guide/accompany them in every stages of project implementation.

- Networking and Advocacy: Maintain good relations with similar organizations in Disability working group and other minded organizations/programs in Hanoi to share and learn from their activities to maximize the effectiveness in supporting PWDs.  Attend external meetings and networking activities related to disability related events as required by supervisors.

- Coordination at the Province level: Proactive in developing coordination mechanism with the  INGOs and NGOs working in IE for CWD and Disability Inclusion at the province level, share the best practices, CRS learning materials and build their relationship with the  project partners. 

Other: Troubleshooting and other tasks as necessary, education program activities / projects as requested by supervisor.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

1.Bachelor degree in Public health, social science or relevant discipline.
2.3 to 5 years working experience for NGOs or international organization and sound knowledge in the disability support sector.
3.Demonstrated ability and skills in project management (planning, financial management, monitoring and reporting).
4.Experiences in M&E skills such as designing tools, data collection, analysis and reporting.
5.Experience in technical assistance for community based capacity building activities.
6.Able to deal respectfully with all levels of society, e.g. government officials, community leaders, poor households, widows and vulnerable groups and within CRS
7.Excellent inter-personal skills
8.Demonstrates  self-learning approach and  skills
9.Ability to motivate individual, team and department performance, and take necessary actions to improve
10.Proactive and self-motivated approach to work, with an enthusiasm for learning and openness to adapting
11.Fluency in spoken and written English and Vietnamese language
12.Working skills in Excel, SPSS or other such programs.
13.Willingness to travel.

This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

REQUIRED APPLICATION DOCUMENTS:

• Curriculum Vitae in English, with names and addresses of three references (preferably former supervisors)
• Application letter in English
• Copies of degrees, certificates

Please send completed applications to:

Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hang
Administrative Officer
CRS, No 1 Alley 7, Nguyen Hong Street, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi.
Or email: [email protected]
Deadline for applications: 23 January 2015

CRS is an equal-opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or HIV/AIDs.