Job Title: Project Director – Pathways to Resilience, Guatemala & Honduras

Reports to: Head of Programming, Guatemala

Job Location: Guatemala or Honduras

Salary Grade: 10

Job Summary: 

Lead the development and implementation of the Pathways to Resilience project, ensuring compliance, the achievement of project targets, and high standards of management and program quality. Pathways To Resilience is a bi-national project in Guatemala and Honduras with a focus on helping families move from a situation of food insecurity towards resilience and market insertion.

The Project Director will facilitate fluid communication with program and operations teams in the two countries and the regional land restoration platform. You will represent the project to the donor ensuring clarity in communications and timely reporting. You will ensure that the project is designed and implemented to meet the donor’s expectations in terms of results and budget execution, including exit strategies and sustainability. Your management skills and knowledge will ensure that CRS delivers high-quality programming and continually works toward improving the impact of its programming in agriculture and resilience.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight of the Pathways to Resilience Project throughout the project cycle to ensure project design, start-up, implementation and close-out are in line with CRS quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices.
• Effectively supervise and manage talent for the project. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Serve as the project’s point of contact with the donor, collaborating with the CRS Charitable Giving office to formulate official communications and ensuring the delivery of high-quality reports.
• Ensure constant coordination and communication with the country programs and the regional land restoration platform, facilitating spaces for regular meetings, dialogue and reflection and ensuring fluid execution with related projects in the field.
• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in project programming that effectively involve partners, donors and governments.
• Help ensure a cross-sector approach that integrates gender, safe and dignified programming and communications for scale and influence, working closely with the Technical Director and the land restoration platform in the development of such approaches.
• Support a learning environment together with the Technical Director, identifying opportunities for learning, research, and publications in ​​agriculture and resilience. Facilitate the dissemination of promising practices and lessons learned to contribute to the learning agenda of the project, agency, region, and country programs.
• Ensure effective implementation of the agency’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) policy. Work closely with the Technical Director to analyze and communicate information produced by the MEAL system to various actors, including communities, government, the private sector and members of civil society, encouraging its use for decision-making and adaptive management.
• Ensure CRS teams and partner organizations establish and operationalize feedback, response, and complaint mechanisms (FCRM) for participating families. Work with MEAL teams in both countries to apply good practices in the implementation of such mechanisms to ensure timely response and effective application of feedback for adaptive management.
• Contribute to the proactive pursuit of opportunities for new funding to ensure growth in the agriculture and resilience sectors for the CPs and the region in line with agency, regional, and CP agriculture and resilience strategic priorities. Support technical leadership and technical writing to ensure quality proposals per agency and donor standards. Contribute to budgeting and staffing plans and activities for proposals.
• Lead and represent the project team to identify and mobilize new resources for landscape restoration initiatives as co-investment to existing project resources through new public and private sector alliances.
• Supervise technical assistance and capacity building activities in agriculture, microfinance, and market systems development for staff and partner organizations to improve project quality and impact. Effectively apply agency partnership concepts, tools, and approaches.
• Ensure that project expenditures are timely and appropriate in line with financial plans and the efficient use and good management of project material sources. Together with the Project Coordinators, supervise budgets implemented by partners in the project territories.

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development, international relations or in the field of agriculture required. Additional experience may substitute some education.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in relevant field-based project management required, with preferably at least 2-3 years working in the area of agriculture or resilience.  Experience managing multi-country projects preferred.
• Strong experience in donor engagement.  Experience with private foundations preferred.
• Demonstrated capacity to write high quality reports and technical proposals.
• Experience working with partner organizations. Knowledge of CRS partnership concepts and principles an advantage.
• MEAL skills and experience is required.
• Experience in managing personnel and skills that are conducive to a learning environment.
• Experience using MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), online conferencing applications and management information systems.
• Experience managing moderately complex projects preferably with an international NGO.

Required Languages – Fluency in English and Spanish required.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 30% in Honduras, Guatemala and other countries in the region as required by the project or the agency.

 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to make sound judgment and decisions and offer innovative solutions.
• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Good presentation and facilitation skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

 Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission.  Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

 Supervisory Responsibilities: Project Coordinators in Honduras and Guatemala

 Key Working Relationships: 

Internal: Head of Programs Honduras, Technical Director of the Project, Operations teams in Guatemala and Honduras, MEAL Coordinators, representatives of other CRS projects and platforms in Guatemala, Honduras and the region.

External: Directors and Coordinators of partners and allies of the project, technical staff of partner organizations, government officials, municipal authorities, staff of NGOs related to CRS and donors.

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Catholic Relief Services works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality.  Catholic Relief Services’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.  We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or global telecommuter, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS is committed to safeguarding program participants, community members, staff and volunteers from all forms of exploitation and abuse.  The successful candidate is expected to sign and adhere to CRS´ Code of Conduct.

CRS talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

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

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

General Requirements

CRS offers are contingent on the selected candidate’s ability to legally work where the position is to be performed. Every government has a unique set of work permit eligibility requirements.  All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside a home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical clearance; some work permit processes require clearing a separate government administered medical examination.

CRS prioritizes candidates who are citizens/ permanent residents of the countries where we have CRS offices.