POSITION TITLE: Senior Program Associate

LOCATION: Arlington, VA, or Little Rock, AR or US-remote

DEPARTMENT: Agriculture, Resilience and Water

REPORTS TO: Senior Program Manager

Winrock International (Winrock) is a non-profit organization that works around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Winrock strengthens the capacity of women, children, youth, civil society organizations, and businesses to actively participate in sustainable development and to positively impact society.

AGRICULTURE, RESILIENCE AND WATER (ARW) Group The Agriculture, Resilience and Water (ARW) group partners with communities, businesses, and government to develop scalable market-oriented solutions that advance inclusive agriculture led growth and water security, ultimately building the resilience of households to recover from predictable and unforeseen shocks.

ARW’s approach to making agriculture, market access and water systems more resilient to climate change has three focus areas: 1) improving agricultural production and water management systems, especially among the most vulnerable; 2) strengthening natural resource management; and 3) reducing environmental degradation.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Program Associate will support projects and business development efforts operating at the nexus of inclusive market-led growth and sustainable management of natural resources.

In particular, the position will support programs to increase trade and competitiveness of agribusiness in multiple countries. The Senior Program Associate provides critical response to the field-based personnel to support and facilitate project implementation. The position will be responsible for managing processes and systems related to contract management, compliance, financial management and budgeting, procurement, and hiring and managing personnel and consultants.

In addition to project management, the position plays a role in business development, contributing to program design and managing proposal development. Programmatic and administrative duties include to help to ensure quality work addressing sustainable development programs in compliance with donor and Winrock’s requirements.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Senior Program Associate will initially be assigned to support Winrock’s USDA Pakistan Agricultural Development project and one additional project to be determined.

• Liaise with field staff, Winrock’s Operations team (HR, Contracts, Procurement, IT, etc.), project partners, and donors to provide guidance to field teams, and track correspondence to ensure timely responses and approvals.

• Ensure compliance of the project with Winrock’s policies, procedures and contractual obligations for all project-related procurement, subcontracts, HR, consultants’ agreements, financials transactions or any other project management task as required.

• Oversee project procurement, grant making and accounting activities, including expense reimbursements, advances, monthly payments, and wire transfers in collaboration with Winrock’s Finance team and the field offices.

• Help to meet donor programmatic and administrative reporting requirements, including through programmatic and financial report preparation and presentation.

• Copy edit and format technical reports and deliverables and ensure 508-compliant uploads to donor repositories; backstop and coordinate technical and reporting contributions of Winrock staff and consultants, providing quality control in reporting, deliverables, communication, file management, and budget monitoring.

• Manage relevant databases and trackers, support monitoring and evaluation processes, and link project data with required donor reporting.

• Provide programmatic and budgetary analysis.

• Assist organizing and facilitating internal and external meetings, taking minutes and ensuring follow-up of decisions.

• Meet with and provide information and reports to project clients and beneficiaries as needed under delegation of the Senior Program Manager.

• Prepare and disseminate routine internal coordination reports documenting, programmatic activities’ and administrative/operational/financial tasks’ status and action points.

• Provide training and mentoring for project-based staff on administrative and operational topics.• Assist with conceptualizing and developing strategies for proposal development.

• Provide substantive input for proposal development and assist in proposal preparation and coordinate. This may include managing the proposal preparation team and subcontractors, supporting capture trips, writing proposal text, recruiting, and interviewing candidates, formatting documents and CVs, performing internet-based research, etc.

• Perform other tasks as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS AND BACKGROUND

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in international development, project management, agriculture, natural resource management or environment-related field.

Experience:

Minimum two years of relevant experience in program coordination, administration, or logistical support. Demonstrated interest in programs related to agricultural market systems, climate smart agriculture, or sustainable management of natural resources via previous work/volunteer experience and/or academic coursework/research.

Excellent written and oral communication skills to contribute to project management, donor and partner relations, and new business development content. Able to communicate in a clear, professional, and positive manner with a variety of team members, field staff and stakeholders in a multi-cultural environment with respect for diversity.

Excellent organizational skills essential, including ability to coordinate a variety of tasks, meet deadlines, work effectively under pressure, and work as team player.

Demonstrated strong analytical capability and problem-solving abilities required.

Demonstrated international experience strongly desired. Familiarity working with US government funded programs preferred. Proficiency with Microsoft Office required.

Excellent writing, verbal, intercultural, and interpersonal communication skills.

Fluent in English, fluency in any other language is a plus.

Required Travel:

Must be willing and able to travel without dependents to remote locations both domestically and internationally on short trips (up to 3 weeks). Must be authorized to work in the United States.

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness. Winrock recruits, employs, trains, promotes and compensates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law.

At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation. Winrock knows that its success comes from the hard work and steadfast dedication of its diverse workforce. Winrock remains committed to maintaining diversity, inclusion and equity across the entire organization