Disability Inclusion Advisor/Program Manager I at Catholic Relief Service (CRS): (Deadline 8 October 2021)

Disability Inclusion Advisor/Program Manager I at Catholic Relief Service (CRS): (Deadline 8 October 2021)

Job Title: Disability Inclusion Advisor/Program Manager I

Department: Programming/INECD

Band: 9

Reports To: Deputy Chief of Party

Country/Location: Rwanda (Kigali)

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion, or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.

 Job Summary:

The Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) activity will promote nurturing and responsive care practices, especially in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and early childhood development (ECD) for caregivers and children. Specifically, the activity aims to improve health and nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and adolescents and improve infant and young child feeding practices. It also aims to address child development gaps and significant unmet physical rehabilitation and assistive technology (rehab/AT) and social inclusion needs for infants and children. The activity will focus on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages, and district-level capacity development, as well as address issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with Government of Rwanda priorities.

You will provide technical oversight of the development and implementation of the CRS Rwanda’s INECD disability inclusion interventions in collaboration with Humanity and Inclusion (HI), ensuring effective systems and processes are in place that support high-quality programming advancing Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work in serving the poor and vulnerable. Your management skills and knowledge will ensure that the CP delivers high-quality INECD programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of its programming.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:    

• Manage and implement all disability inclusion activities throughout relevant project cycles – project design, start-up, implementation, and close-out – to ensure efficient and effective implementation in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices. Ensure project team and partner staff use the appropriate systems and tools.
• Deliver and coordinate specialized services for Persons with Disabilities, especially Community-Based Rehabilitation Services for Children and Adults with Disabilities.
• Bring technical support in implementing the INECD initiatives and activities in close collaboration with local disability organizations, implementing partners, and service providers (both public and private) at different levels including health centers and hospitals by ensuring the delivery of nutrition and ECD services is inclusive.
• Lead the process of developing guideline, strategy, standards, and manuals to help with mainstreaming of disability inclusion into nutrition, ECD, and health in close collaboration with GoR stakeholders and other development partners.
• Effectively manage talent and supervise. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, contribute to the recruitment process of INECD project staff, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Champion learning and documentation with INECD project staff and partner teams. Analyze and evaluate INECD project performance data following MEAL policy. Proactively identify issues and concerns and use participatory processes to overcome implementation obstacles. Work with the MEAL team to effectively monitor and evaluate the quality of the INECD program by focusing on providing timely, accurate, and inclusive data
• Act as a key resource person in project design and proposal development in the disability inclusion area, gap-filling and taking on growth responsibilities, as needed.
• Coordinate the identification of staff capacity and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and capacity strengthening and required disability inclusion interventions to support quality project implementation.
• Help identify, assess and strengthen partnerships relevant to inclusive nutrition and early childhood development by applying the appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools, and approaches.
• Coordinate and monitor financial and material resources relevant to INECD project needs. Through planning and oversight ensure efficient use of project resources

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in social psychology, social science, physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, in Rehabilitation studies, social work, or Community Social services. Additional experience may substitute for some education.

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant field-based experience in coordinating or managing light to moderately complex projects working with PWDs, disability inclusion, Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) services, community support services, and advocacy, preferably with an international NGO.

Required Languages – Oral and written fluency in English and Kinyarwanda. French is a plus.

Travel – The position is Kigali based. Must be willing and able to travel up to 50 %.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with ability to make a sound judgment.
• Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with culturally diverse groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to write reports
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented

 Preferred Qualifications

• Project management experience in inclusive nutrition and ECD is highly desirable.
• Experience engaging with partner organizations.
• Experience contributing to the development of technical proposals.
• MEAL skills and experience preferred.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

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.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship

 Supervisory Responsibilities: None

 Key Working Relationships:

Internal: All INECD staff, relevant CRS Country Program, and Humanity and Inclusion staff

External: MoH and RBC relevant staff, NCDA leadership, District Leadership, INECD Local Partners, relevant TWGs, CHES platform, NGO working in INECD/DI areas.

 ***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. 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 protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

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

 CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

How to apply

Interested and qualified candidates should complete the attached application form, Self -Declaration Clause and submit them together with one page Cover letter plus updated CV (maximum three pages) all in/as one document – via email only to: [email protected] not later than Friday, October 8, 2021, at 5:00 pm.

Please, include below statement in your motivation letter:

“By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics”

Also include your full names and title “Disability Inclusion Advisor” in the subject line. Due to anticipated high interest in this post and the expected number of applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Kigali. September 27, 2021

Jude-Marie Banatte

Country Representative

 CRS/Rwanda Program