Chief of Party I - Innovative Climate Financing at Catholic Relief Services – Philippines | (Hybrid)

Position title: Chief of Party I - Innovative Climate Financing

Location: Philippines | (Hybrid)
Responsibilities:

• Lead all aspects of the development, implementation, and learning of the Land Restoration Initiative in the Philippines, including sharing how it contributes to the thought leadership in country and at an agency level.
• Lead the stakeholder engagement with government entities and ensure that the project receives the needed level of support and buy-in.
• Lead management of local partners (implementing and technical) and the integration of a team of multi-agency, multidisciplinary staff in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Ensure the project is designed and implemented to meet industry standards and good practice. in terms of timely and quality results and budget, including strategies for phase-out and sustainability. Ensure coordination between program and operations leads.
• Ensure the CRS program quality standards are adhered to per Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) policies and procedures, and that project Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of the carbon component is met.
• Provide management, guidance, and technical oversight of the Land Restoration Initiative in the Philippines throughout the project cycle to ensure project design, start-up, implementation, and close-out are in line with CRS quality and compliance principles and standards and industry best practices.
• Ensure programmatic integration of Land Restoration approaches in the Philippines in close collaboration with CRS, Government of the Philippines and partner staff. Ensure national representation of the project with various Government of the Philippines departments and other stakeholders.
• Effectively manage and supervise CRS talent for the Land Restoration Initiative program team. Manage team dynamics and staff well-being. Provide coaching, strategically tailor individual development plans, and complete performance management for direct reports.
• Lead the development of program learning - identify opportunities for learning, research and publications. Facilitate the dissemination of promising practices and lessons learned to contribute to the agency and knowledge management agenda.
• Contribute to the proactive pursuit of opportunities for new funding to ensure the growth of the land restoration Initiative portfolio in line with agency, regional, and CP, Government of the Philippines strategic priorities. Contribute to the technical design and technical writing for the CP to ensure quality proposals per agency and donor standards. Contribute to budgeting and staffing plans and activities for proposals.
• Oversee technical assistance and capacity-strengthening activities in sustainable agriculture practices for staff and partner organizations to enhance program quality and impact.
• Ensure timely and appropriate project expenditures and partner advances and liquidations in line with financial plans and efficient use and stewardship of project material sources.
• Manage and mitigate risk through monitoring national and regional issues that may impact staff and programming. Ensure all staff understand and adhere to CRS staff safety and security policies and plans and ensure the updating of such plans.  
• Promote, uphold, and model a commitment to the efficient use of agency and funder resources. Ensure compliance, including financial tracking and oversight of partner budgets, finance, administration and reporting. Approve program expenditures, budget adjustments, and cost modification requests to donors.  
• Represent CRS programming in international circles, highlighting innovative work. Publish program results and deliver presentations. Oversee the development of communication strategies and materials, complying with donor and CRS’ branding and marketing requirements and procedures. 
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for CRS and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance. 

Qualifications:

Basic Qualifications

• Master’s degree in international development, Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Forestry or similar field, International Relations or a relevant technical area. PhD is an advantage but not a requirement. Additional relevant experience may substitute for some education.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in relevant field-based project management experience required, with preferably at least 2-3 years working in Landscape Management and Restoration, Climate Smart Agriculture or Sustainable Agriculture Practices, ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, Revegetation) and/or in the (IALM) Improved Agricultural Land Management.
• 7 years of experience in managing complex, high value projects, donor funds, including multi-country grants. Excellent knowledge and experience in budget management, preferably with an international NGO.
• 5 years of staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to a learning environment. Experience coaching and mentoring senior program staff. 
• Several years of experience with implementing carbon finance projects in the ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, Revegetation) and/or in the (IALM) Improved Agricultural Land Management highly preferred.

Required Languages – English. Knowledge of Tagalog is preferred.

Travel – Must be willing and able to travel up to 30% in the Philippines.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment and decisions.
• Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
• Team leadership abilities with diverse/multi-disciplinary teams. Coaching skills.
• Strong communications and presentation skills; able to develop tailored and persuasive messaging for varied audiences.
• Consortium management experience preferred
• Good presentation and facilitation skills
• Proactive, resourceful, solution-oriented, and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Recognized as a thought leader with demonstrated by peer reviewed publications, conference presentations, etc.
• Good experience in project grants management, including project design and sub-grant management, budget management, preferably for grants from multiple public donors, including institutional and government donors and large private foundations.
• Demonstrated experience of successful program management, stakeholder management, including management of complex, high-value, multi-activity projects, with complicated logistics. 
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy a plus. 
• Demonstrated ability to write high-quality technical proposals and reports.
• Experience engaging with partner organizations
• MEAL skills and experience required, ICT4D skills and GIS mapping plus.
• Staff management experience and abilities that are conducive to creating a collaborative learning environment.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, and 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

Key Working Relationships:

Supervisory Responsibilities: Technical Specialist on Agroforestry, MEAL Manager

Internal: Head of Programs, Country Representative, Head of Operations, Finance Manager, Procurement Manager, Regional Technical Advisors, CRS Climate Finance Support Unit

External: Philippine government representatives, implementing partner program managers, private sector stakeholders

CRS is proud to be an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Selection and hiring decisions are made without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, age, disability, religion, national origin, color, veteran status or any other protected area.