State Program Manager
Cry (Kolkata), Badakhshan, India
Job Description
State Program Manager
Kolkata
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Tenure: Position is contractual subject to renewal based on performance and continuation of the project.
Function/Division: State Program Manager
Location: Kolkata
Project: Strengthen Institutional mechanism and systems to prevent Child Marriage, Child Trafficking and Unsafe Migration in West Bengal supported by UNICEF
Background of the Project:
CRY is partnering with UNICEF for the program implementation and subsequent scale-up of Adolescent Empowerment and Ending Child Marriage across the states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Your Challenge:
At CRY – Child Rights and You, you’ll be using your professional skills and experience to help restore to underprivileged Indian children their basic rights to – survival, development, protection and participation. CRY has a holistic approach to development based on the child rights framework with community empowerment as a key ingredient. CRY also places strong emphasis on networking with other NGOs and advocacy efforts to influence macro policies for children.
The role and responsibilities of this position:
The State Program Manager is responsible for the overall implementation of the project at the state level and ensuring coordination with and between district coordinators as well as the State M&E Manager.
- Coordinating with UNICEF State Office to report progress and receive feedback
- Coordinating with UNICEF State Office to report progress and receive feedback
- Ensuring progress reports from the state M&E Manager is aligned to the result matrix
- Supervising the programme through regular field visits in districts and submitting progress reports
- Facilitating knowledge management efforts of the district by managing the knowledge repository, coordinating with district program officers in organizing knowledge banks and documenting the processes and success stories
- Assuring quality of work
- Taking up Any other work assigned by CRY’s Regional Office to fulfil the required deliverables
Team Management: Functions through Team
The State Program Manager shall play a key role in ensuring the deliverables agreed upon with UNICEF are met with. He/ She shall also be responsible for supervising the District Resource Persons and ensuring quality project implementation at the district level. The work shall entail the following:
- Providing technical support to District Resource Persons towards the implementation of the project in Rajasthan/ West Bengal/ Gujarat
- Facilitating the preparation of district-specific Strategic Action Plan for preventing child marriages in coordination with the district administration, District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) and the Women Development Corporation (WDC) / Department of Social Welfare etc
- Coordinating with State / District stakeholders and UNICEF to ensure effective administration of the programme
- Establishing a District task force and/or strengthen an existing one
- Developing guidelines and protocols for the task force
- Mapping the stakeholders, key influencers and CSOs with the District task force
- Participating in Review and Reflection Meetings of district-level work at the state level hosted by CRY and UNICEF
- Undertaking a needs’ assessment and vulnerability mapping of children and adolescents at the district level to identify issues
- Ensuring regular visits to monitor progress in each district
- Coordinating with UNICEF state office, CRY Regional office and all other project staff, to align project work plan and deliverables
- Facilitating monthly, quarterly and bi-annual review meetings with stakeholders, including WDC
- Guiding and assisting the dedicated workforce across all 13 districts to work as a composite group to accomplish the deliverables
- Monitoring of expenditure as per budget and meeting the standard audit requirements
- Managing performance of the district program Officers to ensure that the capacity building needs of the district team members are identified and addressed
You:
Educational Qualification:
- Master’s Degree or equivalent in Social Science, Rural Development, Humanities, Development Communication
- An LLB/LLM in Child/Human Rights would be an added advantage
Work Experience:
- At least 8 to 9 years’ of experience as a Senior or mid-level professional in the arena of child protection and Child Development
- Experience in adolescent program would be an added advantage
- Experience in working with multiple stakeholders, specifically government and civil society
- Experience in Team Management
Skill Sets:
An ideal State Program Manager must have strong written and oral communication skills with an eye for detail. He/She must have strong negotiation skills and possess a sound understanding of results-based management approach to programme planning, budgeting, review and monitoring systems is essential. The person should be able to think on his/her feet and must have high-quality presentation making skills.