Concern Worldwide is a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries

Founded in 1968, Concern works in 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean with its headquarters
in Ireland.

Concern started working in Malawi in 2002. Our Country Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 focuses on climate and environment, social protection, gender and social inclusion, sustainable food systems for food security and partnerships. For sustainable and lasting change, our advocacy and influence, people centred and evidence based approaches focus on system strengthening and resilience building as we seek to address the root causes of poverty.

Concern invites applications from interested candidates qualified for the following posts;

Programme Director
Contract Duration: 24 Months
Duty Station: Lilongwe Head Office

Purpose of the role:
As a key member of the Country Management Team, the Programmes Director is to play a leading role in the achievement of a strong multi-annual funding base for Concern in Malawi, which supports the delivery of quality programmes in line with our Strategic Plan, assisting theCountry Director in the direction, development, management and implementation of Concern WorldwideMalawi’s high quality country programme.

Responsibilities and Tasks

• Provide leadership in the effective planning, development, management and integration of Concern’s programmes.
• Design new programmes, proposals, budgets, work plans and procurement plans in line with Concern’s global Strategic and Country Strategies, programme development guidelines and Government /donor priorities.
• Foster team spirit and collaboration necessary to achieve programme and organisation goals in Malawi and globally.
• Identify and actively pursue opportunities to build partnerships with local NGOs on the basis of a shared vision and values and complementary expertise.
• Supervise all projects to ensure that strategies designed and written in the project document are undertaken to a high standard.
• Support capacity building of the team and partners on Concern’s organizational strategies and approaches, including ‘How Concern Understands Extreme Poverty’ (HCUEP).
• Ensure mainstreaming of equality, HIV/AIDS and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into programme work.
• Oversee the appraisal of potential partners’, development and finalisation of partnership agreements and capacity strengthening plans and their management and implementation
• Actively contribute to maintaining a strong and committed team of programme staff through mentoring and skills development.
• Capacity build and support in the management of technical advisors and consultants for quality focused programming through all stages of the PCMS.
• Rigorously manage all programme related finances e.g. budget expenditure tracking and analysis with key budget holders.
• Ensure strict compliance with donor contract requirements / reporting deadlines etc.
• Support the on-going development of participatory monitoring systems, particularly accountability downwards with communities and full compliance with the roll out of the CHS standards.
• Ensure that all programme staff are familiar with the principles underpinning accountability, safeguarding and Concern’s Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) and ensure that information about Concern’s commitments on accountability and safeguarding are disseminated among programme participants and communities.
• Actively use existing Country and Programme Results Frameworks, Theory of Change, Logframes and PME plans to monitor appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness and effects of all interventions and systematically revise planned activities and strategies accordingly
• Research, analyse and disseminate relevant / new approaches, concepts and frameworks applied to poverty alleviation, as well as information on national government initiatives
• Represent Concern and maintain coordination and networking relationships with the government, donors and other national and international development actors.
• Oversee advocacy efforts at the national level to contribute towards achievement of country strategic objectives; contribute to the development and review of programme and country advocacy strategies and objectives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum Degree in Development Studies or a relevant technical area (programme focus under the new Strategic Plan includes; economic development, sustainable livelihoods, food security, women’s empowerment, disaster risk reduction, Climate Change).
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience working in a developing country context at least 3 years of which should be in senior programme management, including experience in planning, developing and evaluating complex programmes in technical areas similar to those in the Malawi programme.
• Experience of developing and managing large scale and multi sectoral programmes in a development context.
• Practical experience in participatory development approaches, facilitation, capacity building and building effective teams to work in poor rural and urban communities.
• Experience of programme development, the project management cycle and participatory planning methodologies, including distance management.
• Excellent understanding and experience in developing and utilizing rigorous planning, monitoring,
  and evaluation processes.
• Experience of strategic planning.
• Proven leadership ability, including ability to motivate and develop skills of others; Training, capacity.

How to Apply
Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications, should send their CV (3 pages maximum including contacts of 3 referees) and Cover Letter to malawi.hr@concern.net with the subject of the email as “Programme Director ‘’. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, 27th March, 2024. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be shortlisted on a regular basis and we may offer post before the closing date.

Concern is an equal opportunities employer. Qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply.