Officer, Programs: Cross Regional Programs (WINS)

Search for Common Ground

In a world often divided, Search for Common Ground stands for the power of bringing diverse people together to find solutions. By meeting this moment with Search, you join a powerful global peace movement that believes in the profound impact of courageous multipartiality - that all voices should be heard and respected in shaping a better, more connected world and collaborative vision is essential for lasting peace.

Search for Common Ground takes a dynamic approach by building solutions that are based on the needs of communities. We engage with leaders and elected officials to advance dialogue and collaboration. We are community leaders. We are youth activists. We are women. We are Peacebuilders. We have been doing this work for over 40 years, we have developed our understanding of what peace looks like, being able to quantify our impact and design more effective programming. Peace moves at the speed of trust, so we invest for the long haul. When we’re no longer needed, we leave, leaving behind people and institutions with the ability to manage future conflicts.

Position Summary The Cross-Regional Programs team at Search for Common Ground (Search) is seeking a full-time Officer to support the implementation of the program Women’s Inclusion in New Security (WINS), a global project focused on women, peace and security (WPS), implemented across eight countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Central Asia, Guatemala, Lebanon and Yemen) - and including a global Rapid Response Fund (RRF) mechanism. The project provides specific funding and technical assistance to local women-led groups to grow and sustain local capacities for peacebuilding.

The Programs team has oversight on the management of restricted grants to drive impact and ensure compliance. The Programs team supports in-country Directors and Managers to effectively follow Search and donor policies and procedures regarding grant implementation. This function commences with the signing of a grant and completes with the final close-out. This involves monitoring, reporting, and where appropriate, engagement with donors. It involves oversight on both program quality and compliance, working in close collaboration with other departments, including Finance, the Institutional Learning Team, Strategy Alignment, Program Quality, Communications, and Human Resources. The Programs team aims to build and strengthen the capacity of program implementation at Search and with partner staff in-country.

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Officer, Programs to provide significant grants management and programmatic support specifically to country implementation, as well as effective networking and representation of the Search WINS program in Washington DC, alongside other critical tasks pertaining to the project. The key responsibilities of this position are outlined below. 

• Coordinates grants start up, grants close out and documents lessons learned in the course of implementation. 
• Identifies technical resources and support for specific needs. 
• Coordinates and leads report development and review.
• Facilitates monthly program implementation review, spending review, and forecasting.
• Contributes to regular programmatic reflection sessions and cross-learning meetings and workshops. 
• Leads on partner management.

• Lead in the collection, drafting and review of communications products. 
• Lead in the collection, drafting and review of programmatic success stories.
• Lead in the internal coordination on WPS programmatic cross-learning, coordination and communication.
• Lead coordination with Kroc IPJ on policy products and targeted outreach.
• Support the Program Manager, Program Director and policy team in the development of policy documents and policy outreach.
• Represent the Search WINS program at events, conferences and networking opportunities.

• Collaborates with country program managers and partners in the preparation of timely and quality project reports for donors in compliance with donor and internal Search requirements.
• Ensures and supports the effective tracking and forecasting of project expenditures by the project team through budget versus actuals (BVA) meetings, in line with the approved budget and work plan for both Search and partners.
• Ensures that costed work plans are regularly updated and utilized. Proactively supports needs for no-cost extensions, budget realignments, or other budgetary changes.
• Facilitates or supports grants start up, reviews, and closure meetings and follows up on action points.
• Participates in reflection sessions and discussions on adaptation. Facilitates support for technical assistance where appropriate. Ensures lessons learnt are well documented and disseminated for better program implementation in future, in line with best practice in reflective practice and adaptive management.
• Conducts regular partner visits to track grant progress and ultimately supports Search to meet project deliverables for major and high risk projects.
• Coordinates the Programs team as well as country communication teams in highlighting and documenting success stories.
• When necessary, travels internationally to support complex and/or high risk project start ups and close out processes.
• Participates in design calls and provides proposal review and budget review for strategic proposals when called upon.
• Ensures project budgets are adequately coded and uploaded to the accounting system. Disseminates information on the coded budgets to other program staff.
• Develops subaward contracts and ensures all required documents and processes are completed to facilitate final sign off.
• Supports the Programs Manager in capacity assessment of country offices and collaborates with the Programs Manager and other managers in capacity development by tailoring appropriate training for various country offices.
• Conducts on-boarding of new program staff and familiarizes them with the donor and internal rules as regulations on grants management.
• Other duties that are broadly in line with the above key contributions as assigned.

• Engages and communicates effectively across functions and across teams.
• Participates in external meetings.
• Builds relationships and engages effectively with collaborators.
• Uses resiliency and exhibits flexibility and adaptability to changing tasks and team priorities.
• With oversight by the supervisor, writes technical sections for team documents, briefing materials, and presentations.
• Works across functions from a multicultural perspective that reflects consideration of other cultures, other viewpoints, and other ways of doing things.
• Sensitively recognizes ethical situations.
• Focuses on the key objectives of a task or project.
• Creates accurate, organized, and timely work.
• Is resourceful with time management and technology to prioritize tasks with limited supervision.
• Remain alert and responsive to any safeguarding risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills that will enable you to promote strong safeguarding practices, understand the safeguarding policy and procedures, and conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the Safeguarding Policy.

• A degree in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Gender Studies, Political Science, or a related field.
• At least 1 year of experience in WPS programming and/or WPS policy.
• At least 3 years experience in grants management in an international context, across geographies.
• Fluency in English and either French or Spanish written and spoken, is essential, and proficiency in additional languages is beneficial (Arabic, Russian).

Type and Nature of Contacts

Interacts with others and handles problem situations with tact. Periodic external engagement as requested.

Education and Experience

Typically BS/BA with minimum 6 years’ experience.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

Usual office environment in Brussels. Search Belgium currently has a policy requiring at least 2 days per week presence in the office. Ability to travel internationally at least 20%.

Supervisory and Budget Responsibility

None

Application process

The deadline for applications is Dec 2nd, 2024. Please submit your CV and motivation letter through our online application portal Lever. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and Search reserves the right to identify a suitable candidate ahead of this deadline.

As job descriptions cannot be exhaustive, the position holder may be required to undertake other duties that are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities. 

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Only applicants invited for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please. Please see our website www.sfcg.org for full details of our work. All Search Employees must adhere to the values: Collaboration- Audacity - Tenacity - Empathy - Results. In accordance with these values, Search enforces compliance with the Code of Conduct and related policies on Anti Workplace Harassment, Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Conflict of Interest, and Anti-fraud. Search is committed to safeguarding the interests, rights, and well-being of children, youth, and vulnerable adults with whom it is in contact and to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for children, youth, and vulnerable adults.  Search for Common Ground does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. View our code of conduct here and our privacy policy here.

Les descriptifs de pouvant ne pouvant être exhaustifs, le titulaire du poste pourra être amené à entreprendre d'autres tâches qui correspondent globalement aux responsabilités clés ci-dessus.

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Seuls les candidats invités à un entretien seront contactés. Pas d'appels téléphoniques s'il vous plaît. Veuillez consulter notre site Web www.sfcg.org pour tous les détails de notre mission.

Tous les employés de Search doivent adhérer aux valeurs de Search : Collaboration- Audace - Ténacité - Empathie - Résultats. Conformément à ces valeurs, Search fait respecter le code de conduite et les politiques connexes sur la lutte contre le harcèlement au travail, la protection contre l'exploitation et les abus, la protection des enfants, les conflits d'intérêts et la lutte contre la fraude. Search s'engage à préserver les intérêts, les droits et le bien-être des enfants, des jeunes et des adultes vulnérables avec lesquels elle est en contact et à mener ses programmes et ses opérations d'une manière qui soit sûre pour les enfants, les jeunes et les adultes vulnérables.

Search for Common Ground ne fait pas et ne doit pas faire de discrimination fondée sur la race, la couleur, la religion (croyance), le sexe, l'expression de genre, l'âge, l'origine nationale (ascendance), le handicap, l'état matrimonial, l'orientation sexuelle ou le statut militaire, dans aucune de ses activités ou opérations.

Consultez notre code de conduite ici et notre politique de confidentialité ici.

Dado que la descripción de funciones no puede ser exhaustiva, el titular del puesto puede tener que realizar otras tareas que coinciden en líneas generales con las responsabilidades clave mencionadas.

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Sólo se contactará con los candidatos invitados a una entrevista. Se agradece no recibir llamadas telefónicas. Consulte nuestro sitio web www.sfcg.org para conocer todos los detalles de nuestro trabajo. Todos los empleados de Search deben adherirse a los valores de la organización: Colaboración - Audacia - Tenacidad - Empatía - Resultados. De acuerdo con estos valores, Search hace cumplir el Código de Conducta y las políticas relacionadas con luchar contra el acoso en el lugar de trabajo, la protección contra la explotación y el abuso, la protección de la infancia, los conflictos de intereses y la lucha contra el fraude. Search se compromete a salvaguardar los intereses, derechos y bienestar de los niños, jóvenes y adultos vulnerables con los que está en contacto y a llevar a cabo sus programas y operaciones de una manera que sea segura para los niños, jóvenes y adultos vulnerables.  Search for Common Ground no discrimina ni discriminará por motivos de raza, color, religión (credo), género, expresión de género, edad, origen nacional (ascendencia), discapacidad, estado civil, orientación sexual o condición militar, en ninguna de sus actividades u operaciones. Consulte nuestro código de conducta aquí y nuestra política de privacidad aquí.