Senior Project Coordinator

**Background**

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic well-being and self-reliance to communities devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the behest of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). It operates in over 40 countries and 29 US cities, where it helps people survive, take back control of their futures and strengthen their communities. A true force for humanity, IRC staff make a lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions of people. If you are a passionate, solutions-focused change-maker, join us to make a positive impact on the lives of millions of people around the world and offer them a better future.

The IRC is seeking a Senior Project Coordinator for a vaccination project focused on improving vaccination coverage and reducing the number of unvaccinated children to zero in Chad through cost-effective interventions. The project specifically emphasizes a combination of supply- and demand-side interventions to enhance vaccination coverage and reduce child mortality in fragile and crisis-affected settings, including vaccination awareness, integrated service delivery, demand generation, and demand-based incentives.

**Job Overview**

The Senior Vaccination Project Coordinator will be a key member of the rapidly expanding health team. He/she will have overall responsibility for the vaccination project funded by a private donor, including strategic and operational management in Chad. He/she will supervise a small team and manage all aspects of the project, ensuring the quality of technical approaches, cost-effective implementation, learning, rigorous monitoring and a strong partnership with donors and sector stakeholders.

Reporting to the Deputy Programme Director, the Senior Project Coordinator will supervise the MEAL Manager and the Finance Officer. The Senior Project Coordinator will work closely with the technical coordinators and the health and immunisation teams, the Primary Health Care Manager, the Immunisation Manager, the regional health technical advisers and external partners providing technical support.

The main responsibilities of the project coordinator are as follows: to ensure the rapid and high-quality implementation of project activities; to facilitate learning and adaptation; to manage relations with donors and partners (government bodies and other humanitarian actors); to supervise the Immunisation Managers, the MEAL Manager and the project’s financial manager (in partnership with the MEAL Advisor and the Finance Manager); and to ensure alignment with the IRC’s broader health portfolio and strategy, as well as with the IRC’s strategy for West and Central Africa.

**Main responsibilities**

**Project management**

- Provide strategic management of all aspects of the vaccination project;
- Ensure that the project team has the tools, guidance and support necessary to implement project activities effectively and ensure donor compliance;
- Oversee planning, design of the start-up phase and monitoring of progress, providing support and resolving issues with field teams where necessary;
- Oversee the project’s financial management in partnership with the Finance Officer, ensuring the consistency of financial information;
- Support the team in producing high-quality and timely financial and narrative reports to meet the donor’s requirements;
- Ensure that implementation at the national level is aligned with the project’s overall objectives and the donor’s expectations;
- Continuously identify, assess and mitigate risks that may affect project implementation, working with teams to take the necessary corrective measures;
- Build a strong and effective team, and continuously support its growth and performance, in accordance with IRC’s staff management and leadership standards.

**Technical Quality and Learning**

**MEAL and Evidence Generation**

- Supervise the MEAL Manager to ensure rigorous monitoring of all aspects of the pilot project, including coverage surveys and regular monitoring systems, and work closely with regional MEAL teams;
- Ensure that data generated by Chad informs sector-wide learning and dissemination;
- Support the MEAL Manager, the Best Use of Resources (BUR) team, and the MEAL and finance teams in cost-effectiveness analysis and adaptive management.

**Support the implementation of immunisation services**

- Supervise the Immunisation Manager to ensure rigorous project monitoring, in particular by planning and structuring the project launch through the coordination of micro-vaccination plans, the harmonisation of operational approaches, the validation of timelines, and support for the mapping of priority areas and stakeholders.
- Supervise the Immunisation Manager in the operational implementation of the project by providing ongoing technical support, resolving field constraints, ensuring the integration of activities and overseeing demand generation strategies.
- Supervise the Finance Officer to ensure rigorous, efficient and compliant financial management, guaranteeing budget monitoring, consistency between expenditure and results, cost optimisation, financial planning, as well as the identification and mitigation of risks in accordance with donor standards and requirements.

**Strategic Communication and Project Leadership**

- Oversee strategic communication and represent the organisation at high-level internal and external forums;
- Represent the IRC at quarterly donor meetings, learning forums and sector-specific technical platforms;
- Respond to and coordinate requests from donors, regional and global leaders, ensuring project consistency and transparency;
- Contribute to the Health Unit’s learning efforts on innovative approaches to increasing vaccination coverage in humanitarian contexts.

**Key working relationships**

- The post is supervised by the Deputy Programme Director, and the incumbent works closely with the Technical Coordinator for Immunisation, particularly on technical matters.
- Direct reports: Immunisation Managers, MEAL Manager, Finance Manager

**Key internal stakeholders:**

- Teams responsible for implementing the vaccination project;
- Chad’s management team, particularly with regard to security;
- Technical health advisers (primary healthcare, immunisation and nutrition) in the West and Central Africa region;
- The MEAL team within the Global Health Unit and the Best Use of Resources (BUR) team;
- Colleagues from the CRRD Technical Excellence Unit;

**Key external relationships:**

- Donors’ technical and grant management teams;
- Third-party technical support providers;
- Third-party suppliers, including surveillance companies;
- Other stakeholders responsible for implementing immunisation programmes;
- Directorate of Immunisation and Epidemiological Surveillance at the Ministry of Health and Prevention;
- Provincial Health Delegations in Salamat and Sila, as well as the relevant health districts;
- Partner organisations implementing complementary health interventions.

**Required experience and skills**

**Education**

- A Master’s degree (5 years of higher education) in public health, epidemiology or any other relevant field

**Experience**

- At least 10 years’ experience in roles of increasing responsibility within health programmes, with significant experience in immunisation programmes;
- Excellent project management skills, particularly in budget management, producing high-quality and timely reports, meeting deadlines, risk mitigation and resource optimisation;
- Proven skills in managing multinational health projects funded by donors;
- Proven experience in demand-driven health interventions and community engagement programmes; additional experience in conditional cash transfer and/or nutrition programmes is highly desirable;
- Experience working in frag