Progressio has made a significant contribution to international development and human rights for more than seventy years. We support poor and marginalised people, especially women, to empower themselves – People Powered Development – by placing development workers to share skills in 11 countries, and through our international policy, advocacy and campaigning. Progressio has Catholic roots and works with people of all faiths and none.
Nicaragua Country Representative
Reports to Central America (CA) Sub-regional Manager
Based in Managua, Nicaragua (with some travel to Honduras)
Supervising directly Nicaragua ICS Logistics Officer (full-time), Programme Administrator (part-time), other existing office staff, development workers, and ICS volunteers in Nicaragua.
Relations with others The post holder will work directly with the CA Sub-regional Manager. S/he will also work with other CA Sub-region and London-based staff, including the Programme Funding Officer (based in Tegucigalpa), ICS, Finance and Administration, Recruitment, International Programmes, and Policy and Communications.
The post holder will manage relationships with development workers, Progressio ICS volunteers, local partner organisations and stakeholders in Nicaragua. S/he will be a member of the CA Sub-regional Management team.
Status Full-time, fixed-term contract ending on 31 August 2015, with the CA Sub-regional Office, with the possibility of renewal.
Salary USD$2,255 gross per month
Languages required English and Spanish
For this post we are only able to consider applicants who already have residency and full employment rights in Nicaragua, and who are able to take up the post before the end of July 2013, at the latest.
The post holder will be responsible for managing Progressio’s Nicaragua programme by providing support to development workers, ensuring that all requirements are fulfilled, maintaining effective relationships with local partner organisations, the CA Sub-regional and London offices. The post holder will also ensure the delivery of the International Citizen Service programme in Nicaragua.Working together with local partner organisations, development workers and other stakeholders, s/he will advise on development policy and priority areas for Progressio's work in Nicaragua, within the context of Progressio’s skill-sharing and advocacy work. In coordination with the CA Sub-regional Management team, the post holder will advise and oversee the implementation of Progressio’s Strategic Planning for the CA Sub-region 2010 - 2015.
This post requires a skilled and talented individual, with demonstrable leadership and programme management experience, who can deal with complex issues, a demanding workload and communicate well with a wide range of people.
ABOUT PROGRESSIO AND OUR APPROACH
Progressio is a UK-based charity working internationally to enable poor and marginalised people in developing countries to challenge and change the situations that keep them poor. We currently work on people’s rights, development and environment in 11 countries and have a long history of working in fragile, post-conflict and authoritarian states. We work with people of all faiths and none.
Progressio works in long-term partnerships with local pro-poor organisations and community groups in the global South. We provide training, advice and support through around 70 specialist development workers (DWs), most from the global South. They know what works and help our partner organisations find lasting solutions to the problems that poor communities face. We also send committed young adults from the UK to engage alongside local volunteers in community development work, through the International Citizen Service (ICS) programme. DWs and ICS volunteers help thousands of people in some of the world’s poorest communities to make lasting improvements to their lives.
Because poverty is about unequal power relations and lack of rights, we support poor and marginalised people to empower themselves to change the structures that keep them in poverty. We help strengthen their call for change locally as well as in the UK and mainland Europe. With our supporters, we stand alongside poor communities in demanding that decision-makers give priority to those with least power and least wealth.
Inspired by our Catholic roots, we believe that experiencing ‘life in all its fullness’ includes freedom and control over one’s life and future. It means challenging inequalities and power imbalances. We believe in the inherent dignity of every person, so we stand in solidarity with poor and marginalised people to assert their rights. We call this people powered development.
GOVERNANCE
As a UK registered charity, Progressio has a Board of Trustees that is responsible for the overall strategic vision of the organisation. The Board has two sub-committees and a working group. The Chief Executive is directly accountable to the Board and managed by the Chair of Trustees.
PROGRESSIO STAFF AND SUPPORTERS AROUND THE WORLD
The Progressio family includes our head office in London; our regional and country offices; Progressio Ireland, which raises funds for our work and supports our campaigns; and Progressio Latina, which raises funds for and oversees our work in Central America.
Progressio works in Central America (El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua); Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti); Peru; Somaliland; Southern Africa (Malawi and Zimbabwe); Timor-Leste and Yemen. We have a sub-regional office in Tegucigalpa that oversees our work in Central America, with smaller offices in Nicaragua and El Salvador. A sub-regional office in Harare oversees our work in Southern Africa, with a smaller office in Malawi. In Santo Domingo, a sub-regional office oversees our work in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where Progressio works in strong collaboration with Christian Aid. We also have country offices in Peru (managed by Christian Aid), Somaliland, Yemen and Timor-Leste.
Progressio has six teams:
The International Programmes team, includes two London-based Programmes staff, oversees Progressio’s development worker programmes, including in-country staff, comprising Sub-Regional Managers, Country Representatives and other support staff. The Programmes team works closely with all other teams, especially the Learning team.
The Finance and Administration team is responsible for financial management, recruitment, selection and training, Progressio ICS, and general administrative, HR and IT support to Progressio.
The Fundraising team is made up of London-based staff and regionally-based Programme Funding Officers. The team works to secure funds from a range of sources including major donors, trusts and foundations, government funding (both UK and overseas), corporate funding, and from the public.
The International Citizen Service team oversees our young adult volunteering programme, Progressio ICS, working closely with in-country staff on planning and delivery.
The Learning team is responsible for reporting on impact learning, monitoring and evaluation.
The Policy and Communications team works closely with partners, development workers, UK-based youth volunteers and supporters to engage, influence and bring about change in policy at national, regional and international levels. The team raises Progressio’s profile among UK audiences and seeks to provide a platform for Southern voices through its advocacy, campaigning and communications, such as our supporter magazine, our website and email bulletins.
Progressio is a membership organisation and we have a supporter base of approximately 3,000 people. Active engagement with our supporters, to inform and mobilise them, is a vital part of our mandate. More detailed information about our work, thematic areas and overseas programmes is available on our website: www.progressio.org.uk
THE CENTRAL AMERICA SUB-REGIONAL PROGRAMME
The CA Sub-regional programme includes one central office based in Tegucigalpa, serving three programmes: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (and two offices based in Managua and San Salvador). The CA Sub-regional programme is staffed by various staff members and the post holder will be a member of the CA Sub-regional Management team, with includes the Sub-regional Manager and the two Country Representatives.
Progressio’s work in the CA Sub-region is framed within three strategic themes:
- Effective governance and participation: strengthening the capacity of partners so that they are better placed to organise, influence and participate in local, national and international structures to secure results in poverty eradication, social justice, gender equity, transparency and accountability.
- HIV and AIDS: enabling communities to respond effectively to HIV, influencing policy and practice on HIV, strengthening gender perspectives and building greater understanding and involvement on the part of faith-based organisations and religious leaders.
- Sustainable environment: ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources, influencing policies that impact on the environment, and strengthening the participation of women.
Gender is mainstreamed throughout our programmes and is incorporated in our policies and procedures.
ICS BACKGROUND
International Citizen Service (ICS) is an opportunity for volunteers to help some of the poorest community in the world and learn some valuable new skills at the same time. Funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and run by some of the most respected names in international volunteering, it is the UK’s foremost global volunteering programme for young people.
ICS brings young people from the UK and the different countries we work in together to fight poverty, making a difference where help is most needed. Young volunteers, informed and inspired by their experience, will then embark on lifelong journeys of positive involvement in community development issues.
ICS placements are designed so that volunteers genuinely contribute to development, and to the raising of development awareness whilst in country and on their return to the UK. The experience is also designed to have a lasting impact on the volunteers themselves: to broaden horizons, develop new skills and foster self-reliance. ICS volunteers should have a positive experience inspiring them to become more committed to international development, social change, advocacy, and to be supporters of Progressio’s work.
Progressio has successfully completed the pilot stage of ICS, in which 130 Progressio volunteers were posted on 10-week placements between July 2011 and March 2012, and is now implementing Phase II of the programme, which involves posting 590 volunteers. Volunteers are currently placed in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Malawi and Zimbabwe. For the new phase, Progressio will be placing 118 ICS volunteers in El Salvador, 116 in Honduras, and 88 in Nicaragua. The first cycle of ICS volunteers left the UK in July 2012 (the annual cycle break down is: January, March, July and October).
Volunteers work in groups of about six, together with a Group Leader, and undertake a series of coordinated activities relating to identified global themes, which includes conservation (eg reforestation and protected areas); community development projects (eg building greenhouses and kitchen gardens, or informal youth work); sustainable tourism; teaching support; sports and arts activities with local young people; and advocacy (eg producing material for training and/or communication campaigns, and HIV awareness raising and prevention campaigns). Placements are offered in both rural and urban locations.
On their return to the UK, all volunteers complete a minimum level of local action that suits their interests and motivations. Further information about Progressio ICS can be found on our website: www.progressio.org.uk/ics
- ICS team in London
The ICS team consists of a Programme Manager, three Project Officers and a designated Accountant. The team is also assisted by office-based volunteers and various other staff members. The team works closely on a day-to-day basis with London and in-country staff, and with the ICS central hub.
THE POST
- Overall purpose of the role
The post holder will be responsible for:
§ Manage the Nicaragua programme, which includes DW support and the implementation of Progressio’s organisational policies and strategy, in coordination with the CA Sub-regional team.
§ Deliver Progressio ICS in Nicaragua, in coordination with the CA Sub-regional team.
§ Ensure that all legal requirements in country are fulfilled (eg DW work permits and the legal registration in country of the Nicaragua programme).
§ Identify fundraising opportunities for new projects in coordination with the Tegucigalpa-based Programme Funding Officer (PFO) and the CA Sub-regional Manager.
§ Maintain and ensure a smooth relationship with current and potential donors and local partner organisations.
- Duties and responsibilities
a) Maintenance of the programme
1. Ensure that all legal permissions for DWs are in line with Nicaraguan law.
2. Submit annual financial statements to the Nicaraguan government and fulfil all legal requirements to maintain the legal registration in country.
3. Participate actively in the CA Sub-regional Management team and contribute to the design and implementation of the CA Sub-regional programme.
4. Represent Progressio with the Nicaraguan government and maintain on-going relations with other official international bodies and with counterpart NGOs and networks, funding agencies, church-related bodies, partners, the media and others.
b) Country programme strategic planning and development
1. Keep informed of the major political and socio-economic events in the country, examine the development work being carried out by other bodies in the country, and with the CA Sub-regional Manager assess Progressio’s options and opportunities in that context.
2. Maintain regular communication with the CA Sub-regional Manager and the other members of the CA Sub-regional Management team and contribute to the design and implementation of the CA programme.
3. Support the CA Sub-regional Manager in defining priority areas, and possible funding opportunities for Progressio’s work in the country and in the CA Sub-region, working together with local partner organisations, DWs and other stakeholders.
4. In coordination with the SA Sub-regional Manager and the PFO, ensure adequate planning and delivery of funding-related activities including:
§ Identify, develop and produce funding proposals to support the Nicaragua programme’s activities and costs.
§ Contribute to the drawing up of agreements between Progressio, project partners and donors.
§ Ensure the implementation and supervision of funded projects according to agreements with donors.
§ Ensure timely and adequate reporting to donors on all funding secured for the programme.
§ Liaise with the PFO and/or the London-based funding staff in order to plan and organise visits by donors when necessary.
§ Liaise with the London-based Fundraising team in order to meet donor requirements and to provide relevant information and other activities to further the success of the funding strategy.
5. Investigate and develop potential local partners working on issues within Progressio’s strategic themes and cross-cutting issues, like gender and faith, and propose to the CA Sub-regional Manager the best strategic placement of DWs within those partner organisations, and prepare assessments and placement descriptions.