Job Title: Project Manager-Data Specialist
Department: Programming/INECD
Band: 9
Reports To: MEAL Advisor
Country/Location: Rwanda (Kigali)
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion, or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, nutrition, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.
Catholic Relief Services has been present in Rwanda since 1960, and currently implements projects in nutrition, WASH, agriculture, youth entrepreneurship, and peacebuilding. The Country Program has over 40 staff and implements its projects through local and international partners, with strong coordination/collaboration with Government of Rwanda structures.
Job Summary:
The Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) activity will promote nurturing and responsive care practices, especially in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and early childhood development (ECD) for caregivers and children. Specifically, the activity aims to improve health and nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and adolescents and improve infant and young child feeding practices. It also aims to address child development gaps and significant unmet physical rehabilitation and assistive technology (rehab/AT) and social inclusion needs for infants and children. The activity will focus on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages, and district-level capacity development, as well as address issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with Government of Rwanda priorities.
You will manage, coordinate, and monitor project activities and relationships with partners and other project stakeholders to assist the achievement of the Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) project objectives advancing Catholic Relief Services (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your project management skills and knowledge of the program area will ensure that the CP delivers high-quality programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of this project. The position of Data Specialist (DS) will be responsible for creating project-specific systems, tools, and applications to capture and run the project database. S/he will oversee the design and implementation of the data management plan to ensure high-quality data capture, storage, and access. The DS will manage the INECD’s database, data cleaning protocols, and entry processes, including INECD data quality control and performance monitoring systems.
Roles and Key Responsibilities:
- You will lead technical, budget management, monitoring, and reporting activities through most of the project cycle – start-up, implementation, and close-out – in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
- Ensure learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities following MEAL Policy. Proactively identify issues, report them to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
- Engage and strengthen partnerships relevant to INECD, applying the appropriate application of partnership concepts, tools, and approaches.
- Represent the organization with donors, INGO working groups, UN, relevant local partners and relevant local government and community actors for INECD.
- Assist with preparation of trends analysis reports and disseminate results. Review project documentation to ensure the project file is complete with all required documentation and is filed per agency and donor requirements.
- You will create, maintain and update the INECD Beneficiary database
- The DS will oversee the development and use of data systems.
- S/he will discover efficient ways to organize and store data with attention to accuracy, completeness, efficiency, security, and confidentiality.
- Troubleshoot and address any issues to ensure optimal performance of the databases, networks, servers, and devices.
- Provide timely and quality service delivery, technical support, and advice to user requests to ensure proper user access to the INECD data and information.
- In collaboration with CRS IT, maintain inventory of ICT4D/MEAL equipment, hardware, and software and ensure adequate supply and functionality, both in the office and in the field.
- Support capacity-building initiatives, remotely or on-site, to staff, partners, and end-users to ensure efficient and consistent adoption and use of data.
- Make available high-quality data on a regular and timely basis for INECD decision-making.
- Regularly review and accordingly adjust data management plans and procedures in the light of changes and needs in the field context based on monitoring data and reflection sessions.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree required. Master’s Degree in the field of Statistics, Data Science, information management, computer science, or a similar field would be a plus.
- Minimum of 5 years of work experience in project management, ideally in the field of health and/or education and for an INGO.
- Additional experience may substitute for some education.
Required Languages – English and Kinyarwanda. The knowledge of French would be a plus.
Travel – The position is Kigali based. Must be willing and able to travel up to 30 %.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound judgment.
- Strong relationship management skills and the ability to work effectively with local stakeholders. Representation abilities.
- Ability to contribute to written reports
- Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented
- Attention to details, accuracy, and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with stakeholders at various levels and strengthening community partnerships.
- Ability to contribute to the development of technical proposals, a plus.
- Experience analyzing data and contributing to evaluation reports.
- Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), SPSS, STATA, R, Power Bi, and CommCare.
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Integrity
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation
- Builds Relationships
- Develops Talent
- Strategic Mindset
- Accountability & Stewardship
Supervisory Responsibilities
None
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: MEAL team, INECD Technical Advisors, CRS IT Manager, DCoP, CoP, Country Representative, MEAL RTA, HQ GKIM Team
External: INECD consortium members, INECD local implementing partners, INECD supported districts leadership, MOH, RBC, NCDA, relevant TWGs.
***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer
How to apply
Interested and qualified candidates should complete the attached application form, Self -Declaration Clause and submit them together with one page Cover letter plus updated CV (maximum three pages) all in/as one document – via email only to: RW_HR@crs.org not later than Friday, September 17, 2021, at 5:00 pm.
Please, include the below statement in your motivation letter:
“By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics”
Also, include your full names and title “Data Specialist” in the subject line. Due to the anticipated high interest in this post and the expected number of applicants, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
Kigali. September 6, 2021
Jude-Marie Banatte
Country Representative
CRS/Rwanda Program
