Director - Technical Support and Capacity Development

Background

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions. It aims to address the challenges of building resilience in infrastructure systems and their development. The vision, mission, goal, and objectives of the CDRI are linked to the post-2015development agendas. The CDRI will also contribute to the resilience of global infrastructure systems in an increasingly interconnected world. The outcomes would lay foundation of resilient economies and society through cross-sector commitments at to global scale.

The CDRI will support countries to upgrade their systems for ensuring disaster and climate resilience of existing and future infrastructure. It seeks to rapidly expand the development and retrofit of resilient infrastructure for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) objectives of universal access to basic services, enabling prosperity, and decentwork. The CDRI envisions measurable reduction in infrastructure losses from disasters including extreme climateevents.

The Government of India has established a Society in New Delhi to act as the Secretariat of CDRI. The Secretariat functions under the direction of the international Governing Council and implements the programmes of CDRI. This position is being advertised for national hire in staff positions on Fixed Term Contract of three (3) years.

Objective of the position

CDRI is looking for an experienced professional for the position of Director Technical Support and Capacity Development to lead all aspects of project management of its initiatives in Disaster Resilience Infrastructure. The position holder would be responsible for better synergy with all project partners of CDRI at both national and international levels and ensure effective project implementation on all appropriate levels.

Reporting to the Director-General CDRI, the incumbent will head and ensure the effective accomplishment of activitiesunder the Strategic Priority 1: Technical Support and Capacity Development of CDRI.

Key Objectives of the Role

• Leads formulation and coordinated implementation of the substantive work programme of CDRI’s Technical Support and Capacity Development Division, determining priorities, and allocating resources, including human resources, for the timely completion and delivery of outputs.
• Responsible for negotiating and influencing functional teams to ensure that reasonable resourcing levels are maintained, and their stakeholders are engaged and managed throughout the development life cycle of the project.
• Managing relationship within project governance structures and cross functional teams and act as the key driver for strategic plan for drawing programme capacities of CDRI.
• Undertakes or oversees the programmatic/administrative tasks necessary for the functioning of the Division, including preparation of budgets, assigning and monitoring of performance parameters and critical indicators, reporting on budget/programme performance, preparation of inputs for results-based budgeting, evaluation of staff performance (PAS), interviews of candidates for job openings and evaluation of candidates.
• Responsible for preparing CDRI’s activities under Strategic Priority; Technical Support and Capacity Development, its budget, monitoring and impact assessment on technical and financial grounds. Formulate estimates of budget, contingency plan and validating project estimates from external and internal stakeholders.
• Derive and maintain effective control mechanism on the projects, its implementation and seeks clarification from stakeholders, whenever appropriate.
• Responsible for entire portfolio of capacity development by which CDRI may obtain, develop and retain the technical knowledge and skills to excel in the field of disaster resilience.

Within the delegated authority and the given organizational set-up, the incumbent will be responsible for following areas of the duties and tasks:

Plan, coordinate, and lead activities

• Ensure that the CDRI Secretariat has project objectives and associated work plan to support the national andglobal initiatives related to disaster resilience in line with the CDRI work strategy.
• Strengthen national and international support to CDRI's mission and objectives and establish the
• organization’s credibility and brand.
• Develop, maintain, and update the CDRI Project plan for development and its implementation. The strategy andwork plan would include environmental and stakeholder assessment, objectives, monitoring and evaluation of impact, success and opportunity for improvement, ongoing refinement of the project plan and its implementationstrategy.
• Chairs meetings, seminars, etc., on substantive-related issues, represents the Coalition and/or the Division atvarious regional, inter-agency and international meetings, seminars, and conferences.
• Maintain close collaboration with internal and external development partners for effective coordination at everylevel.
• Under the leadership of the Director-General, guide the Division to provide substantive support for and collaborate closely with the CDRI members on joint projects and policy analysis, and to cooperate with CDRI partner organizations and international agencies.

Deriving project plan

• Establish work plan and staffing for programmes and arrange for assignment of project teams and their smoothcoordination.
• Ensure timely achievement of the programme objectives in disaster resilience by ensuring effective technical and programmatic approach while initiating, implementing, or monitoring a project at national or international level.
• Outline work plan to define, scope, duties, responsibility, and scope of authority within projects team.

Technical assistance to the management

• Ensure that the CDRI Secretariat has a well maintained and continually developed knowledge pool of individuals, groups, organizations (including Government, UN, and national and international development agencies) whosesupport is essential while developing the project development plan and its implementation.
• Provides guidance to the division’s substantive contributions to other publications and reports that are coordinated by other divisions.
• Supports the DG to report to the Coalition’s and Society’s governance arrangements on
• management issues including budget/programme performance, as appropriate.

Global priorities and interventions

• Ensure that the CDRI Secretariat has an effective process in place for managing and implementing global Disaster Resilience priorities in general.
• Develop flow chart of implementation, list of stakeholders, implementation plan, and collaboration with appropriate authorities and organizations.
• Support the CDRI’s global objectives and strategies through implementation of complementary country specific activities. Work plan should anticipate the inclusion of work on global priorities and interventions.
• Coordinate strategies with representatives of the member countries and other multi-lateral partners with respect to substantive matters and ensure that productive and co-operative relations with counterparts are maintained.

Time frame and funding parameters

• Ensure that the time frame developed and finalized for the project is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timebound) and in line with the larger vision and objectives of CDRI.
• Ensure that funds derived for the project are appropriate and utilized timely by following comprehensive approach of managing, monitoring and analysing impact.
• Ensure that project activities are completed as per planned schedule and within budget while also ensuring financialaccountability.
• Enables results-based budgeting, and the management of finances in accordance with Indian and international regulations and rules.

Internal Capacity Building and Technical Support

• Ensure that the CDRI’s team is provided with professional expertise and advice on all aspects of project management, implementation strategy and its contingency plan.
• Ensure that all project teams are updated on required initiatives and plans linked with their specific projectobjectives.
• Proactively consult with project personnel to provide technical advice and to resolve problems at any level of programme

Research and Knowledge Management

• Support programme implementation through knowledge management, information exchange and building capacity of CDRI project team.
• Support the project teams in the development of work plan in line with the global development strategies developed for CDRI.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the capacity of partners through appropriate project management skills andcompetencies.
• Ensures that the outputs produced by the Division maintain high-quality standards; those reports are clear, objective and based on comprehensive data. Ensures that all outputs produced by the Division under his/her supervision meet required standards before completion to ensure they comply with the relevant mandates.
• Work with Director – Research and Knowledge Management to ensure organizational learning and capacity development of CDRI Staff.

Monitoring and evaluation

• Ensure that activities of the technical staff and division are following the established work plan of CDRI.
• Ensure that steps and objectives of the programme are regularly evaluated; analysis is undertaken to continuously improve the effectiveness of project planning mentors and its approach.
• Provide technical support to all projects within CDRI to ensure that a set of project management performance indicators is identified, and implementation and planning indicators are incorporated in the Annual Work Plan. Conduct timely and accurate monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure the development objectives of project teams are met and the strategy is effective.
• Review status reports prepared by project personnel and modified schedules or plans as required. Prepare and review project reports for presentation to the Coalition’s and Society’s governance arrangements and its members, as required

Trust building and collaboration

• Ensure that an environment of trust is developed, and institutions and stakeholders involved are engaged based on their own specific roles and responsibilities.
• Coordinate strategies with representatives of the member countries and multi-lateral organizations with respect to substantive matters and ensure that productive and co-operative relations with counterparts are maintained.
• Coordinate with the Director – Advocacy and Partnership/ Lead Specialist (Communication) on public outreach, press releases, public presentations of the work and web site development and content.
• Network with national and international organizations, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and private sector business interests for future program development of CRDI Secretariat in the field of disaster resilient infrastructure.
• Perform other reasonable duties as decided by the Director-General, CDRI.

Competencies relevant to the position

Core Values:

• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity

Core Competencies

• People Management
• Influencing Power
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts
• Managing Resources
• Persuading and Influencing
• Applying Technical Expertise
• Entrepreneurial Thinking

Technical Knowledge Required

• Demonstrates expertise in programme management, strategy, and organizational leadership in the fields of disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
• Demonstrates superior collaboration skills and techniques which may appropriately define alternate solutions to the projects and teams involved.
• Resolving conflicts while developing strong and productive partnerships with partners. Should be able to ensure effective change control procedures and their effective implementation.

Education and Experience Required

Education Criteria

• Post-Graduate qualification in project management, engineering, planning, architecture, environmental sciences,climate change, applied sciences, or a related field are preferred. A first-level university degree in combination with four additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Doctorate / PhD degree a field relevant to the profile’s technical requirements would be desirable.

Experience Criteria

• Over fifteen years of progressively responsible experience in programme/project management in disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, environment, or related area is required.
• Experience of work in Infrastructure Sectors (Power, Telecom, Transport, Water, Urban Infrastructure etc) for at least 5 years.
• Experience in senior management positions, including resource mobilization and partnership building is required.
• Experience in leadership positions, including leading complex planning processes, interacting with, andestablishing productive cooperation with a diverse number of partners, comprising Governments, the UN, multi-lateral systems, business, science and civil society is required.
• Experience overseeing office management in large international organizations is desirable.
• Experience working in the UN system is desirable.
• Experience representing organizations at high-level international conferences and events is desirable.
• Experience advocating for the core mandate of organizations with a wide range of partners is desirable

Reporting Line

The Director - Technical Support and Capacity Development would report to Director-General, CDRI.

Language Requirements

For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required

How to Apply

If you have experience of working in a similar capacity and want to make an active and lasting contribution in a global initiative spearheaded by India, please apply through the online application form only on or before the last date.

CDRI is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with strict confidence.

CDRI has ZERO Tolerance on sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment including sexual harassment and gender / racial discrimination. Any selection therefore will be subject to satisfactory reference and background check.