Head of Programs

Duties and Responsibilities:

Programme Leadership & Quality

• Provide strategic oversight of all IsraAID Uganda programmes, including WASH, Nutrition, Child Protection, and other emerging sectors.
• Lead programme planning, design, and implementation across all field locations in line with IsraAID's global strategy and country priorities.
• Ensure all programme activities are delivered on time, within budget, and in compliance with donor requirements and IsraAID standards.
• Provide oversight of programme quality through regular field visits, programme reviews, technical support to field teams and ensuring that monitoring data, evaluations, community feedback, safeguarding concerns and lessons learned are systematically reviewed and used to strengthen programme effectiveness and impact.
• Lead the development and review of project work plans, monitoring frameworks, and programme reports.
• Ensure timely and accurate internal programme reporting to the Country Director, Country Management Team, and HQ
• Work closely with the MEAL Officer to ensure that robust monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning systems are in place and that programme teams effectively utilize evidence and recommendations for adaptive management and continuous improvement.

Staff Supervision & Team Management

• Directly supervise the senior programmatic officers, including WASH Officer, Area Project Officers, and Senior Nutrition Officer.
• Provide regular performance feedback, coaching, and development support to programme staff.
• Lead the coordination of programme team meetings and ensure effective communication across all field locations.
• Support recruitment processes for programme positions, including JD review, shortlisting, and panel interviews.
• Foster a positive, collaborative, and accountable team culture across the programme unit.

Donor Relations & Reporting

• Lead the preparation of high-quality narrative reports for donors, in coordination with MEAL and field teams.
• Maintain relationships with donor focal points and support donor visits and programme reviews.
• Represent IsraAID Uganda in programme-related coordination forums, working groups, and partner meetings.
• Lead programme design and contribute substantially to proposal development, donor engagement, and resource mobilization efforts.

Partnerships & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong relationships with Government counterparts, UN agencies, NGO partners, and community stakeholders.
• Represent IsraAID Uganda at national and district-level coordination meetings as required.
• Support the capacity building of partner Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) in programme implementation.

Planning, Budgeting & Compliance

• Lead programme strategy development and contribute to the Country Strategic Plan, budgeting, and operational planning processes.
• Monitor programme budget utilisation in coordination with the Senior Finance Officer and flag variances in a timely manner.
• Ensure programme activities comply with IsraAID Uganda's policies, donor requirements, and applicable national regulations.
• Perform any other duties as assigned by the Country Director.

Risk Monitoring

• Identify, monitor, and mitigate programmatic, operational, and contextual risks affecting programme delivery across all field locations.
• Maintain an up-to-date programme risk register and report risk status to the Country Director.
• Work with the MEAL Officer to integrate risk monitoring into MEAL systems, including tracking contextual changes that may affect project assumptions or logframe indicators.
• Flag any emerging risks related to security, access, partner performance, or compliance to the Country Director in a timely manner.

Required Experience and Technical Competencies:

• Bachelor's degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, International Relations, Social Work and Social Administration, Public Health, or a related discipline. (Required)
• Master's degree in a relevant field. (Added advantage / Preferred)
• Additional training or certification in project management, MEAL, or humanitarian programming is an advantage.
• Minimum 6 years' progressive experience in humanitarian or development programming, including at least 3 years in a senior management or programme leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-sectoral programmes (WASH, Nutrition, Child Protection, and/or MEAL) across multiple field locations.
• Proven experience working in a refugee, displacement, or humanitarian-response setting — experience in the Ugandan refugee context is an added advantage.
• Track record of successful programme design, implementation, and quality assurance against work plans, budgets, and donor agreements.
• Experience with donor-funded grants management and compliance (institutional and/or private donors), including timely and accurate reporting.
• Experience leading proposal development and resource mobilisation.
• Demonstrated experience in staff supervision and team leadership, including managing field-based teams.
• Experience in external representation and networking with government authorities (OPM, district local governments), UN agencies, donors, and coordination forums.

Skills

• Strong command of the full project cycle management (PCM) approach: design, implementation, monitoring, and close-out.
• Solid working knowledge of MEAL systems, including indicator and log-frame development, data use, and accountability to affected populations (AAP).
• Budget management and financial oversight of programme grants.
• Proposal and concept-note writing and donor reporting to a high standard.
• Understanding of safeguarding / PSEA and safe programming, and how to embed protection mainstreaming across sectors.
• Risk identification and management across programmatic, operational, and contextual risks.
• Strong analytical, strategic-planning, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English; strong report-writing skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office and comfort with data/reporting tools.
• Ability to represent the organisation credibly with donors, government, and partners.