Deputy Chief of Party I job at Catholic Relief Services ( CRS )

Job Summary:

As the Deputy Chief of Party I, you will be a key member of the Restore Africa team, supporting the effective implementation of land restoration initiatives in Uganda. Your strong management and technical expertise will contribute to high-quality program delivery and reinforce CRS’s reputation as a leading agency in land restoration and climate finance. As a senior leader, you will also play a proactive role in overseeing security management and mitigating security risks.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

Project Leadership and Implementation

• Manage key aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of Restore Africa in Uganda. Serve as a primary point of contact for GEA and, when needed, for public, private, and non-government stakeholders.
• Ensure all project approaches and activities align with Government of Uganda (GoU) priorities, plans, and policies.
• Address bottlenecks, communicate security-related adaptations, recommend programmatic shifts with the COP and technical experts, and scale up best practices to achieve high-quality program implementation.
• Regularly review the project strategy to ensure continued relevance and recommend adjustments or alternative approaches to technical working groups and senior management.

Program Quality and Standards

• Oversee key project functions to meet donor/investor expectations related to timely results, quality implementation, and budget performance.
• Support coordination between program and operations teams for harmonized and effective delivery.
• Ensure compliance with CRS program quality standards, including CRS policies, MEAL procedures, and project management requirements.

Talent Management and Supervision

• Provide effective leadership, supervision, and talent management for project staff.
• Foster positive team dynamics and promote staff well-being.
• Provide coaching and mentoring, tailor individual development plans, and complete performance assessments for direct reports.
• Contribute to staffing plans and support recruitment processes for senior project staff.

Risk Management and Security

• Monitor national and regional developments that may affect staff or programming and manage associated risks.
• Ensure staff understand and adhere to CRS safety and security policies and support regular updates to security plans.
• Communicate security responses and adaptations as required.

Resource Stewardship and Compliance

• Promote and model the responsible use of agency and donor resources.
• Ensure financial compliance, including tracking and oversight of partner budgets, financial management, administration, and reporting.

Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement

• Maintain strong relationships with consortium partners and support coordination of roles and activities in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Ensure programme staff effectively engage federal, regional, and district authorities.
• Support partners in preparing quarterly and annual reports, addressing capacity gaps to improve reporting quality.

Learning, Improvement, and Capacity Strengthening

• Create and maintain an enabling environment for learning by encouraging open sharing of ideas, solutions, and challenges.
• Identify performance gaps and recommend capacity-building interventions for CRS and partner staff.
• Ensure mechanisms are in place for continuous learning, adaptive management, and timely response to implementation deficiencies.

Basic Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, international relations, or a relevant technical field such as natural resource management, land restoration, or climate change financing.
• Minimum of 3–5 years of relevant management and technical experience in natural resource management, land restoration, and/or climate change financing.
• At least 3 years of experience managing donor-funded projects, including strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
• Proven experience in managing complex, multi-activity projects with challenging logistics, as well as experience working within or managing consortia.
• Demonstrated staff management abilities that support a learning-focused environment, including experience in coaching and mentoring staff.

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy is a plus.
• Experience in the MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Visio), web conferencing applications, and information and budget management systems.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to see the bigger picture and make sound judgements and decisions.
• Excellent relationship management skills, with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally, and to take a strategic approach to relationship building.
• Proven team leadership abilities, particularly in managing diverse and multidisciplinary teams, along with strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-orientated, and results-driven, with the ability to anticipate challenges and recommend effective responses.

Required Languages: Excellent command of written and spoken English required.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 50 % to project sites with occasional international travel.

• Manage key aspects of the development, implementation, and consolidation of Restore Africa in Uganda. Serve as a primary point of contact for GEA and, when needed, for public, private, and non-government stakeholders.
• Ensure all project approaches and activities align with Government of Uganda (GoU) priorities, plans, and policies.
• Address bottlenecks, communicate security-related adaptations, recommend programmatic shifts with the COP and technical experts, and scale up best practices to achieve high-quality program implementation.
• Regularly review the project strategy to ensure continued relevance and recommend adjustments or alternative approaches to technical working groups and senior management.
• Oversee key project functions to meet donor/investor expectations related to timely results, quality implementation, and budget performance.
• Support coordination between program and operations teams for harmonized and effective delivery.
• Ensure compliance with CRS program quality standards, including CRS policies, MEAL procedures, and project management requirements.
• Provide effective leadership, supervision, and talent management for project staff.
• Foster positive team dynamics and promote staff well-being.
• Provide coaching and mentoring, tailor individual development plans, and complete performance assessments for direct reports.
• Contribute to staffing plans and support recruitment processes for senior project staff.
• Monitor national and regional developments that may affect staff or programming and manage associated risks.
• Ensure staff understand and adhere to CRS safety and security policies and support regular updates to security plans.
• Communicate security responses and adaptations as required.
• Promote and model the responsible use of agency and donor resources.
• Ensure financial compliance, including tracking and oversight of partner budgets, financial management, administration, and reporting.
• Maintain strong relationships with consortium partners and support coordination of roles and activities in line with CRS partnership principles.
• Ensure programme staff effectively engage federal, regional, and district authorities.
• Support partners in preparing quarterly and annual reports, addressing capacity gaps to improve reporting quality.
• Create and maintain an enabling environment for learning by encouraging open sharing of ideas, solutions, and challenges.
• Identify performance gaps and recommend capacity-building interventions for CRS and partner staff.
• Ensure mechanisms are in place for continuous learning, adaptive management, and timely response to implementation deficiencies.

• Strong strategic, analytical, systems-thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to see the bigger picture and make sound judgements and decisions.
• Excellent relationship management skills, with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally, and to take a strategic approach to relationship building.
• Proven team leadership abilities, particularly in managing diverse and multidisciplinary teams, along with strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-orientated, and results-driven, with the ability to anticipate challenges and recommend effective responses.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English required.

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, international relations, or a relevant technical field such as natural resource management, land restoration, or climate change financing.
• Minimum of 3–5 years of relevant management and technical experience in natural resource management, land restoration, and/or climate change financing.
• At least 3 years of experience managing donor-funded projects, including strong knowledge and experience in budget management.
• Proven experience in managing complex, multi-activity projects with challenging logistics, as well as experience working within or managing consortia.
• Demonstrated staff management abilities that support a learning-focused environment, including experience in coaching and mentoring staff.
• Experience engaging partners and strengthening partnerships. Knowledge of CRS partnership strategy is a plus.
• Experience in the MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Visio), web conferencing applications, and information and budget management systems.