Head of Strategic Programs

JOB TITLE: HEAD OF STRATEGIC PROGRAMS

REPORTS TO:  DIRECTOR GENERAL  

LOCATION:  KIGALI, RWANDA

The Rwanda Chamber of Tourism is one of the 10 professional chambers that currently exist under the umbrella of the Private Sector Federation (PSF), which is dedicated to promoting and representing the interests of the Rwandan business community. It was established in December 1999, replacing the former Rwanda Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Following the establishment of the PSF, the Rwanda Chamber for Tourism was established in 2006, with a mandate of enhancing business opportunities through effective lobbying and advocacy for the tourism and hospitality industry in Rwanda.

 POSITION SUMMARY:

Under the direct supervision of Director General, the Head of Strategic Programs is the Technical lead for all Rwanda Chamber of Tourism (COT) Programs with Senior Management responsibility of establishing and enhancing key partnerships, increasing the COT Grant Portfolio and generating Business opportunities for Associations members. The Head of Programs, supports the Director in the translating of  COT Vision and strategy into ensuring project design and implementation are geared towards achieving scale and impact as well as attracting funding to diversify funding resources.

S/he will lead the planning, design, development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of COT and Secretariat programs and ensuring the quality of projects, implementation, donor reporting, and field-level management are of the highest standards.

The Head of Programs enforces quality assurance with all projects being implemented by the COT. The Director provides line management support to all Directors, Program Coordinators including overall management of their performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The main responsibilities aligned to this role include but are not limited to:  

Program Strategy, Management, & Development

• Participate in COT and regional level strategic planning and contribute to the sustainable management of program growth with an eye towards program growth and development.
• Enable and oversee effective, efficient, and timely implementation of all projects according to agreed contracts, budgets, policies, and in accordance with specific donor requirements.
• Ensure that relevant beneficiary data is collected, compiled, analyzed, and distributed, and that relevant assessment are conducted in the project areas of focus.
• Lead the planning and development of concept papers, budgets, and project proposals with support from the line COT team.
• Provide regular internal and external reports, and other relevant information on programme activities, policy matters, and external relations.
• Support the Technical team to ensure effective coordination and visibility of the implementation of the projects with all humanitarian and development actors.  

Fundraising, Grant proposals writing & reporting processes

• Lead funding opportunities and coordinate the activities of the program managers, budget holders, and SMT to identify and materialize opportunities in alignment within Rwanda and regional strategies ensuring that all new funding opportunities and proposals reflect the existing capacities and strategy of the COT Business Models.
• Lead and oversee the drafting of concept notes, proposals, and donor reports by program managers (including budgets for cost-related activities) in coordination with support departments in compliance with COT partner  
• Ensure all concept notes and project proposals are well written, professionally presented, have undergone technical review by relevant sector focal points, are reflective of best practices, and are in line with COT strategy as well as broader regional and global strategies of the organization. This responsibility may entail support in designing and coordinating needs assessments and other research initiatives.
• Oversee the work of the program support function, and the budgeting coordinator to make sure timely and coherent budget preparation for all new proposals and budget revisions.  
• Ensure timely and targeted communication and information flow to all relevant internal and external parties in coordination with the Director-General, private sector and other regional stakeholders to remain informed about program achievements. 

Program Staff Management and Capacity Building

• Effectively manage program teams, including managers, specialists, and technical experts across the country with an emphasis on program implementation excellence, learning, creativity, and innovation that promote the tourism and hospitality business in Rwanda.
• Lead and manage the programme department staff including people planning, recruitment, objective setting, performance reviews, well-being, and development.
• Conduct annual staff performance reviews, ensuring that poor performance is identified and corrective measures are put in place to develop staff capacity and encourage improvements.
• Collaborate closely with the Director of Finance and Administration to allocate funding for staff development, performance management, and team-building processes.

Stakeholders’ Liaison, Partnerships, and Representation

• Upon delegation of the Director-General, represent the COT at various stakeholders’ convening.
• Cultivate key relationships that enhance COT’s visibility, credibility and notoriety across all stakeholders in Rwanda and East Africa.
• Identify local partners with whom to cooperate and partner with focusing on creating a more favorable business environment for the T&H sector.
• Provide support to the Director-General in advocacy undertakings that promote private sector Tourism and Hospitality Sector Business in Rwanda.

Implementation & Coordination

• Provide oversight, guidance, and leadership to all aspects of COT in-country and regional projects implementation
• Ensure effective and transparent budget follow up, planning, and use of financial resources in coordination with the Area Managers (budget holders), in compliance with COT Partner policies and priorities.
• Effectively stay abreast of donor policies, procedures, rules, and regulations; and train COT program staff in these policies, developing guidelines and ensuring kick-off meetings to ensure compliance with donor rules and regulations.  

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning

• Business Intelligence: lead all key business consultancies, focusing on creating business opportunities for the COT and counterpart regional association members: this will include the analysis, presentation, and reporting of key information gathered from diverse sources.
• Coordinates policy development, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations, or other research activities and studies.
• Design and ensure the implementation of effective and participatory program monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning strategies at all levels of the COT strategic plan.
• Ensure that all projects contribute to measuring impact and are in line with COT strategic plan.
• Ensure quality programming by coordinating the technical support and contributing to the development of M&E tools and indicators and another quality improvement for various business
• Promote learning and knowledge management within the COT strategic
• Document lessons learned and best practices for dissemination within COT Association Members and EAC Region counterparts to donors and to other stakeholders when relevant in order to ensure synergetic programming and cross-program collaboration in COT Rwanda and in the whole region.
• Supervise monitoring and evaluation of the operations to ensure the overall implementation is in accordance with agreed work plans, donor agreements, and humanitarian accountability framework.
• Develop appropriate monitoring, tracking, and reporting systems, tools, and templates that enhance monitoring of programme outputs and quality, generate quality evidence on program impact and promote and ensure the use of data for decision-making processes/ program adjustments.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS:

• Master’s degree in Tourism and Hospitality, Business Management, Economics, or another relevant field.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in program management, leadership, and design; preferably in areas such as Tourism promotion Businesses, project Management, or any other related field.
• Good understanding of critical issues faced by the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Rwanda and the East African Community Region; with the ability to generate relevant intervention proposals.
• Demonstrate experience and skill in proposal development, budget development, program implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Proven leadership skills and competence in people management and leading by example
• Proven experience in effectively coordinating various projects with the private sector, government, international, and national NGOs and Corporate
• Proven experience in managing a diverse program portfolio, particularly in tourism promotion programming, in business development contexts.
• Ability to assess the viability of Tourism and Hospitality business opportunities and risks;
• Track record in developing and maintaining strong high-level relationships in the private sector, relevant governments, and development institutions;
• Demonstrable understanding and ability to enable and participant in market creation opportunities and interventions to strengthen tourism Business investment
• Ability to represent COT externally with the private sector, government, development partners, media, and other stakeholders;
• Team management experience including supervising, mentoring and training staff;
• Team player with strong leadership and influencing skills, and track record in working in a matrix structure; Strong client service orientation; Ability to resolve challenging issues;
• Excellent critical thinking, analytical and presentation skills, and ability to supervise the use of data utilizing standard office software Excel, Word, PowerPoint; among others.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English is required; working knowledge of French and Swahili is a strong added advantage.

HOW TO APPLY: 

Interested candidates should submit their application letters, CVs with 3 references and notarized degrees to the Director-General, Rwanda Chamber of Tourism not later than June 05, 2020, to the office of the Chamber of Tourism or emailed to info@rwandatourismchamber.org and rwandatourismchamber@gmail.com

Chamber of Tourism is committed to diversity at the workplace and offers a supportive work environment. Only shortlisted candidates shall be contacted.