POSITION DESCRIPTION

VOLUNTEER SERVICE ABROAD: TE TŪAO TĀWĀHI INC

POSITION TITLE: Senior Programme Officer – Programme Quality

REPORTING TO: Manager International Development

TENURE: Permanent Fulltime

BACKGROUND TO VSA Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) is a based international development organisation that sends Kiwi volunteers on long and short-term assignments to share their skills with communities striving for change in the wider Pacific and beyond.

VSA focuses on people-centred international development. We give great importance to manaakitanga which means we value respectful partnerships, working and learning together, cross- cultural understanding and the spirit of . VSA’s values and our strategic focus reflect our commitment to bringing the spirit of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to the philosophy and values of our international development programme.

There are currently 40 VSA staff working in , as well as field staff based in Timor-Leste, Bougainville, , , , , , and . In addition, VSA has a number of contractual arrangements with other individuals to provide volunteer support and/or programme development in other countries.

VSA is registered in New Zealand as an incorporated society and is a registered with the Charities Commission (CC36739). It is an independent, secular and not-for-profit organisation governed by a Council elected by the general membership of the organisation. VSA is funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme as well as corporate and private donors.

Further information can be obtained from VSA’s website www.vsa.org.nz.

BACKGROUND TO THE INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME UNIT (IPU) VSA’s International Programme Unit (IPU) comprises team members throughout the Pacific and in Wellington. The Programme Managers located throughout the Pacific develop country programmes, build relationships with overseas partner organisations, create assignments, and oversee VSA volunteer assignments. The IPU team members in Wellington are responsible for supporting the country programmes in the development of assignments and creation of assignment descriptions; working with other units to ensure appropriate selection of volunteers; and managing the briefing and deployment of volunteers; supporting Programme Managers in volunteer coordination; monitoring the progress of country programmes; and managing the return of volunteers and debriefing at the end of assignments. IPU works closely with other units within VSA to ensure that the organisation achieves its strategic objectives.

POSITION PURPOSE The purpose of the Senior Programme Officer role is to ensure the provision of robust effective and efficient practices to enable the accurate scoping of assignments, the placement and management of quality appropriate volunteers, and timely monitoring and evaluation of assignments for impact. This is achieved through the provision of strong support to the IPU in: • Supporting all the core functions of the IPU • Continual monitoring and improvement of IPU systems and processes to ensure that the volunteer experience is the best it can be 1

• Quality monitoring of assignment development to ensure consistency of quality across programmes • Maintaining the monitoring and evaluation framework for the organisation and assisting with ensuring that it is implemented • Keeping up-to-date on principles and practices of monitoring and evaluation in both the volunteering and the development sector

RESPONSIBILITIES In all of the functions outlined below, the Senior Programme Officer must use initiative and delegated authority appropriately, maintain an open accountability/reporting relationship with the Manager International Development and work closely with the Programme Managers (PMs), with other staff based overseas field offices, and with staff in Wellington. The Senior Programme Officer is also expected to proactively support the success and continual improvement of the International Programme Unit (IPU), enabling effective and efficient running of VSA operations; and to contribute to the achievement of VSA’s development strategy. As part of a team-based approach, staff of the International Programme Unit: • participate in an annual planning week in Wellington; • work on areas of common interest; • backup and take on other work and share workloads, as required; • work closely with other organisational units, e.g. Volunteer Recruitment, Human Resources, Communications, and Business Development, and Finance; and • undertake other duties as requested by the Manager International Development.

Processes and systems monitoring and improvement • Undertake regular reviews of IPU processes to ensure that they are effective and efficient • Participate in organisational review of systems and processes to ensure that they continue to help the organisation provide the best support for their volunteers whilst monitoring for impact • Communicate systems and process updates to Programme Managers and Programme Officers and undertake training on changes as required • Ensure consistency of IPU standard documentation • Write guidelines for IPU staff to ensure a consistent approach is being taken across programmes • Advise IPU staff on standard processes to follow in relation to monitoring and evaluating for impact • Contribute to analysis of Health, Safety & Security trends and issues across the programme.

Knowledge Management • Maintain an up-to-date understanding of development principles, and of the political, social, cultural and economic issues that are of importance to developing countries. • Maintain an understanding of the assistance provided by MFAT to the region in order to identify possible areas of collaboration between MFAT and VSA in enabling the countries of that region to meet their development goals • Collate feedback from volunteers, partner organisations and other stakeholders to ensure that VSA is consistently considered to be a high quality organisation

Recruitment, briefing, deployment and debriefing of Volunteers (IPU core functions) • Participate in volunteer recruitment and selection processes including short-listing, and serving on selection panels. • Contribute to, and present, Volunteer Pre-Departure Briefing sessions as appropriate. • Lead debriefing sessions of volunteers on return from their assignments, as required • In the absence of the Senior Programme Officer (Volunteer Logistics), cover their key tasks such as reviewing draft Assignment Descriptions, and providing support/guidance to IPU logistics staff.

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Monitoring and Evaluation • Assist Programme Managers with sector, thematic and regional special research projects such as compiling booklets on key themes (cross-cutting issues, sectors, etc) • Contribute to the preparation required for, and participate in, external organisational reviews. • Participate in cross-region, and cross organisational working groups and teams. • Contribute to the piloting and development of the Capacity Assessment tool. • Develop tools for assessing impact of VSA assignments including contribution to the SDGs. • Support Programme Managers in the design and implementation of partner forums. • Take a lead role in developing systems to enable regular collation of quantitative and qualitative M&E data. • Monitor progress of operational plans, country programmes and volunteer assignments, utilising VSA’s Results Management Framework, to inform planning and provide a reliable basis for evaluation, learning and reporting. • Lead the analysis of data and liaise with Programme Managers as to the outcomes. • Contribute to the development and maintenance of practices and systems for the recording, storage, and retrieval of information on the volunteer programme. • Contribute to the writing of reports for internal and external audiences.

Special Tasks and Projects • Attend external discussions and consultations relevant to strategic programme planning as required. • Attend field visits as required to assist Programme Managers and enhance contextual/environmental understanding, and on return share organisational and professional development learning at staff meetings and conferences where appropriate. • Regularly distribute updates of VSA activities to relevant organisations. • Contribute to website content ensuring volunteer and partner organisation information is current and accurate. • Attend external events and functions as required. • Contribute to the development of the annual budget. • Contribute to the development of country strategies as required.

Special Feature of Role A special feature of this role is that the Employee may be required to do occasional weekend work to support VSA’s regular schedule of volunteer briefings and recruitment selections. Selections and briefings occur approximately on one Saturday per month on average. Appropriate time off in lieu will be granted for this scheduled weekend work.

In order to meet the changing needs of the organisation, this Position Description may require change from time to time. Such change may be initiated by the CEO.

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Person Specification – Senior Programme Officer (Programme Quality)

Essential

• A tertiary qualification in development studies or related discipline • Proven expertise relevant to the responsibilities outlined in the job description • Experience of working in a developing country • Strong team approach and ability to self-manage • Well-developed administrative, financial and organisational skills, and computer literacy, including proficiency with database, email, spread-sheet and word-processing software • Proven expertise in analysis, planning, monitoring and evaluation • Ability to take initiative, be flexible and self-motivated in work practices, set priorities for self and meet required deadlines • A high level of interpersonal and communication skills including: - confidence and experience in making presentations - an ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships at many levels with a range of people - a proven record of working with people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds in a sensitive manner - strong written correspondence and report writing • Commitment to and understanding of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and bi-multi- culturalism

Desirable

• Experience of living and working in a pacific island nation

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