About CARE

CARE International is a global leader within a worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty. CARE works around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. We put women and girls in the centre of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. CARE has been working in Uganda since 1969 and we work across all the regions of Uganda. The goal of our 2021-2025 business plan is to reach 10 million people, through our lifesaving and gender transformative humanitarian, development, and nexus programs. We are committed to working with government, private sector, and local civil society, especially women-led and women’s rights organisations.  Our annual portfolio is $15 million, funded through a diverse range of donors.

Projects Summary

SUSTAINED is a 10-month project led by Mercy Corps, with CARE and Oxfam as consortium partners. The overall goal of the project is to increase access and use of quality, reliable, affordable, and clean energy sources for refugees and surrounding host communities. The project which will be implemented within the Bidibidi refugee settlement and host communities in Yumbe District will adopt a market systems approach, responding to the clear need for linkages to facilitate the entry of quality private sector actors into displacement settings, whilst ensuring that vulnerable populations can access quality products and

services, in a safe, supportive environment. In this context, SUSTAINED will work with energy service companies (ESCOs), Financial Service Providers (FSPs), and refugee and host communities, to address both demand and supply side barriers. The SUSTAINED programme will also take an ‘ecosystem approach’, supporting the development of an enabling environment required for a clean energy marketplace for refugees in Uganda. Within the consortium, CARE together with its Implementing partner are responsible for demand activation for clean cook stoves. That is, generating awareness, fostering social behavior change, and aggregating demand for clean cook stove technologies in host and refugee communities.

To oversee the CARE component within this project, we require a dynamic professional who has demonstrated experience in behavior change and demand activation for renewable energy technologies, private sector engagement, gender transformation and implementation of innovative clean energy projects.

Job SUMMARY

The Initiative Manager (IM) will be a member of the Climate Justice Program and will provide overall leadership on delivery of the SUSTAINED project. The IM will be responsible for project management oversight, technical guidance and quality assurance for both CARE and Partner led SUSTAINED project activities. The IM will be directly responsible for management of CARE’s Implementing Partner under this project, using sound principles of Locally led, to ensure delivery of outstanding results. Additionally, the IM will ensure that renewable energy interventions are gender transformative and achieve the best value for money. Furthermore, the IM will be required to contribute to the growth and quality assurance of the energy portfolio at CARE. The IM will report to the Climate Justice Program manager and will be the key liaison for CARE within the SUSTAINED consortium, Yumbe District and at Bidibidi settlement level.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibility #1: Project MANAGEMENT Oversight

·        The IM is responsible for ensuring timely delivery of CARE’s planned deliverables as per approved proposals and budgets, working closely with the consortium and implementing partner (IP).

·        The IM will be responsible for planning and timely execution of activities, within the tight timeframe of the of the SUSTAINED project.

·        The IM will liaise with the Implementing Partner and the CARE Grants team to monitor budget utilization, ensuring that there are no overspends and underspends and ultimately, zero No-Cost Extensions (NCEs).

·        The IM will review project risks from time to time, and devise timely mitigation measures, with the use of appropriate risk management tools.

·        The IM will be responsible for consolidation of reports, both financial and narrative, and ensure timely quality reporting to the donor as per respective grant agreements.

Responsibility #2: Program QUALITY and LEARNING (PQL)

·        The IM will appraise the energy solutions, to identify any technological, managerial or governance issues which may hinder the intended impact, and coordinate with ESCOs to address these within the demand activation interventions.

·        The IM will plan, organize and manage the regular project reflection meetings, ensuring that the lessons are captured and inform on-going improvement in project delivery.

·        The IM will provide technical backstopping to the project’s Implementing partner to ensure delivery of outstanding results.

·        The IM will work closely with the gender advisor to ensure that the project, including interventions by other consortium partners, is gender transformative.

·        The IM will also be required to embrace and embed other CARE quality markers of resilience, and governance across the project cycle, reporting on progress using the established MEAL system and other reporting systems like PIIRS.

·        The IM will ensure quality engagement at PQL platforms including monthly Program Review Meetings (PRMs) and quarterly PQL workshops.

·        The IM will work closely with the MEAL advisor to ensure a functional feedback and accountability mechanism is in place.

·        The IM will ensure robust communications and visibility of the project across different platforms like CARE shares, social media and any other relevant platforms that may present themselves, using quality content.

Responsibility #3: Strategic ENGAGEMENT and NETWORKING (SEN)

The IM is responsible for external engagement, representation and influencing systemic change at all levels using different platforms, networks, alliances and coalitions. To this end:

·        The IM will be responsible for the advocacy and influencing of actors within the energy sectors, Government, CSOs, and Private sector to expand clean energy solutions for refugees and their host communities.

·        The IM will be the main link between the SUSTAINED project and key leadership structures and/or technical working groups for both Humanitarian and development programs at Local Government Settlement and National levels, ensuring representation and contribution to on-going initiatives and policy debates within the energy sector.

·        The IM is expected to engage internally at CARE, to influence the shift to and integration of renewable energy solutions within CARE as an organization, and other CARE programs other than Climate Justice.

·        The IM will leverage their own experience, to grow CARE’s engagement with renewable energy private sector partners and contribute to customization of CARE’s tools, processes and systems to suit private sector.

Responsibility #4: Program Design

The IM will leverage own experience and expertise, as well as the experience from existing CARE energy projects, to contribute to the growth of the energy portfolio of the Climate Justice program.

·        The IM will be required to identify and/or introduce and popularize cutting edge renewable energy innovations to CARE, for transformation the energy mix for women and girls in Uganda.

·        The IM will be responsible for documenting and/or design of clean energy models using the experience of SUSTAINED and other existing or past energy projects within CARE and beyond.

·        The IM will work closely with the CJ program manager to identify and pursue viable multi-year funding opportunities and to establish critical partnerships for building a robust energy portfolio at CARE.