Programme Manager, South Caucasus

• Job Title: Programme Manager, South Caucasus
• Location: London, with frequent travel to the region
• Reporting to: Europe-Asia Department Director
• Duration: Fixed term contract until December 2025
• Responsible for: South Caucasus Projects Manager, and consultants and associates as required.
• Salary: 55,000 gross per annum
• Deadline: 14 January 2024 UK time 9am

This is a great opportunity for a peacebuilding programme manager, with a focus on the Armenian-Azerbaijani context. This role will lead strategic and operational development of our work, and will oversee and lead support to partners, project implementation and design. This role would suit someone with extensive peacebuilding awareness, knowledge of the context, and proven experience developing new project ideas.

Job Purpose
The Programme Manager, South Caucasus, leads Conciliation Resources’ peacebuilding and conflict resolution work in the Armenian-Azerbaijani context. This includes oversight and management of an existing donor-funded consortium grant, coordination with formal negotiation processes, promoting and supporting community inclusion and engagement in peace processes, and generating analysis on peace and conflict drivers and dynamics and strategies for developing peacebuilding work.

The post holder is responsible for overseeing the full project cycle for activities, including design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, narrative and financial reporting. They act as a resource to partner organisations and represent the South Caucasus Programme in meetings with a range of interlocutors in context, in the donor community and elsewhere.

The post-holder leads on strategic development, implementation and resourcing of the South Caucasus Programme’s work in the Armenian-Azerbaijani setting, and manages a Projects Manager, consultants and associates. They will coordinate with other South Caucasus colleagues, focused on the Georgian-Abkhaz context, to ensure coherence across South Caucasus work, and to identify areas of opportunity for collaboration and exchange across the programme.

This post will work closely with department team colleagues, who provide grant support to programme team colleagues and support with cross-organisational coordination. The post is based in London, within the framework of hybrid working between Conciliation Resources’ office in London and home-working, and will involve frequent travel to the region.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, skills and experience

• Considerable experience of project management including project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and narrative and financial reporting.
• Practical and conceptual knowledge and experience of peacebuilding and conflict transformation processes, of processes of social and political change and of supporting the development of local capacities for peacebuilding.
• Considerable knowledge of the social and political landscape in the Armenian- Azerbaijani context and wider South Caucasus region, and its conflicts, ideally through experience of living or working in or on the South Caucasus region.
• Good working knowledge of spoken and written Russian.
• Experience of working with local partners in an accompaniment and mentoring role, including due diligence.
• Considerable experience of developing and designing new project ideas, building relationships with donors and writing proposals and budgets to secure new funds.
• Financial management experience and confidence overseeing finances, including preparing and managing annual budgets of at least £250k, monitoring and forecasting spend, and overseeing internal and external financial reporting.
• Experience of managing government or other donor-funded programmes, including donor relationship management, programme development and narrative and budget reporting.
• Excellent communication skills, to communicate complex issues effectively and adjust communication style to varying circumstances, including ability to listen actively to people from varying backgrounds and with a range of political, cultural, gender and sexual identities and value orientations, combined with an ability to engage with them clearly and sensitively.
• Experience of line managing staff, including task management, performance management and professional development.
• Experience of planning, running, and facilitating effective meetings and workshops.
• Appreciation of confidentiality, political sensitivity and the complexities of working in a situation of unresolved conflict or political transition.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Experience implementing projects in difficult social and political situations or conflict contexts, and experience of hostile environment training or willingness to undertake hostile environment training.
• Excellent organisational and coordination skills, including the ability to think and plan strategically while also retaining close attention to detail, to manage and prioritise a diverse and demanding workload, to convene and run efficient meetings and meet deadlines.
• Experience of navigating the complexities of working in conflict-affected situations, including appreciation of confidentiality and handling sensitive information with due care.
• Willingness to work irregular hours on occasions and for frequent international travel.
• Excellent word processing, spreadsheet, database and email software skills.

Desirable knowledge, skills and experience

• Experience facilitating dialogue processes.
• Experience undertaking advocacy with policymakers.
• Knowledge and experience of peace mediation and dialogue processes, including formal track 1 and local community dialogue and reconciliation processes.
• Working knowledge of Armenian and Azerbaijani languages.