Roles of Senior Technical Advisor and Senior Program Officer in C-EFE

Brenda Cooke, Senior Technical AdvisorElsa Sumido – Senior Program Officer

CARICOM Education for Employment Program (C-EFE)June 2, 2013

C-EFE Context

• CARICOM Education for Employment – 20M, 5 years

• 3 STAs in field– Regional Coordinator/STA, OECS, Trinidad and Tobago and

Barbados

– STA, Suriname and Guyana

– STA, Belize and Jamaica

– Administrative & Finance Officers (Local – FT)

Head Office Personnel

– MJF, Director, International Partnerships

– Operations Manager (PT)

– Senior Program Officers (2 - FT)

– Admin Coordinators (2 – PT)

– Canadian consultants (Gender, LMI, Entrepreneurship, Leadership specialists)

– Caribbean consultants (Regional Advisor, Social Marketing, Suriname specialists)

– Plus overall organizational support (VP, Finance, Admin, HR, Marketing)

STA and SPO jobs• Operations Manager’s job

– Responsible for overall operational program mgt and successful delivery of C-EFE

– Sustain relationship with partners in Canada• STA’s job

– responsible for quality and timely implementation of C-EFE workplans in their countries of responsibility

– Regional responsibilities for particular areas (Leadership and Career Guidance)

– Sustain relationships with partners in the field• SPO’s job

- Provide day-to-day support to STAs/field offices to ensure - Provide day-to-day support Manager of Operations in ensuring successful

delivery of program

STA - ‘Senior’• Representative of ACCC in the country • Need to connect with Senior persons ---

Ministers, Presidents, business leaders• Need to be able to work at senior level: – Aware of big picture

– without supervision

– demonstrating sound judgment, integrity, propriety

– Knowing when to raise an issue to a higher level

STA - ‘Senior’ cont’d• managing time, multiplicities, ambiguity• as part of a team with other colleagues• Senior level experience in Canada is a help – credibility.

(Ph.D. definite bonus)• Should know about international development –

millennium goals, global initiatives, approaches by other donors, international groups (UNESCO, ILO, etc.)

• Work with partners to help them implement their initiatives without imposing Canadian solutions

• e.g. C-EFE example re CVQ, NTAs etc.

STA - ‘Technical’

Subject matter expert• E.g., Curriculum, QA, Strategic and

Business Planning, LMI, etc.• People expect you to know a

little or a lot about every subject area

• Often asked to review country’s approaches and provide feedback or help them with their initiatives

• Have resources available to share e.g. business plan template

• Able to produce templates

Technically competent • Skilled in use of computer

– Office – (word, excel, ppt) – competent, quick, professional looking,

– Email– Web meeting programs (GotoMeeting,

Webinar, VOIP programs, LMIs)– Equipment - use and source– Internet research

• Everyday technical survival skills - get a lease, read a map, drive a car, arrange transportation, do banking, keep records, call long distance, etc.

STA - ‘Advisor’

• Advisor versus Manager • We do not set up a Program Management Unit. • Expected to be a support to partner who implements the

initiative• Leadership from behind

C-EFE WBS

SPO – support to field offices• Standardize systems for delivery and

administration in the field – Operations Manual (so STAs don’t get bogged down with procedures and will have more time to do technical work) – events, hiring, reporting, etc.

• Align operations with ACCC and CIDA rules• Address budget issues – financial support for

what needs to be done in the field

SPO – Support to Manager of Operations

• Respond to CIDA requests / queries – get inputs from STAs

• QA all standard reporting requirements, including workplans, progress reports and core document revisions (LM, PMF, RR)

• Oversee budgeting, spending & reporting• Manage electronic files of everything C-EFE• Oversee all contracting and contract

management processes

Operational Division of Labour & Collaboration

• General rule: Everything Canada is led by Ottawa, everything field is led by STAs

• Institutional Partnerships – SPOs deal with Canadian partners for contract compliance (including reporting); STAs deal with Canadian and Caribbean partners for technical advise and linkaging support

• Lead and support roles• Share everything to team – circulation of meeting reports by

STAs• Solicit inputs/comments from team – circulation of major

outputs by lead• STAs meet, Ottawa staff meets, team water cooler meetings

Admin Coordinators, IP Management and SPOs and ACCC Corporate Staff

• Admin Coordinators support SPOs and MO• Lessons learned and templates developed by

SPOs for other projects• Corporate support as needed.

Some quotes / rules we live by

• “Let (ask) the STAs think, write, make decisions and do all the technical stuff – that’s why they are paid the big bucks.”

• “The Ottawa people are not just pretty faces, they have brains too. So use them!”

• Never read between the lines. • Ottawa and field offices – two different worlds.• Share and celebrate each others’ successes.