Living Water International

Senior Director, Program Impact

JOB PURPOSE
We are looking for a thoughtful, action-oriented person to lead Living Water’s global efforts to increase holistic, sustainable impact for those lacking basic WASH services. This leader will have the unique opportunity to shape the program methods and mindsets of Living Water’s WASH programs. This includes for new areas emerging from our three-year strategy, Overflow 25, including: environmental stewardship, a greater emphasis on inclusive WASH and ‘reaching all’, systems strengthening within a program area, WASH-related disaster response, and increasing program generated revenue.

This role will serve on the Programs Leadership Team alongside Regional Vice Presidents for Africa, Asia, and Latin America & the Caribbean—collaborating on programmatic decisions that influence the work of 250+ Programs staff in 17 countries.

The Senior Director of Program Impact will lead a lean, multi-disciplinary, and global team that is focused on leading Living Water’s efforts to achieve more holistic, sustainable impact for those lacking basic WASH services. This team includes highly skilled professionals in Program Design, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning, and Grant Management, and drives programmatic contributions toward our strategy through two mandates:

1. Help the organization achieve our winning aspiration by “innovating holistic, sustainable WASH programs”
2. Drive efforts so that we achieve our strategic objective of serving 1 million people annually through holistic WASH programs by FY25.

The Program Impact team’s ethos and methods are heavily inspired by IDEO, acting like a “think and do tank” or an “R&D team.” Program Impact articulated its ethos in a set of “mantras:”

• We put people first. Everything we do is about increasing the impact we can have on the lives of people lacking basic WASH services, so we work to understand their lives deeply. We design with people, not for people.
• We experiment and learn from failure. We are constantly creating and testing new ideas, and we celebrate when we can “fail fast,” pivot, and continue to iterate.
• We value open, trustworthy relationships. We trust others and assume good intent. We seek to be open with our teammates, colleagues, and strategic partners.
• We leave our egos at the door. We ruthlessly seek the best option—voicing our opinions and listening to others so that the best idea wins.

Success in the role of Senior Director of Program Impact will look like this:
1. Country offices are implementing programs that are leading to a demonstrable impact of increased holistic wellbeing for 1 million people each year.
2. Staff in country offices have access to and are using data and insights to improve the quality of our programs on a regular basis.
3. New program offerings are being developed, tested, and scaled (and we have some “failures” that we decide not to scale).
4. Our innovative approach is attracting new partners and funders, and we are raising increasing funds from institutions.
5. Staff in country offices are using Human-Centered Design to design solutions at a community level in the context of a program.

CORE CHARACTERISTICS
These principles guide and identify us as colleagues and representatives of Living Water:
• Honor God • Develop People • Pursue Excellence • Be Good Stewards

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Senior Director of Program Impact is responsible to:
1. Lead the Program Impact team • Guide team priorities and workflow. • Foster a culture of spiritual health, integrity, service, learning, and professional development.
2. Drive the impact of programs through resources and accountability • Provide technical assistance and surge capacity in DMEL • Incubate technical capacity in newer programmatic areas (e.g., emergency response, environmental stewardship) when capacity doesn’t reside in regional or country teams • Support and elevate the work of Technical Working Groups (which are led by regional program advisors), and ensure the work of the TWGs intersects with global program improvement efforts.
3. Steward global program policy and guidance • Manage collaborative processes to update and maintain the following:
o Theory of Change o Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework o Learning & Research Agenda o WASH Program Area Guides o Quality Standards

4. Build partnerships and raise funds to expand impact to more people • Develop partnerships as a mechanism for testing new program approaches or offerings and for expanding impact through additional funds • Lead US-based program-generated revenue (PGR) efforts • Provide frameworks, tools, and support for regional and country-level partnership development and PGR efforts

5. Capture and share insights to facilitate continuous improvement and seed ideas for new program offerings • Oversee analysis, dissemination, and application of monitoring and evaluation data • Build systems and coach on approaches (e.g., Most Significant Change, research) to help all staff more deeply understand our primary customers—those lacking basic WASH services • Develop and steward knowledge management systems and research repositories

6. Incubate, test, and accelerate new program offerings • Screen program improvement ideas (through various sources) to determine what can be implemented at scale through regional service teams and what needs to be designed and tested prior to scale • Build multi-disciplinary, cross-functional teams to design and test new program offerings using Human-Centered Design approaches

7. Measure impact to understand and report on effectiveness • Develop and steward global indicator libraries, key performance indicators, and evaluation tools • Conduct ad hoc research and evaluations on relevant research questions

EDUCATION / EXPERIENCE / SKILLS
On the first day, we’ll expect you to have:
• A master’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. WASH, water resources management, economics, econometrics, international development, public health, behavioral sciences, or equivalent)
• Eight or more years of experience working in international development programs with a strong sense of best practice grounded in Christian theology
Strong knowledge of and applied experience with Human-Centered Design methodologies
• Demonstrated ability to deliver training and facilitate participatory design workshops in intercultural contexts
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally (maximum 20% travel) as the Program Impact team will be placing increasing emphasis on “being proximate” to those we’re designing solutions with
• Demonstrated proficiency in English, both oral and written
• Consistent access to reliable internet
• Five or more years of experience managing high-capacity teams to successful outcomes
• Expert knowledge of the technical, social, and public health aspects of WASH
• Experience living and working in low-income countries
• An established and demonstrable understanding of how to work and lead in intercultural settings
• Proven success developing partnerships and managing relationships with donors/grantors
• The ability to communicate clearly and persuasively through speaking and writing
• Experience writing crisp and evidence-based program design and policy documents
• Proven success designing, testing, and scaling solutions for people living in low-income countries

It’s great, but not required, that you have:
• A doctoral degree in a relevant field
• Experience with inclusive WASH, disaster response, and/or environmental stewardship
• Understanding and experience with agile project management methods, and project/program management tools commonly used in development (e.g., PMD Pro)
• Proficiency in another language used in Living Water’s country offices (e.g. Spanish, French)
• Strong sense of data intelligence and ability to perform data analytics / statistical analysis

More about Living Water Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by helping communities acquire desperately needed clean water and to experience “living water”—the gospel of Jesus Christ—which alone satisfies the deepest thirst. We mobilize churches and communities through water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions to increase the physical, spiritual, and social wellbeing of the most vulnerable in communities around the world. With over 330 global staff, we currently work in 17 countries and have provided access to safe water to nearly 7 million people.

We Offer • Generous PTO, Vacation, and Holidays • Retirement/403(b) with match • Medical, Vision and Dental benefits • Group Life, STD, LTD and AD&D (Employer paid) • Opportunities for professional development • Spiritual care and formation program • Tuition reimbursement program • Employee assistance program