The LAC Program Manager for Urban Upgrading and Resilience will join PCI’s Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience Unit, and will help lead PCI’s effort to develop scalable strategies to upgrade highly vulnerable informal urban areas in to healthier, more prosperous, resilient and safe neighborhoods. He/She will lead the development and implementation of PCI’s urban program in Tijuana, Mexico, as well as collaborate on PCI’s urban portfolio across Latin America. She/he will play a key role in developing and maintaining key project partnerships with municipal, corporate and non-profit partners contributing to urban upgrading and resilience, and develop new revenue streams to support and grow project activities. While the position will be based in PCI’s San Diego and/or Tijuana office at the outset, he/she will also collaborate on PCI’s evolving global urban portfolio, and there are possibilities to relocate to other PCI offices (such as in DC) or other PCI countries in due course.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Lead the development of PCI’s urban upgrading portfolio in Tijuana, including initiating partnerships with a broad range of public, private, university and community partners on both sides of the border.
Manage day to day activities in PCI’s cross border urban upgrading work between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. This includes:
Developing and maintaining partnerships with municipal and national government counterparts and private sector partners dedicated to upgrading high risk neighborhoods.
Providing technical and management oversight of project field activities in urban upgrading related to public spaces, housing, water and sanitation systems, and risk mitigation infrastructure, for example;
In collaboration with other PCI technical specialists, strengthen community capacities associated with resilience, disaster risk reduction, health, food security and livelihoods; and,
- Documentation and systematization of successful strategies such that they can be utilized to scale the initiative to new neighborhoods.
- In collaboration with PCI’s Development and New Business teams, cultivate new donors and partners with interests in urban programming in Tijuana and elsewhere in LAC and respond to funding opportunities.
- Initiate new, innovative partnerships with the private sector, such as the banking and finance sector, to develop opportunities to extend tailored financial services into project areas in Tijuana and across LAC.
- Help document, systematize, and share PCI’s work in urban areas across multiple sectors, such as those implemented in Tijuana and as part of PCI’s Barrio Mio project in Guatemala.
- In collaboration with PCI’s M&E and research teams, conduct research on urban trends and the effectiveness of PCI’s approaches in urban areas of LAC.
- Provide technical support to PCI’s urban programming globally in urban disaster risk management, resiliency and upgrading.
- Participate in international forums on urban issues, advocate for shared areas of concern related to urban vulnerability, and contribute to and learn from discourse on normative principles, best practices, and lessons learned on urban programming, and ensure that learning and experience from our LAC projects inform the broader discourse on urban upgrading.
Position Parameters/Special Responsibilities Required:
This position is based in San Diego, CA (or Tijuana, Mexico if appropriate) with extensive time in Tijuana, Mexico (or in San Diego if located in Tijuana), and will require occasional travel up to 30% time to Washington DC, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Required Experience
Graduate degree in urban planning, architecture, international development or related field.
Minimum of five years’ experience working directly on urban issues internationally (including in the field) addressing issues such as livelihoods, protection, access to safe housing, emergency preparedness and response, climate change adaptation, food security, and health. A strong background in housing, land use and land tenure, and urban upgrading preferred.
Experience with managing projects, preferably involving public-private partnerships.
- Track record of successfully writing proposals and fundraising from both the public and private sectors.
- Familiarity with public-private partnership strategies for urban upgrading.
- Demonstrable experience with the use of research and data to inform programming strategies and monitoring and evaluation.
- Fluency in English and language proficiency in Spanish required.
- Willingness to travel internationally and work in complex and highly vulnerable urban environments.
- GIS skills preferred.
Job Location: San Diego, CA, United States, (or Tijuana, Mexico if appropriate) with possibility to relocate to DC after 18 months.
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