Asia Programme Manager Jobs in Guildford, Surrey

Job Title: Programmes Officer – based in Liberia & Sierra Leone
Reporting to: Head of Programmes – Sierra Leone & Liberia
Contract Type: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Principal Location: Monrovia, Liberia with frequent travel across Sierra Leone
Updated: Febuary 2024

Our Organisation:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 1,000,000 children to go to school and learn.

Part 1: Role Purpose:

We are seeking an outstanding Programmes Officer for an exciting opportunity to support Street Child’s programme portfolio in Liberia and Sierra Leone. This role will cut across Street Child’s programming in the region, including a specific focus on the $12.8m Education for Every Child Today (EFECT) Project which aims to enrol 96,000 out of school children in school across West Africa over a 4-year period.

The key objectives of this role are to work closely with Street Child’s federal partners to support the effective implementation of adaptive programming, and to support accurate and timely donor reporting across a range of institutional, trust & foundations, and corporate donors. The ideal candidate will have strong written and excel skills, with experience of MEAL and financial management processes. The role will engage regular, detailed interaction with Street Child’s UK and European fundraising community.

The role holder will work in close collaboration with Street Child’s regional Head of Programmes, based in Freetown, as well as partner Programmes, MEAL and Finance teams to coordinate timely and quality implementation and reporting across the programmes portfolio.

Based in Monrovia, whilst serving a regional brief, the role-holder will be expected to be especially involved in supporting the programmes, and wider life, of Street Child of Liberia. This aspect of the role in particular demands a confident, ‘self-sufficient’ and motivated personality – who is excited by the opportunity and attendant career potential, as opposed to being overawed by the inevitable, multi-dimensional challenges.

Part 2: Key Responsibilities:

Reporting & Programme Funding Engagement – 35%

• Review narrative and financial quarterly reporting from country teams and provide feedback.
• Lead on the consolidation of narrative reporting (low-mid value donors) for a variety of donors within the portfolio.
• Ensure regular information flow to Street Child communications and fundraising teams, inclusive of collection and drafting of case studies and photos.
• Supporting income-generation opportunities - potentially including supporting donor visits, in-country donor engagement and broad-based support to the group’s global programme-funding efforts for both Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Programme & MEAL Management – 35%

• Work in collaboration with national partner and cross-country implementation teams across Liberia and Sierra Leone to ensure quality and timely implementation of project activities.
• Work alongside social, enterprise and education teams across both countries to support a joined-up approach to project implementation and MEAL, ensuring relevant data are collected with due care and utilised for project planning, reporting and learning.
• Provide strong support to EFECT programme staff and partners in Liberia & Sierra Leone in programme and MEAL department.
• Alongside colleagues provide training, guidance and advice to partner delivery staff to ensure effective and accurate use of programme documents and tools.
• In liaison with Safeguarding Focal Points monitor safeguarding policies ensuring adequate implementation of policies and procedures, and support to close feedback loops with partners & project participants.
• Provide capacity strengthening to Street Child Colleagues where possible.

Financial Support – 25%

• Support the country teams in compiling requisitions in line with programme forecasts and budgets.
• Support on the collation of financial reporting requirements for low-mid value donors.
• Support on tracking of donors & match funding within the EFECT programme.

Other – 5%

• Coordinating staff, stakeholders and donor visits.
• A strong commitment to Street Childs vision, mission and values.
• Adhere to all Street Child’s policies and procedures.
• Represent Street Child appropriately both internally and externally.
• Carry out all reasonable requests that are within the broad remit of the role.

Part 3: Person Specification

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

• Experience and Knowledge.
• Relevant field experience of development programming, with a commitment to and respect for local partnership.
• Experience of successful delivery of team objectives by working closely and collaboratively within a team at all levels
• Experience of data collection, cleaning and analysis.
• Relevant experience of working in support of local partners.
• Demonstrable experience of quality programme implementation.
• Demonstrable experience of budget management.
• Demonstrable experience of capacity building with national staff.
• Demonstrable experience of donor reporting.
• Strong working knowledge of education, child protection and livelihoods approaches.
• Strong working knowledge of the Liberia and/or Liberia context.

Skills and Abilities

• Good organisation and administrative skills and an ability to forward plan.
• Coaching / Capacity Strengthening Skills.
• Good time management skills, able to work to tight deadlines and an ability to work under pressure.

Other

• Excellent written and spoken communications in English (additional languages welcome).
• A ‘can-do’, and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptive thinking.
• Self-starter with strong motivation to succeed and ability to work independently in carrying out assigned tasks within a fast-paced team.

Education / Qualifications

• Degree or Higher in International Development or related field; or relevant training courses in MEAL.
• Street Child’s commitment to Safeguarding.
• Street Child is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff.

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks. Street Child also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

To apply:

Please submit your CV and a covering note explaining why you think you could make an extraordinary impact in this role through Workable by midnight 29th February 2024. We will be reviewing applications as they are submitted so interested candidates are encouraged to apply early.

Salary: Please visit our website to see our Global Salary Scales for more information. This role will be paid at the rate for Grade F in these scales (salary for UK is shown but will vary if based in another country). We do not negotiate on starting salaries.

Location: Office based or remote working (or a combination of the two) from anywhere ADD has an office (Cambodia, Bangladesh, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan or UK). Applicants must have a right to work in the country they wish to be based.

Reports to: Director of Funding, Communications and Transformative Partnerships (based in the UK)

Contract: Full-time, permanent (though we are open to considering applications from those who want to work on a part-time or job-share basis)

As an organisation that works with disability justice activists in Africa and Asia we are clear that lived experience of disability is hugely important to our mission. Priority for this role will be given to disabled people.  We want to see you at your best and so please let us know if there are any adjustments at all that we can make to the recruitment process to ensure that it works for you. We are also committed to ensuring that we continue to review and make adjustments throughout your employment with ADD.  

Job Purpose

ADD is looking for a Head of Transformative Partnerships and Influencing to lead on nurturing and expanding relationships with institutional funders and partners so that more resources and opportunities can flow to disability justice movements in Africa and Asia.

This is a new role that will lead both our institutional fundraising and influencing work. This role will be responsible for raising significant funds from a range of institutional funders. This role will also lead on the development of a new influencing strategy to inspire funders and organisations in the disability and development sector, to increase funding for disability justice and to fund organisations led by people with disabilities directly.

Finally, this role will also ensure excellent stewardship of our existing strategic investments and partnerships.

Person specification

This is an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about disability justice and disrupting traditional funding approaches. It would be a great opportunity for someone interested in transformation in the International Development sector with a commitment to shifting power and resources to organisations led by people with disabilities. We are looking for someone who can boldly challenge power asymmetries in the funding system and help build mutually beneficial partnerships with a wide range of people. The successful candidate will have strong influencing skills and be able to inspire people to understand the importance of disability justice and participatory grantmaking. You must also demonstrate a passion for ADD’s mission and a demonstrable commitment to the Social and Human Rights Models of Disability.

Specific things we would like you to have are:

• Extensive experience in relationship-based fundraising and building meaningful relationships with funders and partners
• Extensive experience of developing and delivering influencing and/or advocacy strategies
• Excellent influencing skills
• Excellent public speaking and networking skills
• A strong understanding of flexible funding and its benefits
• Strong strategic thinking skills and the ability to translate ideas into strategy

Please see the attached job description or visit our website to see full details of the role and what we are looking for.

Closing date for applications: 11th May 2024, 23:59 (BST)

Organisation: Scriptoria Sustainable Development Solutions

Contract: Full time, permanent 

Location: Flexible (London and/or remote, plus business travel)

Salary: £35,000 – £38,000 – depending on experience 

Start date: ASAP 

Do you have a scientific PhD and postdoc/industry experience? Do you want to apply your scientific skills and research experience to health and sustainable development projects? Are you interested in meeting people, sharing your skills and learning to be a first-class communicator? Then this is the job for you.

Who we are 

Scriptoria is a values-driven, ethically-focused consulting company that has a strong international reputation for excellence. We specialise in helping clients around the world to tackle sustainable development, poverty reduction, health, and climate and environmental issues. Our Consulting, Data, Communications and Training Teams focus on knowledge management, data management and communications to help research, international development, government and other organisations better manage information and communicate their findings. 

Who we're looking for 

We are looking for a dynamic new team member with a PhD in a science/STEM subject to join our innovative Consulting Team and to contribute to the work of our Data and Training Teams. Agriculture and the health sciences are areas we are particularly interested in.

Specifically, we want an individual with a passion for research and sustainable development, a friendly, outgoing personality and a willingness to learn new skills. We’re looking for someone who wants to engage with international development and research projects to help them work more efficiently and have a greater impact.

This role will offer a range of experience and the opportunity to contribute to the diverse range of services that Scriptoria provides.

Approximately half of your time will be spent working with our exceptionally experienced team of knowledge management and data consultants to help us develop and deliver cutting-edge data-management/analytics solutions and project-management software systems to our clients. Your work will also involve working to help us manage and organise the projects we deliver to clients. The other half of your time will involve meeting with and training clients (to pass on your skills in research communications), both online and through face-to-face courses. Finally, you will be encouraged to contribute to company-wide strategy and business development. 

Your role will include:

• Helping sustainable development and research programs to develop and implement digital tools and analytics systems to better manage their workflows and use their data 

• Working with projects in Africa and Asia to provide technical advisory and consulting services to help them to better manage and share information, knowledge and data

• Training and mentoring international researchers by delivering courses, workshops, and individual support in areas including journal article/report writing, grant writing, project management and communications for non-specialists 

• Contributing to business development across the company, including marketing and client outreach.

Working with Scriptoria 

Our senior team has an exceptional skill set, and we recognise that candidates with all the skills we need simply may not exist. But don’t worry, if you have some of the skills we want but lack others – we will train you to fill those gaps. This will include thorough training in the delivery of our well-respected training courses. 

Our staff have the choice to work wholly or partly from home or from our office in Tooting, SW London, during regular operational hours (08.30-17.30). If working from home, staff must have a working environment suitable for holding video-call meetings/training sessions with clients. 

Wherever you work, you will interact regularly with senior team members to gain new skills and exchange ideas.  

This job will require regular travel to deliver training courses (mostly in the UK, estimated 2 to 8 days per month) and may also involve international travel, including to developing countries. So, applicants must be willing to travel (in line with UK government guidance). 

Key skills and experience 

Essential 

Qualifications and skills

• A PhD in a quantitative STEM research subject 

• 2 years minimum of postdoc/industry experience (in a research or research-support role) 

• A strong understanding of research processes and data analysis and management 

• A demonstrated talent for writing - including writing journal articles and writing for non-specialists 

• At least one first-author paper in a peer-reviewed journal 

• Experience delivering live training/teaching courses 

• An excellent, practical knowledge of MS Excel and MS PowerPoint 

• Excellent English language skills, to the standard of a native speaker 

• The right to work in the UK

Characteristics and interests 

• A friendly, open personality (bright, resilient, cheerful, confident) 

• A passion for international development and building researchers’ skills 

• An interest in information management and technology, data systems and analytics and in helping create new IT systems and software (programming skills are not required for this role) 

• A willingness to travel and to take a flexible approach to working hours when travelling 

• The confidence required to give presentations and training courses and to lead (facilitate) meetings, online and in person 

• The ability to work very well under pressure and self-manage 

• The ability to juggle multiple tasks and work alongside the company Directors 

Desirable 

• Experience working on collaborative research projects with international partners 

• Experience working with programs such as Microsoft SharePoint or other knowledge management tools 

• Experience with statistical analysis in R 

• Experience in grant writing and/or grant management 

• Experience writing communications materials that translate science for non-specialists and encourage engagement 

Salary and annual leave 

Salary will depend on qualifications and experience but is expected to be between £35,000 and £38,000 p/a (depending on experience). Annual leave is 25 days per year plus public holidays (33 days).