Job Title:  Great Lakes Programme Manager

Contract: Full Time, 2 year fixed term

Salary: £25,000 - £32,000 per annum 

Principal Location: Uvira city (South Kivu) or Bujumbura (Burundi) with regular travel to Uvira / High Plateau area (circa 25% time) and Bukavu (up to 25% time as required)

Role Purpose

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for a development professional fluent in French and English to manage Street Child’s growing Great Lakes programme portfolio. Street Child are searching for a committed professional with education, protection and/or livelihoods experience to lead strong and adaptive programming that spans the humanitarian-development nexus. The role will principally involve leading delivery of Street Child’s established South Kivu programme together with our strong national NGO partner, as well as support to the Great Lakes Representative in the expansion of our nascent programming in Burundi and Rwanda as well as further expansion in the Kivus as required. The role will require flexibility and adaptability to work with local partners in the region, and in particular to complete excellent delivery of our complex £1.7m three year ‘Safer Schools’ programme in the conflict-affected High Plateau region of South Kivu.

Organisation Background

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 318,000 children to go to school and learn and supported over 29,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

Key Responsibilities

Project management (65%)

• Leading operational oversight for the successful delivery of Plateau-based projects, currently: EMI’s delivery of the £1.7m UKAid funded Safer Schools programme, the School Building project and the Education for All project. This includes technical input, activity planning and day-to-day liaison with the implementing partner to ensure quality implementation within timeframe and budget.
• Leading MEL processes for the relevant projects, including designing/translating of M+E tools, data analysis, evaluation report writing, the strengthening of beneficiary feedback mechanisms, planning and oversight of external project evaluations, and integration of lessons learned and best practices into projects;
• Ensuring donor compliance including, narrative and financial report writing, data extraction, budget and logframe revisions, risk register and workplan updates, and leading on communications with the relevant donors;
• Reviewing and submitting internal monthly financial reports and fund requisitions, conduct regular mini-audits of partner financial documentation and processes and work in collaboration with the GLR and Africa Finance Manager on programme financial management;
• Preparing internal quarterly projects updates, and contributing to internal monthly programme updates, annual beneficiary reach collection and other as relevant;
• Working with the communications team to promote the project successes, including the submission of case studies, pictures, etc.
• Identify areas of improvement of programmes with integration of new trends and knowledge aligned with needs and gaps that might arise during implementation

 Partner Capacity Building (15%)

• Provide Street Child partners with dedicated support on partner engagement, proposal development, project cycle management, grant management and reporting
• Development of partner capacity building resources including training materials, policies etc. in consultation with the global programmes team technical leads;

Support the GLR in the implementation of DRC non-Plateau, Burundi and Rwanda projects, and in Great Lakes donor liaison, fundraising and networking (20%)

• Representing SC in interactions with donors, networks (including clusters and other coordination bodies), government and other stakeholders in all relevant fora, in collaboration with the GLR;
• Work with M&E and programmes team to develop research to inform the design of new programmes aligned with context needs and gaps and according to the organisation strategy
• Prepare high quality institutional funding applications, donor proposals (narrative and budgets) and concept notes
• Supporting the GLR with the implementation of the non-Plateau DRC projects, Burundi and Rwanda programme if required;
• Promoting SC’s existing work in the Great Lakes and proactively sharing lessons and experience with partners and donors through relevant information-sharing and coordination fora;
• Proactively exploring opportunities to work in consortia and/or collaborate with other actors where this serves to strengthen the scope, reach and impact of new programmes;
• Participate to scoping new potential partner organisations in Eastern DRC and other locations as required.
• Other duties as could reasonably be expected in line with the role purpose

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level or higher 

Desirable

• Masters degree in International Development or related field; or attendance at specific relevant training courses 

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

• Previous experience in supporting delivery of high quality education and/or child protection programming, with a commitment to and respect for local partnership; 
• Demonstrable experience in grants management, including monitoring and evaluation and reporting
• Demonstrable field experience, in African development and/or humanitarian contexts

Desirable

• Experience/ knowledge of education, child protection and livelihoods approaches; 
• Demonstrable experience of proposal development and/or winning funding;
• Work experience in the Great Lakes region
• Experience in security management and monitoring

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Excellent written and spoken communications in English and French
• Excellent relationship building skills, with an ability to skilfully navigate both national and international stakeholders; 
• A belief in local partnership and locally led development is essential 
• The ability to drive results in co-operation with local partners, through effective and sensitive relationship management;
• A ‘can-do’, and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptative thinking; 
• Ability to skilfully balance independent working with wider teamwork with both UK and international teams 

 Desirable

• Knowledge of Swahili or other relevant local languages

Other

• Able and willing to travel regularly, often in insecure environments

Benefits

Attractive benefits are included – details available on request. Please note that this role is unaccompanied and not suitable for candidates looking for a family posting.

Apply Now

Please click 'How to Apply' to find details on where to send your CV and short cover letter to apply for this role. Applications close midnight UK time on Friday 30th October. We will review applications as they are received and reserve the right to bring forward the closing date. Pre-employment checks will be required as part of our recruitment process in line with our Safeguarding Policy. Street Child welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.