Job Description

Department / International Programmes
Ref.
Position: / Project manager
Region: / Sub Saharan Africa
Countries / Malawi
Location: / Blantyre, with frequent travel to the field (up to 40%)
Duration: / 15 months
Reports to: / Country Director
Line Management Responsibility: / Yes
Budget Responsibility / Yes

Introduction

Save the Children Italia (SC Italia) was created as an ONLUS in 1998 and is now a prominent member of Save the Children International, the worlds’ leading, independent movement for children, with 28 Member organizations operating programmes in over 100 countries around the world.

Save the Children's visionis a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

Save the Children'smission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Save the Children’s Values

Accountability: We take personal responsibility for using our resources efficiently, achieving measurable results, and being accountable to supporters, partners and, most of all, children.

Ambition: We are demanding of ourselves and our colleagues, set high goals and are committed to improving the quality of everything we do for children.

Collaboration: We respect and value each other, thrive on our diversity, and work with partners to leverage our global strength in making a difference for children.

Creativity: We are open to new ideas, embrace change, and take disciplined risks to develop sustainable solutions for and with children.

Integrity: We aspire to live to the highest standards of personal honesty and behaviour; we never compromise our reputation and always act in the best interests of children.

Emergency relief runs alongside long-term development and prevention work to help children, their families and communities to be self-sufficient. We learn from the reality of children’ lives and campaign for solutions to the problems they face. We gain expertise through our projects around the world and use that knowledge to educate and advise others. The basis of our work is the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC).

To finance our work we depend on the support of the general public, volunteers, the corporate sector, governments and international donor agencies.

The international program

SC Italia contributes to the planning, implementation and monitoring of both development and emergency programs promoted by Save the Children International.

In 2009, SC Italia contributed at various levels of involvement to support programs in about 19 countries in the world, in the fields of education, child protection, HIV/Aids and health and emergency response.

SC Italy adopts the approach of Child Rights Programming, a tool for the planning, management, implementation, monitoring and evaluation adopted by the Save the Children International in 1999 as a methodological basis for the programmes of each member.

We aim at achieving 4 priority goals:

  1. Children and teenagers are protected from discrimination, abuses and exploitation, because there are efficient safety-nets and because the actively participate and are listened to.
  2. Children and teenagers have more and better access to education and health, which are crucial for their growth and development. Facilities are more efficient and “child-friendly”.
  3. Adults’ behaviour towards children takes into account and is modelled on an approach based on the rights enshrined in UN CRC.
  4. Children and teenagers benefit from more and better economic resources, allocated meeting their real needs.

Objectives

The purpose of this position is to provide overall management and technical leadership for a three year project funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is, in particular, related to the third and final year of the project.

The project aims at improving the health and nutritional status of children under 5 in rural areas of Zomba district.

Through a comprehensive package of community based initiatives, the project aims at:

·  Promote sustained behaviour change of caretakers of children under 5, through health and nutrition education in communities (prevention and early detection);

·  Introduce early child development activities for children in pre primary age in rural areas, by setting up community based day care centres

·  Increase access to food and to disposable income, by supporting smallholder farmers in adopting sound farming practices and in accessing markets

Of particular importance is the integration of long term, sustainable interventions with the aim of reversing chronic food insecurity. The Program Manager is accountable for both the quality of the program and for the effective financial and operational management thereof. A member of the Country Office team, s/he works closely with other Program Managers and coordinators. S/he directly supervises a team of professional staff.

Tasks and responsibilities

Project Management: Provide oversight and technical leadership in designing strategies, supporting on-going project implementation, and facilitating technical dialogue related to food security, including its relationship to nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and livelihoods. Oversees the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project, ensuring management in accordance with Save the Children program criteria and standards. The Program Manager’s sound management practices will be reflected by his/her timely and effective monitoring of all critical project events and activities. When technical assistance is needed to solve problems or improve implementation he/she, with the assistance of sector specialists, will draft a clear and targeted scope of work for technical and/or monitoring and evaluation consultants. Any major project adjustments differing from agreed upon specifications of the grant agreements will be done so only after receiving approval from the Country Director and in consultation with the donor agency.

Operations Planning: Provides overall leadership and management in creating short and long-range operational plans, which will lead to the successful implementation of the project. The Program Manager will ensure that national Managers are effectively planning activities, which will lead to project success. This will include detailed annual management plans, with quarterly work and budget projections, which will be accompanied by appropriate cash flow needs analysis.

Financial and Grant Management: The Program Manager will be responsible for the budget of the project. In particular, she/he will be responsible for coordinating and integrating the financial realities of the project with critical program activities. The detailed annual budget and corresponding project plan will be tracked as per Save the Children accounting systems and in accordance with grant agreement stipulations. The Program Manager will ensure that project accounting and financial systems are in place for the effective control of assets, funds, commodities, equipment and property and, will submit all required financial reports in a timely and complete manner. Furthermore, the Program Manager is responsible for ensuring that all donor’s accepted procurement procedures are in place and are strictly adhered to.

Project Documentation and reporting: Document and share best practices and lessons learned and more broadly assist with research design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of best practices internally and externally. Supervise M&E and help create project reporting systems that track critical project elements and activities in a fashion that allows time to correct management problems before they become critical and report outcomes and impacts to donors and Save the Children. Ensure the completion of timely quality reports as required internally and externally.

Personnel Management and Staff Development: the Program Manager will be responsible, in close cooperation with the project’s local partner, for recruiting project’s personnel. She/He will participate in the analysis of problems that occur in the implementation of operational plans and guide and support personnel when needed in a problem solving process that leads to operational solutions. The Program Manager will foster an atmosphere that induces team communication and maximizes skills sharing among all personnel. Duties will also include assisting staff in setting realistic job objectives and supporting them in their efforts to achieve them, conducting regular management meetings and reviews of reports to monitor employee progress and the overall project implementation, and seeking out relevant staff development opportunities. The incumbent will be expected to travel to the project area on a regular basis and be in the field 40% of the time.

Representation: Coordinate and liaise with the District government, NGOs, and other agencies involved in food security and child health and nutrition in Zomba. Represent the project in policy and technical fora in Malawi. Establish and maintain good relations with the donor in order to share best practices and position for future funding.

Working contacts

Internal:

Daily collaboration with the team (Program Department) and with relevant Units within the Programme Departments; strong coordination with other organizational departments: Marketing, Communications, Finance -Administration.

External:

District government, NGOs, and other agencies involved in food security and child health and nutrition in Zomba.

Person Specification

Essential requirements:

-  University Degree in technical/Scientific disciplines

-  Due to donor requirements the successful candidate must be a citizen of the European Union, preferably Italian.

-  5-10 years progressively advanced management experience in field based food security and emergency programming.

-  Ability to maintain focus on long-term development while anticipating responses to food crises.

-  Demonstrated leadership and mentoring skills, including the ability to both lead and be a member of a team.

-  Demonstrated ability to work with multiple, diverse partners, donors and other stakeholders.

-  Creative problem solving skills with ability to work effectively in resource constrained environment.

-  Strong analytical skills.

-  Knowledgeable with budget management

-  Italian and English fluency with demonstrated ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing

-  Good knowledge of the Project Cycle Management

-  Knowledge of procedures of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for grants with NGOs

Working conditions

-  Fixed term contract of 15 months (contract framework of the MFA)

-  Starting date: August 2010

-  Workplace: Malawi-Blantyre, with frequent travels to the field (at least 40% of the time)

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