Cluster Coordinator (Senior Program coordinator)

Professional Alliance for Development (PADet) is an indigenous, not-for-profit; a nongovernmental humanitarian organization established in 1998. It has been serving disadvantaged and marginalized segments of the community especially youth, women children in the areas of Reproductive Health HIV/AIDs Prevention and Care, Child Protection, Women Development and Livelihood &Food Securities for the last 25 years.

Project Background

PADet, as a consortium partner in a program led by SNV and funded by Mastercard Foundation will be implementing an anticipated flagship program focused on enabling 112,000 Rural young women (RYW) to access dignified and fulfilling jobs in Eastern Amhara regions. The program will target high-potential agricultural value chains (e.g., horticulture, poultry, dairy), using a market systems development approach. So PADet needs to recruit qualified and competent candidates in the following job opportunities.

Position Title: Cluster Coordinator (Senior Program coordinator)

Work Unit: Program department(unit)

Reports To: Programs Manager-Livelihood and Food security

Duty Station: Field coordination office – Dessie

Salary: Based on the organization salary scale

Number of staff required: One

Job Summary:

The position holder is responsible for leading, planning, execution, and monitoring program activities within the cluster, ensuring alignment with national strategies and MEL frameworks across components such as skills development, financial inclusion, youth engagement, market linkages, safeguarding, etc. The role involves supervising cluster-level teams, guiding work plan development, overseeing budget utilization, and ensuring high-quality, timely implementation. The coordinator fosters collaboration with government stakeholders, private sector actors, and community institutions. Additionally, the role supports effective data use, reporting, and continuous program refinement based on performance and context analysis to ensure impactful and efficient project execution.

Key Responsibilities.

Program Coordination and Oversight

• Coordinate the day-to-day planning, execution, and monitoring of program activities within the assigned cluster, including skills development, financial inclusion, youth engagement, safeguarding, and value chains.
• Guide project setup and oversee the development and updating of annual, quarterly, and monthly work and budget plans, including DIP.
• Ensure alignment of field-level implementation with national strategies, work plans, and MEL frameworks, and support integration and synergy across all technical components.
• Serve as account signatory for account opened to the project together with other duly authorised co-signatories
• Ensures that all staff have updated yearly, quarterly and monthly implementation plans.
• Based on past accomplishments and achievements, adjust program targets, strategies, resources and delegation of responsibilities to ensure appropriate progress toward program objectives.
• Lead weekly and monthly review meetings with program supervisors and technical advisors to track progress, flag risks, and adjust strategies or resource allocations as needed.
• Ensure adherence to technical standards and quality benchmarks and promote harmonized approaches across all implementation areas within the cluster.
• Continuously assesses program context, assumptions and changes in the working environment to ensure that the program focus, strategies and activities remain relevant and to proposed adjustments when needed.

Team Supervision and Management

• Line-manage the project team at cluster levels, including performance reviews, objective setting, approval of travel plans, timesheets, and leave provisions.
• Supervise and coordinate the work of the cluster advisors and zonal supervisors.
• Foster a team culture of accountability, adaptive learning, and performance management.
• Provide coaching and feedback to team members to strengthen their capacity.

Stakeholder Engagement and Representation

• Build and maintain productive relationships with regional, zonal and woreda government offices, TVETs, private sector actors, financial institutions, youth associations, etc.
• Submits a copy of approved annual plans as per established schedules to all program stakeholders.
• Represent RAYEE in relevant government coordination platforms, stakeholder forums, and review meetings.
• Support zonal supervisors and woreda facilitators in strengthening local partnerships and facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration at woreda level.

Budget, Financial and operational management

• In collaboration with program staff, prepare annual budgets and quarter-based expenditure plan and ensure compliance with SNV and donor compliance.
• Ensures appropriate utilization of fund codes for charging budget expenditures and making adjustment if error on recording happens.
• Review and approve travel and activity expenses of cluster staff within the approval limit
• Oversee budget utilization at cluster level and ensure activities are delivered within allocated resources and are in line with approved work plans
• Support logistics planning for trainings, workshops, and events at cluster levels.

Monitoring, Reporting and Learning

• Work closely with the cluster MEAL Advisor to track progress against indicators.
• Support MEL Advisor to monitor field activity performance, ensuring milestones in the annual work plan are met, and develop mitigation plans as needed
• Ensure that monthly, quarter and annual reports are submitted on time and up-to standard quality
• Ensure timely submission of regional annual plans and quarterly reports to respective regional and other government offices.
• Support cluster-level data collection, documentation of learnings, and timely reporting to the national MEAL team.
• Ensure regular documentation of lessons, challenges, and promising practices from the field.
• Plans and conducts quarterly and annual program review meetings, regular field visits, joint monitoring, and feedback sessions to assess progress, ensure service quality and adjust plans
• Take other responsibilities within the project that will help the team to achieve the desired results.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in business administration, Agribusiness, Development Studies, Project planning and management or a related field.
• Minimum of 6 years of relevant experience in project management and youth enterprise development, livelihoods, Market system development
• Proven experience in coordinating multi-sectoral development programs and leading diverse technical teams.
• Skill in project formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
• Strong skills in planning, stakeholder engagement, and adaptive program management.
• Strong experience in budget management, work planning, and performance tracking.
• Proven leadership, coordination, and stakeholder engagement experience, especially with local governments.
• Good interpersonal and organizing and making logical and timely decision skills
• Willingness to travel frequently within the project regions.
• Fluency in English is required

Personal Competency:

• Highly motivated, self-managed and Strategic oriented.
• High level commitment to achieve project goal and Objectives.
• Willingness to work extra working hours and weekends with staff.
• Able to work with minimum supervision.
• Ability to prepare and submit quality reports timely.