Program Director – Education Development Trust, Ethiopia

Job objectives:

• Responsible for efficient management of all project workstreams as agreed between Education Development Trust with the client, relevant Ministries and government departments at all levels, and partners
• Managing the programme in line with EdDevTrust Sub Saharan region delivery excellence framework
• Consolidating and maintaining up to date project plans across all TARGET task areas as directed and approved by the Team Leader and client. This includes any reprogramming or budget realignment.
• Coordinating timely and quality delivery of all project activities ensuring compliance with all donor and EDT policies.
• Monitoring, reporting and management of project issues, risks, actions, and decisions in a timely fashion.
• Alongside wider team reviewing incoming reports as required, highlighting areas of concern / interest and overseeing delivery of required actions
• Creating and maintaining good relations with FCDO and other donors, Ministries, INGOs and relevant networks.
• Contribute to quarterly progress reports and annual reports as required
• Ensure programme governance is functional and actions taken are implemented.
• Responsible for Internal contract reporting including quarterly business review, highlight reports etc
• Alongside Finance, support the day-to-day oversight of budget spending across the project, reviewing and approving spend (up to agreed levels) and escalating issues to Team Leader as required. Ensure all deliverables are carried out within the agreed timelines and that invoices are raised with the donor as agreed.
• Contract management by overseeing compliance with contract terms, KPIs and deliverables for the main contract and for sub-contracts
• Ensure effective program support of all Education Development Trust consultants and partners
• Ensure there is sharing of best practice and learnings between tasks internally and externally in the wider Sub-Saharan region and globally to enrich the programme
• Assisting in new business development including positioning EDT for funding in Ethiopia, development of concept notes and project proposals, and assisting in the appraisal and selection of potential projects and other activities
• Visiting field sites to monitor work throughout the entire project cycle (planning, execution, measuring, evaluation and learning).
• Lead the embedding of adaptations to the programme based on learnings and evidence generated. This includes supporting piloting of new innovations led by the Regional Innovation Manager.
• Business support management – liaison with wider business units including HR, finance, IT, procurement, and legal
• Attend TARGET SMT meetings and represent overall programme success/challenges for decision making
• Attend Education events, online and in person, for the purpose of selling the success of the programme
• Oversee and streamline safeguarding and child protection activities implemented across the program.
• Manage performance of relevant team members, ensuring focus on results
• Take up any other responsibilities assigned by the Team Leader

Scope:

The post holder will manage the project on a day to day basis, on behalf of the Team leader to ensure that the project team delivers all of the agreed outputs to agreed quality standards.

The post holder will liaise closely with other business support areas (e.g. IT, finance, business development and HR) as well as other projects and senior directors across the organisation and partners (if any in this case).

The role will also require significant collaboration with the Sub Saharan Regional team and other central teams (R&C, R&D, Marketing, etc) in support of internal monitoring and reporting procedures, providing updates and reports as well as implementing and embedding best practice in Education Development Trust’s project and programme management methodology (PPM).

Person specification:

Knowledge

Essential:

§  Master’s degree in Project management, Development Studies, Sociology, Education or International development Studies

§  Sound knowledge of education policies, strategies and practice at both national and international levels especially Ethiopia

§  Recognised qualification in Project Management or extensive relevant experience in a senior Project Manager position.

Desirable

§  Good grasp of commercial disciplines including the operational and financial design of projects to support successful outcomes

§  MBA project management qualification (PMD, PMP, Prince2 ) will be an asset

§  10 years’ experience managing NGOs or donor funded projects of which 2 years managing over 20 staff, vast field operations and multimillion dollar budgets.

§  Excellent knowledge of central and local government structures preferably in relation to the education sector and experience dealing with government officials.

§  Good people management skills; overseeing the training, development, motivation, and day to day management of team members

§  Have experience working with the Ministry of Education (at the Federal and local levels) on influencing policy and decisions

Experience

Essential:

§  Proven track record of successful delivery of project activities in similar or education delivery roles

§  Excellent knowledge of central and local government structures, preferably In education sector.

§  Experience in building relationships with government officials and partner representatives at all levels.

§  10 years’ successful experience in program management especially in an educational setting

§  Experience of working in cross-functional teams

§  Experience leading complex education programs

§  Significant financial control and management of budgets in excess of £10m.

§  Proven track record of working with stakeholders across multiple organisations and at all levels of seniority

§  Vast field operations

§  Experience with gender, child protection and safeguarding

§  Experience leading large teams

Desirable:

§   Experience of involvement in successful educational or business change projects

§   Experience of project mobilisation for external clients

§   Demonstrable ability to manage a portfolio of projects to a successful conclusion

§   Experience of delivering projects against payment by results (PbR) contracts

§   Experience with procurement of services/goods and supply chain

Skills

Essential:

§  Ability to learn on the job and analyse complex sources of evidence and information

§  Good people skills

§  Strong interpersonal and communication skills: written, oral and presentational.  Specifically, the ability to communicate and liaise between business users and IT professionals, a range of education professionals and external educational organisations using non-jargonised language is essential

§  Good IT skills and highly effective in the use of PowerPoint, Excel and project management software

§  Good presentation and engagement skills

§  Strong problem solving skills

§  Ability to work on multiple tasks concurrently and work under pressure to tight deadlines

§  Excellent organisational and planning skills

§  Commercial and business awareness

§  Self-starter with capacity to work on own initiative and ability to work in a matrix management structure

§  Fluency in written and spoken English and good report writing skills

§  Ability to review and input into policies ( HR , Procurement, Finance)