Program Manager

VSO is the world’s leading international organisation working through volunteers to create a fair world for everyone. We focus on people who are marginalised or excluded, including those living in poverty, people with disabilities or illness, and those facing discrimination, violence, disasters, disease, and conflict.

VSO places these individuals at the centre of its work as primary actors and agents of change. We work with communities to identify their priorities, opportunities, and solutions, supporting locally led and sustainable change.

Our Approach

VSO’s Volunteering for Development (VfD) approach supports vulnerable and marginalised people to claim their rights and drive lasting change. It addresses the root causes of vulnerability and marginalisation through three core approaches: social inclusion and gender, social accountability, and resilience. These approaches underpin our work in inclusive education, health, resilient livelihoods and peace building.

About the Job

VSO is a lead implementer of the Internship Opportunities for Young Women program (iWork), financed by the Mastercard Foundation. The program will be implemented in Ethiopia across Amhara, Oromia, and Harari regional states, as well as the Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa city administrations. iWork aims to create internship opportunities for 24,000 financially disadvantaged young people, with a primary focus on young women. The program also promotes inclusion by reaching persons with disabilities, refugees, internally displaced people, and returnees. Through internships, iWork aims to help young women build the skills and experience they need to access dignified and fulfilling work, contributing to poverty reduction and an improved quality of life.

VSO Ethiopia is recruiting an experienced Program Manager for iWork program.

Role Purpose:

Manage VSO’s implementation of the i-Work program across the three assigned clusters in Central Amhara, Eastern Amhara and Addis Ababa, ensuring gender-transformative, inclusive, and high-quality implementation that enables young women and other marginalised youth including youth with disabilities, refugees and internally displaced young people, to access internship opportunities, build agency and work readiness skills and improve their transition to work opportunities.

Tasks Responsibilities

Project Implementation 

• Develop, deliver and adapt VSO’s implementation plan for its three assigned clusters ensuring delivery is on scope, on budget, within timeframe, and responsive to risks, incidents and changing context in collaboration with consortium partners.
• Manage technical delivery and project quality in alignment with VSO’s unique Volunteering for Development approach that places primary actors (young women including youth with disabilities, refugee, internal displaced youth) at the centre of the development, ensuring their voice, participation, and empowerment in planning, implementation, monitoring evaluation learnings and decision-making process.
• Ensure effective delivery of workforce development, internship placements, enterprise engagement and systems-strengthening activities across VSO’s assigned clusters, meeting agreed targets and quality standards within the agreed timeframe.
• Manage and support VSO regional and cluster-level teams to deliver VSO-led implementation areas effectively, safely and collaboratively with the consortium.
• Manage the consolidated budget and procurement processes for VSO’s three assigned clusters, ensuring value for money and compliance with VSO financial policies, donor guidelines, and reporting requirements.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of consortium MEL plan, and timely reporting for VSO’s assigned clusters, using participatory M&E and VSO’s MILE approach to support accountability, learning and adaptation.
• Support systems-strengthening and sustainability work by supporting institutional coordination, local ownership, policy engagement, knowledge sharing and collaboration among ecosystem actors across VSO’s implementation activities.
• Build and maintain partnerships with donors, consortium partners, government, private sector, education institutions, civil society and other stakeholders to support VSO-led implementation and coordination in VSO’s assigned clusters.

Program Leadership and Strategic Management

• Provide overall leadership and day-to-day management of the iWork Project implementation in Ethiopia.
• Ensure effective delivery of project goals, outcomes, targets, and donor commitments within approved timelines and budgets.
• Lead annual planning, implementation, review, and adaptive management processes for the project.
• Ensure alignment of project implementation with VSO strategies, Mastercard Foundation priorities, and national youth employment agendas.
• Promote innovation, quality assurance, continuous learning, and evidence-based decision-making across the project.

Program Coordination and Technical Oversight

• Supervise and provide strategic guidance to the Technical Program Manager
• Ensure effective coordination between technical, operational, finance, MERL, safeguarding, and partnership functions.
• Oversee implementation of workforce development, internship placement, enterprise engagement, and systems-strengthening interventions.
• Ensure project implementation is gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, youth-centered, and safeguarding compliant.
• Support effective coordination and performance management of regional and cluster-level implementation teams.

Financial Management and Operational Oversight

• Oversee project budget management, financial planning, expenditure tracking, and resource utilization in collaboration with finance teams.
• Ensure compliance with Mastercard Foundation requirements, VSO financial policies, grants management standards, and operational procedures.
• Monitor project implementation progress, risks, operational challenges, and mitigation actions.
• Support operational efficiency, accountability, procurement compliance, and effective use of project resources.
• Ensure timely preparation and submission of financial, operational, and donor reports.

 Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement

• Build and maintain strong strategic partnerships with Mastercard Foundation, government institutions, private sector actors, consortium partners, civil society organizations, and development partners, education institutions, civil society, OPDs, youth networks and community actors, to support implementation across VSO’s assigned cluster areas.
• Lead stakeholder engagement and coordination efforts at national and regional levels.
• Support collaboration with enterprises, TVET institutions, universities, and host organizations to strengthen internship opportunities for young women.
• Represent VSO Ethiopia and the iWork Project in donor meetings, technical working groups, coordination forums, and high-level stakeholder engagements.
• Promote strong consortium collaboration, communication, and accountability mechanisms.
• Work closely with VSO Ethiopia team and relevant global teams to ensure strategic alignment, effective implementation, compliance, learning and timely reporting for VSO-led delivery.
• Collaborate with MEAL, Finance, Grants, Operations, Procurement, People, Safeguarding, Security, Communications teams to support quality delivery, financial accountability, risk management, visibility and duty of care.
• Coordinate joint planning, progress reviews and adaptive management processes to promote teamwork, accountability, inclusion and continuous learning across VSO project team.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with external stakeholders, including government, donor, consortium partners,
• Coordinate partnership, compliance, reporting and communication with Mastercard Foundation and consortium partners, ensuring alignment with national youth employment and skills development priorities.
• Engage private sector actors, host organisations, TVETs, universities and training providers to strengthen inclusive internship, employability and workplace readiness systems for young women and marginalised youth.
• Work with civil society, OPDs and community structures to support outreach, inclusion, safeguarding and participation of marginalised youth.
• Participate in relevant coordination platforms, technical working groups, partnership forums, workshops and learning events, and facilitate knowledge sharing across the youth employment ecosystem particularly in the VSO’s assigned cluster areas.

People Management and Duty of Care 

• Manage team members in alignment with VSO people policies and practices; provide coaching, mentoring, team development and well-being support, enhance team performance, engagement, collaboration, and people experience in VSO.
• Ensure safer recruitment, effective onboarding and induction, good people management processes, self and team upholding to VSO Policies, Code of Conduct, Safeguarding, People-First principles and Volunteering for Development standards.

Work Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with frequent field travels to cluster offices and project locations

Required Qualification

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Master’s degree or equivalent knowledge and skills in development studies, Project Management, Business Administration, Economics, Education, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, International Development, or related fields.
• Additional certification in Program Management, Leadership, Financial Management, or Consortium Management is an added advantage.

Required Experience

• Substantial progressive professional experience managing large-scale donor-funded development programs, including significant experience in leadership and program management roles.
• Technical knowledge of youth employability, internships, workforce development, internship program transition to work readiness, inclusive workplace practice, labor market and development context in Ethiopia;
• Skills to provide technical delivery and assure quality inclusion, gender transformation, and youth-centered programming.
• Skills in managing medium-to-large grant-funded projects, working with consortia, grant compliance, and reporting. Familiarity with Mastercard Foundation-funded grants would be an advantage.
• Partnership and engagement skills to work effectively with project stakeholders. Experience working in the project locations would be an advantage.
• Proven experience managing complex multi-stakeholder and multi-regional projects involving government institutions, private sector actors, development partners, civil society organizations, and local communities.
• Strong experience in program implementation oversight, operational coordination, supervising and supporting multidisciplinary teams for budget management, work planning, and performance management.
• Ability to lead multi-functional and field-based teams using inclusive feminist leadership, coaching and mentoring approaches that support inclusive practices, collaboration, accountability and participation.
• Skills in safeguarding, duty of care, project risk management and incident management.
• Effective communications and digital skills, including relevant local languages and working English proficiency, and use of common Microsoft office, Finance, People & Programme management systems and ethical IT tools.
• Sound understanding of locally led development, systems strengthening, integrated programming, rights-based participatory approaches, Do No Harm principles and relevant humanitarian standards.
• Understanding volunteering for development approach with commitment and demonstrable ability to apply people-first principles, and global volunteer standards in programming.
• Demonstrated VSO Behavioral Competencies. Commitment to VSO’s vision, mission, values, code of conduct, people-first principles, and volunteering for development approach.

Role Specific Competencies:

• Programme Operations Management
• Project Cycle Management (PCM)
• Youth Employment and Workforce Development
• Internship Programme Management
• Operational Planning and Coordination
• Risk Management

Travel Requirement

Ability to travel to the project field locations and work away from the home base for up to 40% of time, both within the country and occasionally internationally

Equal Opportunities

VSO promotes equal opportunities and values a diverse workforce.

VSO reserves the right to close this job early if we receive enough applications.

VSO is committed to a fair, transparent and merit-based recruitment. VSO does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process.