Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Organization: Expertise France
Deadline: May 20, 2025, 15:06
Job Description
Mission description
Under the responsibility of the head office of Expertise France in Paris (Territorial Attractiveness, Culture, Heritage and Sports division / Sustainable and Inclusive Economy department), the project manager will ensure the overall coordination and operational implementation of the project activities. He/she will coordinate dialogue with all institutional partners and stakeholders involved in the project, oversee the operational and financial implementation of project activities and lead all actions planned under the project.
Based within EF mutualized office in Addis Ababa, he/she will be managing a team of composed of:
- A deputy project manager;
- One component leader in charge of project’s pillars 1 (exhibitions) and 2 (collections);
- One part-time component leader in charge of pillar 3 (empowerment and reappropriation);
- Two funding coordinators;
- Short-term experts as needed.
A dedicated financial and administrative management team, shared with other EF projects, will be based at the EF office in Addis Ababa. This team will support the project by overseeing budget preparation, contract management, payments, monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting.
Main responsibilities
The Project Manager ensures the successful execution of the project in line with the contractual objectives set between the donor and Expertise France (EF). This includes overseeing implementation according to the established timeline, ensuring compliance with technical, budgetary, and legal expectations, managing partnerships, supervising financial and administrative aspects, coordinating the project team, and representing the project institutionally.
The Project Manager ensures that all activities are conducted in strict adherence to EF and donor procedures, including contractual, financial, and reporting obligations. Additionally, the Project Manager will work within the governance framework established for the project, including coordination with the African-European Strategic Steer (AESS), the African-European Advisory Board (AEAB), and the Implementation Partners Coordination Task Force to ensure coherent and concerted implementation, in a Team Africa-Europe Approach. This role also involves managing relationships with all project partners, including beneficiaries, and other relevant international organizations and bilateral agencies.
Strategic and operational management
With regard to the operational and strategic management of the project, the Project Manager will:
– Implement the strategic and operational orientations of the project in consultation with stakeholders and in compliance with the contractual framework;
– Supervise project planning, resource allocation, and activity implementation;
– Validate and adjust the consolidated project work plan, ensuring consistency with strategic orientations and operational feasibility;
– Identify, draft terms of reference, and coordinate expert mobilization;
– Maintain close collaboration with stakeholders, regional and international organizations, and museum institutions in Africa;
– Coordinate with the Goethe Institut implementation team to maintain consistency and collaboration across project activities, avoiding overlaps, and maximizing complementarities;
– Coordinate with the EUD managed TA responsible for general program coordination, communication and M&E;
– Ensure effective coordination with the African-European Strategic Steer (AESS), maintaining alignment with strategic orientations and contributing to workplan approvals and reporting;
– Engage with the African-European Advisory Board (AEAB), which provides advice and expertise, ensuring that project implementation benefits from sector-specific insights and aligns with the broader policy frameworks and strategic orientations;
– Manage donor relations;
– Consolidate and validate project reporting (EF & Donor) while ensuring compliance with governance expectations;
– Ensure the complementarity of the project with other sectoral initiatives;
– Develop synergies with EF’s Culture and Heritage Division portfolio;
– Represent the project in technical and institutional meetings and with relevant actors.
Administrative and financial management
As regards the administrative and financial management of the project, the Project Manager will:
– Work closely with the Addis-based EF mutualized financial and administrative management team;
– Ensure that budget planning is consistent with operational planning;
– Regularly review budget commitments, disbursements and forecasts;
– Ensure that the elements required for proper project monitoring are updated on time (expenditure forecasts, purchasing forecasts, procurement tables, donor reporting schedule);
– Contribute to the respect of procedures imposed by the donor and Expertise France (rules of eligibility of expenses, purchases, contracts, subsidies, reporting…).
Project team management
With regard to project team management, the project manager will:
– Recruit the project team, including additional hires in accordance with the agency’s internal procedures;
– Integrate new collaborators, collect training needs and ensure that they are trained (including agency procedures);
– Lead and coordinate work within the project team;
– Ensure that the project team carries out its activities properly, by managing the team’s workload;
– Support teams in the performance of their duties;
– Ensure conditions are adapted to the context and working environment (premises, equipment, well-being, etc.);
– Ensure, with Expertise France’s Security Department, that the security conditions and procedures set by the agency are respected;
– Ensure that team members comply with the Agency’s rules and procedures, particularly in terms of safety and good conduct.
Project or context description
The project
Building on exchanges between museum directors from 38 countries across the two continents during the Dakar meetings in April 2023, the project “Strengthening African-European Museum Partnerships” aims to achieve the following objectives: strengthening capacities and sharing knowledge among museum institutions (1); preserving and rethinking the use of collections (2); promoting the social function of museums (3). It particularly targets youth, women, and marginalized groups, with a focus on gender equality, the promotion of human rights, and the encouragement of cultural entrepreneurship.
The project is funded by several international partners, including the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The project implementation, which will span 60 months, has been entrusted to Expertise France (EF) and the Goethe Institut (GI), and will involve partners including African and European museums, governments, relevant international and bilateral other implementing agencies. The overall coordination of the project will be ensured by the Delegation of the European Union to the African Union in Addis Ababa (EUD-AU).
The activities implemented by EF, grouped into 3 pillars, will be managed from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia):
- The first pillar focuses on the development and implementation of innovative exhibition concepts by consortia of African and European museums..
- The second pillar aims to improve the sharing of knowledge about African museum collections through their inventory and conservation (digitization and physical methods), and their circulation.
- Finally, the third pillar aims to develop partnerships with civil society and the academic world to enhance the appropriation of museum heritage by local populations, particularly youth.
Expertise France
Expertise France is the public agency for the design and implementation of international technical cooperation projects.
Expertise France engineers and implements capacity-building projects, mobilizes technical expertise and acts as a project integrator, bringing together public expertise and private know-how.
The agency works closely with French public institutions, as well as with the European Union, to meet the needs of partner countries wishing to enhance the quality of their public policies to meet these challenges. More specifically, the agency coordinates and implements projects of national or regional scope in the main areas of public action:
- Democratic, economic and financial governance
- Peace, stability and security;
- Climate, biodiversity and sustainable development;
- Health and human development.
Required profile
The aim of this call for applications is to recruit a Project Manager. The candidate must have the following skills and expertise:
– University degree (BA or MA or equivalent) in international cooperation and development, political science, cultural public policy, cultural project management, museum conservation or any other relevant discipline;
– Proven experience (at least 7 years) in cultural and/or heritage management, especially related to museums;
– Very good command of project management and procurement rules for EU-funded projects;
– Experience in management of international cooperation and/or technical assistance and/or multi partnerships projects (stakeholder management, logical framework, programming, budgeting, procurement, grants management);
– Excellent knowledge of Sub-Saharan African contexts;
– Very good oral and written skills in French and English;
– Excellent writing and reporting skills in English (drafting of technical, strategic or activity reports linked to the implementation of a project, drafting of information notes or articles);
– Strong diplomatic, public relations and political skills (working with high-level international officials);
– Ability to develop long-term strategic objectives and distinct milestones to achieve them;
– Ability to manage a team.
Additional information
Interested candidates should submit via the “Apply” interface:
- a cover letter,
- an updated CV (max. 6 pages) highlighting relevant experience,
- and contact details for at least three professional references.
Note: Contractualization with the successful candidate is subject to the signature of the contribution agreement between EF and relevant EUD.
Deadline for application : 2025/05/20 15:06.
