Regional Program Manager

Position purpose

Provide overall strategic, technical, operational and people leadership for Imagine1day’s portfolio in Amhara, ensuring that education, child protection, gender-based violence prevention and response, social and behavior change, WASH and other assigned interventions are delivered safely, inclusively, on time, within approved budgets and to agreed quality standards. The Manager translates country strategy and donor commitments into integrated regional plans, strengthens government and community systems, and is accountable for results, compliance, risk management and sustainability.

Roles and Responsibilities

Strategic and portfolio leadership

• Lead contextual analysis, regional portfolio strategy, annual operational plans and geographic prioritization aligned with organizational strategy and government plans.
• Coordinate all assigned projects across sectors, identify synergies, avoid duplication and ensure coherent service pathways and referral linkages.
• Represent regional priorities in country-level planning, resource allocation, proposal development and management reviews.
• Maintain a consolidated portfolio dashboard tracking deliverables, targets, expenditure, staffing, risks and decisions.

Project cycle and technical quality

• Lead inception, stakeholder mapping, detailed implementation planning, work breakdown structures, procurement forecasting and close-out for all regional projects.
• Translate approved project documents, logframes, donor agreements and technical standards into actionable site-level workplans and individual accountabilities.
• Ensure quality implementation of early childhood/pre-primary, primary, secondary and alternative education, accelerated learning, teacher development and school improvement where applicable.
• Oversee protection, safeguarding, GBV risk mitigation, psychosocial support, gender equality, disability inclusion, WASH and community engagement in line with approved project scope and specialist guidance.
• Conduct regular technical reviews and supportive supervision; resolve bottlenecks and document corrective actions with owners and deadlines.
• Promote conflict-sensitive, trauma-informed, culturally appropriate and locally led programming.

Team leadership and capacity development

• Directly manage regional staff performance through clear objectives, regular one-to-ones, coaching, appraisals and development plans.
• Assess capacities from regional office to woreda, school and community sites in project design, project cycle management, budget literacy, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and sustainability.
• Deliver structured induction, mentoring, on-the-job coaching, peer learning and refresher training; verify improvement through practical competency checks.
• Ensure appropriate delegation, succession planning, workload management, staff wellbeing, duty of care and professional conduct.
• Coordinate technical supervision with country Program Directors while maintaining clear regional line management and escalation pathways.

Budget, grants and operational stewardship

• Own regional budget monitoring in partnership with Finance: review budget-versus-actuals, burn rates, forecasts, variances and corrective actions monthly.
• Ensure expenditure is eligible, properly authorized, supported, accurately coded and consistent with donor conditions and organizational policies.
• Oversee timely procurement planning, logistics, assets, inventory, fleet, field advances, liquidations and value-for-money controls with operations colleagues.
• Flag funding gaps, delivery risks, under-spending or over-spending early; seek approval for revisions rather than making unauthorized changes.
• Support donor audits, compliance checks and timely closure of audit recommendations.

Monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning

• Ensure baseline and target clarity, indicator reference sheets, disaggregation, routine monitoring, data quality checks and evidence-based performance reviews.
• Verify that beneficiary counts, training figures, completion rates and outputs are traceable to source records and not double counted across projects.
• Lead monthly project reviews, quarterly learning sessions, field verification and adaptive management; use findings to improve delivery.
• Strengthen accessible community feedback and complaints mechanisms, safe referral and timely response in coordination with safeguarding focal points.
• Ensure responsible data collection, informed consent where applicable, confidentiality and secure handling of personal information.

Reporting, communication and knowledge management

• Submit accurate, analytical and timely weekly, monthly, quarterly and donor-specific regional reports, including achievements versus targets, variances, lessons, risks and actions.
• Reconcile programmatic narratives with financial reports and validate figures with project teams before submission.
• Maintain organized evidence repositories, meeting minutes, action trackers, case studies and documented good practices.
• Escalate critical incidents, delays, safeguarding concerns and material donor-compliance issues promptly through established channels.

Government, partner and donor engagement

• Serve as Imagine1day’s primary regional program representative to relevant regional bureaus, zonal and woreda offices, schools, communities and implementation partners.
• Develop and maintain collaborative workplans, coordination forums, memoranda and joint monitoring processes as authorized.
• Strengthen government ownership, local partner capacity, inclusive community participation and sustainable transition/exit arrangements.
• Support donor visits, monitoring missions, technical working groups and new partnership development with country-office coordination.

Safeguarding, security and risk management

• Ensure staff and partners comply with child safeguarding, PSEAH, protection from retaliation, anti-fraud, conflict-of-interest and codes of conduct.
• Maintain regional risk registers and context/access analysis, including conflict, displacement, safety, supply-chain and program-continuity risks.
• Apply security protocols, movement authorization, incident reporting and contingency plans; never require staff to travel into unsafe areas.
• Ensure survivor-centered handling of sensitive disclosures, immediate protective action where necessary and referral to designated specialists; do not conduct unauthorized investigations.
• Plan continuity and responsible suspension or adaptation of activities during insecurity or emergencies.

Business development and sustainability

• Identify evidence-based regional needs, partnerships and funding opportunities; contribute contextual analysis, budgets and implementation models to proposals.
• Promote institutional capacity, ownership, cost-effectiveness and practical sustainability plans from project inception.
• Capture scalable innovations and inform country strategy and policy dialogue with credible regional evidence.
• Prepare grant proposals and mobilize resources across the region and beyond.

• Minimum master’s degree in education, Development Studies, Project/Program Management, Community Development, Social Sciences or a related discipline.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible development or humanitarian program experience in International and National NGOs, including at least 7 years managing multi-project teams or regional portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience managing donor-funded education and/or integrated community programs in Ethiopia, preferably including conflict-affected settings.
• Strong competence in project cycle management, grants and budget oversight, MEAL, safeguarding, partner management and staff development.
• Proven ability to engage regional government structures, lead geographically dispersed teams and make evidence-based decisions under operational constraints.
• Excellent written and spoken Amharic and English; additional relevant local languages are an advantage.
• Strong digital literacy, spreadsheet and reporting skills; willingness and ability to travel frequently.

Female Candidates are highly encouraged to apply.