Jul 14, 2015 - across its global network of financial institutions. ... improvement loans and school fee loans, expandin
JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title:
Programme Manager
Reporting to:
International Programmes Director
Based in:
Opportunity UK’s offices in Oxford
Opportunity International is strengthening and expanding its Education Finance programme across its global network of financial institutions. The goal of these efforts is to improve educational impact in low-income countries where many children are unable to complete their education at a high-quality school. The programme focuses on scaling Opportunity’s school improvement loans and school fee loans, expanding innovative education services and promoting knowledge-sharing and the development of education finance specialists. To support the programme, Opportunity UK is looking to hire an experienced Programme Manager with excellent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) skills, as well as the ability to manage complex budgets. Overall Aims of the Post The Programme Manager will have overall management responsibility for Opportunity UK’s Education Finance programme and will be the main point of contact for Opportunity UK’s Education Finance projects. In this capacity, he/she will directly oversee the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of field activities within the scope of donor funded grants (including a DFID Girls Education Challenge fund grant, known as GEC). He/she will work closely with Opportunity’s global Education Finance team. The GEC project has detailed and regular M&E reporting requirements; as such, the post-holder is expected to have advanced level M&E skills. The Programme Manager will have experience of supporting international programme management on sizeable and complex development projects funded by institutional donors. Strong financial management skills are essential. The Programme Manager will manage the GEC grant budget to compose monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual progress reports for submission to DFID. In addition, he/she will coordinate regularly with GEC partners and programme stakeholders for maximum outreach. Working closely with the Global Education Finance team based in London, he/she will mentor the local Education Finance Managers in the effective M&E, budget utilisation, and meeting of donor requirements for the other education grants. 1
Finally, together with the Global Edufinance team, he/she will facilitate and coordinate fundraising for new education grants that expand and enhance the multi-year portfolio of Opportunity International UK. The Programme Manager will lead on donor reporting, compliance monitoring and, where appropriate, capacity building of local colleagues in the area of project management. For the GEC project, he/she will be the main point of contact for the donor and fund manager in the UK (DFID and PWC respectively). To facilitate this, he/she will undertake at least three visits per year to assess the progress of the project and support wherever necessary. Please note that the post is not exclusively focused on education; there will need to be a degree of flexibility to manage other UK-funded programmes (initially expected to be 25% of the post). Areas of Responsibility 1. Monitoring and Evaluation • Provide management, guidance and support to local education finance project staff in order to ensure that funded grants are implemented effectively, have high impact, and meet donor requirements (notably those of DFID’s GEC). • Keep up-to-date and effective systems for the effective governance and risk management of the education finance projects at a UK level – adopting wherever possible those already in place under the existing GEC project in Uganda. • Lead the review and periodic revision of the education finance work-plan, including quarterly reviews of target indicators (as a minimum) and the progress of field activities. • Flag issues early with the Education Finance team (in the UK and globally) and provide recommendations for their correction. • Monitor progress through field visits and meetings with project staff, communities, partners, local and provincial government, and other key stakeholders.
2. Budget Management 2
• Ensure the effective financial management of the DFID GEC project (anticipated to be approximately 40% of the role) with full compliance to DFID donor regulations. This will require management of a complex budget with minimum finance officer support. The postholder will need excellent attention to detail and familiarity with PBR (payment by results). • Manage and track spending under the education finance projects to the agreed budgets. • Prepare and implement pipeline analyses and quarterly spending targets. • Identify potential variances of expenses versus budget and make appropriate adjustments. 3. Reporting and Documentation • Collate incoming data from field activities, baselines, endlines and other assessments. • Write donor progress reports on a monthly, quarterly and semi-annual basis, as well as case studies of successes, challenges, lessons learned, and other project-related feedback. • Assist organisational learning for education best practices that can be used in manuals, booklets, and brochures. 4. Coordination / Representation • Serve as Opportunity UK’s primary contact for education finance for inter-agency communication and coordination. • Ensure good relationships and regular, structured communications with key stakeholders such as wider Opportunity International staff and local teams. • Support the Education Finance team (based in London) at public meetings and donor-liaison functions. • Coordinate effectively with other NGOs that are working in education. • Advise the Opportunity UK fundraising team in the development of new concept notes and/or funding proposals for education finance activities. • Liaise with the Senior Programme Manager (ME&L) in order to measure the impact of the various education grants.
The role will involve travel to the field as necessary to assist in the aforementioned tasks.
3
Qualification, experience and skills The Programme Manager will serve as the lead in ensuring that Opportunity UK’s education grants are implemented effectively, have high impact, and meet donor requirements. In particular, this will require strong financial management skills since the post-holder will be expected to manage complex budgets (ensuring invoices are submitting on time and monitoring the expenditures and costs against delivered and realised milestones as the projects progress). The Opportunity International Network, of which Opportunity UK is a member, is a Christianbased organisation and employees need to understand, value and appreciate the principles that underpin its vision, mission and objectives. It is not, however, a requirement that an applicant is a practising Christian. The post-holder is expected to have the following experience and skills: • Degree in the humanities or social sciences. • Minimum five years' experience in international project management and experience of coordinating large grants, ideally from DFID. • Strong financial management skills and a proven track record in preparing and implementing pipeline analyses and quarterly spending targets. • Successfully managing complex relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders, including providing management and advice from a distance. • Knowledge of current education trends, programme activities, and best practices. • Excellent written communications, including report writing, in English. • Superior interpersonal and team-building skills. • Experience in developing and supporting the capacity-building of national staff through training sessions, performance-management reviews, and development plans. • Outstanding excel skills. • Computer skills, including word processing, mail, and internet. • Motivated, committed, responsible, and able to work independently with limited direct supervision. • Commitment to and understanding of Opportunity International's mission, vision, and values.
4
