Programme Manager – based in Sierra Leone

Job Title: Programme Manager – based in Sierra Leone
Reporting to: Head of Programmes – Sierra Leone & Liberia
Salary: €35,000 – €40,000
Contract Type: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Principal Location: Freetown, with frequent travel across Sierra Leone
Updated: October 2024

Our Organisation:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 1,000,000 children to go to school and learn.

Part 1: Role Purpose:

We are seeking an outstanding Programme Manager to oversee the management of an exciting new project piloting an innovative approach to overcome poverty as the primary barrier to education through the development of community-based savings groups. Working closely with Street Child’s national partner, the role holder will support the effective implementation of adaptive programming through hands-on support to implementation teams. Based in Freetown, the role-holder will travel frequently to project locations to monitor progress.

The successful candidate will work closely with the Street Child Germany team to ensure compliance to donor requirements and prepare accurate and timely donor reporting. The Programme Manager will also support the development of Street Child’s growing portfolio of German government, trust and foundations, and corporate funding in Sierra Leone, and wider West-Africa region, contributing to proposal writing, report writing and communications materials.

Knowledge of the German language and experience with German government donors compliance requirements would be a distinct advantage.

Part 2: Key Responsibilities:

1) Programme Management – 50%

• Work in collaboration with programme management to ensure quality and timely implementation of programme activities.
• Work alongside the implementation team to provide strong hands-on support in programme delivery and MEAL approaches, identifying and addressing challenges and blockages.
• Work closely with implementation teams to improve data analysis and learning, supporting the development of remediation plans where necessary.
• Alongside colleagues, provide training, guidance and advice to partner delivery staff to ensure effective and accurate use of programme documents and tools.
• Review narrative and financial quarterly reporting from implementing teams and provide feedback.
• Lead on donor reporting for the new project.

2) Programme Funding – 25%

• Work closely with the Street Child Germany team to respond to funding opportunities and guide programme development, in close liaison with Sierra Leone country team, and wider West-Africa teams, as required.
• Contribute to, and/or lead proposal writing, working closely with the Head of Programmes.
• Liaise with finance and programmes colleagues on budget and target setting for new opportunities.
• Prepare, and contribute to, reporting for a range of T&F and corporate donors.

3) Financial Support – 20%

• Support programme teams in compiling requisitions in line with programme forecasts and budgets.
• Work with finance colleagues to collate financial reporting, in line with donor requirements.
• Ensure compliance with donor expectations across the programme.

4) Other – 5%

• Coordinating staff, stakeholders and donor visits, as required.
• A strong commitment to Street Childs vision, mission and values.
• Adhere to all Street Child’s policies and procedures.
• Represent Street Child appropriately both internally and externally.
• Carry out all reasonable requests that are within the broad remit of the role.

Part 3: Person Specification

Experience and Knowledge:

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

• Relevant field experience of development programming, with a commitment to and respect for local partnership.
• Experience of successful delivery of team objectives by working closely and collaboratively within a team at all levels.
• Experience of data collection, cleaning and analysis.
• Relevant experience of working in support of local partners.
• Demonstrable experience of budget management.
• Demonstrable experience of capacity building with national staff.
• Demonstrable experience of donor reporting.
• Experience with German Government Donors funding and/or other German donors.
• Strong working knowledge of education, child protection and livelihoods approaches.
• Strong working knowledge of the Sierra Leone, or wider West-Africa context.
• Experience supporting the design and development of livelihoods programming.

Skills and Abilities:

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

• Good organisation and administrative skills and an ability to forward plan.
• Coaching / Capacity Strengthening Skills.
• Good time management skills, able to work to tight deadlines and an ability to work under pressure.

Other;

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

• Excellent written and spoken communications in English.
• A ‘can-do’, and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptive thinking.
• Self-starter with strong motivation to succeed and ability to work independently in carrying out assigned tasks within a fast-paced team.
• Strong preference for German language skills.

Education / Qualifications:

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

• Degree or Higher in International Development or related field; or relevant training courses in MEAL.

Street Child’s commitment to Safeguarding:

Street Child is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff.

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks. Street Child also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

To apply:

Please answer all the pre-application questions in depth and submit your CV and a covering note explaining why you think you could make an extraordinary impact in this role.

We will be reviewing applications as they are submitted so interested candidates are encouraged to apply early.