Programme Manager, South Asia

Job Title: Programme Manager, South Asia

Location: UK, with ability to attend the London office regularly and international travel

Reporting to: Europe-Asia Department Director

Responsible for: South Asia Programme Officer and consultants and volunteers as required.

Duration: Until end of March 2025 initially, with potential for extension based on continued funding.

Gross salary: £52,786.70 gross annual

Deadline: 14 Aug 2024, 17:00 UK time

Conciliation Resources

Conflict is difficult, complex and political. The world urgently needs to find different ways to respond. Conciliation Resources is an international organisation committed to stopping violent conflict and creating more peaceful societies. We work with people impacted by war and violence, bringing diverse voices together to make change that lasts. For over 25 years, we have been making peace possible. We currently have over 70 full and part-time staff members. We work with over 70 locally-based and international partners worldwide.

In South Asia, Conciliation Resources has been working with Kashmiris on either side of the Line of Control (LoC) supporting locally-led peacebuilding initiatives since 2008. Working with partners and a network of civic actors in all parts of Jammu and Kashmir, we support their efforts in articulating local needs and perspectives to build up peace constituencies in support of conflict transformation in the region. Our goal is to enhance prospects for a non- violent transformation of the long-standing conflict over the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir. The South Asia Programme has also worked with partners on Afghanistan related analysis and programming.

Job purpose

The Programme Manager, South Asia is responsible for the development, management and overall delivery of projects and initiatives, in the South Asia Programme, as part of the management of donor funded grants and contracts. Their work will enable constructive approaches to addressing
complex and deep seated issues in the Kashmir context and contributing to peace-making processes at local, national, regional and international levels. They will manage development of existing and new initiatives within the programme, and will have responsibility for programmatic, personnel and financial management. They will lead the continued analysis of work in the Afghanistan context, working with partners and identifying opportunities for collaboration.

This role will work closely with the Senior Adviser, South Asia, who provides strategic leadership to the programme. The team structure at present is indicated in the organogram below, and the team will have at least weekly team meetings. In addition, there are a number of consultants who support the programme’s work, alongside our partners. The Programme Manager will ensure the Senior Adviser’s inputs are captured into the design and implementation of initiatives in the region. The Programme Manager will approach the work with an understanding of the sensitivity of this work, and an ability to navigate the complexity of peacebuilding work in the region.

In summary, the Programme Manager will be responsible for managing donor grants and contracts, including funds from the UK, and will be responsible for ensuring compliance to donor requirements, in addition to ensuring wider peacebuilding objectives are met. The Programme Manager will be responsible for ensuring new and existing areas of work are compliant with Conciliation Resources’ processes and policies. The post holder will act as a resource to partner organisations and as appropriate will represent the South Asia programme in meetings with a range of interlocutors in context and elsewhere. The Programme Manager will maintain positive relationships with partners, donors and consultants, in conjunction with the Senior Adviser. The post-holder will manage a Programme Officer, consultants and volunteers, and potentially other staff, if the team grows.

Person Specification

Essential knowledge, skills and experience

• Practical and conceptual knowledge of peacebuilding and conflict transformation processes and of supporting the development of local capacities for peacebuilding.

• Considerable knowledge of the social and political landscape in the India-Pakistan (Kashmir) context and the wider South Asia region, and its conflicts, ideally through the experience of living or working in or in the South Asia region.

• Considerable experience of project management including project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and narrative and financial reporting.

• Experience of working with local and national partners in an accompaniment and mentoring role, including capacity building and due diligence.

• Considerable financial management experience, including preparing and managing annual budgets of at least £250k, monitoring and forecasting spend, and overseeing internal and external financial reporting.

• Experience of managing government or other donor-funded programmes, including donor relationship management, programme development and narrative and budget reporting.

• Considerable experience of developing new project ideas, building relationships with donors and writing proposals and budgets to secure new funds.

• Excellent communication skills to communicate complex issues effectively and adjust communication style to varying circumstances, including the ability to listen actively to people from varying backgrounds and with a range of political, cultural, gender and sexual identities and value orientations, combined with an ability to engage with them clearly and sensitively.

• Experience of line managing staff, including task management, performance management and professional development.

• Experience of planning, running, and facilitating effective meetings and workshops.

• Appreciation of confidentiality, political sensitivity and the complexities of working in a situation of unresolved conflict or political transition.

• Excellent spoken and written English.

Desirable Knowledge, skills and experience

• Experience facilitating dialogue processes

• Experience undertaking advocacy with policymakers.

• Good working knowledge of spoken and written Urdu and / or Hindi

• Knowledge and experience of peace mediation and dialogue processes, including formal track 1 and local community dialogue and reconciliation processes.