FGM Country Project Manager at Plan International

Type of Role: 5-year fixed term contract
Reports to: Country Director

The Opportunity

• Plan International seeks an outstanding Country Project Manager (Contingent on proposal award) to manage effective implementation of the anticipated Supporting the Africa Led Movement to End FGM Programme in [the participating Country] and delivery results as per the log frame within their country of responsibility. Supporting the Africa Led Movement to End FGM is a global programme to be delivered across 6 countries (Kenya, Somaliland/ Somalia, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali) with an expected budget of approximately £35 million over five years.
• The project will focus on accelerating the pace of change to end FGM and achieving results at scale. The programme looks at achieving change at scale in the chosen countries, but also reinforcing this with a more global approach to grassroots networks and campaigns/advocacy. The programme will deliver community-level projects to end FGM by changing attitudes and behaviours towards harmful practices, empowering communities to protect the safety, rights and choices of women and girls.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership across programme implementation in their country of operation and contribute to development of strategic vision by the Team Leader
• Ensure the project is delivered in line with agreed timescales and budget, including putting in place mechanisms for effective project start-up
• Foster good cross-consortium working relationships and coordinate with in-country consortium partners to ensure high quality project activities are consistently delivered against the project workplan and to donor agreed milestones
• Ensure that all delivery partners are aware of, and compliant with, donor and Plan standards
• Support the development of costed annual workplans, ensuring budget forecasts and spend monitoring are carried out on a regular basis
• Oversee the consolidation and submission of quality country level project reports to time, and in line with agreed governance structure
• Coordinate with relevant donor-funded projects in their relevant area of operations to ensure complementarity of delivery
• Engage effectively with key national, regional, and community stakeholders, including government, donors, civil society, service providers, and academic institutions to ensure smooth delivery of the programme and dissemination of learning
• Liaise with CO staff and coordinate their contribution to project delivery according to costed contributions
• Liaise with Programme Technical Lead and Safeguarding Advisor to ensure that technical quality standards and mechanisms are in place and applied to high consistency across programme implementation within their area of responsibility
• Liaise with Plan Finance and reporting structures to ensure that optimal procurement and finance systems are in place, ensuring that DFID`s Value for Money (VfM) approach is applied across all aspects of the project
• Ensure there is a robust and effective monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive learning process in place; and that there is effective coordination with a third party-managed Evaluation & Data Component of the Programme
• Lead recruitment of new staff as and when required with Plan UK and Country Office HR teams
• Represent the project externally at national level, as needed and agreed by matrix management supervisors
• Ensure that Plan International`s global policies for Child Protection (CPP), Safeguarding, and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) are fully embedded across all project activities

The Person
In order to succeed in the challenging and varied role, you will have extensive experience in the following areas:

• Extensive experience in managing complex, donor-funded programmes in challenging environments, ideally in [the participating Country], including building capacity of implementing partner organisations
• Experience in managing DFID commercial contracts with a demonstrated applied knowledge of DFID procedures and Payment by Results Programming would be an advantage
• Demonstrable leadership and people management skills;
• Consortium management experience with or working through partners;
• Applied technical knowledge in thematic areas of FGM, Social Norms, or Gender, which could include managing FGM-focused projects or acting as a technical expert
• Knowledge of current trends in addressing social norms, FGM prevention and innovations related to addressing harmful traditional practices
• Demonstrable applied knowledge of Adaptive Management programming an advantage
• Experience in implementing behavioural change programming models would be an advantage
• Strong relationships with sector specialists and relevant government offices in [the participating Country]
• Proven ability to represent the programme to a variety of audiences, ranging from civil society, government representatives, donor, and community representatives
• [Participating Country] national with the ability to articulate and demonstrate a strong understanding of the contextual challenges faced by communities in [the participating Country] OR a regional candidate with really strong understanding of [the participating Country] and solid experience of working in the country.
• Advanced report writing skills
• Advanced degree in a relevant field, for example, Gender Studies, Gender and Development, Development Studies, or Sociology
• Fluency in English and relevant official language in [the participating Country]
• Qualifications in Project Management and/or Prince2 an advantage
• Knowledge of French/Arabic/local languages would be an advantage

Salary
Competitive salary available