West Africa Programmes Coordinator at Malaria Consortium

Reporting to: West Africa Director
Length of contract: 2 years
Travel involved: 40% within the region

Country and Project Background

• The West Africa hub provides technical and programme management oversight and support to country programmes within the Western (Burkina Faso, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria) areas of Malaria Consortium’s programming. 

Job Purpose

• The West Africa Programmes Coordinator provides direct programme, HR, finance and operations management guidance for any multi-country and country programmes to the West African country programmes, supporting evidence-based business development, planning and investment decision which ensure value for money. 

Scope of Work

• High-level of autonomy for quarterly reporting and analysis of country performance
• Acts as secondary budget holder for any core, above-country programme’s budget
• Allocation of specific areas of support by the West Africa Director 

Key Working Relationships 

• Reports to the West Africa Director and works in coordination with Country Directors and other support team members
• No direct reports but recruits and manages consultants when required
•  Liaises with country programme senior management teams (Country Directors, Country Technical Coordinators, Country Finance Managers and Project Managers) 
• Liaises with HQ-based Business Development and Technical team when required 

Key Accountabilities (per cent of time spent on each area) Programme Management (30%)

• Coordinate inputs on project start-up upon successful award of funding, including drafting work plans, project timelines, procurement plans and contracts, compliance adherence, reviewing sub-contracts, etc. in collaboration with country programme teams. 
• Oversee the close-out planning and roll-out for all country and multi-country projects, in close coordination with country senior management teams and project managers, to ensure that ownership and accuracy/compliance/reporting in close-out activities is adhered to. 
• Provide support to country senior management teams in the roll-out of five-year strategic plans, including any business development, restructuring and realigned objectives revisions to ensure the document remains living and relevant to the country programme.
• Draft technical programme management deliverables (donor reports, concept notes, project monitoring tools, internal reports and project materials for external distribution) and provide writing and editing support to country and multi-country programmes, in collaboration with the Programmes teams and Technical Directors. 
• Follow-up on management assessments for each country programme annually, including timelines for actions on identified gaps and risk areas, and planning support to countries to effect these actions. 
• Review and consolidate Quarterly Programme Assessments and Rolling Funding Pipeline for country programmes and work with country teams on remedial actions when required.  Review contracts (donor, vendor, consultant, sub-contractor) prior to approval as needed.
• At the request of the West Africa Director, Create and revise job descriptions, conduct interviews and recommend selections for staff and consultants for country-level and regional/multi-country projects. 
• Represent the organization to donors in-country and at headquarters level for specific project issues and project launches as-needed.
• Ensure that all country programmes are appraised and trained on new software and policy rollouts, including providing troubleshooting and additional training support for new hires.

Financial and Risk Management (30%):

• Review and oversee quality assurance from the project management team on annual financial plans and rolling reforecasting exercises at the country and regional levels.
• In collaboration with country senior management teams, provide detailed monthly diagnostic and prescriptive analysis of budget performance against planned expenditures, including monthly follow-up on remedial action for under/overspends.
• In coordination with the Country Finance Managers, develop and provide tailored financial management inductions, formats, templates and ad hoc trainings for country-level managers, including senior management team and project managers, in order to ensure comprehensive financial management literacy among project support and implementation teams, including but not limited to budget variance analysis, forecasting, microplanning and mapped and phased budgets.
• Follow-up on internal audit recommendations and outstanding advance balances for all country programmes to ensure that they are addressed within two quarters of identification.
• Work closely with country senior management teams to identify and update an active risk matrix with clear deadlines for mitigating actions and quarterly revisions and updates when new projects come online. 
• Ensure grant management in terms of knowledge management of project agreements and documents is followed, including monitoring reporting quality assurance to donors and partners and compliance adherence by projects.

Business Development (25%): 

• Act as coordinator for bid managers on multi-country and country programme business development initiatives.
• Support project design and log frame development in coordination with the bid team and country programme. 
• Coordinate technical, managerial and operational inputs from countries on single- and multicountry proposals, including ensuring that countries are fully briefed on the project concept, rational and timelines.
• Lead on narrative drafting and budget development as needed. 
• Provide review on project management and budgeting of all proposals, including quality assurance of technical narrative in collaboration with the technical team.
• Develop graphic quarterly country updates on the status of pending and existing projects and proposals for the Board of Trustees.
• Sign off on project management for proposals less than 500,000 USD in value.

Resource Management (5%):

• Manage resource planning tool for the region, ensuring appropriate allocation of programme management, operations, financial and technical staff across projects in line with approved donor budgets, in close collaboration with the West Africa Director and Technical Director. 
• Provide technical training on systems and resource management planning to country resource managers within the region as-needed. 
• Analyse regional staff, support costs and use of core budget on a monthly basis for Management Accounts purposes, and quarterly for Regional Management Team meetings.

M&E Support (5%): 

• Carry out analysis of M&E data for country programmes in coordination with project managers and M&E focal points as needed. 

Secondment (5%): 

• Be available for secondments and gap fill for programme manager-level positions as required for country programmes within the region.  Content of secondments will vary depending on skill set of post holder.

Person Specification - Qualifications and Experience        
Essential:

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, International Development or a related field Substantial experience in project development, implementation and evaluation 
• Ability to work in French/Portuguese

Desirable:  

• Previous work experience in sub-Saharan Africa and/or on malaria or public health programming 

Work-Based Skills           
Essential:  

• Strong analytical skills, with a comprehensive understanding of budgeting and financial management Excellent writing, editing and presentation skills
• Ability to work and coordinate with remote teams in various locations 
• Proven track record of managing multiple projects, working to tight deadlines and overseeing diverse teams in a development context 
• Proven track record of budget and financial analysis 
• Significant field experience in project implementation and financial management with a proven track record of timely submission of high quality project deliverables
• Understanding of public health issues in Africa; previous experience managing health projects desirable Experience in proposal writing and business development

Desirable:  

• Proficiency in using STATA or other statistical software

Salary
USD 44,550 gross