Project Manager, Food for Peace at Save The Children

The Organisation
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Role Purpose

• Save the Children is seeking a Project Manager for its FFP funded program in Borno, Nigeria to provide support to internally displaced and host community households in Borno State.
• In order to facilitate access to food for vulnerable displaced and host community households lacking access to agricultural lands, or with otherwise constrained income earning opportunities and reduced market access, while at the same time supporting existing food vendors, SC will target households with unconditional food voucher transfers, protection and nutrition support.
• We are currently seeking a Project Manager to lead this project in Borno, Nigeria.
• The Project Manager (PM) will be based in Maiduguri and work under the supervision of the Area Operations Manager to provide technical and operational guidance, support monitoring and evaluation, and ensure quality of the project. He/she will also ensure effective financial and operational management of the project.

Key Areas of Accountability

• Working closely with the DTL and Project Director and other FSL program managers to:
• Administer the development and successful implementation of work plans and oversee the creation of reports and other deliverables to FFP in a timely and accurate manner:
  • Oversee and support implementation through a local partner, including the supervision of proper targeting, identification, registration, and monitoring of beneficiary lists to prevent overlap with other humanitarian programs in the intervention zone.
  • Quality technical leadership and advice to the local partner around the design, implementation and monitoring of project work at state and community levels.
  • Coordinate closely with other humanitarian actors and UN agencies carrying food vouchers, and food distributions for geographic mapping and to ensure program activities are in line with national and humanitarian food security priorities.
  • Ensure that efficient systems are in place to support all aspects of project activity, including financial and grant management, project monitoring and evaluation, and sub grant management, and that they support the effective use of project resources in compliance with FFP regulations.
  • Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) team to develop appropriate monitoring and evaluation plans and to capture learning opportunities around the effectiveness of voucher-based programming, and in particular, the use of e-vouchers.
  • Ensure regular monitoring of the market prices and generation of monthly market assessment reports.
  • Work with the logistics team in the identification and selection of vendors to participate in program activities
  • Ensure that all vendors working on the program are abreast with and respect all SCI rules/regulations pertaining to the program as well respect the rights and privileges of beneficiaries
  • Maintain close contact with the service providers facilitating the food assistance program and ensuring timely replenishment of beneficiary accounts as well as tracking beneficiary transactions.
  • Ensure compliance with all grant, FFP and government provisions, and timely fulfilment of all project programmatic reporting requirements.
  • Oversee timely expenditure of approved budgets, avoiding both under spending and overspending on grant line items.

Other Roles
Personnel and Administration:

• Supervise emergency field based project staff: conduct performance evaluations, identify staff skills development needs and assist the DTL and FFP-Director to meet these needs, provide management support to staff as needed, and maintain office policy of respect and communication between supervisors and subordinates.
• See that all staff are aware of and understand SC policies and procedures; take appropriate disciplinary measures as needed.
• Promote accountability, communicating expectations and providing constructive feedback through regular performance reviews.
• Responsible for the timely recruitment, orientation, and training of new staff as needed.
• Ensure all administrative procedures are followed, such as those regarding vehicle use and procurement; ensure logistics/administrative staff provides sufficient and timely support to programs and programmatic staff, and that data collection processes are standardized and applied by all field staff.

Representation and Leadership:

• Represent Save the Children in humanitarian coordination fora within the State as and when required.
• Maintain good working relationships with officials and other humanitarian actors, particularly those within the relevant government agencies (State Emergency Management Agency), ACF, IOM, and UN agencies.
• Represent SC and maintain good working relationships among the international and local NGO community, among community leadership structures and community-based organizations, and with visiting donor teams and other key contacts. Keep abreast of NGO, government, and donor initiatives relevant to SC’s work.
• Maintain focus on SC program principles.
• Encourage teamwork, openness, and honesty among State staff and between SC and its partners.

Monitoring and evaluation:

• Where security permits, the PM will make regular visits to field sites, to monitor and oversee project implementation and offer advice.
• Support program assessments, evaluations and other reviews required in the program.
• Contribute to situation/response analysis and development of food security and livelihoods strategy documents and sector response plans ensuring integration with other sectors.
• Coordinate with the MEAL team the timely development of periodic evidence-based project impact reports, captured through Post Distribution Monitoring and ensuring that lessons learnt and best practices are factored into project implementation.
• Contribute to the development and deployment of project-specific assessment/survey tools and templates.

Core Behaviours
Understanding humanitarian contexts and application of humanitarian principles:

• Demonstrates strategic leadership in disaster coordination mechanisms and interagency cooperation
• Applies humanitarian principles to complex situations to generate both short and long-term organisational and sector-wide strategies

Achieving results effectively:

• Leads strategically on accountability initiatives, ensuring accountability processes are in place and achieving results
• Builds consensus and ownership around difficult decisions and/or complex courses of action
• Maintains focus on strategic issues and overall organisational and sector-wide impact

Maintaining and developing collaborative relationships:

• Quickly builds and leads high performing teams
• Applies distributed leadership amongst a team
• Shares success whilst being accountable for difficult outcomes

Operating safely and securely:

• Monitors security risks and ensures organisational protocols are consistently followed by staff
• Takes appropriate action and provides appropriate direction and support to team members in the event of a critical incident
• Reduces vulnerability by complying with safety and security protocols set by the organisation

Managing yourself in a pressured and changing environment:

• Ensures that wider team remains positive and focussed on the objectives and goals in a rapidly changing environment
• Able to proactively build & maintain levels of resilience in others
• Adapts leadership approach to the situation
• Communicates humanitarian values and motivates others towards them
• Maintains simultaneously a broad strategic perspective and awareness of the detail of a situation
• Demonstrates personal integrity by using one’s position responsibly and fairly

Leadership: Action; Thinking; Self; Inspiring; Developing Others:

• Removes obstacles to ensure strategic objectives are met
• Aligns ideas and solutions to strategic imperatives
• Uses global networks to influence strategy or action
• Demonstrates managerial courage by willingness to confront difficult situations, take potentially unpopular decisions and communicate clearly to create consensus notwithstanding difference
• Creates a team environment where team members feel able to contribute, champion or challenge decisions
• Continual efforts at self improvement in evidence
• Creates and communicates a compelling vision which inspires others
• Ensures processes are in place across the team to strengthen the capacity of staff and partners in line with individual and organisational objectives.

Qualifications and Experience
Essential:

• Extensive experience of working within a senior management role within a complex country programme in an emergency response or fragile state.
• Previous experience of managing programme teams in large-scale first phase emergency response is essential
• Education: MA / MSc level (or equivalent field experience) in Agriculture, Rural Development, Development Studies and other relevant qualifications
• Experience of M&E and beneficiary accountability systems in large complex programmes
• Experience of developing and negotiating successful partnerships with institutional donors
• Proven ability to influence change at an operational and strategic level
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy
• A high level of written and spoken English
• The capacity and willingness to be extremely flexible and accommodating in difficult and sometimes insecure working circumstances.
• Commitment to the aims and principles of SC. In particular, a good understanding of the SC mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support.

Desirable:

• Fluent in English.