Head of Social Development Programme at Plan International

Role Purpose

• Plan International Nigeria aims to respond effectively, rapidly, and at significant scale to the social development needs of children and families in our programme areas in Nigeria. And to this extent the post holder will be responsible for the expansion, quality and effectiveness of the social development programme in Plan Nigeria.
• He/She will oversee the development and implementation of Social development programme plan (including project implementation of different projects with different institutional donor and Plan International National offices) maintain the programme master budget, representing the organisation at various clusters/networks, working groups -external as well as internal (i.e Regional Office, IH, Lake Chad Basin Unit) development actors.

Dimensions of the Role

• The Head of Social Development Programmes is expected to provide strategic leadership in all areas of Social development programming.
• He/she is responsible for the quality and effectiveness of Plan International Nigeria’s social development programmes of Nigeria.
• He/she lead and manages the social development team ensuring quality programming in line with Plan International programme quality standards, reporting and knowledge management in the Social development programme. He/she reports to the Director or Programme Quality and Innovation.

Accountabilities
Assessment, Programme Design and Planning:

• Provide leadership and strategic oversight to the social development unit, serving as Plan international representative in relevant social development forums in the wider organization and externally
• Responsible for guiding, strengthening and supporting Plan Nigeria’s capacity and expertise in social development programming across all sectors.
• Coordinate the development of all project implementation plans and budgets within the framework of the agreed development response programme and strategy.
• Ensure the Director programme quality and innovation is kept informed about assessment progress, implementation and strategies, project plans, progress reports, and other significant developments
• In collaboration with the Business Development Team at the Country Office, identify funding opportunities with National Offices and lead proposal development with the Technical Specialists.
• Pro-actively network and build external relations, lead fund raising efforts and build up a portfolio of grants to finance single and multiyear projects in close coordination with the Business Development Unit.
• Lead in the development and design of all external Social development programme proposals, budgets and reports, and ensure they are completed to the highest possible standard.
• Contribute to the nexus approach implementation in Plan International Nigeria programming on close collaboration with the Emergency Response Manager.

Programme Management and Implementation:

• Ensure adequate monitoring, reporting and acquittal of programme activities in accordance with Plan’s global programme strategy, policies and protocols.
• Strengthen linkages across all project units to ensure a strong, coherent program approach and encourage learnings across projects in the social development programme unit
• Regularly keep National Offices informed of program progress and key programmatic issues
• Ensure that an overall monitoring and evaluation framework is regularly updated
• Support the conduct of research and other empirical evidence gathering at the field approved by Management.
• Design/update monitoring and supportive supervision tools and other relevant documents. This will include applying Results Based Management monitoring and reporting methods, analysing baseline and end line surveys and monitoring data

General Management and Leadership:

• Establish and maintain constructive working relationships with other NGOs, host government, bilateral and multilateral donors, and other principle stakeholders.
• Attend relevant inter-agency coordination and working groups/Network meetings.
• Conduct performance appraisals of the social development programme staff as required, ensure regular feedback and mentoring on individual performance.
• Undertake field monitoring visits to project sites on at least a quarterly basis
• Represent Plan Nigeria in project Steering Committee meetings

Policy, Research and Networking:

• Ensure representation of Plan Nigeria at the national level and contribute to the visibility of Plans’ work in relevant forums and networks in Nigeria
• Establish/maintain strong working relationship with USAID, DfiD, World Bank, Global Affairs Canada and other donors in Nigeria
• Ensure quality technical input into research documents and publications
• Lead development of communications for use in conferences, symposia and relevant events in Nigeria, including abstracts for relevant conferences
• Develop and/or support partnerships and cooperation with other organizations in Nigeria on development programming and policies
• Contribute to formulation of research initiatives in health highlighting maternal and child health/Adolescent Sexual Reproductive health, Education, Livelihood, Protection and nutrition issues and innovations in Nigeria
• Keep up to date with professional knowledge on strengthening the rights of children and adolescent girls

Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge

• Minimum of 7 years social development programme experience in similar context
• High level of all aspects of leadership and managerial experience, including managing large, complex donor projects, especially health and education.
• Experience in complex decision making and leading a multi-disciplinary, multi-national team under difficult circumstances.
• The highest level of expertise in representation and negotiation with governments and donors.
• Extensive knowledge of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political environment
• Strong understanding of the Social development needs in Nigeria  
• Strong national network and capacity to influence programme direction.
• Experience in producing proposals and reports for a variety of donors
• Strong understanding of the nexus approach to programme delivery
• Demonstrable understanding and experience on gender issues and their relevance to development and humanitarian response work