State Project Manager at Malaria Consortium

Job Summary

• The State Project Manager will be responsible for the overall management, coordination and harmonisation of the Nigeria component of this multi-country multi-donor project. Lead project implementation activities ensuring consistency with the overall multi-country programme’s performance framework, and in line with Malaria Consortium’s core values.
• S/he will lead the project team in the states and liaise closely with the Zonal Project Manager, keeping the West Africa Programmes Director in the loop.
• The State Project Manager (SPM) will provide management leadership to the State level staff on the project.
• S/he will be responsible for delivery and achievements of the project goal and objectives ensure that reports are completed in a timely manner and shared with relevant stakeholders and stored to enable effective decision-making.
• S/he will lead the development and periodic review of relevant systems for the project in line with the organization policies.
• The SPM will travel to field offices and represent the country office, nationally and internationally where relevant. 
• The SPM will be a member of the Country Management Team (CMT) and will report to the Zonal Project Manager.
• The SPM will supervise directly a team of staff including State Project Officers with input into the performance objectives and reviews of these staff.
• The SPM will work with the Country Technical Coordinator, Country Finance Manager and other Project managers on similar projects in delivering the objectives of the project.

Key accountabilities
Project Management:

• Work with other members of the country team and the Zonal Project Manager (ZPM) to coordinate State-level activities for smooth project start up and project planning
• Lead with support from the ZPM and CTC, the definition of project scope and deliverables, technical and program management needs and subsequently develop and resource quarterly support plans
• Responsible for coordinating overall project implementation and ensure activities are carried out on a time and within budget
• Develop, cost and monitor annual, quarterly and (during four-month SMC delivery period) monthly activity plans to ensure that deliverables are met and milestones achieved on time
• Actively oversee management of project budget, including compliance with established cost categories, monthly review and correction of transaction lists, analysis of monthly budget verses actual reports, and quarterly financial forecasting
• Support ZPM to liaise with key stakeholders (National Malaria Elimination Programme, Ministry of Health, PMI, UNICEF, other organisations carrying out SMC, community health workers, community leaders) to ensure coordination of SMC delivery and timely resolution of problems
• Closely liaise with NAFDAC in related activities on pharmacovigilance,
• Lead in producing biannual narrative and financial reports, as well as more frequent activity reporting as requested
• Lead the development of any additional country project documentation that may be requested by the West Africa Programmes Director, or Project Director
• Ensure transparent and accountable management and reporting of SMC drugs through provision of technical assistance to government actors and regular field visits
• Work with Country Communications Manager to develop and roll out BCC campaign to ensure mobilisation of caregivers and improve SMC uptake
• Contribute to the development of the communication plan and the implementation of the SMC community and health facility mobilization plan
• Ensure that the process of project implementation and lessons are comprehensively documented, including production of case studies and other documentation for internal and external dissemination
• Work closely with the Country Technical Coordinator, Senior Technical Specialist and the Regional Epidemiologist to prepare and implement a country project monitoring and evaluation framework
• Work closely with the ZPM and the Project Director to regularly update and implement a risk management plan
• Be responsible for building functional partner relationships in country among the project’s stakeholders
• Be responsible for supervising country staff as assigned
• Work with the relevant country personnel and the ZPM to prepare and implement an exit strategy to see the smooth end of the project.

Technical contributions:

• Work with the country project teams and the Country Technical Coordinator to determine technical support needs that are needed to implement the project effectively and with high quality
• Liaise with the ZPM to ensure that appropriate and quality technical support is provided in response to the project’s needs
• Contribute to the development and production of dissemination documents to allow wider sharing of Malaria Consortium’s experiences, lessons and successes
• Actively participate as a member of Malaria Consortium Nigeria’s Technical Team through regular attendance and active participation at Technical Team Meetings; with defined inputs to other Malaria Consortium Nigeria projects when necessary, and input into needs assessments and the development of project proposals, as requested.

Technical performance management and Quality Assurance:

• Implement project deliverables using the Country Technical Quality Assurance System as a guide to assure the quality of the work
• Work with the project team to see that there is a project learning cycle, which is able to use on a monthly basis, the project monitoring data and other data, to understand project implementation and inform any changes
• Monitor project progress using the appropriate templates for reporting on achievements against targets quarterly
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the project.

Representation:

• Identify strategic opportunities at national and sub-national level to share project experiences and learning to further the objectives of the project
• Represent MC at the SMC Technical Working Group within NMEP
• Work with the West Africa Programmes Director and Country Programme Manager to see that Malaria Consortium is purposefully represented at national level platforms
• Work with the West Africa Programmes Director and Country Programme Manager to keep relevant national stakeholders abreast with the project.

Person Specification
Qualifications and Experience:        

Essential:

• 7 – 10 years’ post-qualification in medicine or any other public health-related field
• 3 –5 years’ experience in project management, with a preference for health projects management
• Significant operational and supply chain management experience in a developing country
• Strong management skills, demonstrated ability to supervise the performance of others to meet high quality and timely project deliverables
• Ability to work in English (speaking and writing)
• Experience in project, budget and financial management 

Desirable:

• Previous experience in coordination or management of mass drug administration or pharmaceutical supply chain management in northern Nigeria

Work Based Skills and Competencies
Essential:

• Demonstrated understanding of procurement procedures
• Ability to communicate and negotiate with people from different back grounds and professions 
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to make complex information understandable to diverse different audiences
• Flexible and able to adapt to a quickly changing environment by applying knowledge and experience to solve unforeseen and unexpected problems
• Strong representational skills
• Experience developing donor-funded projects, including strong writing skills.