Team Leader - Ending Preventable Deaths Support Programme at Palladium Group

Job ID: req20973

Project Overview and Role

• Palladium is seeking a Team Leader for the anticipated FCDO-funded Ending Preventable Deaths (EPD) Support Programme, which is expected to be a three-year programme with a budget of £12m. Work is contingent on Palladium’s successful bid for the programme.
• The EPD Support Programme will support FCDO central and country teams to contribute to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, babies, and children by 2030 by strengthening health systems, improving human rights, and enabling healthier environments in 11 flagship countries and 4 countries in protracted crises.
• The support to FCDO central and country teams will come in the form of long-term and short-term technical assistance (TA) through local and international consultants, alongside a strategic flexible fund.
• The direct objective of the TA is to strengthen the capacity of FCDO country teams to influence the policy, legal, and strategic environments needed to make progress on EPD in tandem with the efforts of centrally managed and bilateral country programmes.
• The exact nature of the TA requested in each country will be informed by the bottlenecks and opportunities FCDO identifies in consultation with national governments and local partners.
• The 11 flagship countries are Bangladesh, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Sudan.
• The 4 countries in protracted crises are Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
• The Team Leader for the EPD Support Programme will be accountable for the successful implementation of the programme.
• Specifically, s/he will have overall responsibility for leading and overseeing the sourcing of TA needs and the quality execution of TA activities by local teams and consultants. As part of this, the Team Leader will liaise closely with FCDO.
• S/he will ensure timely and high-quality completion of all deliverables; maximise value for money; oversee the achievement of any payment KPIs and logframe outputs and outcomes; and ensure that risks are minimised, company policies are adhered to, and the programme is compliant with FCDO terms and conditions.

Timing and Location:

• This is a full-time position likely to be based in one of the eleven flagship countries. The programme is expected to commence in the second half of 2024 - more precise timing will be made available once the bid is released.

Key Responsibilities of the Position
The Team Leader will act as the central point of leadership for the EPD Support Programme, reporting to a Programme Director based in the UK. The key requirements for the Team Leader are to:

Strategic Leadership:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with FCDO at central and country levels to support TA need identification.
• Work with FCDO teams in the design of long-term and short-term TA assignments, alongside the use of a strategic flexible fund to deliver on EPD targets within case-by-case national and local contexts.
• Manage the Palladium consortium, ensuring proper coordination with and among any partners for the delivery of set activities.
• In collaboration with local teams, coordinate with other EPD Centre of Expertise programmes at the country level to minimise duplicated effort, maximise shared knowledge, and ensure productive working partnerships and complementary workstreams.
• Provide strategic and technical representation of the programme at key meetings and coordination platforms, both nationally and internationally.
• Work closely with the Programme Director to regularly update FCDO on programme performance against the logframe, providing informed and actionable recommendations for any adaptations to delivery, collaborating with FCDO to determine next steps.

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership to the programme, making sure it delivers against the programme outputs, outcomes, and impacts through well-designed strategic approaches and TA.
• Provide technical and strategic leadership for the EPD Support Programme, including setting key strategic goals in consultation with partners, team members, and FCDO.
• Provide guidance, oversight, and quality assurance for all programme activities, outputs, and deliverables. 
• Assume overall responsibility for the effective implementation of workplans to ensure delivery is on time, within budget, meets client and stakeholder expectations, and is contractually compliant.
• Monitor implementation progress; work to resolve issues, as well as manage and mitigate risks; and escalate material issues and risks as appropriate.

Programme and Financial Management:

• Oversee the role of workstream leads in the planning, management, coordination, and delivery of agreed upon outputs and outcomes.
• Oversee the rational, accurate, and value for money-driven costing of TAs. Ensure achievement of financial targets and spend expectations.  

Requirements
Key Competencies and Professional Expertise Required:

• Experience in the management of health systems strengthening TA programmes, with proven experience of direct-to-donor programmes. Previous experience delivering TA for FCDO specifically highly desired.
• Subject matter expertise in health systems strengthening, with proven contributions to EPD programming.
• Experience across several of the key subject areas that will be drawn upon for TA support - human rights, gender and equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, healthier environments, including WASH, climate, nutrition, and air quality.
• Proven experience delivering health programming for donors in a Team Leadership or Deputy Team Leadership capacity.
• Excellent leadership, representation, organisational and interpersonal skills, both in-person and remotely.
• Proven experience successfully managing teams to achieve results, including overseeing and quality-assuring the work of TA consultants.
• Written and spoken fluency in English.