Programme Director, SMC at Malaria Consortium

Location: Abuja / Nigeria Country Office
Department: Management
Length of contract: Indefinite
Role type: National
Grade: 11
Travel involved: In-country 50% with occasional int’l
Child safeguarding level: 1
Reporting to: WCA Programmes Director
Dotted line manager: Global Programme Director - SMC
Indirect reports: 7 Zonal project managers

Country and Project Background

• The Nigeria Country Office in Abuja, started operations in 2008, through the DFID/UKaid funded Support To National Malaria Programme, SuNMaP (2008 – 2016). The office had presence in 23 states of the country and has managed at various times, about 15 programmes and projects. It follows the mandate of the parent organization in Nigeria and has been working specifically in the following areas:
  • Malaria control/elimination;
  • Integrated community case management (iCCM) for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea;
  • Nutrition; and
  • Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
• Malaria Consortium has been involved in implementing seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) since 2013, with a major scale-up between 2015 and 2017 across 7 countries of the Sahel region, including Nigeria, under the ACCESS-SMC project. Today, Malaria Consortium’s SMC programme operates in Burkina Faso, Chad, Nigeria and Togo, using a mix of philanthropic and institutional funding. In Nigeria, Malaria Consortium currently implements SMC in 7 states: Bauchi, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, aiming to reach around 9 million children under 5 in 2020.

Job Purpose

• To ensure a coherent programme approach across locations and funding streams, working with the SMC programme team at global, regional and national levels as well as the Nigeria country office team.
• To manage programme activities, resources as well as provide leadership, stewardship and maintain collaborative links with the programme’s key stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.

Scope of Work:

• The Programme Director will provide overall leadership to the programme team and be responsible for managing the programme at national level and implementing programme activities at the State level.
• The post holder will also liaise closely with the wider SMC programme team at global and regional level to ensure country-level expertise and insights to inform a coherent approach across Malaria Consortium’s multi-country SMC programme and conversely the global SMC programme approach is adapted to the Nigerian context.
• The position will be based in the country office, with regular travel within implementing states.
• It will support the SMC programme team through providing managerial, technical support and direct implementation of MC SMC project activities in implementing states and at national level, as well as oversee and coordinate SMC deliverables.
• S/he will lead the country-level SMC Senior Management Team (SMT).
• The post holder will be responsible for the development and monitoring of a sustainability plan working closely with other members at the country office.

Key Working Relationships:

• The post holder will report to the West and Central Africa Programmes Director and work closely with the wider SMC programme team at global and regional level, especially the global SMC Programme Director, the Regional Programme Coordinator West & Central Africa, Head of Technical West & Central Africa, Global Operations Manager, as well as other senior technical, research, M&E, operational and external relations colleagues at programme level.
• The role will also work with major stakeholders and partners at the national level, including the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) SMC expert group and subcommittees, states and Local Government Areas (LGAs) where the programme is operational.
• S/he will line manage key programme staff in the country and state offices (dotted line management).

Key Accountabilities (percent of time spent on each area)
Strategic Planning and Project Management (60%):

• Build and manage a high-performing country-level SMC programme team;
• Line manage the technical specialist, project manager, Data Analysis Specialist as well as the operations and surveillance specialist with dotted line management function to the Zonal Project Managers.
• Be responsible for the coordination and implementation of programme activities for all SMC projects within Malaria Consortium on a time and within budget, ensuring targets and milestone are met.
• Liaise regularly with the West and Central Programme Director, Country Programme Manager, Country Technical Coordinator and team leads of all projects funding SMC to provide timely and comprehensive updates and reports as required.
• Liaise regularly with the global SMC Programme Director and other senior programme-level staff to ensure country-level expertise informs the global programme approach to SMC and the global approach is adequately adapted to the Nigerian context.
• Work with the country-level programme team to develop and implement annual work plans.
• Work closely with the Country Technical Coordinator to prepare the project monitoring and evaluation framework and research strategy, taking programme-level frameworks and strategies into account.
• Work with programme and country-level colleagues to implement frameworks and strategies.
• Work with the country finance team to track progress of programme and activity budgets
• Work with relevant country office staff to ensure they are aware of the programme needs and support is provided adequately to the programme team.
• Be responsible for country-level programme budget management including the preparation of annual budget and forecasts, implementation as planned, tracking and reforecasting, as well as liaise with programme-level colleagues to ensure accurate tracking and reporting of Nigeria finance information at programme level
• Be responsible for preparing country-level programme progress and quarterly narrative reports on time.
• Liaise with programme-level colleagues to ensure accurate tracking and reporting of Nigeria programme and operations information at programme level
• Work with the country finance and Country Programme Manager to prepare quarterly financial reports.
• Work with the relevant country personnel and the Country Programme Manager to prepare and implement an exit strategy as well as see to the smooth end of the programme.
• Work with External Relations colleagues at programme level, the Country Communications Manager, Demand Creation Officer and project partners to develop and implement a programme communications and advocacy strategy is developed, taking programme-level communications and advocacy goals and objectives into account.
• Contribute to the development and be responsible for the implementation of a communications and advocacy plan in line with the communications and advocacy strategy of the programme and NG office, which will include, for example, the production of case studies, reviews of lessons learnt and general documentation for internal and external dissemination.
• Be responsible for quarterly lessons identification and learning documentation and dissemination.
• Lead the development of any additional country project documentation that may be requested by the Country Director or Global Programme Director-SMC.
• Be responsible for building functional partner relationships among the programme’s stakeholders.
• Oversee programme partners’ inputs and subcontractors’ activities to deliver harmonized, aligned and effective outputs
• Manage the risks of the project including Safeguarding, financial, reputation and security in a challenging environment.
• Lead on the performance management of country-level programme staff
• Ensure regular communications are maintained between the different teams particularly between zonal/state teams and with the Abuja office.
• Be responsible for the project risk register. Work with the team members of the SMT in the identification, tracking, prevention and management of key programme risks especially those related to performance and fiduciary management.
• Liaise between the project, NMEP, and other stakeholders.

Technical contributions (10%):

• Work with senior technical colleagues at country and programme to determine technical support needs to implement the programme effectively and with high quality.
• Liaise with the Country Technical Coordinator and Global Programme Director-SMC to obtain the required technical support.
• Support the generation of evidence to improve programme performance and illustrate effectiveness through monitoring and evaluation, research and learning.
• Contribute to the development and production of dissemination documents to allow wider sharing of Malaria Consortium’s experiences, lessons and successes.
• Technical performance management and Quality Assurance (20%)
• Take the lead in monitoring and evaluating programme performance.
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the programme.

Representation (10%):

• Work with the Country Director and Country Programme Manager to participate in national level meetings and workshops to represent Malaria Consortium at programmatic and coordination events.
• Liaise regularly with NMEP SMC expert group and focal persons keeping the relevant Country Team in loop of communication.
• Work with the Country Director to keep other key national and state stakeholders abreast with the project.
• To exert influence and to advocate for Malaria Consortium’s key technical positions and promote best practice in SMC interventions, in line with MC global and national communications and advocacy plans and strategies.

Person Specification
Qualifications and experience:

Essential:

• Postgraduate Master's Degree in Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement.
• Senior management level experience on large-sized health projects in Africa.
• At least 15 years working experience in international projects.
• At least 5 years of those spent in projects in developing countries lasting more than 2 years and managing teams of 10 or more including local and international staff.
• Extensive experience of working at national level in developing countries.
• Excellent project planning, management and monitoring & evaluation skills.
• Experience managing programme / project budgets
• Excellent written and spoken English Language

Desirable:

• Proven leadership skills and team-leading
• Experience in advocacy and policy influencing
• Experience managing donor grants or contracts such as DFID, GFATM or USAID/PMI.
• Experience working on malaria, maternal and child health programmes, including community health delivery.
• Familiar with the Nigeria health system

Work-based Skills and Competencies
Essential:

• Demonstrable passion for Malaria Consortium’s mission; a strategic manager with integrity and a desire to work in a dynamic environment
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills are also needed.
• Clear communication skills for managing partnerships and relationships with senior stakeholders at all levels
• Strategic thinking.
• Ability to manage and inspire high performing teams.
• Excellent programme management skills, with proven ability to implement high-quality projects on time and within budget.
• Strong negotiation skills, particularly in engaging government health officials at all levels.
• Good influencing and persuasion skills and ability to remain compliant with organisational and donor policies.
• Ability to manage and prioritize high workload and multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines.
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Excellent English language skills, both spoken and written.
• Capable of establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different functions and cultures.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Word and Excel.
• Proactive and takes initiative as required.
• Results-oriented work ethic.

Core Competencies
Delivering results:

LEVEL D:

• Inspires wider teams to achieve outstanding results and to manage risks
• Proactively improves effectiveness and performance of other senior staff to increase the ability to meet objectives, acquiring new skills when appropriate
• Encourages mitigating risks amongst the teams/groups they work with/ manage
• Ensures the quality of all internal/external work of own and others

Analysis and use of information:

LEVEL C:

• Works confidently with complex data to support work
• Interprets complex written information
• Works confidently with data before making decisions: for example, interpreting trends, issues and risks
• Acquainted with the validity, relevance and limitations of different sources of evidence

Interpersonal and communications:

LEVEL D: 

• Communicates complex technical and/or sensitive/high risk information effectively
• Communicates complex operational, technical and strategic issues clearly and credibly with widely varied audiences
• Uses varied communication to promote dialogue and shared understanding and consensus across a variety of audiences
• Influences internal and external audiences on specific issues
• Scans the internal and external environment for key information and messages to support communications strategies

Collaboration and partnering:

LEVEL C:

• Builds strong networks internally and participates actively in external networks and think tanks
• Builds strong networks internally
• Participates actively in external networks and/or think tanks
• Engages with relevant experts to gather and evaluate evidence
• Shares and implements good practice with internal and external peers

Leading and motivating people:

LEVEL C:

• Effectively leads and motivates others or direct reports
• Gives regular, timely and appropriate feedback
• Acknowledges good performance and deals with issues concerning poor performance
• Carries out staff assessment and development activities conscientiously and effectively
• Develop the skills and competence of others through the development and application of skills
• Coaches and supports team members when they have difficulties

Flexibility/ adaptability:

LEVEL D:

• Clarifies priorities and ensures learning from experience
• Clarifies priorities when leading change
• Sees and shows others the benefits of strategic change
• Helps colleagues/ team members to practise stress management through prioritisation of workloads and modelling of appropriate self-management and care
• Makes time to learn from experience and feedback, and apply the lessons to a new situation

Living the values:

LEVEL D:

• Acts as a role model in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values
• Champions and takes ownership of corporate decisions, values and standards and ensures team members implement them in a positive manner
• Acts as role model internally and externally in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values
• Is accountable for ensuring that cultural awareness is demonstrated across the area (s) they manage

Strategic planning and thinking and sector awareness:

LEVEL C:

• Keeps up to date with the internal and external environment
• Takes into account economic, political and other business factors when drawing up medium and long-term plans, covering both public and private sectors
• Looks beyond the immediate operations to prospects for new business
• Engages with appropriate internal and external sources to establish major influences on future plans

Salary
NGN 8,248,079 Annually.