JOB SUMMARY & PURPOSE:
The CARE Kenya’s Girls Education and Empowerment Project aims at effectively empowering marginalized adolescent girls expand life choices through access to quality learning; equip them with knowledge and skills to be engaged citizens in the 21st Century. The project will use a multi sectoral approach to lifelong learning to capitalize on opportunities to learn about the intersection of quality education, leadership skills development, adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ARSH), economic empowerment and utilization of Information, Communication and Technological (ICT) to support and enhance learning.
The project manager shall provide leadership on the program scope ensuring that it takes advantage of opportunities to synergise with other local and international initiatives and is integrated into other programming of CARE and her partners. He/she will directly supervise, technically manage, mentor, coach and appraise project team members on all components of this initiative. She/he will oversee the design and implementation of the monitoring and evaluation plan and lead on the use of information generated to ensure that it is usefully deployed to inform further project implementation, support the learning agenda across the innovations. She/he provide tehcnical guidance and enhance collaborative working relationship with project partners, county governments and strategic partnerships to further achievements of the project.
Under the leadership of the designated program leader, the project manager will be responsible for maintaining and strengthening synergies within the Girls Education Empowerment Project partners in the 2 counties, and the multiplicity of actors supporting related thematic scope, nationally and at community levels. She/he will maintain flow of communication among actors through regular briefs and updates,
Tasks and Responsibilities
R 1: Technical Project leadership
Coordination for all successful project innovations, learning and generation of evidence for outcomes and impact
1.1. Provide management oversight to the Girls Education and Empowerment Project in Nairobi and Kajiado Counties, which includes and not limited to; supporting the steering committee and thematic sector managers handling health and financial inclusion components to develop an operational strategy and consolidate the design of the various interventions into the project.
1.2. Effectively distribute work among staff by ensuring that the staffing plan takes on board considerations for effective duty allocations and that team work is maintained at all times.
1.3. Preparing Project Monitoring Folder (PMF) (Approved proposal, approved work plan, signed contract, approved budget, staffing plan, procurement plan and update program and financial expense reports) detailed implementation plans, procurement plans, prepare budget tracking and expenditure tools and review them at least monthly and jointly quarterly in liaison with the SM and submit them to the designated program head and ACD-P at beginning of project, annually or as revisions have been effected.
1.4. Coordinate and guide preparation, review and produce program narrative reports and program activity reports on a timely basis
1.5. Organize in consultation with the project steering committee, partner inception and planning forums, to facilitate coordination, collaboration and effective delivery of all components of the project.
1.6. Document stakeholder engagements providing project updates on a weekly basis to the project steering committee to facilitate cohesion, team work and support from all parties in project implementation.
1.7. Organize comprehensive monitoring events to ensure at least quarterly field visits are undertaken by the steering committee and strategic project and ensure actions are followed and progress reporting shared for results based programming.
1.8. Ensure communication flow is known by all partners and that timely communication for project concerns are shared with project steering team, supervisor and other levels of management while ensuring that all official processes for external communication are adhered to.
1.9. Organizing and actualizing partner review meetings as per work plan and contract for purposes of enhancing implementation, coordination and sharing among implementers and other core partners.
1.10.Identify and project Technical Assistance needs using capacity assessment reports and field technical support sessions, develop and implement Capacity Bulding (CB) and technical assistance (TA) plans.
1.11.Organize Girls Education and Empowerment Project coordination meetings for project partners, strategic partners and key stakeholders and attend forums as shall be directed or invited that further the cause of addressing underlying causes of poverty and vulnerability that affect girls and women’s empowerment.
1.12.Establish good working relationship and coordinate with other Girls Empowerment Project stakeholders within the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (MoEST), Kenya Institute Curriculum Development (KICD), Ministry of Health (MOH), ICT partners, financial institutions and other players; to facilitate smooth project implementation, nurture support for key project components and successful growth of this project.
1.13.Coordinate with other CARE Kenya program and project managers in enhancing Health/SRH and financial programming in the country office.
1.14.Enhance coordination and reach out, maintain learning and synergies within CAREs Adolescent Girls Education program and focus countries supported under cohort 3 of the Patsy Collins Trust Fund Initiative but also beyond this initiative.
1.15.If required, Coordinate and host donors, CI and senior program management field visits
R 2: Contract Management, Compliance and Budget management; (50%)
Task
R 2: Contract and Budget management and Compliance
Task
2.1 Oversee the grants management implementation, enforcement and compliance to all contractual requirements of the program.
2.2 Ensure full awareness of donor contractual clauses and develop checklist for clauses that are transferable and ensure these are implemented as conditions in the partners grant agreement. Ensure time bound conditions are reflected by date and a tracking list generated for tracking compliance to conditions and timelines, working with partners as appropriate to ensure conditions are met. Documenting processes for meeting conditions precedent, standard conditions such as minutes of meetings, processes and deliverables, management letters among others that CARE will use to support decisions made on key contractual issues.
2.3 Ensuring partners’ capacity assessments are done and where need be, improvement plans are inbuilt into partner contracts.
2.4 Ensuring that partners are fully aware of the interpretations of the contract clauses as per the contracts signed with CARE on the Girls Empowerment Project contract to enhance compliance and minimization of risk.
2.5 Ensuring timely identification of risks and communicate these in writing to CARE’s management through the designated supervisor
2.6 Prepare, on a timely basis, requests for support to key departments and individuals matters related to contract management and compliance and ensure timely follow up i.e. reporting, funds transfer/disbursements.
2.7 Ensure partners are oriented on the operational and grants accounting manual, sub grants management and M&E plans to ensure effective compliance to terms and conditions as well as systems and processes.
2.8 Be aware and utilize information on budget provisions for the approved Girls Empowerment Project grant with a view to effectively manage all budget components i) CAREs budget (Operational) ii) partners components of budget.
2.9 Develop in consultation, processes and work plans for operationalization of the approved performance based work plan and budget including and not limited to; i) developing a Girls Education and Empowerment Project budget tracking tool ii) work plan of crucial activity timelines and deliverables against financial resources allocated.
2.10 Working closely with the Grants Manager and supervisor, develop and operationalize a grants management plan, taking into consideration all components of the sub grants management cycle including and not limited to; timelines for funds disbursement requests, disbursement transfers, processes for sub contractor budget preparations and contracting, technical support visits to partners, financial and budget systems review during TA visits to sub contracted partners, financial reporting reviews against contracted targets, developing and operationalizing monitoring plans for funds utilization against activity implementation and review reconciliation reports produced by the grants and contracts manager.
2.11 Prepare, revise and in a timely manner operationalize procurement plans for the program.
2.12 Review all project financial reports submitted by finance on a monthly basis while providing timely feedback on all aspects to enhance proper and efficient utilization of program funds, explaining budget burn rates against planned activities/expenditure plans
2.13 Ensure there is timely preparation of donor financial reports and that all expenses incurred are dully accounted while ensuring that all taxation matters are addressed and that there is harmony in program and financial reports before submission of reports for review.
2.14 In a timely manner respond to budget queries raised by management, finance counterparts and program teams.
2.15 Ensure effective implementation is in line with CARE financial and administrative policies
2.16 Review financial expense reports on a monthly basis review M&E data and program information as per contractual requirements to ensure contract compliance for quality and timely reporting.
2.17 Prepare and manage project assets and inventory held by the CARE and partners as per donor requirements and CARE Kenya policies and regulations.
2.18 Support and coordinate preparation of the audits of partners annually in consultation with finance department and Girls Empowerment project team and support SM in planning and responding to program audit queries.
Task
R3: Program Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (30%)
Task
3.1. Lead the development of a comprehensive M&E Plan, Detailed Program Implementation Plan and Operational Plan, working with supervisor, project steering committee and project team for Girls Education and Empowerment Project ensuring that all components of the project have quality and verifiable indicators and M&E tools to organize the M&E System and support the innovations learning agenda for the project.
3.2. Organize a M&E strengthening workshop for implementers and using the results of the workshop, finalize the Capacity building plans on M&E. Review timely and in a coordinated manner, all feedback from CI CMP M&E and KM&L team.
3.3. Develop action plan for operationalizing the M&E plan for Project.
3.4. Supervise and mentor the M&E officer to support the development of the M&E system and
3.5. Develop and periodically review the scope of work for the M&E partner to implement agreed upon scope of work in M&E and learning.
3.6. Coordinate the development of the E-learning component of the program with support of the project steering team, M&E officer and project team and regularly provide for reviews and improvements based on monitoring reports.
3.7. Train the partners on the M&E tools and data quality to enhance reporting for the Project.
3.8. Review M&E reports from partners on a monthly basis and in accordance to contracts and develop a system for validation of information provided by partners.
3.9. Prepare program reports using verifiable program and financial M&E reports from partners and share these on a regular basis and at least 20 days before the reporting period to the supervisor for review, input and sharing with other country teams in time to meet contract reporting dates.
3.10. Develop on site data quality guide, pre-test, complete and implement – with support of the project M&E officer, project steering committee and partners.
3.11. Organize and oversee field visits and monitoring plans for ongoing monitoring and review of on going project activities; with a view to ascertain that activities are on going and that results and outputs shared with CARE are genuine and within approved disease priorities funded, which will be used to make decisions concerning revisions/adjustments to sub recipient contracts.
3.12. Document all components of the program and its management.
3.13. Develop TORs for program evaluations and other M&E technical assistance required, in consultation with supervisor, CMPs contact personnel, provide technical oversight to program consultancies to ensure deliverables are met to stipulated standards.
3.14. Develop management program progress update reports for sharing to keep the country management team updated on the progress of the Girls Empowerment project. The reports should reflect progress in achieving targets, conditions precedent and standard conditions, decisions made by actors in country and impacts on the Girls Empowerment Project, support required to enhance success of program and overall aspects across the components of the PMF.
3.15. Organize partner review meetings taking into consideration performance review by various actors, in order to inform challenges and progress in program implementation. With support of the Sector Manager and the Sector M&E coordinator develop a system to identify and document promising practices within the Girls Empowerment Project and develop a system for sharing these.
3.16. Organize partner review and sharing sessions for CARE and partners to present program progress, lessons learnt and best practices to enhance performance of the Girls Empowerment Project grant
R4: Staff management (10%)
Tasks
4.1. Supervise four staff of the Project team, while ensuring that the fully understand their responsibilities, work as a team and deliver on their tasks in a timely manner.
4.2. Ensure staffs have detailed implementation plans and these are reviewed and updated regularly with feedbacks provided on areas requiring improvements.
4.3. Guide, supervise, coach, manage, mentor, provide leadership and support to the project staff on a day to day basis to meet program tasks and responsibilities, to deliver within contractual obligations.
4.4. Support hiring of competent staff and orient them in a timely manner to implement in line with contractual obligations and CAREs policies and procedures.
4.5. Support staff to develop Individual Operating Plans for purposes of strengthening their performance and the performance of the Girls Education and Empowerment Project.
4.6. Undertake annual staff appraisal in line with JD and IOP requirements on a timely manner.
4.7. In a timely manner notify and consult the supervisor and human resource department and CAREs management on any staff concerns related to their conduct, performance, confirmation and disciplinary issues while ensuring that policies and procedures are adhered to.
R5: Strengthen CAREs Performance in Transitions to Program Approach and achievement of program strategy objectives assigned (5%)
Tasks
5.1. Support quality implementation and contribution to synergized and program approach for Country Office programs and work closely with other program/project managers and staff, including management of office operations for learning, scale up and improvements.
5.2. Program Development: contribute to competitive bidding processes for programs that contribute to the achievement of the program strategic direction.
5.3. Undertake any other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor or management that enhance CAREs mission.
AUTHORITY:
- Spending Authority:
- Supervision: Supervises four staff - the M&E Officer, Grants Officer and two Project Officers.
- Decision Making: Decision making on core JD areas of Program Coordination, Contract Management, Compliance and Budget management, Program monitoring, evaluation and Reporting. Staff management, Technical Assistance, Lessons Learnt and Knowledge sharing in consultation with the Health Program Director.
CONTACTS/KEY RELATIONSHIPS (internal & external):
Internal: Works closely with the Girls Education and Empowerment Project team, CO program quality unit, Sector Managers, M&E Coordinator and Grants Manager, and Country Office M&E Specialist, Country Office Grants Manager and other Program Support Units: Internal Audit, Finance, IT, Administration/ procurement, and Human Resources.
External: Liaison with key Project Stakeholders in the country including: the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, (MoEST), Kenya Institute Curriculum Development (KICD), Ministry of Health (MOH), financial institutions, project partners (sub-recipients) and key strategic partners. The position also interacts with other external parties e.g. auditors, consultants. Etc.
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Normal working conditions in a city setup. However the employee may have to contend with traffic congestion during peak hours. The employee will also undertake infrequent field visits to project locations including remote areas and therefore has exposure to road and air travel risks and security risks.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Education: Degree in Masters Social Sciences, Economics, Public Health, Business Administration, Project Management or other relevant discipline coupled
- Experience:
a) Minimum of 5 years experience in program management capacity in at least two areas covered by this project – with SRH and Economic citizenship areas the most relevant.
b) Gender trained, trained in ICT and with demonstrable capacity and experience.
c) Facilitation skills and training skills
d) Demonstrable experience in managing government, CSOs and other partnerships.
- Competencies:
a) Strong staff and program management skills
b) Strong partnership skills
c) Ability to develop and implement monitoring and evaluation plans
d) Excellent inter-personal, facilitation skills and communication skills
e) Strong budget management skills
f) Person of high moral character and professional integrity
HOW TO APPLY:
If you feel you meet the requirements for this position, send your updated CV with email & telephone contacts of three professional referees and the application letter quoting the Reference number & Titleof the position as the subject to: The Human Resources & Development Manager, CARE International in Kenya, Email: Vacancies@care.or.ke to be received not later than 24th September 2015. Do not attach certificates. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.
CARE is an equal opportunity employer and promotes gender equity. Canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification.
CARE International in Kenya does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. (Application, interview, meeting, processing, training or any other fees).
N.B) The interested applicants must indicate their expected remuneration level.
