Senior Programmes (Education) Manager At Street Child – Apply Now Full Time

Street Child are searching for an impressive professional, with a strong education background, to play a key leadership role in developing our growing portfolio in Sierra Leone and Liberia – two high-priority countries for the charity.  In Sierra Leone and Liberia, the very first countries the charity began working in, we principally deliver change through long-standing partnerships with our two ‘federal partners’, Street Child of Sierra Leone (SCoSL) and Street Child of Liberia (SCoL). The crux of this role is the provision of excellent technical, delivery and representative support to these two key national partners, SCoSL and SCoL, including resource-mobilisation and capacity development.

Job title: Senior Programmes (Education) Manager
Reporting to: Africa Programmes Director
Hours: 37.5
Principal Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone, with up to 20% travel to Liberia
Contract length: Permanent

Background:
Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic
and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the
refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t,including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 338,000 children to go to school and learn and supported over 29,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.

We are seeking an outstanding professional with the ambition and skill to lead Street Child UK’s flagship Sierra Leone programme and its Liberia programme. This role reports to Street Child’s Africa Programmes Director, working alongside the excellent national leadership team of our founding local partners in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Part 1: Role Purpose:
The crux of this role is the provision of excellent technical, delivery and representative support to our two key national partners – Street Child of Sierra Leone (SCoSL) and Street Child of Liberia (SCoL) – including resource mobilisation and capacity development.

Additionally, and importantly, this role-holder will be directly accountable for the excellent management and delivery of all Street Child UK-contracted projects in Sierra Leone and Liberia (presently c$3m p/annum; growing) – reporting to Street Child Senior Leadership and/or donors
directly.

The role is based in, and is expected to primarily focus on, Sierra Leone – with travel to Liberia as required (estimated 20%).

Part 2: Key Responsibilities:
1) Programme management (40%)
• Drive programme design and impact through the development of evidence-based,
technically robust and value for money programmes together with national partners
and communities;
• Ensure excellent programme delivery, line managing the Sierra Leone programme manager and coaching Street Child’s national partners to ensure quality in implementation;
• Lead on donor narrative and financial reporting in collaboration with national partners and SCUK teams, in particular for three large UKAID funded programmes.
• Ensure that the financial management of Street Child supported programmes is accountable and transparent, and that all staff are fully aware and able to comply with the finance policies
• Ensure that partners have robust systems for planning and delivering projects that are in place and implemented, from design and inception to delivery and evaluation
• Ensure that project performance is monitored regularly and compared to targets, deliverables, and budget
• Ensure that the planning, delivery and evaluation of projects complies with donor expectations and the terms of donor contracts, and that reporting to donors is of the highest standard
• Support the identification and sharing of key programme learning, utilising this to support continued strengthening of programme impact

2) Partner capacity development (25%)
• Establish, develop and maintain excellent working relationships with national partners
• Work alongside national partners to assess organisational capacity and to identify technical capacity gaps
• Support national partners in identifying the blockages that prevent the effective and efficient implementation of their programmes
• Assist in the design of an organisational development plan that strengthens sustainable organizational capacity
• Where appropriate, directly provide coaching and training input and support in priority areas/

3) Resource mobilisation and representation (25%)
• Lead the development of strategic partnerships with relevant in-country actors including donors, INGOs and local/national government;
• Identify and drive new potential needs / gaps / expansion opportunities in line with Street Child’s strategy in Sierra Leone and Liberia;

• Represent Street Child at the highest level in the region, including pro-active participation in relevant coordination mechanisms at national, regional and local level;
• Proactive engagement with Street Child UK head office and programmes team on strategic, networking and fundraising activities.

4) Strategic leadership (10%)
• Work with national partners and other key stakeholders to develop the country strategy for Street Child in Sierra Leone and Liberia in alignment with Street Child’s global priorities
• Identify and develop new opportunities and partnerships which align with strategic goals

Part 3: Person Specification

Education /Qualifications:

Essential: Educated to degree level or higher

Desirable: Masters degree in International Development or related field; or attendance at specific relevant training courses

Experience and Knowledge

Essential:

• Previous experience of and track record in delivering high quality education and/or child protection programming, with a commitment to and respect for local partnership;
• Demonstrable experience of budget management, grant management and developing / delivering MEL approaches;
• Demonstrable experience of proposal development and/or winning funding;
• Strong working knowledge of education, child
  protection and livelihoods approaches;

Desirable:

• Technical specialism in one or more of the following fields: education; child protection; livelihoods; gender; inclusion;
• Prior experience in TARL;
• Strong working knowledge of the Sierra Leone, Liberia or wider West African context;

Skills and Abilities

Essential:

• Proven coaching skills and organisational development experience
• Excellent relationship building skills, with an ability to skilfully navigate both national and international stakeholders;
• Strategic thinking, with a strong ‘nose’ for initiating and building partnerships and sourcing funding opportunities;
• Ability to skilfully balance independent working with wider teamwork with both UK and international teams

Others

• Excellent written and spoken communications in English (additional languages welcome)
• A ‘can-do’, and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptative thinking;

Deadline : Nov 26, 2020