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Job Category: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Programme Roles)

Job Subcategory: Development and Humanitarian

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities) 

Main purpose of job:

The British High Commission Kigali’s Political and Governance team leads on UK engagement with the governance and politics of Rwanda, and provides governance programme support to Rwanda’s development vision. The team works with Rwandan and international interlocutors to support public sector governance and accountability, human rights and media freedom, public financial management, and fiscal decentralisation. We also lead on political engagement with the Government of Rwanda.

The Programme Manager leads the management and compliance of the team’s complex programme portfolio, in partnership with the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader, Governance advisers, and a programme officer. You will be the Programme Responsible Officer (PRO) for the new bilateral governance programme (approx. £6m per year), and will play a key role in ensuring coherent programme management across the team including our small grants as well as centrally manged governance programmes in Rwanda, as well as our small programme portfolio in Burundi. You will ensure that our programmes deliver impact against BHC Kigali objectives, achieve value for money, and comply with FCDO rules and standards.

This is an exciting time to join the team, as we are about to mobilise our new bilateral governance programme (“Twiyubakire”), and are closing our existing programme (SPARC) after fives years. The new programme will support the delivery of the Governance and Decentralisation and Public Financial Management Sector Strategic Plans, and include financial aid to the Government of Rwanda to strengthen local governance, grants for civil society to support accountability, and a commercial contract to provide cross-cutting governance technical assistance.

The role is stretching and high priority, as we are taking innovative and flexible approaches to programming. This includes ensuring strong M&E systems for adaptive programming, and the increasingly close integration of governance programming with the work of other teams, in particular on climate, economic development, education and social protection. You will also be responsible for ensuring that the team is well sighted on the range of centrally managed FCDO programmes that are supporting governance work in Rwanda.

Roles and responsibilities:

We all have a responsibility to embrace the changes of the FCDO as it transforms, building the culture we want to see and delivering our cultural statement in how we lead and behave towards others; how we make decisions and how we get the job done is everyone’s responsibility.

You will manage delivery of Political and Governance Team programmes, with key areas of responsibility including:

• PRO responsibility for the new bilateral governance programme: The programme is complex and flexible, including financial aid to Government of Rwanda (MINECOFIN and MINALOC), grants to CSOs and a contract partner delivering technical assistance. As PRO you will ensure the programme’s finances are proactively managed including spot checks, and achieve Value for Money; that we have good risk management in place, and that good quality M&E informs our programme management. You will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the FCDO programme management and other relevant standards, and will help to deliver good quality Annual Reviews and Project Completion Reviews. You will be an integral part of the mobilization team for the programme over the first year of delivery
• Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: You will need to establish and maintain a network of key stakeholders with our programme partners. You will engage closely with these partners in support of programme delivery, scrutinizing their substantive and financial reporting and carrying out monitoring.
• Portfolio leadership: To support coherence across the team, you will lead on a portfolio programme tracker using Excel; and you will set up and chair the quarterly portfolio compliance meetings, ensuring that all of our programme work – including the new bilateral programmes, centrally managed projects as well as projects funded through the International Programme Fund and other instruments – is managed in line with FCDO standards. You will also support the advisers on our policy influence review meetings, using these to ensure that programme delivery and policy engagement are effectively aligned.
• Engagement with Centrally Managed FCDO Programmes and Burundi small grants: There are a number of global FCDO programmes and programmes delivered by other UK government departments that are active on governance and political issues in Rwanda. You will build our engagement with these, alongside the team leader and other relevant team members, and help ensure that we are making the best use of these programmes to achieve UK and BHC objectives. You will support the small British Embassy Office Bujumbura on the programme management of their small grants
• Supporting the wider team: You will support work closely with programme managers across the office to maintain and strengthen our programme management standards, and may take on cross-office corporate roles such as leadership on risk management or procurement. You may also support drafting of ministerial submissions and replies to Parliamentary Questions and MPs’ letters as necessary.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):
Programme Responsible Officer for new governance programme, approx £5m/year

Essential qualifications, skills and experience 

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience 

• Experience in managing governance programmes (civil society grants, TA to government).

Required behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Working Together

Application deadline: 19 September 2024