Organization:

Help a Child is a Christian non-governmental organization with its headquarters in the Netherlands. Help a Child sees every child as a unique gift of God. Therefore, Help a Child wants every child – regardless of their social, political, religious, ethnic or economic background – to have a life in dignity, with love and with a promising future.

In Rwanda, Help a Child works together with various national and international organizations to implement holistic programs in Early Childhood Development, Child Protection, and child-centered Community Empowerment. To meet this goal, we are looking for an experienced self starter Programs Manager to oversea the quality of its program implementation.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Main features:

The Programs Manager (PM) is end responsible for quality and timely program management, program planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning, capacity building of staff and local partners, and delivering high quality of internal and external donor reports while ensuring timeliness and quality standards are adhered to. The PM will also contribute to resource mobilization, partnership, and networking efforts, ensuring prudent and accountable use of financial resources at both Help a Child country and partner levels.

The objective of the function:

The PM provides overall program management oversight of Help a Child country and partner projects aligned to the Help a Child policy frameworks, develops strategy and plans for the country programs, executes program plans, monitors progress, and evaluates results.

Place in the organization:

The PM will be based in Kigali and reports to the Country Director.

Result areas:

Program Management

• Support partners to develop, implement, and evaluate their projects.
• Monitors and evaluates implementation of partner programs to ensure that interventions are compliant with the standards and principles of not only the organization but also of the government and (back) donors.
• In collaboration with the Finance Manager, ensure prudent and accountable use of financial resources at both HaC and partner levels and partner compliance with financial obligations as per approved budget and HaC finance policies. The PM will also ensure that implemented programs are within the expected implementation and budget absorption levels at the time of reporting.
• Prepare, review, and assess the quality of internal and external donor reports, evaluation reports, and other reports while ensuring timeliness and quality standards are adhered to.
• Ensure management and effective performance of field staff.
• Develop program and country-specific Theory of Change (TOC) aligned to global TOC.
• Oversee partner and project area selection, needs assessments, program design, phase-in and phase-out procedures.
• Contribute to the development of HaC Country Office strategic and annual plans and budgets aligned to global strategy and Theory of Change and implement the plans in close cooperation with local partners. The PM will ensure that partner plans are aligned to the HaC Country and global strategic priorities.
• In collaboration with the Sponsorship Focal Person, ensure partner compliance with sponsorship deliverables as per HaC agreements and timelines.
• Develop and review program Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (PMEAL) Systems and ensure programs comply with Help a Child PMEAL framework and timelines and that evidence generated is continuously informing program implementation. This includes beneficiary compliant and feedback systems.
• Provide technical support to partners aligned to our TOC and priority thematic focus areas.
• Develop and implement project phase-out, exit, and sustainability strategies.

Result: High-quality programs are implemented as per the approved strategies, TOC, plans, and budgets and reports are prepared to meet the requirements of Help a Child and (back-) donors.

Networking and Partnership Management

• Contribute to Help a Child country efforts towards developing and maintaining good relations with the government at national and county levels.
• Develop annual plans and reports due to line ministries and Rwanda Governance Board and facilitate lesson sharing meetings as part of the process extend Help a Child working registration.
• Identify, develop, and recommend programs for potential partnerships. This includes attending learning workshops, organizing joint field visits with other parties, and participating in professional events.

Result: The country organization is well represented towards government, donors, and cooperating partners so that 1) the country office has established visibility and a good reputation and 2) opportunities for strategic cooperation and growth have been created.

Resource Mobilization

• Identifies, creates, and capitalizes on funding opportunities for further growth of Help a Child country programs.
• Develop strong relationships with existing and potential donors in the priority thematic sectors to promote Help a Child approaches and results and to pursue funding opportunities to attract adequate funding for the programs.
• Contribute to project design and proposal development.

Result: Resources are mobilized to grow country programs.

Capacity Building and Organizational Learning

• Build knowledge and technical capacity of staff and implementing partners to deliver and monitor quality interventions.
• Support the Program Development and Quality Manager in developing knowledge and training modules, including incorporating research design and methodologies in project design and management.
• Conducting capacity assessments, and providing training and coaching to partners.
• Planning for organizational reflection and learning opportunities, such as special impact studies, after-action reviews, and partners’ meetings, organizational learning surveys etc.

Result: The Program of Help a Child in the country is in line with good practices and quality standards in the sector. Help a Child can provide expertise and share evidence-based results from programs as well as good practices or innovative models to fellow professionals in the sector.

Knowledge and skills:

• Master’s Degree in (Community) Development or Education, Social Sciences or related field.
• At least 5 years of Program Management experience in (child-focused) community development.
• Expertise in Program Management cycle (planning, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, learning and reporting)
• Demonstrated experience in building personal and professional networks.
• Proven track record in identifying, creating, and capitalizing on funding opportunities.
• Experience in developing and implementing project phase-out, exit, and sustainability strategies.
• Good understanding of program, financial, and operational management processes.
• Knowledge and understanding of Early Childhood Development Programs with at least 5 years of experience managing such programs.
• Experience in working with a Theory of Change as a framework.
• Strong communication skills in English, both verbal and written.
• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility, interpersonal and cross-cultural sensitivity.

Competencies