Project director – BRIDGE Project

Position Title: PROJECT DIRECTOR – BRIDGE Project

Position Grade: A8

Duty Station : Kampala, Uganda, with regular field travel

Contract:24 months, Renewable

Reports to: Head of Programs, Uganda.

Management Responsibility: Direct supervision of; Regional Coordinators, Education and Transferable Skills Lead, Senior Project Officer – Innovation and Technology, Advocacy and Partnership Lead, Gender and Inclusion Advisor, MEAL Lead and Project Engineer

Key Relationships: Head of Finance and Operations, Country MEAL Manager, Senior Grants Officer, Country Communications Manager and Other Project Managers, Country Director

Background: War Child Canada is an internationally recognized charity organization registered in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to helping children and their communities overcome the devastating effects of war. Its vision is “Accelerating Peace By Disrupting The Cycle Of Violence” and its mission is “Driving Generational Change For The Hardest Hit By Investing In The Power Of Local Communities”

Since being founded in 1999, War Child Canada has worked in 20 countries across the world and we are currently operational in Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda.

During the past five years, War Child Canada reached over 2,500,000 conflict-afflicted children and adults, 985,000 people benefitted from War Child’s educational initiatives, 480,000 people were helped to climb out of poverty and 1,075,000 people learned more about their rights and had better access to justice systems

War Child Canada in Uganda: Since 2014, War Child Canada has worked in 10 districts (mainly Refugee hosting) implementing integrated education, access to justice (incudes peacebuilding), opportunities/livelihoods, and programs. Our current districts of operation include; in Adjumani, Obongi, Yumbe, Arua, Koboko, Isingiro, Lamwo, Kikuube, Koboko and Kamwenge districts.

Context: The BRIDGE PROJECT: War Child Canada in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Community Empowerment for Rural Development – CEFORD, Education Local Expertise Uganda (ELECU) and eight Refugee Led Community based organizations, will be implementing the BRIDGE: From Secondary Education and Skills Development to Job Opportunities for Refugee and Host Community Youth in Uganda’ Project.

The BRIDGE project that will be implemented from 2022 to 2026 is designed to further the Mastercard Foundation’ Young Africa Works Strategy (2018 to 2030)[1] and address the youth unemployment challenge focusing on refugee and host communities in Uganda’s refugee settlements in Adjumani, Obongi, Isingiro, Kamwenge, Kikuube, Yumbe, Arua and Koboko districts.

War Child Canada and project implementing partners will employ a gender sensitive and inclusive approach to programming, empower young people and recognize their potential as agents of change to ensure effective implementation and sustainability of the interventions. This will be achieved through two outcomes.

• Increased access to market relevant secondary and tertiary education and skills for refugee and host community youth
• Improved capacity of education institutions and teachers to offer quality and relevant education and skills for refugee and host community youth

The program will help to increase demand for education through a strong community engagement and strengthen education supply by strengthening the capacity of Alternative Education Program (AEP) host schools and BTVETs on gender and age sensitivity education and enroll 20,400 Lower Secondary AEP learners (14,280 female) and 2,168 (,518 female) Advanced level learners into 34 lower secondary AEP centers, 2,003 learners (1,402 female) in 15 Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) schools and 136 learners in different universities across the country.

The proposed program aims to improve the quality and relevance of education by placing a strong focus on teacher capacity and formal, non-formal and alternative education and learning opportunities.

The program will further support young people in their transition to dignified work and throughout the life of the project, to thrive in their chosen form of employment or livelihood. Activities to support their success will include conducting market analysis annually to tailor interventions to the business context at the refugee settlement, implementing an adopted UPSHIFT – https://www.unicef.org/innovation/upshift business incubation “boot camps”, strengthening youth business support centres and BTVET institutions through training and infrastructure improvements, providing financial support to young people to access training programs and set up businesses and pairing young people with mentors from the business community.

Finally, the program approach promotes continuous learning and development to ensure project sustainability.

Position summary: The Project Director is a senior staff position within War Child Canada, Uganda, and a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT). The Project Director will provide overall leadership to the BRIDGE project team and be responsible for the overall management of the project including the quality of programmatic implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Learning and administrative elements of the project to serve its intended beneficiaries. The Project Director will be responsible for ensuring that project results are achieved on time and within the approved budget, including strategies for phase out and sustainability. As a senior leader, you will proactively manage security and mitigate security risks and champion child safeguarding within the organization.

Responsibilities:

Project Implementation and Management

• Provide strong leadership, vision and direction to project staff to ensure the delivery of the BRIDGE Project targets;
• Work with the Head of Programs to maintain efficient and effective operating systems that are compliant with all War Child Canada’s standards and donor policies, including safety and child protection;
• Lead the preparation, review and regular revision of the detailed implementation plan, considering agreed milestones, log frame and budget; Collaboratory set and review monthly targets and weekly workplans for project staff to ensure that the project’s work plans and spending plans are coherently delivered;
• Manage and coordinate relationships with implementing partner organizations. Contribute to coordination of roles and activities of staff from implementing partner organizations in project implementation in line with War Child Canada partnership principles.
• Where required, commission, design or participate in field-based needs assessments and gap analyses, including risk and vulnerability assessments;
• Lead on revisions of core implementation documents (milestones, log frame, procurement plan, work plans and spending plans)
• Lead the development, implementation, and consolidation of the BRIDGE Project. Provide oversight for all aspects of program quality, program management, representation, and human resources. Serve as the primary point of contact to the donor as well as public, private and non-government stakeholders.
• Work in liaison with the Head of Programs and the project team, develop and implement clear project implementation plans ensuring that the plan is aligned with the project design as well as WCC and donor compliance.
• Responsible for effective management of the implementation of the project in line with the project proposal and implementation plans ensuring timely delivery of high-quality results.
• Provide leadership to project specialists, coordinators and partner organization members to achieve the project outputs and outcomes
• Ensure timely submission of activity and financial reports to WCC Internal support structures, donors and key stakeholders

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability Reporting and Learning (MEARL):

• Working closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Project Lead and the Country MEAL Manager, develop and implement a robust MEAL framework, plan and system to measure, document and disseminate progress, results and organizational learning.
• Work in close consultation with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Project Lead and the MEAL Country Manager, oversee the planning and implementation of a baseline survey, mid-term and final project evaluations and other MEAL activities in accordance with the project proposal and donor funding agreement.
• Ensure proper utilization of program resources at all levels
• Lead the PROJECT team, and partner organization members in reviewing project performances on a regular basis

Coordination, Business Development & Representation

• Promote effective networking and collaboration with the donor, national and local government partners, partner organization members, WCC Country office , and other stakeholders towards the attainment of the project goal
• Liaise with the PDQ department to input into funding proposals where required and provide an operational perspective

Budget Management

• Ensure the effective and donor-compliant management of the project budget through close collaboration with Awards, Finance and operations department.
• Prepare and implement monthly budget analysis and monthly spending plans and spending targets.
• Identify potential variances of budget versus actuals, provide variance explanations, and recommend appropriate adjustments at SMT meetings Justify spending variances </> 10% on monthly/ quarterly donor reports

Reporting and Documentation

• Guided by the head of programs, play a leading role in the finalization of donor narrative and financial reports, the submission of budget revisions, and other donor-required documentation on time.
• Support MEAL in the writing of donor progress reports and document case studies of successes, challenges, lessons learned and other project-related feedback
• Ensure that key project documentation is archived at country and field level, with field staff aware of what needs to be kept and recorded

Human Resource (HR) and Operations:

• Responsible for performance-based management, supervision, and capacity development of project staff, including identification of capacity building needs of project partners.
• Working closely with the Head of Finance and Operations, ensure up-date-date recording and effective management, accountability, and utilization all project budgets, goods, supplies and equipment.
• Create and maintain proper conditions for learning. Establish a safe environment for sharing of ideas, solutions, and difficulties and the capacity to detect, analyze and respond quickly to deficiencies. Identify performance gaps and training opportunities for War Child Canada and partner staff and ensure the design and delivery of high-quality training and technical assistance
• Manage and mitigate risk. Ensure quarterly updates of BRIDGE risk management plan. Ensure compliance in donor terms including oversight of partner budgets, finance, and administration, and reporting to the donor.

Requirements:

Knowledge and Experience:

• Master’s Degree in International Development, International Relations, Rural Development, or equivalent demonstrable experience in relevant fields.
• Minimum Seven years senior management experience of complex development programs with program leadership responsibilities.
• Strong technical skills in Education including working with TVETs and youth employment programing is desirable, or a specialization in at least one of War Child Canada’s programming areas
• Proven track record of managing multi-site projects including through a consortium approach
• A successful track record in initiating, cultivating, and securing support from a range of institutional and government donor agencies.
• Experience in managing relationships and processes and agreements with government representatives at all levels
• Experience of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, tools and systems.
• Understanding of and commitment to gender equality, particularly in a development context

Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, prioritize, and meet deadlines in a complex and challenging environment.
• Ability to work well with diverse teams from all backgrounds and levels.
• Strong diplomacy skills: ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with partners, donors and other stakeholders in a sensitive environment.
• Excellent English writing ability and verbal skills for project proposals, reports and communications.
• Ability to problem solve and work with minimal supervision.
• Willingness and ability to travel outside Kampala.

Personal Attributes:

• Affinity with War Child Canada’s mandate.
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy.
• Creative, energetic, adaptable, and flexible.
• Stress-resilient to be able to cope with deadlines and complex problems.

[1] For more information Mastercard Foundations Young Africa Works Strategy, please refer to this link – https://mastercardfdn.org/research/young-africa-works/