The Programme Manager (PM) is a member of the Country Management Unit (CMU), with responsibility for managing country programmes and projects, working closely with all functional units of the organisation, including Finance, Human Resources, Grants & Compliance, Programmes and Technical Support, and Business Development. The position reports to the Senior Portfolio Lead (SPL) and works within the CMU to support a portfolio of countries and cross-cutting organisational projects. The individual will be based at m2m Head Office, with regular travel.
Key Performance Areas
Country Support
General
- Manage country programmes, under the direction of the Senior Portfolio Lead (SPL) at all stages of the programme life cycle.
- Act in lieu of SPL as delegated, e.g. serve as primary liaison for day-to-day management support for select countries.
- Backstop country programmes to ensure they receive a full complement of operational and implementation support to ensure programme excellence and target achievement.
- Manage development, finalisation, updating, and continuous review of project and country work plans and budgets.
- Supervise interns and junior personnel.
- Engage in external representation of m2m at relevant fora, including stakeholder and funder meetings
Start-up
- Lead the operational side of project and/or country start-up, including office set-up and IT.
- Support recruitment of key personnel, including CV screening and participation in interviews.
- Develop, manage, and monitor project start-up plans.
- Contribute programmatic inputs to logic models and work plans.
Planning
- Manage, with country teams and Head Office functional units, the management, initiation, and finalization of award actions, e.g. project scope; monitoring, evaluation and learning plan; branding and marking plan; and budget.
Implementation
- Review, interpret, and monitor financial reports, including forecasts and burn rates.
- Represent and sensitively reflect the interests and needs of Country Leads at m2m head office.
- Serve as Project Coordinator on select awards.
- Provide training and support to countries on operations strengthening, implementation issues and best practices.
- Coordinate, facilitate, and initiate follow-up actions after regular cluster meetings and country-focused Resource Reviews and check-ins.
- Monitor award compliance in coordination with relevant head office departments.
- Ensure country governance filing and status remains up-to-date.
- Collaborate with Head Office departments to facilitate successful implementation of country programmes.
- Manage external consultants.
- Design, implement, and coordinate programme activities, as assigned.
- Track project-specific travel, ensuring alignment with project work plan and budget and compliance with donor requirements.
- Manage and respond to head office requests of countries, as needed.
- Provide oversight in the management of inventory.
- Capacitate new personnel on organisational and CMU structure and objectives.
- Train personnel on systems, organisational policies and award regulations.
- Liaise with Head Office Department of Programmes and Technical Support on quality improvement model and best practices.
- Conduct joint visits with DPTS personnel for m2m internal Quality Improvement system (BIO) implementation and monitoring.
- Manage operations-specific follow-up actions after joint BIO and other visits with DPTS.
- Represent CMU at Joint Country Support Calls (JCSCs) on a monthly basis and brief Senior Portfolio Lead on relevant information.
Close-out
- Assist in managing project, office, and/or country close-out.
- Develop, manage, and monitor project close-out plans.
Reporting and Deliverable Management
- Develop reports, presentations, and other communications materials for projects, country programmes, and the CMU.
- Write and/or contribute to the development of concept notes and proposals.
- Manage country inputs, write donor reports for cross-cutting projects, copy edit, and support the development of other project reports.
- Facilitate communication and respond to information requests from internal and external stakeholders, including donors.
- Manage, initiate, and draft award actions, e.g. prior approvals, budget redirections, major purchases, in conjunction with country teams.
- Foster communication and coordination among head office departments supporting country programmes and facilitate shared learning.
- Document project successes, challenges, and lessons learned for internal and external dissemination.
- With the Senior Portfolio Lead, develop spaces/platforms to facilitate information sharing among countries.
Cross-Cutting Country Management Unit
- Contribute to the development of operational systems, processes, and procedures to support country programmes.
- Support and manage Operations Department-led initiatives, including the annual meeting, country director meetings, operational planning, special projects, and internal and external meeting coordination.
- Develop weekly Senior Management Group (SMG) updates and Board meeting presentations; present at SMG and Board Meetings in the absence of, or at the discretion of, the Senior Portfolio Lead.
- In collaboration with the Department of Communications, lead the coordination and management of site visits for donors, funders and other stakeholders.
- Represent m2m with external stakeholders, where necessary.
- Represent CMU and country teams with SMG and Board Members, as relevant.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief Operations Officer and Senior Portfolio Lead.