USAID Project Careers – Program Manager at ACTED

Job Title: Program Manager
Organisation: ACTED 
Duty Station: Kampala,
Uganda
About ACTED:
ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) is a
non-political and non-confessional international NGO founded in 1993 and
headquartered in Paris, France. The organization’s vocation is to save lives,
assist vulnerable populations and bring hope to those in need for a better
future. ACTED is active in over 36 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, the
Middle East and Central America.
About Project:
ACTED has been active in Uganda since May 2007, both in the northern
region and Karamoja. In the North, ACTED supports the early recovery process
with a specific focus on the needs of returning populations displaced by years
of conflict. It also expands access, retention, equity and quality of primary
education. In Karamoja, the focus is enhanced food security and resilience to
disasters, especially droughts, as well as improving the primary education
sector.
ACTED focuses its intervention on strengthening livelihoods through
improved resource management, conflict mitigation and capacity building.
In Northern Uganda, as internally displaced persons (IDPs) have
returned home and gained access to land, ACTED is working with farmers on
infrastructure and capacity development to rebuild agricultural livelihoods. In
the Karamoja/Pokot area, ACTED responds to severe food insecurity caused by the
drought in the Horn of Africa, providing support to agro-pastoral communities
to increase their purchasing power and protect their assets, reducing
vulnerability to natural disasters. As part of its integrated cross-border
strategy between Uganda and Kenya, ACTED maintains its community-driven
disaster risk reduction (DRR) focus and promotes conflict mitigation to ensure
peaceful and sustainable access to shared resources.
In 2013, ACTED maintains a strong focus on this approach and looks at
extending it further along the border with Kenya. ACTED continues working with
community-level structures and initiatives such as the APFS, the CDMCs or the
DEWS to continue building the communities’ resilience to disasters.
 
Job Summary: The Program
Manager will actively contribute to the development of this project, which is a
constitutive part of the country strategy, and subsequently manage its
implementation.
Key Duties and
Responsibilities: 
1. Ensure external representation of ACTED in relevant sectors: The
PM will be responsible for managing partnerships and ensuring smooth
implementation of work plan activities. The PM and senior management team will
be responsible for monitoring, technical quality of program interventions, and
accountability. This PM will collaborate closely with district officials and
local authorities, as well as the donor.
Representation vis-à-vis provincial authorities:
Participate in technical and sectoral meetings to ensure visibility
amongst local authorities;
Representation vis-à-vis Donors:
  • Actively participate in technical and
    sectoral Donor meetings and pass relevant information to the Country
    Director;
Representation vis-à-vis international organisations:
  • Participate in technical and sectoral
    meetings and working groups involving NGOs and UN Agencies (OCHA, PNUD,
    UNICEF, FAO, etc.) and all other inter-governmental institutions;
  • Significantly contribute to the creation
    of reports, ensuring the quality and accuracy of technical information
    provided as well as the confidentiality of internal information as
    required;
  • More generally, the program manager is
    expected to contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall
    credibility of the organisation, notably through the application of
    ACTED’s mandate, ethics, values and stand-point with regard to other
    actors.
2. Project Cycle Management:
Project implementation:
  • Plan the various stages of project
    implementation;
  • Steer the implementation of the project
    and the methods of follow-up;
  • Manage project finances, logistics and
    materials;
  • Liaise with all internal and external
    counterparts of the project;
  • Assess the activities undertaken and
    ensure efficient use of resources;
Project reporting requirements:
  • Set up a clear timeline of reports to be
    submitted to project Donors;
  • Draft narrative reports and contribute to
    the development of financial reports through regular budgetary follow up;
  • Ensure adherence to FLAT procedures.
  • More generally, communicate systematically
    to the relevant Country Director or Area Coordinator on project progress
    and planning.
3. Provide Relevant Technical Expertise:
Make sure that technical quality and standards are considered during
project implementation:
  • Collect technical information and analyse
    associated opportunities and risks;
  • Identify relevant technical authorities
    and partners, and propose formal partnership and/or contracts.
Responsible for instituting quality control measures:
  • Analyse technical added-value and project
    impact;
  • Set up technical evaluation exercises
    during and following implementation.
4. Oversee Program Staff and Security
 Guide and direct program
staff:
  • Organise and lead project coordination
    meetings;
  • Prepare and follow work plans with each
    project member;
  • Make sure a positive working environment
    and good team dynamics (solve out potential conflicts);
  • Promote team working conditions in the
    limit of private life;
  • Adapt the organigramme and ToRs of
    project personnel according to the project development;
  • Carry out regular appraisals of directly
    supervised colleagues and pass appraisal forms to the Country or Area
    Administrator with recommendations (new position, changes to contract or
    salary etc.);
  • Ensure a building of capacity amongst
    technical staff in the relevant sectors.
Actively contribute to the recruitment of expatriate staff:  When requested by HQ, undertake
interviews to assess technical abilities of expatriate candidates living in the
country.
Oversee staff security:
  • In cooperation with the relevant Security
    Officer, monitor the local security situation and inform the Country
    Director or Area Coordinator and Country or Area Security Officer of
    developments through regular written reports;
  • Contribute to the updating of the security
    guidelines in the project area of intervention;
  • Ensure that security procedures are
    respected by each member of the project team.
5. Identify Best Practices and Lessons Learned
  • Collect information and tools employed
    for project implementation;
  • Draft memos detailing lessons learned and
    best practices identified during the project;
  • Share such memos with internal and
    external partners;
  • Communicate such information to the
    Country Director or Area Coordinator, to Regional
  • Support Offices and to HQ Reporting
    Department.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience: 
  • Demonstrated
    expertise as a PM with at least five years’ experience managing large complex
    infrastructure programs preferably within an African context.
  • Past
    exposure and experience working on USAID program; familiarity with
    USAID regulations.
  • The Program Manager should have extensive
    relevant experience managing the mobilization and oversight of
    multi-faceted projects, including those in the infrastructure sector.
  • The Program Manager should also have
    demonstrated the ability to quickly and effectively assemble and manage a
    highly-skilled, interdisciplinary team; to effectively collaborate and
    coordinate with and lead a broad range of governmental and
    non-governmental actors and institutions across sectors in a
    developing-country  setting; and to
    implement high-profile and politically sensitive programs.
  • Prior
    experience leading collaborative efforts with multiple stakeholders—i.e.,
    between other USAID and NUDEIL recipients, INGOs, Local NGOs and
    GoU.
  • Excellent
    track record in managing large teams effectively.
  • Possess
    the ability to be collaborative across projects, flexible and creative;
  • Excellent
    communications and interpersonal skills with evidence of ability to
    productively interact with a wide range and levels of organizations
    (government, private sector, NGOs).
Job Terms and Conditions:
  • Salary defined by the ACTED salary grid;
    educational level, expertise, hardship, security, and performance are
    considered for pay bonus
  • Additional monthly living allowance
  • Free food provided + housing allowance
  • Transportation costs covered, including
    additional return ticket + luggage allowance
  • Provision of medical, life, and
    repatriation insurance + retirement package
How to Apply: 
All suitably qualified and interested candidates are encouraged to send
their applications including cover letters, CVs, and three references via
E-mail to: jobs@acted.org. Ref : PM/UG/SA
Deadline: 31st
October, 2014

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