Skills for Prosperity Programme Manager at Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)

Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)

Main purpose of job:

This is a great opportunity to deliver a key component of the £1.2bn cross-government Prosperity Fund. New and innovative, the Fund represents a step change in HMG’s approach to promoting economic development and prosperity overseas. Your job will be to help define and implement a circa £4-7m multi-year Prosperity Fund programme supporting the development of Higher Education (HE) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Kenya, which:

• Reduces poverty and stimulates inclusive, sustainable economic growth
• Addresses skills gaps and opens new markets for international businesses, including UK companies
• Is aligned with equivalent UK programmes in other middle-income ODA-eligible countries
• Is coherent with wider High Commission/HMG efforts to build education links with the UK
• Has impact in Kenya and is good value for money

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

The cross-government Prosperity Fund (PF) was established under the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) with the primary aim of supporting growth in recipient countries and thereby reducing poverty. As such, it represents a key component of the prosperity pillar of the UK Aid Strategy. But the Fund uniquely focuses on promoting growth in ODA-eligible middle income countries, which are home to nearly 70% of the world’s poor and where the development challenges remain significant, but at the same time are important business partners and drivers of prosperity. By delivering high impact, strategic multi-year programmes, across high opportunity countries, regions and sectors, the Fund will help create opportunities for international business, including UK companies. As the UK leaves the EU, an even more outward-looking global Britain investing and trading with the fastest growing markets will become increasingly important.

Around 25 multi-year programmes have so far been endorsed by the Ministerial Board. These cover trade, anti-corruption, infrastructure, business environment, health, future cities, education, financial services, energy and outward investment. For more information, see the Prosperity Fund Annual Report 2016/17.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

The cross-government Prosperity Fund (PF) was established under the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) with the primary aim of supporting growth in recipient countries and thereby reducing poverty. As such, it represents a key component of the prosperity pillar of the UK Aid Strategy. But the Fund uniquely focuses on promoting growth in ODA-eligible middle income countries, which are home to nearly 70% of the world’s poor and where the development challenges remain significant, but at the same time are important business partners and drivers of prosperity. By delivering high impact, strategic multi-year programmes, across high opportunity countries, regions and sectors, the Fund will help create opportunities for international business, including UK companies. As the UK leaves the EU, an even more outward-looking global Britain investing and trading with the fastest growing markets will become increasingly important.

Around 25 multi-year programmes have so far been endorsed by the Ministerial Board. These cover trade, anti-corruption, infrastructure, business environment, health, future cities, education, financial services, energy and outward investment. For more information, see the Prosperity Fund Annual Report 2016/17.

As part of this, we plan to invest in a circa £4-7m multi-year Prosperity Fund programme on HE and TVET development, which is a priority sector for Ministers.

Your job is to help design and implement that programme.Broadly speaking this will take place in three stages:

Stage I: Transition.

• Help finalise a global Business Case
• Run small-scale transition activity
• Contribute to a London-led procurement exercise to contract lead global implementers, highlighting any local risks or issues
• Build a strong network for the High Commission amongst education stakeholders in Government (National and County), civil society and business
• Develop strong relations with education leads in London and other priority Prosperity Fund countries
• Use this network and knowledge to refine a cross-cutting High Commission Education Strategy into which the Prosperity Fund programme will feed

Stage II: Inception.

• Connect the global programme implementers with the right organisations in Kenya
• Ensure that the programme is de-conflicted with other Prosperity Fund work in Kenya on areas such as energy, financial services, future cities and the business environment
• Secure UK credit in working up the programme details with beneficiaries.

Stage III: Implementation.

• Ensure that the programme is run effectively and that risks are mitigated appropriately
• Monitoring: sign off delivery partner milestones and report to central programme team
• Continue de-conflicting the programme with other UK-funded work in Kenya
• Ensure that the UK gets due credit for successes, and that Kenya’s contribution to the overall programme’s annual reviews has impact
• Deploy High Commission’s diplomatic levers to support the programme’s primary aim of reducing poverty
• Deploy High Commission’s commercial levers to support the programme’s secondary aim of opening new markets

In all Stages, you will need to:

ODA (Official Developent Assistance) activity – 90% of role:

• Ensure the Kenyan programme complies with the International Development Act, including the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014; meets the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)’s criteria; is untied; meets UK government transparency commitments on ODA spend; and complies with HMG audit requirements.
• Identify and manage risks to successful programme implementation.
• Keep abreast of education policy developments in Kenya and the UK, using this knowledge to spot opportunities for programme interventions which support better education in Kenya.
• Support gender equality act compliance and support PF’s policy and guidance on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth.
• Build links across the High Commission, chairing an Education Virtual Team consisting of programme, policy and commercial colleagues.
• Deepen the High Commission’s education engagement in at least 4 priority States in Kenya (this will involve regional travel around Kenya).
• Maintain a strong network with your colleagues in the UK, and counterparts in Africa and other priority Education Prosperity Fund countries, adapting the programme on the basis of lessons learnt (this will involve international travel).
• Non-ODA activity – 5% of role:
  • Support the wider Prosperity team, and take on High Commissions corporate roles.
  • Corporate activity – 5% of role:
• Oversee a small non-ODA fund to build UK/Kenya trade/investment links in education.
  • Resources managed (staff and expenditure):
  • Small-scale transition projects in 2018
  • Programme manager for large-scale multi-year contracts from 2019-21 (circa £4-7m)

Essential qualifications, skills and experience

We are looking for a proactive, creative self-starter who can prioritise to operate in a fast-paced environment, largely unsupervised, delivering to deadlines. S/he will need excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the High Commission; in Kenya; and with stakeholders in the UK.

Essential on arrival:

• Graduate with a university degree
• Knowledge of the education sector in Kenya from having worked in the public/private sectors
• Passion for education and a desire to improve education in Kenya
• Experience in developing policy advice/analysis and delivering successful programmes
• Minimum 5 years experience in programme management, ideally in a development context
• A strong understanding of gender issues
• Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems
• The successful candidate will be expected to embody the High Commission’s core values of Respect, Professionalism, Inclusion and Honesty.
  Desirable qualifications, skills and experience
• Experience of managing budgets

Required competencies

Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering Value for Money