Program Development and Learning Manager at International Alert

Job Purpose

• The purpose of this position is to provide leadership within the Kenya/ Horn of Africa (HOA) program to design, secure and deliver high quality programs in line with the HOA strategic goals and objectives. The post holder supports the sustainability and growth of the HOA program by assisting the Kenya/ HOA Country Director and in-country team in developing and securing funding for new projects as well as cultivating relationships with donors and potential new partners. This role involves identifying opportunities for program growth within the HOA context, collaborating with Alert staff and partners to devise strategies for program development, and spearheading the conceptualization of innovative peacebuilding programs.
• The programme development and learning manager plays a coordinating role, facilitating effective input from relevant teams across the organisation, to ensure projects adhere to legal and financial compliance and are delivered safely and are in line with Alert and donor standards and approaches. The post holder will also lead efforts to monitor the quality of program delivery and learning outcomes, supporting the effective integration of lessons learned into the design of new programs. This entails overseeing program monitoring and learning, identifying areas for improvement, and promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the team.

Duties and Responsibilities
Strategy and Programme Quality

• Contribute to HOA strategy planning in line with International Alert’s global strategy and priorities and help ensure that programme ideas are fundable within the donor opportunities available.
• Stay up to date with and contribute to monitoring and learning from existing projects and ensure that the relevant lessons learned are considered in future project designs.  Develop a program development/funding strategy and capacity statement for funding proposals and bids to institutional donors, commercial contractor, trusts, and foundations.
• Ensure that donor reports produced by the Programs team effectively demonstrate the impact of International Alerts’ program interventions and are consistently of high quality to demonstrate progress and impact.
• Represent the HOA team to donors and other interested parties.

Programme Development

• Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral, and other institutional donors.
• Use creative approaches to link International Alert programme ambitions to donor priorities, while also effectively contributing to Alert overall strategy
• Provide support to HOA team to design, secure and deliver high quality peacebuilding programs, in line with the HOA strategic priorities.
• Provide strategic support to country-led fundraising in the HOA including, stay alert to organisation-wide funding opportunities, proactively seek information on potential donor opportunities, provide timely information to support the development of new bids and engaging directly with donors.
• In collaboration with country teams, coordinate program design or oversee project proposal development including designing appropriate budgets., write project proposals, and where necessary coordinate submission to the donor.
• Facilitate and ensure strong coordination between country teams and support teams in HQ (Advocacy, Comms, HR, Peacebuilding Advisory Unit, Resource Development), whenever necessary in the project cycle.
• Submit solicited and unsolicited proposals and concept papers to donors and undertake donor liaison on an ongoing basis to monitor submission progress, respond to queries and provide amendments as necessary.
• Play a leading role in identifying and developing strategic partnerships and support negotiation of consortium and framework agreement partnerships, as necessary in the HOA.
• Support country teams to ensure that all programme costs, including country staffing and central costs, are adequately budgeted and funded.
• Participate in any donor visit to project(s) within the country office portfolio, as needed.
• Ensure full internal review and sign-off as per the proposal development process. 

Programme learning and Adaptation.

• Contribute to learning from projects and processes to strengthen the growth and impact of Alert’s work more broadly.
• Provide country teams with support and advice on monitoring, learning and evaluation, including define learning objectives and outcomes at program development and inception phase and support during annual and bi-annual reflection sessions.
• Contribute to cross-organisational learning, communications, and knowledge management.
• Take part in organisational initiatives – task forces, steering groups, etc. – and contribute ideas and suggestions more generally when opportunity and need allow.
• Undertake stand-alone occasional regional projects or consultancies, if required
• Undertake any other tasks commensurate with the role, as required by the Kenya/ HOA Country Director.

Travel requirements

• The role is based in Nairobi, Kenya with travel to field sites within the country. Travel may also be required within the Horn of Africa region, as well as to Alert’s European Headquarters offices for organisational events and key stakeholder/ donor engagement.

PERSON SPECIFICATION
Talents

• At Alert, we believe talented people are crucial to the success of our work. We believe all individuals are talented and success comes in matching the right talents to the right roles. For this role, the skills, qualifications, and experience listed below are important, but we believe that to be great in this job you are likely, first and foremost, to have a talent for working with others, organising, and coordinating as well as the ability to multitask, keeping track of various assignments whilst balancing your time to meet deadlines. You’ll be proactive and creative in developing new ideas and relationships, have an eye for detail and accuracy and the ability to communicate with clarity orally and in writing.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Understanding of conflict transformation and peacebuilding, and experience working in this field
• Understanding of the conflict dynamics in the HOA region
• Graduate or post-graduate degree in peacebuilding, conflict studies, gender, development studies, international relations, or related field.
• Strong experience securing new funding for peacebuilding or development programmes, including developing project concepts and donor relationships; writing proposals and budgets, and negotiating contracts.
• Experience of working with a range of donors (institutional, multilateral, trusts and foundations), understanding of diverse donor requirements, and experience of identify funding opportunities and tracking donor trends.
• Good understanding of project design, including developing theories of change, clear and realistic objectives and effective monitoring and evaluation plans.
• Experience managing projects, including project start up, implementation management and project closure.
• Experience facilitating workshops and ideas development, including remotely and with people with diverse first languages.
• Fluent written and spoken English; excellent analytic and report writing skills and persuasive oral communication.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to engage with a wide spectrum of actors, including community members, civil society, and donors.
• IT literate, including experience using Excel for budgeting, and using databases. A collaborative team player as well as a self-starter with initiative and the ability to work alone.
• An eye for detail and accuracy and an ability to balance competing demands.
• Existing right to work in Kenya.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Existing strong relationships with civil society, donors, and NGOs in Kenya/ HOA
• Experience working in a diverse and multicultural environment
• Financial management experience, including budgeting and overseeing spend.
• Experience overseeing and contributing to qualitative and quantitative research, Monitoring, and program learning