Program Manager at Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa

Role Purpose 

• The aim of opportunities is to dynamically organize staff, strategies, and budgets around the demands of each opportunity. It balances the need for sustained attention to complex problems and demands rigorous planning and evaluation, while also providing leaders with the autonomy to pursue radical ideas and approaches.  
• The Program Manager will be responsible for day-to-day liaison and coordination with grantee and partner organisations. The Program Manager will play a critical role with implementing the opportunity, which may use a variety of OSF’s strategic capabilities, including advocacy, impact investing, strategic litigation, in addition to grant making. The expectation is that the Program Manager is a subject matter expert in the specific opportunity.  

Key Responsibilities 

As Program Manager, you will: 

• Support the Director of Programs to deliver on the opportunity’s outcomes with professionalism 
• Deliver on day-to-day liaison with grantees to ensure the opportunity is designed, launched, implemented, and exited according to the outcomes defined 
• Work collaboratively with other members within the opportunity team and with colleagues across OSF to ensure the opportunity is effectively leveraging OSF’s capabilities to reach the agreed outcome 
• Effectively manage the grant-making process by communicating with grantees for proposal submission, assisting in grant record preparation, grants processing, payments, reporting, and other related processes 
• Build a strong understanding of the protection of rights defenders field and partnerships, in developing and designing the grant selection processes  
• Manage relationships with partners, including governments, civil society groups and peer donors, in close coordination with Geographic Policy Groups as relevant, and work with them to achieve OSF’s strategic objective through the opportunity 
• Work collaboratively in developing, assessing, and revising program strategies and actively contribute to advancing the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning agenda.
• Work with leadership to maintain grant-making practice aligned with OSF's approach to grant-making and in compliance with organizational and external standards and regulations 
• Assist in the construction, maintenance, and assessment of grant making portfolio(s), sharing responsibility for strategy design with manager 
• Contribute to larger opportunity strategy 
• Process and oversee progress of consultant contracts 
• Monitor progress implementation, project risks, and other relevant status updates and communicate to Director of Programs regularly 

People Responsibilities (Total Team/DRs)

No 

Key internal relationships 

Director, Programs; Managing Director Programs; Open Society Network Grants, Program Managers in other relevant Opportunity teams, Grants Management, Operations 

Key external relationships 

External Partners 

Qualifications 

 Essential: 

• Educated to a degree-level (or equivalent) 

Desirable:  

• Post-graduate education in human rights, law, sustainable development, development economics or political science. 

Experience  

Essential:  

• Multiple years’ experience (in one or multiple organisations) where proficiency in the specific field or subject area has been comprehensively developed  
• Extensive expertise in the specific topic area as set out in the “Opportunity Description” above  
• Prior working experience of operating within the non-profit community in Africa (for example multi-lateral, NGO, foundation or ambassadorial working environments). 
• Experience working in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Francophone West Africa is highly desirable. 
• Relevant expertise in the protection of human rights defenders and the delivery of complex, multi-country programming in the human rights field.

Competencies 

Functional Competencies:   

• Conceives, designs and manages cross-department, cross-program or similarly complex projects; expected to effectively manage time, budget and stakeholders and network-wide or similarly complex coordination 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Able to represent the organization and opportunity in regional global fora and panel discussions and write and publish Op Eds in print and online media.
• Skilled in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
• Able to analyze, generate, capture, synthesize and organize information and knowledge to deliver prescribed outcomes  
• Ability to conduct research to drive decision making by management 
• Skilled in keeping abreast of latest trends in the protection of rights defenders field and drawing out patterns  
• Experience in budgeting, strategic analysis and planning 
• Working well with a variety of public, private and NGO stakeholders, including peer donors.
• Building and maintaining networks of relevant stakeholders across Africa
• Promote strategic cooperation with governmental and other sectors 
• Knowledge of grant making best practices and the field of philanthropy   
• Ability to build synergies, strengthen movements, and identify and fill capacity gaps across fields 
• Demonstrate care and concern about partner organizations and the people who work in them 

Personal Competencies: 

• Able to build consensus with diverse audiences/stakeholders  
• Possesses cultural sensitivity to work respectfully and effectively in different settings  
• Ability to work independently and being self-motivated 
• Demonstrates commitment to OSF’s core values of humility, commitment, collaboration, respect, inclusivity and integrity 
• Proven experience in collaborating with multi-country stakeholders  
• Willingness to adjust working hours to include calls and discussions with colleagues and vendors located in various geographic regions   
• Commitment to continuous learning and growth in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, antiracism and social justice 

Languages: 

• Fluency in oral and written French and English is essential for this role.
• Knowledge of other languages would be an asset