Program Officer SWTICH Kenya Green - Makueni at Hivos East Africa

Job context

Reporting to the Program Manager, the Program Officer will closely work in support of the program implementation. This role will overall support the PM in managing all activities, compliance and consortium/stakeholder communications, tracking work plans, quality progress reports, Implementation of Hivos activities; filing and documentation, partners programmatic support and a GESI tracking plan.

Responsibilities

Program implementation

• Contribute to planning and implementation of the Hivos plan of work, including supporting lobby, advocacy and policy influencing efforts at national and county levels.
• Support internal and external communications, including but not limited to publication of articles and blog posts, commissioning of relevant communications products and guiding the overall communications strategy with support from the communications officer.
• Support events logistics, campaign planning and routine tracking of related budgets and expenditures.

 Grant making

• Support SWITCH Kenya Green grant management efforts by maintaining relationships with the program’s partners; including routine check-ins and timely follow-up on deliverables.
• Communicating deadlines, updates and other relevant information to the SWITCH Kenya Green partners.
• Supporting disbursement of funds; timely, quality, conclusive and well documented paperwork.
• Supporting partners in implementation efforts when requested.
• Support MEL processes, including data consolidation, quality checks and documentation of learnings.

Filing & archiving

• Maintain organized, up-to-date digital program files in line with Hivos document management standards.
• Ensure all partner documentation (Contracts, Amendments, Reports, MEL tools, disbursements records) is all accurately filed and accessible for internal and donor audits.
• Track, label and archive incoming and outgoing correspondences, ensuring version control is consistently applied.
• Support the Program Manager and the Finance Officer in preparing documentation for audits, evaluations and internal/external compliance checks.
• Ensure all relevant documents are updated on shared drives and accessible to authorized team members.
• Support the Program as and when needed.
• Any other assigned duties.

Requirements

This is a Kenya based program and priority will be extended to Kenyan candidates.

Academic qualifications

• Bachelors’ degree in social sciences, development studies, public policy, environmental studies, project management or related field required.
• A masters degree in a relevant field is an added advantage.
• Additional certification in project management, MEL or grant management desirable.

Core skills

• Minimum of four(4) to five(5) years of experience in program management, project coordination or a related role, preferably within an NGO or development context.
• Working knowledge of green/circular economy and MSME ecosystems.
• Strong project coordination and multitasking abilities.
• Solid writing, documentation and communication skills.
• Good command and knowledge of MS Office and basic project/MEL tools and systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to track budgets, deadline and deliverables.
• Understanding or grants, compliance and partner support.

Core competencies

• Builds effective relationships with partners and stakeholders.
• High integrity, confidentiality, and attention to detail.
• Proactive, organized, and able to work independently.
• Results-driven with a solutions mindset.
• Comfortable working in a diverse, multicultural environment.
• Committed to gender equity, inclusion, and sustainability.