Programme Manager, African Cities for Clean Air at C40 Cities

Responsibilities: 

• Design and coordinate major activities of the African Cities for Clean Air initiative, working with a team of three regional technical advisors, under direction from the Technical Lead for Air Quality and Head of Implementation in Africa.
• Develop a workplan, timelines and other materials to define delivery of capacity building activities and agreed upon projects.
• Manage the delivery of the African Cities for Clean Air technical assistance projects, which consists of projects and activities delivered by contractors in collaboration with city and C40 staff.
• Coordinate technical assistance processes, procurement, and reporting under the African Cities for Clean Air initiative, including budgeting, contracting, and progress monitoring. Carry out all procurement tasks associated with the project, ensuring compliance with C40 policy and liaising with C40’s Finance and Legal teams where necessary.
• Lead on information collection and reporting relevant to the African Cities for Clean Air initiative, including charting progress against key performance indicators and preparing internal and external reports.
• Assist in preparation of technical workshops related to air quality in African cities, including coordinating participation of C40 member city staff and external organisations.
• Advise on air quality issues and strategy in the Africa region, including to C40’s Air Quality Director, Technical Lead, and C40’s Regional Director and Head of Implementation for Africa.
• Work with C40’s communication teams to produce public-facing documents related to the African Cities for Clean Air initiative, and to devise communications toolkits for use by city staff.
• Organise webinars around topics of interest to participant cities, such as the Clean Air Cities Declaration and relevant technical concepts.
• Working in consultation with the Head of Implementation, facilitate inter-city communication, including meetings, between city staff in the region, around air quality issues and best practices. Includes convening key agencies and staff responsible for air quality actions in the city in trainings and meetings.
• Create materials (e.g. reports, presentations, etc.) that are used to communicate C40’s air quality work to relevant city staff and organise and facilitate city and regional workshop agendas, webinars, and other convenings.
• Lead capacity building trainings in collaboration with C40 and consultant staff, as needed.
• Contribute to development of knowledge products based on technical assistance projects, including white papers, articles, op-eds and presentations for disseminating project learnings.

Person Specification:

• Strong programme management experience, including creating work plans, tracking timelines, managing contractors, and communicating results.
• Prior experience in air quality management, particularly in an African or developing country context.
• Masters degree in environmental or sustainability related field, or equivalent experience, desirable.
• Strong preference for experience working in or with city or regional governments in Africa, ideally with technical experience related to developing, implementing, advising on, and/or evaluating municipal policies or programmes to improve air quality.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, international organisation while balancing multiple projects.
• Preference for experience in planning international events (including both webinars and in-person gatherings) and coordinating international project teams.
• Proactive approach to work and communication, with an interest in taking ownership of crucial tasks and independently managing complex projects.
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills are essential.
• Strong English written and verbal communication skills are essential. French language skills would be an added bonus.