Job Openings at Save the Children

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Technical assistance and capacity building

• Provide programmatic and strategic leadership, setting priorities in designing and managing the implementation of the project’s activities in collaboration with the technical and operational staff
• Provide overall operational and technical guidance and leadership for implementation of activities
• Working with the operational and technical staff across the partners, ensuring shared, harmonised, and integrated technical learning approaches across the partners
• Review and analyse data for performance monitoring and utilize the data to take corrective actions.
• Provide leadership in ensuring the project is implemented on budget, on time and with quality, and runs in an agile manner

Oversight and Management Project Operations

Responsible for overall coordination, line management and support of the Project, and ensure that:

• Project has an up-to-date work plan, in line with the approved annual Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) and phased budget.
• Project receives adequate support from Country office support functions (supply chain, HR, Admin, Awards and Finance) to deliver high quality programme. Also ensure gaps are identified, prioritized, and communicated to the stakeholders effectively.
• Project has standardized systems, policies and procedures in place, well understood by all staff and implemented accordingly in the project.
• Project teams receive appropriate and timely support from technical advisers and programme quality teams for program design and strategy, MEAL, advocacy and planning as well as the support functions (Finance, Supply Chain and Human Resources & Admin teams).
• Project holds monthly award progress review meetings and update actions /issues are addressed.
• Principles of child safeguarding and ‘do no harm’ and inclusivity are embedded in all project planning, implementation and reporting and that staff receive regular, up to date training on it.
• Ensure transparency in targeting beneficiaries, delivery of services and participation of beneficiaries and partners in planning and monitoring of process is reflected in programme delivery.

Oversight of Grants and Finance Management:

• In close coordination with Award and Finance team, ensure that all programs progress in accordance with grant agreements, are completed within time, budget, and quality.
• Ensure compliance with all grant provisions and timely fulfilment of all project programmatic reporting requirements including donor reports and internal reports such as pipeline analyses and monthly reports.
• Oversee the development and successful implementation of work plans linked to indicators and budget for the project; 
• Oversee timely expenditure of approved budgets, avoiding under both spending and overspending on grant line items, and implementing plans for expenditure modification.
• Coordinate activities and prepare results reports, resource request and pipeline analyses

Representation and advocacy

• Serve as main focal person for all engagement with LEGO
• Chairs the Programme Steering Committee
• Represent the project in relevant internal and external fora including donor meetings (as appropriate)
• Lead stakeholder engagement with national and county Governments and foster strong relationships and collaboration of other key stakeholder groups e.g ministries, regional bodies, humanitarian organizations, development agencies, teacher unions, the Teacher Service Commission, and local community-based groups.

People management, mentoring and development

• To have overall management responsibility for the consortium team in the project, and manage and track all terms of sub agreements with consortium partners. 
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate; ensure availability of and support appropriate professional development opportunities for staff in the project
• Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process.

Assessment, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation

• Facilitate the annual work planning process in close collaboration the government teams and the project staff
• Ensure technical and administrative compliance with donor requirements
• Oversee narrative and financial reports for donor(s), ensuring these are of a high quality and submitted for review in a timely manner.
• Monitor program outputs and results and work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team to ensure that results are documented and reported accurately and in a timely manner
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team and take a lead in ensuring that all the project’s components have robust monitoring plans, baselines, reviews and evaluations in line with the project design and donor guidelines
• Facilitate appropriate documentation and dissemination of learnings, analyses, and good practices documentations in the project internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.

• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Bachelor’s / post graudate degree or Ph.D in education, public administration, development studies or any relevant qualification
• Recommend a minimum of 10 years of relevant technical experience in education, teacher professional development, refugee education, and primary/junior secondary education in Kenya including working with the Ministry of Education, Teacher Service Commission, and a strong understanding of Kenya’s Competency Based Curriculm, gender and inclusion, play based learning, WASH, humanitarian response, and MHPSS/SEL.
• Recommend a minimum of 10 years of expertise managing large and complex grants (ideally LEGO), managing multiple partners, and working in consortia
• Excellent experience in external representation with donors, local/national governments, communities, and partners
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, adapting and innovating where necessary, and defining a clear way forward and ensuring buy in
• Ability to extensively travel for project monitoring and provide on-site technical support to field teams 
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching
• Highly developed cultural and political awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Fluency in English, both verbal and written, required
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values

go to method of application »

The position holder will provide overall MEAL leadership direction for the project, enhancing quality, accountability and learning and ensuring smooth coordination and MEAL coherence across the programme. The project aims to improve children’s holistic learning and wellbeing through strengthening of the quality and equity of the teacher professional development system in refugee hosting counties in Kenya, while also being responsive to learning environments, especially catering to teachers’ and children’s needs as shocks and stressors arise.

Contract Duration: 5years

Reports to: Head of MEAL

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Technical assistance and leadership

• Provide overall monitoring, evaluation, accountability, & learning leadership of the programme, bringing coherence to all MEAL activities and setting priorities in designing and overseeing the implementation of the project’s MEAL activities in collaboration with the other technical advisors and the implementation team.
• Working with the technical and MEAL advisors across the partners, ensuring shared, harmonised, and integrated MEAL approaches across the partners.
• Provides capacity building and leadership of MEAL staff to ensure innovative, adaptive, and iterative learning approaches across the consortium. 
• Ensure the use of digital technology for information data collection, sharing, evidence generation, learning and technical approach adaptation

Monitoring:

• Ensure that the programme has a solid MEAL plan, Indicator Performance Tracking Tables (IPTT) and log frames, that directly correlate to the programme theory of change
• Support the Program and MEAL teams in updating the indicator tracking tables and provide necessary MEAL guidance regarding project performance.
• Lead in the development of harmonized tools and guidelines for data collection, collation and reporting across the consortium.
• Maintain a program database and ensure that the databases are updated regularly.
• Capacity building of program staff , sub-grantees and local partnerson project related M&E templates/forms for data collection; like Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT) etc.
• Organize field visits to monitor program activities / interventions against Quality Benchmarks/Quality Checklists and produce & share reports with program team as well as management team based on quality and accountability findings.
• Leads in the quality of program design – reviewing log-frames, results frameworks, project plan, strategic plans, MEAL Plan etc.
• Lead in conducting data quality assessment to ensure that data reported is validated, is accurate and consistent while providing feedback as necessary to program teams;
• Analysis against the performance indicators and targets on periodic basis
• To carry out follow-up monitoring visits to materialize actions agreed and update these in the online “Monitoring-Action Plan Tracker'.
• Support program teams in developing quality program reports.

Research and evaluation:

• Work with the technical teams to develop and implement an innovative plan for generating and sharing evidence to identify key issues for adaptive management and sharing feedback to consortium members and wider stakeholders on findings.
• Provides leadership, strategic direction, and oversight of the consortium’s learning approach.
• Working in close coordination with the technical teams to provide problem driven, politically smart, and adaptive research and evaluation approaches, using the results of the analysis to adapt programme activities based on learnings from data, feedback from beneficiaries, emerging risks and nascent opportunities. 
• Maintain an online research, assessments and evaluation tracker and ensure that this is visible and used by program staff.
• Managing large independent evaluations, including evaluation design and methodologies
• With support from communications, MEAL and programs teams develop quality case studies.

Accountability:

• Work with the technical teams to develop and implement a strong accountability plan, adopting the use of digital innovation to better leverage beneficiary feedback, information sharing, and promote transparency, dialogue and trust around devolution processes.
• Actively engaging project beneficiaries in the design and implementation of MEAL systems
• Ensure the Complaint Feedback Mechanism (CFM) are functional accessible to all beneficiaries.
• Ensure that the agreed action plans are followed in timely manner by program team and that the feedback loop is closed.
• Maintain a consortium complaints and feedback database while performing regular analysis of the feedback data

Learning:

• Work with the technical teams to develop an innovative learning approach for the program including an articulate agenda and implementation plan while providing leadership and oversight of the consortium’s learning approach.
• Adopt the use of digital technology to facilitate innovative strategies for shared learnings across all stakeholders and ensure the key learning's are incorporated in upcoming plans and interventions.
• Work with SC and partner teams to stay up to date with learnings from complementary programs and adopt best practices as necessary

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.

• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Bachelor's Degree in social sciences, public health, education, development, or information technology Training in data management is an added advantage.
• Recommend a minimum of 5 years practical experience in M&E system development coordination/implementation in a large international non-governmental organisation or other international relief/development body for large and complex grants, consortium leadership experience is an added advantage
• Recommend a minimum of 3 years of relevant technical experience in MEAL for education in Kenya or similar context
• Experience managing large external evaluations and a clear, deep understanding of different evaluation methodologies appropriate for teacher professional development programmes and refugee settings
• Excellent knowledge of digital data collection and accountability systems and use of CommCare and Kobo
• Excellent advanced quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills using SPSS and/or Stata as welel as Nvivo/Atlas.ti software
• Ability to use geographical information systems to collect geospatial data
• Demonstrable track-record in data management, with the ability to manage large databases
• Ability to analyse and disseminate complex information to a range of stakeholder audiences;
• Computer literacy, particularly in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint;
• Strong familiarity with project frameworks [design/implementation/M&E] cycle
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, adapting and innovating where necessary, and defining a clear way forward and ensuring buy in
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind-sets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Good management skills with ability to manage a team
• Highly developed cultural and political awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Excellent planning, coordination, and reporting skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with experience working in multicultural, multi -location, values driven teams;
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values

go to method of application »

The position holder will provide overall leadership for the Financial Accounts function within the programme, and partly support the budgeting and Reporting function. He/She will be responsible for ensuring best in class financial controls and management for the programme– including capacity buiding; implementing efficient & effective processes; improving and ensuring compliance with internal control systems. The project aims to improve children’s holistic learning and wellbeing through strengthening of the quality and equity of the teacher professional development system in refugee hosting counties in Kenya, while also being responsive to learning environments, especially catering to teachers’ and children’s needs as shocks and stressors arise.

Contract Duration: 5years

Reports to: Project Director

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Financial systems and procedures

• Leads in ensuring smooth implementation and updating of robust and adequate financial systems and procedures in line with SCIs finance Policy and good accounting practices
• Develop and update the finance diary that covers all the required activities on a monthly basis and lead staff to ensure that the diary is strictly adhered to.
• Ensure that all financial transactions are fully supported and that they are all captured in AGRESSO on a daily basis; make sure that regular backups are taken and stored off site.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly financial diaries for both AGRESSO and sub-office finance systems and ensure its strict adherence to the HQ deadlines
• Maintain and ensure the integrity of the SCI’ computerized accounting systems and liaising with Regional Finance Team for any required support

Financial records and transactions

• Carry out sensibility and control checking before and after posting sub-office transactions into AGRESSO.
• Follow up HQ transactions from London and make sure that all are processed in the time and accurately.

Financial reports

• Responsible for timely, accurate and efficient financial reporting (both electronic and manual field returns) to head office
• Responsible for ensuring that reconciliation of balance sheet/control accounts are carried out on monthly basis and ensuring that year-end accounting procedure are met consistently and that any discrepancies are reported to the Project Director and Head Of Finance.

Financial and system controls

• Ensure safe security of cash in the office and coordinate weekly and monthly cash counts, including spot counts
• Ensure that systems are put in place to assure document security for a complete audit trail from the AGRESSO records to supporting documentation and vice versa.
• Ensure the effective and efficient use of all Save the Children resources in order to keep costs low and ensure the security of staff.
• Ensure payroll is completed on time and accurately, with robust controls in place.

Financial Planning and Reporting

• Work with the senior financial planning and reporting Coordinator to ensure that effective systems are in place, and regularly reviewed, to allow adequate financial management and controls in budgeting and reporting unit.
• Support the SFP&RC with smooth implementation of SCI financial management and budgeting policies and procedures
• Provide support in preparing proposal budget and review processes, ensuring all staffing and office shared cost is budgeted
• Coordinate and train field offices finance and non finance staffs to budget accurately their operational costs and provide their budgets timely for consolidation
• Ensure accurate and timely submission of awards financial reports as per donor requirement to awards unit and government regulatory agencies
• Keep track of all staffing and non-thematic office cost operation required budget and gap, track and identify underspend/overspend in time, monitor patterns if any and flag early on for the team to course correct

Audit function

• Support the Country office finance Manager on annual statutory audits and the financial component of donor audits. Key focus on proactive financial controls, management and supporting documentation in order to ensure 0 disallowances.
• Keep track of donor specific audit requirements and coordinate closely with awards to initiate required audits on time.
• Lead in managing project audit process with External Auditors ensuring smooth audit and provide all documents required by Auditors as and when needed
• Ensure proper soft and hard archiving system is in place in finance as per SCI policies and procedures
• Plan and conduct internal audits for all Sub recipients and field offices with the coordination of the Internal Auditor
• Participate in Audit Entry and Exit meetings and ensure recommendations have implemented before the next audit.

Staff Leadership, Mentorship, and Development

• Ensure appropriate staffing and efficient & effective organisation design within the Kenya Devolution project
• Ensure that all staff understand and are empowered to perform their role.
• Manage team; define expectations, provide leadership and technical support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly.
• Recruitment, training, and professional development of team as part of the wider staff development strategy. 
• Performance Management :
  • Effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives; ongoing feedback; periodic reviews; and fair and unbiased evaluations;
  • Coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities;
  • Recognition and rewards for outstanding performance;
  • Documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvements/ work plans 

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.

• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• Minimum of 5 years management experience in a corporate, audit firm or an NGO environment, of which three at a middle management level within a finance department
• Strategic mind-set with the ability to lead, inspire and achieve results in a challenging context
• Strong team player
• Excellent inter-personal skills and able to communicate with diverse set of stakeholders
• Strong analytical, decision making and strategic planning skills with the ability articulate complex information in an easy to understand manner
• Solutions focused with ability to identify weaknesses and drive continuous improvement
• Ability to prioritise, plan ahead, and manage a complex and diverse workload with tight deadlines
• Ability to coach, mentor, delegate appropriately and provide developmental guidance to supervised staff.
• Self starter who is willing to go the extra mile to get the job done
• Excellent understanding of business and financial planning including strategic modelling.
• Excellent understanding of financial systems, controls and procedures.
• Excellent understanding of computerised accounts packages, Excel, PowerPoint and Word
• A full appreciation of the value of co-operation, both internationally and within a team environment.
• Understanding of Save the Children’s vision and mission and a commitment to its objectives and values.

Desirable

• 4 years within the NGO / charities sector or Audit firm
• Experience of working in a development and/or emergency context.
• Understanding of major donor compliance regulations (LEGO, USAID, FCDO, ECHO etc