Project Manager at Marie Stopes International

The Function

The DFID Project Manager will report directly to the DFID Project Director.

MSK seeks a qualified Project Manager, multi-million pound sexual and reproductive health programme funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The programme will increase access to family planning for women, men and young people in specific ASAL counties in Kenya through a combination of: (i) increasing awareness of the benefits of modern contraception; (ii) increasing access to quality contraception in the private and public sector; and (iii) improving the supply of quality family planning services at public health facilities. The project will be strongly committed to leaving no one behind and as a result will have a strong focus on reaching young people, people who are poor and people who are marginalised.

The Role

The purpose of this role is to track the delivery of agreed project results and KPIs across all intervention areas. S/he will ensure that donor standards are reached in the implementation of the project and that the implementation of the project aligns with MSI’s global standards for clinical quality, project management and data management and verification.

S/he will assist the Project Director in coordination of the consortium of organisations implementing the project; ensuring that the activities of all partners are aligned and implemented efficiently and effectively, in order to meet agreed country-level targets and deliver good value for money. S/he will assist the Project Director in the preparation, review and periodic revision of detailed country-level implementation plans, monitor and respond to partner performance and be responsible for driving communication between the partners in country, and across the programme.

S/he will assist the Project Director in the management of Stakeholder relations and engagement - the project works closely with the Ministry of Health at central level as well as regional and district level in addition to working with the donor and other development partners.

This role is subject to the successful award of the contract and the project is due to commence in 2019. The role will be for a minimum of two years and may be extended for the full duration of the project (5 years).

Key Responsibilities

Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Develop a calendar for monthly consortium partner review meetings; send out invitations; take meeting minutes; keep track of agreed action plans; maintain a tracker of progress made against planned actions and identify areas for escalating to the Project Director for action.
• Do the preparatory work for the annual work planning workshop by consolidating draft activity plans and budgets from consortium partners into one project plan; and analysing them for alignment with the technical proposal and project deliverables.
• Assist in the setting up of meetings between the project team and representatives of DFID, the Ministry of Health and associated institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies, and district local governments as and when necessary.
• Represent the project whenever delegated by the Project Director.

Monitoring and Data Management

• Develop an Early Warning System for tracking project performance that will include (but not limited to); a monthly performance dashboard of the project’s technical and financial Key Performance Indicators and Log frame indicators.
• Work with consortium partners to establish monthly and quarterly reporting templates that are aligned with project deliverables; obtain monthly performance reports from consortium partners within the stipulated time-frame; analyse performance trends and identify areas that require remedial action ahead of the monthly review meetings.
• Work with the RME team to ensure that data verification and data quality assessments are conducted every quarter for each consortium partner.
• Assist the Project Director develop a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) plan, in collaboration with the RME team, to ensure that learning is promptly integrated into ongoing implementation.

Compliance and Documentation

• With guidance from the MSI donor compliance team and MSI DFID team, the Programme Manager will develop a calendar and tracker for all DFID reporting requirements and key compliance areas and disseminate these among all consortium partners; ensuring that guidelines are disseminated to all consortium partners; that there is a risk mitigation plan for the project; and that all required reports are submitted on time.
• Manage the quarterly donor report writing process by collating high quality draft narratives that use donor compliant language, from consortium partners and Channel Leads/Implementation Leads; performing the initial formatting and editing of the draft report before review by the Project Director and all the relevant MSI internal reviewers – within the stipulated time frame.
• Monitor actual expenditure against budget to ensure alignment with work plans, delivery milestones and donor requirements.
• Ensure the programme adheres to guidelines in MSI’s Project Cycle Management manual.
• Schedule monitoring and supervision field visits for the Project Director and Programme Manager to all consortium partners to ensure technical and financial compliance. Where necessary internal audits will be initiated.
• Establish an orderly and up to date filing system for key project documents (including the donor agreement, budget, log frame, technical and financial donor reports and relevant donor correspondence).

Perform any other duties as may be requested by the project Director in support of achieving project deliverables.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience (essential/ desirable)

• Minimum five years’ work experience especially in private sector or NGO (essential)
• Demonstrable experience managing donor grants or funds (essential)
• Experience in writing donor reports for large grants, including narrative and results matrices (essential)
• Experience leading or working in cross-functional teams or inter-departmental teams (desirable)
• Experience in Marie Stopes systems and processes (desirable)
• Fluent in English with excellent verbal and written communication skills (essential)
• Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Office package (essential)
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytic skills (essential)
• Master’s degree in Public Health or related subject or equivalent proven employment experience (essential)

Personal Attributes

• Approachable with strong interpersonal & listening skills together with the ability to empower their team
• Track record of delivering targets
• Results focused
• Self-motivated and a self-starter
• The highest levels of integrity, strong ethical attitude
• IT literate

MSI Behaviours and Values

Team Member Behaviours

Work as One MSI

• You contribute, use, and share accurate data and evidence to improve understanding, insight and decision-making across MSI, enabling us to maximise our ability to influence others
• You share relevant knowledge, expertise and resources to strengthen teamwork and prevent duplication of effort
• You actively work as part of a team, providing support and flexibility to colleagues, demonstrating fairness, understanding and respect for all people and cultures.

Show courage, authenticity and integrity

• You hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make and the behaviours you demonstrate
• You are courageous in challenging others and taking appropriately managed risks.

Develop and grow

• You seek feedback to enable greater self-awareness and provide the same to others in a way which inspires them to be even more effective
• You manage your career development including keeping your knowledge and skills up to date.

Deliver excellence, always

• You strive to consistently meet and exceed expectations, putting clients at the centre of everything, and implement smarter, more efficient ways of performing your role
• You build and maintain effective long-term working relationships with all stakeholders, and are a true MSI ambassador.

Leadership (For Leaders only)

• You inspire individuals and teams, through situational leadership, providing clear direction
• You seek and provide opportunities which motivate team members, helping to develop skills and potential whilst strengthening our talent and succession pipeline
• You are aware of emerging developments in our sector, demonstrating strategic insight about our clients and business and encourage this in your team
• You articulate a vision of the future which inspires and excites others.

MSI Values

• Mission driven: With unwavering commitment, we exist to empower women and men to have children by choice, not chance
• Client centred: We are passionate about our clients and dedicate our efforts to delivering agreed objectives to the highest possible quality
• Accountable: We are accountable for our actions and take responsibility for everything we do to ensure long-term sustainability and increased impact
• Courageous: We recruit and nurture talented, passionate and brave people who have the courage to push boundaries, make tough decisions and challenge others in line with our mission.