Program Manager At Development Aid

Job Title: Program Director
Location: Burkina Faso
Contract duration: 2-year fixed-term contract with an extension

DRS is looking, on behalf of our client, an INGO, for a Program Director for the call for tenders from Swiss cooperation in the field of improving the quality of education in Burkina Faso. The overall purpose of the activity is to improve the initial and content training of actors’ basic education and local governance.

Key Areas of Responsibility:
Strategic direction, steering, partnership, and political dialogue
• Ensure the strategic direction of the Programme;
• Ensure strategic dialogue and collaboration with program partners and the central and decentralized directorates of the Ministry of National Education and the Promotion of National Languages;
• Participate in meetings of Technical and Financial Partners and the partnership framework of the education sector in Burkina Faso;
• At the request of the SDC, provide data and analyses that can feed sector policy dialogue;
• Participate in the steering committee, and the monitoring committee, as well as in other meetings planned/requested by the SDC on the general steering of the program;
• Facilitate the institutionalization and sustainability of the achievements and orientations of the program (in particular, ensure the modelling of educational proposals);
• Ensure good communication on the implementation and results of the program with partners, the “educational community”, and the general public in Burkina Faso, as well as internationally.

Planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting
• Ensure the participatory development of operational plans (half-yearly and annual) by involving the various actors at the central level and in the regions of intervention;
• Ensure the preparation and quality of operational and financial reports (half-yearly and annual);
• Provide context analysis, including security and conflict-sensitive program management;
• Ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the program at the central level and in the three regions;
• Conduct activity monitoring missions in the three program regions;
• Ensure the supervision and support-accompaniment of the activities deployed in the field;
• Monitor and evaluate implementation and results in close collaboration with partners and institutions in charge of education monitoring;
• Participate in ongoing dialogue and collaboration with headquarters regarding major ongoing activities, field monitoring missions, etc., as needed and requested.

Human resources, administration, and logistics
• Ensure the proper management of human resources;
• Ensure the implementation of effective management tools and the sound financial management of the Program (part “field costs”) of the office in close collaboration with the RAF of the headquarters;
• Ensure the implementation of internal control instruments and the proper conduct of financial reviews (by an audit firm designated by the head office) in close collaboration with the RAF of the head office;
• Ensure the proper management of contractual relations (operators, consultants, etc.) and compliance with procurement procedures;
• Ensure the archiving of Program documents;
• Ensure the continuous adaptation and implementation of procedures related to the security of people and property of the program.

Required Qualification
• A second-cycle university degree (Master’s) in economics, educational policies, planning and management of educational systems, educational science, development policy, and practice), or equivalent.
• Minimum 15 years of experience in the field of development cooperation, including at least 5 years in the field of basic education, in several positions, including at least one with similar managerial responsibility (responsibility for a team of more than 20 people with an annual budget of approximately EUR 5 million in a demanding environment – “fragile” context);
• Minimum professional experience of 5 years in West Africa and preferably in Burkina Faso;
• A proven ability to conduct technical and political dialogue and to build partnerships with different types of actors (ministries, international technical and financial partners, civil society organizations), etc.;
• a solid experience of the types of requirements and procedures specific to international technical and financial Partners (by favouring experience of work with the SDC);
• Perfect command of French, command of at least one national language widespread in Burkina Faso is an asset;
• Confirmed experience in supporting/advising institutional actors in the education sector at the central, decentralized, and decentralized levels;
• a proven ability to exercise leadership and manage a team of employees by combining high standards and dialogue and by promoting equality between genders and between people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds;