Country Programmes Manager – Cambodia At Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance

VVOB is a global organisation with programmes and projects in 9 countries.

When you join VVOB, you become a key player in VVOB’s mission to ensure quality education as a key enabler for achieving the sustainable development goals. We implement our projects with one shared passion: to ensure the improvement of quality education.

To achieve its mission, VVOB focuses on the professional development of teachers and school leaders. We do this in close partnership with ministries of education. Our approach has been globally recognised: we are a winner of the D4D prize, a finalist of the Klaus J. Jacobs Best Practice Prizes and are featured in the 2023 HundrED Global collection.

We are ambitious and committed; we are curious and innovative when facing complex challenges; we focus on results and have fun together; we sometimes make mistakes, but learn from them; we act with integrity and respect; and above all, we are a team!

We are looking for a Country Programmes Manager who will operate from our office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and who will bear the final responsibility for the totality of all activities in Cambodia. Do you want to take on this challenge? Then continue reading!

VVOB in Cambodia

VVOB has been supporting education in Cambodia for 20 years. Our current projects in Cambodia focus on mathematics education. To improve math performance through quality teaching, VVOB invests in effective pre- and in-service teacher professional development. Concurrently, we foster gender-responsive school climates.

You will:

• You hold the end responsibility of all VVOB operations within Cambodia and are accountable for key results in all areas, including programme operations, finances, human resources and internal organisation;
• As a leader and role model, you develop and inspire the 15+ staff members of the team in Cambodia and you offer managerial advice, guidance and support towards them in order to achieve programme results;
• You are actively involved in the further development of the business at country level, including portfolio management, highlighting of achievements, identifying the landscape of both partnerships and competition and seeking new funding opportunities;
• You are actively engaged in strategy and policy development at global organisational level and translate these global strategies and policies into relevant and scalable strategies, policies and programmes at the country level. As a leader you ensure VVOB in Cambodia lives and implements VVOB’s Learning Unlimited strategy;
• You develop and maintain a network with relevant government, funding, technical and network partners and other internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, you represent VVOB towards them.

If you’re our Country Programmes Manager, your workweek at the office will include the following highlights:

1. You prepare, together with your team, the upcoming team retreat, where you will work with your team on the planning of activities for the upcoming year and organise some team building workshops, such as one to clarify roles and responsibilities within the team.
2. You have a meeting with your right-hand, the Operations Manager, about financial processes and the draft budget for a multimillion project we’re trying to secure.
3. Lunch! A perfect way to nurture relationships with your team.
4. You give a presentation at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport on VVOB’s work, especially on mathematics education, to the country’s top officials.
5. You have a discussion with the strategic education advisors in your team about the progress and next steps of the programmes. Any challenges, e.g. in the cooperation with partners, are raised here.
6. You respond to a policy note sent by the VVOB Directors on the new strategic and operational objectives for VVOB in 2023-2030.

Who are you?

This position is open to applicants of all nationalities.

Your expertise and experience

• A Master’s Degree;
• At least 2 years of international work experience;
• Strong and proven management and shared leadership skills with a track record of success in building effective teams through participative decision-making and leading and motivating a diverse group of professional staff;
• Demonstrated and successful experience in strategic networking and partnership building with a varied range of partners, including government partners, donors and investors;
• Experience in organisational development and leading an organisation through change (experience leading a Cambodian team or organisation is a plus);
• At least 3 years’ work experience in managing a project portfolio with an annual budget of more than 1 million euro;
• Experience with capacity development processes and strategies, change processes and change management at institutional level;
• English proficiency: CEFR level C1.

Matching competences

VVOB core competences:

• Result orientation
• Continuous improvement
• Cooperation

Function specific competencies:

• Agility
• Vision building
• Giving direction
• Persuasiveness
• Strategic networking & partnership development

What we’re offering:

• A full-time contract until 31/12/2026 with opportunities for extension and/or rotation to another country, depending on funding;
• A dynamic working environment in an international context;
• An attractive and competitive compensation & benefits package;
• An exciting job in a growing organisation with varied responsibilities and opportunities for professional development.

Join us: 1 September 2023

Your duty station: Phnom Penh, Cambodia