Zonal Project Manager

Malaria Consortium is recruiting for a Zonal Project Manager to join our team in Abuja.

Job purpose

To work with the programme national team and through a cluster structure to effectively manage project activities and resources, provide leadership and stewardship to the project team and maintain collaborative links with the project’s key stakeholders in Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo states; while directing providing management oversight to the FCT Abuja office and programme activities 

Key working relationships

The Zonal Project Manager (ZPM) would be responsible for managing the FCT project office, line-management of Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo States Programme Managers (SPMs) who work with the state teams and stakeholders, especially the State Ministries of Health (SMoH) and LGA Departments of Health/Primary Health Care (PHC); to rollout and implement SMC activities in these states. S/he would report to the Programme Director (PD).

The ZPM will directly manage rollout in FCT and support the above mentioned three SPMs to lead rollout in their respective states. The role will be part of the senior management team of the programme contributing to the overall project strategy and support the PD as may be required for national tasks. The role is also expected to work with other project functional leads and MC country office functional leads to ensure MC policies are followed in the all the three states in the cluster. S/he will take the lead and accountability especially for the programme management functions capacity, tools and processes are used in the management of the programme activities.

Scope of work

The ZPM would support the programme activities at state levels, overseeing the FCT/Kogi/Nasarawa/Oyo cluster of states to ensure timely project delivery of the programme to achieve given targets and objectives. However, s/he would directly manage the daily activities and rollout of SMC in the FCT Abuja.

Key accountabilities

Project Management (60%)

• Work with the programme team and other relevant personnel in the country office to lead activities for smooth project start up and planning in line with the SMC Malaria Project Implementation Plan.
• Work with the relevant personnel to prepare all necessary project start up and planning tools on time.
• To build and performance manage an effective and technically unsurpassed SMC project team in the cluster states.
• Work directly with the PD and be responsible for coordinating overall project implementation in the assigned states and see that activities are carried out on time and within budget.
• Liaise regularly with the PD to provide timely and comprehensive updates and reports as required.
• Liaise with other partners relevant for successful SMC malaria implementation in three cluster states and the FCT Abuja.
• Liaise with state stakeholders to get their buy-in and ensure effective implementation of SMC activities in the three states and FCT Abuja.
• Ensure the drug distribution campaign is carried out according to guidelines, on schedule and in compliance to donor funding requirements.
• Organize and participate in the training of FCT, Area Council and community volunteer’s teams involved in the distribution activities.
• Participate in the FCT and Area Council level microplanning meetings for the distribution activities.
• Be responsible for timely financial accountability for any disbursed funds for project activities in the assigned states/FCT.
• Support the SMoH/FCT Department of Health to develop SMC scale–up plan especially in the period after the project period.
• Duty of care on all MC staff and engaged TAs for the SMC campaign.
• Work with the project team to develop and implement annual work plans.
• Work with the Country and Project Finance teams to prepare and track progress for project and activity budgets for the FCT; while supporting Kogi, Nasarawa and Oyo states.
• Be responsible for zonal project budget management and reporting (as may eb required).
• Work with the Finance team and PD to prepare quarterly financial reports.
• Work with the relevant Country office personnel and the PD to prepare an exit strategy and to implement it, to see to the smooth end of the programme.
• Coordinate with other donors and implementers to ensure complementarity of implementation of the SMC malaria project in project states by leveraging resources and harmonizing efforts where possible.
• Work with the Country Communication Manager, and PD, for social mobilization to see that a programme communications strategy is developed and implemented.
• Coordinate the documentation of SMC supported activities in form of activity-specific reports and ensure proper archiving of such for easy access and reference.
• Attends and represents MC in the FCT level coordination meetings.
• Be responsible for quarterly lessons identification and learning documentation and dissemination.
• Be responsible for building functional partner relationships among the project’s stakeholders.
• Oversee project partner’s inputs and subcontractors’ activities to deliver harmonized, aligned and effective outputs
• Manage risks to Malaria Consortium including financial, reputation and security in a challenging environment.
• Work with the Project M&E Officers, M&E Manager and Operational Research Specialist to ensure that high quality project data is collected, analysed and disseminated to relevant stakeholders at all levels.

Technical contributions (10%)

• Work with the project teams, PD to determine technical support needs to implement the project effectively and with high quality. Liaise with the PD to obtain regional or global technical support.
• Contribute to the development and production of dissemination documents to allow wider sharing of Malaria Consortium’s experiences, lessons and successes.

Technical performance management and Quality Assurance (20%)

• Take the lead in monitoring and evaluating project performance within the FCT and assigned cluster of states.
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the project.

Representation (10%)

• Work with the PD to participate in national level meetings and workshops to represent the PF/SMC programme at programmatic and coordination events.
• Work with the PD to keep key national stakeholders abreast of the programme activities.
• To exert influence and to advocate for Malaria Consortium’s key technical positions and promote best practice in SMC interventions

Person specification

Qualifications and experience:        

Essential:      

• Postgraduate or Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement; with minimum 10 years post graduate experience.
• Extensive experience of working at national or state level in developing countries.
• Excellent project planning, management and M&E skills.
• Experience managing project budgets
• Proven leadership skills and team leading
• Experience in advocacy and policy influencing
• Excellent written and spoken English

Desirable: 

• At least 2 years’ experience on SMC-supported project.
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft office (especially MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint).