State Project Manager

Malaria Consortium is recruiting for a State Project Manager   to join our team in Kaduna State.

Job purpose

To work with the country office team and GF Senior Project Manager 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 at national and sub-national level.

Key accountabilities

1. 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 GF 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 GF project team in the states with their zone
   • Work directly with the SnrPM and be responsible for coordinating overall project implementation in the state and see that activities are carried out on time and within budget
   • Liaise regularly with the SPM to provide timely and comprehensive updates and reports as required
   • Liaise with other PRs, SRs and partners relevant for successful GF malaria implementation in the state
   • Work with the project team to develop and implement annual work plans
   • Work closely with the SnrPM to prepare the programme monitoring and evaluation plan in conjunction with the Project M&E Manager. Work with the project team to implement it
   • Work with the country finance team and project finance associate to prepare and track progress of project and activity budgets
   • Be responsible for state project budget management and reporting

• Be responsible for preparing project Progress Update and Disbursement Request (PUDR) which is submitted to the Principal Recipient (PR) quarterly, including narrative reports on a timely basis
• Work with the project Finance Manager and SnrPM to prepare quarterly financial reports
• Work with the relevant country personnel and the SnrPM 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 GF malaria project in project states by leveraging resources and harmonizing efforts where possible
• Work with the Country Communication Manager, the Country Technical Coordinator, SnrPM, programme PRs and SR for social mobilization to see that a programme communications strategy is developed and implemented
• Coordinate the documentation of GF supported activities in form of activity-specific reports and ensure proper archiving of such for easy access and reference
• Contribute to quarterly preparations for PR-SR coordination meetings in form of progress updates and power point presentations
• 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 partners 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 Officer and Country M&E Specialist to ensure that high quality project data is collected, analysed and disseminated to relevant stakeholders at all levels and reported to PI

 Technical contributions (10%)

• Work with the project teams, SnrPM and the Country Technical Coordinator to determine technical support needs to implement the project effectively and with high quality. Liaise with the Country Technical Coordinator 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
• Keep abreast with evidence and best practices that are related to the project

 Representation (10%)

• Work with the Country Director, Country Technical Coordinator and SnrPM to participate in national level meetings and workshops to represent Malaria Consortium at programmatic and coordination events
• Liaise regularly with CRS’s focal persons on respective project activities and the GF PMU through the SnrPM keeping the relevant Country Team in loop of communication
• Work with the Country Director, Programme Director, Country Technical Coordinator and SnrPM to keep key national stakeholders abreast with the project
• To exert influence and to advocate for Malaria Consortium’s key technical positions and promote best practice in malaria and iCCM interventions

Person specification

Qualifications and experience:

• Postgraduate or Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Policy, Epidemiology or another relevant specialty is a minimum requirement
• Extensive experience of working at national or state level in developing countries on a donor-funded project
• Excellent project planning, management and monitoring & evaluation skills
• Experience managing project budgets
• Proven leadership skills and team leading
• Experience in advocacy and policy influencing
• Excellent written and spoken English

Desirable

• Experience in malaria programme implementation
• Experience in leading a project at state level
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft office

Work-based skills and competencies:

Essential

• Proof of strong interpersonal and negotiating skills
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills are also needed
• Understanding of public health issues in West and Central Africa