Position: Project Manager Multisectoral
Department: Project Implementation Unit
Location: Baidoa and Kismayo, Somalia
Contract Duration: 31st December 2023
Direct Hierarchy: Consortium Coordinator
Starting date: May 2023
Number of positions: Two (2) positions
Background on ACTED
Created in 1993, ACTED is an international non-governmental organization pursuing a dual mandate of emergency response and development interventions in 40 of some of the world’s most vulnerable countries affected by conflicts, disasters, or socio-economic hardship. With a team of 7,000 national staff and 400 international staff, ACTED implements 500 projects a year to support more than 20 million beneficiaries, notably in hard-to-reach areas.
ACTED goes to the last mile through programs and approaches that look beyond the immediate emergency towards opportunities for longer term livelihood reconstruction and sustainable development. Guided by the motto “Think Local, Act Global” and its 3Zero –Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon, and Zero Poverty – strategy, ACTED puts local territories at the centre and provides a tailored support to local needs.
ACTED is looking for professionally confident, self-motivated, experienced and committed team player to fill the Two (2) Project Manager Multi sectorial positions one (1) in BAIDOA and one (1) KISMAYO, Somalia.
Position Profile:
ACTED is implementing a large-scale integrated multisectoral (Food security, WASH, CCCM+) humanitarian response in the states of South West and Jubaland and is looking for experienced Project Managers for the two respective hubs of operation. The Project Manager is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the project and ensures effective and timely completion of activities, delivery of quality outputs and achievement of outcomes with maximum impact for beneficiaries in line with the project objectives. The Project Manager is in charge of the supervision of the project staff in day-to-day management of all aspects of the project and supports the liaison with relevant internal departments and external partners and project stakeholders.
Functions
Programming
Project Planning
- lead the development of the overall project implementation strategy (incl. the transition/phase out strategy), systems, approaches, methodologies, tools, and materials.
- lead the identification and planning of new technical capacities, such as methods, tools, and required know-how which are required for the successful completion of the project activities and fulfilment of objectives.
- Under guidance from the Consortium Coordinator, develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to organize the various project deliverables and the work required to complete them into smaller and more manageable parts (work package) for the purposes of internal progress tracking.
- Under guidance from the Consortium Coordinator, develop a time bound work plan to serve as a comprehensive and detailed model map for the successful implementation of the project for both the project team and supporting departments.
- Contribute to the preparation and delivery of inter-departmental Lead the organization and planning of the project kick-off and end of project transition planning meetings, and follow-up on the project-related action points originating from these meetings for their assigned territory of operation.
Project Implementation Follow-up
- control the work plan, monitor the implementation status of the project and update the project progress on a daily basis.
- Under the guidance of the Consortium Coordinator, provide structured information on implementation progress and challenges by regularly updating the Project Management Framework (PMF) and sharing it with country coordination.
- Ensure that relevant technical quality and standards are considered and respected during project implementation, enacting changes in approach and methodology as needed to enshrine best practices.
- Operate following the “do no harm principles” to ensure projects are safe for communities.
- Help anticipating and mitigating risks and issues, and trouble-shoot any unforeseen challenges during the project implementation.
- Lead the coordination and the management of changes in project implementation, such as identifying key implementation bottlenecks, necessary changes in implementation methodology, analyzing the impact they have on the project plan, budget, quality of delivery, and compliance with project´s logical framework approving/denying requested changes and controlling and updating the scope, cost, budget, schedule, and quality requirements based upon approved changes and in coordination with the Project Development Unit and the Finance Department;
- Provide regular and timely updates on progress and challenges to supervisors and other team members.
Documenting and Compliance
- Ensure project records and documents, in particular documents that proof completion of activities (beneficiary list, donation certificates, attendance sheets, etc.) are adequately prepared, compiled and filed according to ACTED procedures and donor specific procedures.
- Maintain all necessary documents related to beneficiary targeting and service provision (e.g. beneficiary lists, target location overviews, payrolls, distribution sheets, details of beneficiary substitutions, etc.) while following ACTED data protection policies
- Ensure staff awareness of, and respect of, ACTED’s code of conduct, FLATS procedures and donor requirements.
Beneficiary Engagement and Accountability
- Ensure project staff adhere to ACTED’s Code of Conduct and treat all beneficiaries with respect and without any distinction or discrimination based on nationality, race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, religious beliefs, political opinion, or disability.
- Oversee the appropriate, achievable, and acceptable selection of project beneficiaries, including developing (under the guidance of the Consortium Coordinator and in line with ACTED SoPs) an evidence-based targeting approach and selection criteria
- Lead in the development a communication strategy with communities so that factual, objective, and actionable information is provided to project stakeholders.
- Ensure project stakeholders are empowered to participate throughout the project cycle.
- Ensure that ACTED’s Complaints and Response Mechanism is communicated to target communities and solve complaints related to the project in coordination with the AMEU.
Internal Coordination
- Organize regular (weekly or bi-weekly) project coordination meetings with project team.
- Develop and update structured weekly/monthly workplans and achievement targets for relevant project teams with support from sectoral Deputy Project Managers
- Participate in Weekly Area Meetings (WAMs) and regular Consortium Coordination Meetings and provide updates about implementation progress, challenges, risks, changes in context, etc.
- Ensure regular and effective coordination with the ACTED Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEAL) department at area level by keeping them updated on current work plans and implementation timeline changes, while ensuring that monitoring and data collection feedback is reflected in project implementation strategy as appropriate.
- In line with ACTED integrated approach throughout the ongoing interventions, ensure full collaboration between sectoral teams under the project and alignment of their workplans and approaches to achieve shared objectives.
External Coordination and Stakeholder Engagement
- Support, facilitate or undertake communication and liaison activities to actively consult and involve beneficiaries, key informants, actors, partners and stakeholders in all stages of project design (liaising with the PD unit) and implementation (under guidance from the Consortium Coordinator as appropriate);
- Coordinate and collaborate with others by cultivating good relations with key humanitarian actors – local and international, including government authorities and non-state actors, through regular attendance at technical meetings and bilateral meetings.
- Under guidance from the ACTED programme coordination team, represent ACTED in sub-national humanitarian clusters and working groups and share updates and key information with ACTED Somalia program teams and PD.
- Assist the identification of opportunities to collaborate and coordinate efforts with other organizations to ensure our activities build upon – rather than replicate – the work of others.
- Refer unmet needs to other relevant actors;
- Share externally learning and innovation with communities and other stakeholders.
Partner Management
- Clarify roles/responsibilities as well as expectations, notably in terms of processes to be followed as well as budget, from the start of the partnership in order to avoid issues at a later stage.
- Provide support to partners in project implementation at area level in the and ensure timely and qualitative implementation of projects by partners in line with ACTED and donor requirements;
- Refer partners to relevant ACTED staff to support and/or train them in FLATS procedures where relevant;
- Support and supervise the work of implementing partners and escalate any issues related to partner reporting, compliance with procedures, implementation coordination, or general delivery to the Consortium coordinator for relevant action.
Security
- Support with the context analysis in the project implementation area by identifying and following micro signals (e.g. security indicators, socio-economic indicators) and support the Area Coordinator and the Security Department in preparing the monthly update of SEC-02GZ;
- Ensure project stakeholders have a good image of ACTED thus increasing the acceptance of ACTED’s presence and activities in the project implementation area;
- Help manage the safe movement of the project implementation team by communicating movement plans timely to area coordination and security team, and ensure that the movement SOPs and further guidance by AC and Security Department are fully respected by the team members;
- When necessary, negotiate access with local stakeholders.
Human Resource
- Assist in defining the structure of the project team and develop project organizational chart within the limitations of the budget;
- Assist the development and/or adjustment of ToRs outlining staff roles and responsibilities in line with ACTED standards;
- Support the submission of recruitment plan for the project to HR Department;
- Participate in the recruitment of technical project staff;
- Ensure that project staff understand and are able to perform their roles and responsibilities;
- Follow-up the work plans and day-to-day activities of the project staff;
- Ensure a positive working environment and good team dynamics;
- Undertake regular appraisals of staff and follow career management;
- Manage interpersonal conflicts;
- Ensure capacity building among staff in relevant sectors and co-create learning opportunities.
Logistics
- Participate in the procurement planning processes, launch procurements required for the project in a timely manner, and follow procurements closely in collaboration with logistics through Order Form Follow-ups (OFFu);
- Send accurate and precise order forms in a timely manner;
- Check the quality of the required goods/supplies at the contracting stage as well as at reception point and contribute to procurements committees to finalize suppliers’ selection according to applicable scenario;
- Follow-up closely project stock levels in coordination with logistics, and monitor pro-actively current, pipeline, distributed and required stock;
- Participate in effective fleet management through timely and reasonable vehicle requests;
- Ensure that the project team has adequate assets necessary for performing its duties.
Finance
- Serve as the primary budget holder for project activities within the scope of authority and provide regular information on budget forecast, updates on activity BoQs, and track ongoing expenditure with assistance from the area Finance Team.
- Participate in the review of the BFU, and forecast initial and regular costs and cross-check expenditures for projects activities;
- Help forecasting monthly cash requirements of the project and submit to AC;
- Participate in new budget development processes through the provision of expert programmatic advice related to contextual knowledge.
Quality Control
- Participate in AMEU planning processes and actively support the delivery of AMEU activities in line with the project AME framework and AME Manual;
- Lead in the planning and organization of internal qualitative assurance checks by the project team and where appropriate ensure coherence of implementation approaches with the relevant consortium implementation strategy (lead by the Consortium Coordinator)
- Assess the activities undertaken and ensure efficient use of resources;
- Undertake regular field visits to provide technical guidance and supervision as well as regularly monitor the progress of project activities;
- Discuss, plan and deliver appropriate corrective actions, including based on AME findings and recommendations;
- Assist in the collection and application of appropriate lessons learnt and best practices to current projects, and ensure these lessons learnt are pro-actively shared with supervisor, the AMEU and other team members to apply them in future project development processes.
Grant Management
- Contribute to drafting of (external) project progress reports, ensuring the quality and accuracy of technical information provided;
- Contribute to the organization of the project close-out meeting and follow-up on the project-related action points originating from this meeting;
- Participate in communication activities through the regular collection of pictures and stories related to project activities;
- Participate in new proposal development processes through the provision of expert programmatic advice related to contextual knowledge;
- Where relevant, liaise with donors and work closely with partners on project updates, site visits and other communication, in coordination with the Consortium Coordinator and Project Development Unit.
Other
- Offer technical support and inputs to other projects in similar sectors (e.g. BoQ design);
- Any other tasks as assigned by the Line Manager for the purposes of strengthening the quality and scope of ACTED programming in Somalia
Qualifications/Skills Required:
- Must have a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in either Development studies, Social work, Anthropology, Project Planning and Management, Disaster Management, Nutrition, Agriculture, Water Sanitation and Hygiene or a closely related field from a recognized University with relevant experience working on emergencies.
- Must have a minimum of four years’ experience in an NGO with regards to the designing, planning, and implementation; supervising and reporting on integrated development relief and/or advocacy project.
- Experience in working on donor funded programs and experience with USAID/BHA donor funded projects is an added advantage.
- At least 2 years’ experience in a managerial position
- Excellent capacity to plan, prioritize and multitask
- Structured approach to problem solving and ability to develop and maintain planning tools for workload planning and progress tracking
- Excellent team-working skills
- Flexible, and have the ability to cope with stressful situations
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Good English skills, both oral and written
- ability to operate in multi-cultural environment when required
- Ability to organize and supervise large budgets
- Experience with ACTED (or similar international organization) logistical procedures
- Excellent computer literacy, including MSOffice (Word and Excel)
- Ability and willingness to travel to project locations and other ACTED operational hubs as necessary
- Knowledge of at least two of the primary ACTED implementation sectors (FSL/Cash; CCCM; WASH) in Somalia along with cluster standards and guidelines is required
- Familiarity with Core Humanitarian Principals and sector standards (including SPHERE) is required
- Experience with cluster participation is required and while previous coordination role at sub-national or national level is a strong advantage
- Previous experience working on or managing projects by primary donor institutions active in Somalia and familiarity with their procedures is an advantage
Application Procedure:
Qualified national persons with the required skills are invited to submit their applications accompanied by detailed curriculum vitae and cover letter as a single document i.e. with the cover letter being on the first page and the CV starting on the second page, detailing three work related referees and contacts to [email protected] and received on or before 5.00PM on 24th March, 2023 with the subject line “PROJECT MANAGER _MULTI SECTORAL (indicate location eg BAIDOA OR KISMAYO” Kindly indicate only one LOCATION and Apply for ONLY ONE POSITION
Please do not attach any other documents while sending your applications, if required they will be requested at a later stage.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
ACTED will at no stage of recruitment process request candidate to make payments of any kind. Further, ACTED has not retained any agent in connection with recruitments.
ACTED is committed to protecting beneficiaries within our programmes from exploitation and abuse and any kind of misconduct. ACTED has specific policies, including PSEA and Child Protection, which outlines the expected behaviour and the responsibility of all staff, beneficiaries, consultants and other stakeholders and has zero tolerance towards misconducts. Any candidate offered a job with ACTED will be expected to sign ACTED’s organizational Policies and Code of Conduct as an annex to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.
ACTED is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
