The Organization
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.
We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.
Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.
We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.
Please see https://plan-international.org/organisation/strategy for Plan international strategy
Plan started working in Egypt in 1981 and has a presence in ten of the 27 governorates in which the country is divided: two urban (Cairo and Alexandria) and eight rural (Giza, Beheira, Kalyoubia, Damietta, Qena, Assuit, Sohag and Aswan). Plan Egypt’s work focuses on child rights, implementing programmes designed to enable communities to improve the lives of the most marginalised children and their families. Plan Egypt’s Country Strategy focuses on five strategic objectives listed below:
- Improve the quality of early childhood care & education;
- Promote economic empowerment of vulnerable young men & women;
- Facilitate girls in realising their full potential in an enabling and gender responsive environment that protects them from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence;
- Support adolescents and young people, particularly girls to become active drivers of change and lead the way towards more equitable and inclusive societies;
- Promote adolescents and young people, particularly girls to be empowered to take informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and live free from gender-based violence
Purpose:
SWEET (Strengthening Women Entrepreneurs in Egypt) project asserts that targeted gender-specific action is critical to empower women and girls to amplify their inherent individual and collective agency and create an enabling social and economic environment for them. The SWEET project is a five- year- project that will take a three-pronged, rights-based and gender-transformative approach for women and adolescent girls in the carpet industry in the Giza governorate of Egypt to: expand their knowledge and understanding of the sector, improve their social status, provide them a range of industry-relevant skills, and strengthen governance systems and business linkages to build a supportive social environment and an enabling institutional environment for women and adolescent girls.
The Project Officer will provide daily support to this project, working with the project team of two partners, the project Manager and Plan Egypt staff based in GC PU. Reporting to SWEET Project Manager, he/she will be closely coordinating the project activities with the relevant government departments, community-based implementing partners in Giza, in line with Plan Egypt’s policies and procedures.
Dimensions of the Role:
Under the overall guidance and supervision of SWEET Project Manager, the Project Officer is tasked with the overall programmatic supervision of the project with one of the partners in Giza in terms of coordination and implementation, provision of support to the monitoring and evaluation of the project interventions.
Accountabilities and Typical Responsibilities – Key End Results of Position
- Oversee the project implementation, provide overall leadership and liaison with relevant government bodies representatives in Giza.
- Provide supervision, technical support and guidance to the project staff of the collaborative partner in Giza. He/she will also be responsible for facilitating the development of project implementation plans and ensure effective coordination and team work.
- Produce project progress reports on quarterly basis for Plan international Egypt (PIE). And as needed per contractual commitments and obligations as enshrined in the project Partnership Agreement, tracking and monitoring activity progress, ensure activity implementation abides with the set indicators, provide accurate and timely status reports and support the project manager to develop the external donor reports.
- Facilitate regular collaborative partner and other staff reflection and coordination meetings in Giza and to ensure effective implementation of project activities in Giza as per the set timelines and follow up on mechanism for implementation plan review and modification to achieve the set objectives.
- Oversee the partner budget, monitoring expenditures, generating funds forecasts, tracking partner expenditures and maintaining all necessary information for the timely development of financial reports.
- Ensure that Plan Egypt’s relevant policies on gender, child protection, child and youth safeguarding, monitoring and evaluation and team security management are embedded into the project implementation plans.
- Implement the project activities related to implementation of women’s economic rights and strategies, engendering the economic development process and entrepreneurship initiatives in Giza.
- Ensure quality and timely implementation of the agreed activities with government stakeholders and partners and provide the needed support to them.
- Be on top of the project budget and issuing the partner advances and ensure that budget expenditures are in accordance with the agreed plans.
- Ensure that the budget planning and implementation of the relevant Project Outlines (POs) are done with the maximum level of quality and in tandem with the project objectives.
- Develop the project’s PO/s in SAP system, ensuring their alignment with the projects’ approved budget and donor’s guidelines.
- Liaison with the Finance Department to generate the required financial reports that inform the Project Manager and other PIE team members on the progress of expenditure.
- Collaborate with the Field Officers of other projects in the same thematic area within Giza in developing synergies, fostering cross learning and sharing knowledge resources.
- Supporting foster relationships with local level government departments/officials and collaborating partners for efficient project implementation.
- Gives immediate technical support to the partners during implementation.
- Supervises the field activities implemented and ensuring their accordance with Plan and the donor regulations and policies.
- Issues partner advances and settlements with close follow-up on expenditure.
- Ensures quality and timely implementation of the agreed activities with the relevant stakeholders
Safeguarding Children and Young People (Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI)
- Understands and puts into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
- Ensures that all staff in the unit/function/department are properly inducted on and understands their role in upholding Plan International’s safeguarding and GEI policies;
- Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in day to day work.
- Ensures that Plan Ethiopia contributes to Plan International’s global efforts to ensure safeguarding and GEI, including making sure that relevant reporting and data are submitted
Leadership and BUSINESS management COMPETENCIES
LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES
- Set and communicate ambitious but realistic work goals and priorities, explaining how these contribute to Plan International’s purpose.
- Set high standards for self and others’ behavior, inside and outside work. Championing our values and commitment to rights, gender equality and safeguarding. Supporting the health, well-being and both physical and psychological safety of our staff, including their safety to speak out.
- Hold self and others to account for what we have agreed, dealing with poor performance quickly, firmly and constructively.
- Create a positive team spirit, helping people work well together, to reflect and continuously improve the efficiency and quality of what we do.
- Collaborate with team members, colleagues and partners in finding creative solutions to problems by sharing information, experience and ideas and actively seeking their input.
- Motivate and developing others by taking an interest, giving constructive feedback and praise, ensuring they are properly trained and helping them develop their potential.
- Accept change and support others in adjusting to it, helping them understand.
- Perform any other related duties as assigned by immediate supervisor
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES
- Understand relevant sectoral context including how the sector operates in terms of funding and governance and awareness of Plan’s purpose, values, and global strategy
- Manage legal and reputational risk including risk assessment, communication, risk management and reporting in full compliance with risk-related standards, including in areas such as Child and Youth Safeguarding and Protection, Gender equality and inclusion, Counter Fraud, Safety and Security
- Manage activities and resources including skills in strategic thinking, planning and organizing, financial planning and monitoring, negotiation and programme and project management
- Manage people and information including skills in assessment and coaching, evidence-based management, communication skills, both speaking and writing, and digital working, including personal digital skills
Key Relationships:
Internal:
- PU members including PUM, Areas Supervisor and field officers to coordinate on major decisions related to project implementation
- Regular contact with the project M&E Coordinator to ensure M&E actions are carried on with the needed technical inputs.
- Project Manager based at Cairo PU to coordinate the implementation and monitoring of project activities in the respective locations.
External:
- Partners and beneficiaries in Giza to assess progress and agree on the appropriated mitigation strategies.
- Government representatives at district and governorate level to share best practices and to identify/implement opportunities for collaboration e.g. influencing, sharing of learning scale up and replication.
Technical Expertise, Skills and Knowledge
- University degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies or related discipline,
- Minimum 3 years of monitoring project activities with local partners at a similar level preferably in an NGO environment is desirable.
- Prior strong experience of working on women economic empowerment.
- Good understanding and experience on women’s economic empowerment, enterprise development, or employment creation for women and promoting gender in governance and administration.
- Experience in planning, budgeting, work plans development, , projects implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
- Experience in planning and facilitating training/workshops.
- Fluent written and spoken English and Arabic language skills required.
- Demonstrated report writing skills.
- Experience in working with children and understanding their special needs.
- Proven analytical skills in result-oriented task prioritization and problem solving.
- Capacity to take initiatives and work both independently and as part of a team.
- Strong communication, planning and organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills and team work abilities.
- Understanding of and commitment to the promotion of gender equality, child protection and inclusion of the most vulnerable.
- Ability to work under stress and pressure and to meet multiple deadlines and targets.
- Involves others in setting and achieving goals
- Creates strong sense of ownership within one part of the business to different stakeholders.
- An open communicator and team player.
- Knowledge and understanding of the local context and of interaction with local development actors and communities.
Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable
- Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
- Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
- Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
- Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
- Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people
We strive for lasting impact
- Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
- Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
- Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
- Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.
We work well together
- Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
- Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
- Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
- Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.
We are inclusive and empowering
- We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
- We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
- We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.
Physical Environment
- Typical office environment with frequent field visits in the project locations in Giza governorate.
Level of Contact with Children:
- High level: Heavy Contact with children.
Location: Cairo Program Unit in Maadi.
Type of Role: One-year fixed term contract.
Reports to: SWEET Project Manager
Closing Date: 20th of Nov. 2022
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.
We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.
We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.
Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.
