The Project Manager will work closely with Deputy Program Director, and other technical and support departments to ensure timely program implementation, and ensure program quality, coordination, and management of the ECHO and GFFO-funded projects. She/he will be acting as the lead focal point for the ECHO/GFFO consortium members, overseeing the quality of programming and accountability to beneficiaries, closely monitoring and giving assistance based on the project budget management, and taking the lead on all projects related to external stakeholder engagement. This position reports to the Deputy Program Director.

Purpose:

The Project Manager is in charge of the coordination of consortium members; take the lead in external partners’ engagement; the proper implementation and completion of ECHO and GFFO Project(s) throughout different phases of the projects as well as appropriate support of the field team to ensure program quality and accountability to beneficiaries.

Engagement:

The Project Manager will collaborate closely with the Deputy Program Director, Field Coordinators, and Head of Departments. Externally, s/he will cultivate and maintain excellent relationships with consortium members, partners, government, and other INGOs in Ethiopia; Exchange information, coordination, training, supervision, and influence the choice of technical options. This position has up to 65% travel time to the field.  

Delivery:

The project manager will be responsible for the overall timely implementation, coordination, and management of the ECHO and GFFO-funded project and serve as the consortium focal point. The Project Manager will ensure quality program implementation, including providing strategic guidance to consortium staff and being responsible for budget management, M&E, partnership management, and relationships with external factors including government authorities, and project partners. S/he will be responsible for maintaining regular contact with all consortium partners and the donor and will be acting as a lead focal point for the project’s governance of various bodies (steering committee, technical working group, and others) and supervising programming quality and accountability to beneficiaries.

Essential Duties

• Ensure Efficient, Effective, Quality, and Timely Implementation of ECHO and GFFO Projects by Action Against Hunger and Consortium members (30%)

• Take overall responsibility for the quality of the project(s) including regular monitoring, field visits, and learning, and organize joint field visits and coordination meetings with consortium members.

• Led timely implementation and monitoring of ECHO and GFFO-funded projects

• Finalize and manage the update and implementation of the detailed ECHO and GFFO projects Implementation Plan (PIP) with the support of technical HODs and base teams

• Finalize and manage the Project(s) Scope Documents (PSDs) such as Project Procurement plan, Monitoring, and evaluation plan, Work Breakdown Structure, etc. as well as ensure regular updates of these documents in order to maintain a strong record of the projects

• With the support of the relevant technical coordinators and deputy program director, develop, document, and work as per designs, BoQs, tools, standard operating procedures,  implementation modalities, and guidelines

• Build the capacity of the project team based on observed gaps 

• Liaise with the field, capital MEAL team, and senior communication officer to capture the project impact, lesson, success stories, and other materials.

• Measure project progress and performance using appropriate project management tools

• Regular field visits to monitor the activities and their quality in compliance with proposals and in liaison with the M&E department

• Identify and monitor risks, constraints, or escalating issues and inform senior management accordingly

Coordination of Program Implementation (30%)

• The project manager serves as the technical and operational focal point for ECHO and GFFO-funded projects,

• Promote harmonization of approaches and methodologies across all consortium partners. Regularly review the work of the consortium and ensure that technical quality and standards are considered and respected during the project implementation

• Draft consortium-level MoU nexus to ECHO and GFFO projects when needed

• Organizes and lead regular coordination and technical meetings between field and capital team to accelerate the program implementation

• Coordinate with the technical team at capital and field for timely implementation of the ECHO and GFFO projects.

• Convene and chair monthly consortium steering committee meetings to discuss the pertinent program and financial issues. Prepare and share minutes and clear action points of meetings/training attended

• Carry out regular communication and updates on consortium management, and consortium partner performance and provide timely alerts of key challenges 

• Facilitates the hosting of learning events and workshops on specific relevant topics agreed on with the members.

• Represent the consortium with the Donor, national-level coordination platforms, Technical Working Groups, and UN Agencies,

• Coordinate with relevant UN agencies, government authorities, and any other stakeholders to ensure support for the project(s) and the wider organization;

• Ensure that consortium communication and visibility plan is developed and implemented accordingly. Work with the senior communication officer for this part

• Ensure that each consortium member implements in accordance with all donor financial, and compliance policies.

• Promote and maintain protection and gender principle through ECHO and GFFO project cycle.

• Monitoring, Evaluation, and learning activities-Maintain Comprehensive Records and Reports in a Timely Manner (20%)

• Develop/support the field team on the preparation of monitoring plans for ECHO and GFFO projects and share them with the field team (for consortium members).

• Timely conduct start-up and end-of-project activities. Make sure the project's initial commencement of activities(Detail implementation plan-DIP, project procurement plan, supply plan, and  others) carried out timely with the desired quality

• Together with base and capital technical teams develop activity progress and reporting(APR) template for the project(for Action Against Hunger)

• Frequently travel to the field and support the base team, organize joint program monitoring visits and meetings for the consortium projects, local partners, beneficiaries…

• Regularly follow APR, Budget follow-up (BFU), and Procurement follows up (PFU) of the projects. Follow the consortium partners' financial need as per the MoUs

• Follow whether the project is in line with the set objectives (indicators) or not. Timely flag out issues for correction

• Technically support the field team to maintain, document, and handover all project(s) records in an organized and complete manner to enable audit of the project(s)

• Review and validate activity progress reports for ECHO and GFFO-funded projects, and responsible for the quality donor report.

• Produce weekly, monthly, and quarterly internal and external reports as requested

• Ensure program implementation quality and accountability to beneficiaries and taking the lead on all external partners' engagement

• Assist in Wider Organizational Development through Learning and Proposal Development Support (10%)

• Identify, examine and report in a proactive manner any areas of geographic or sectoral growth for the organization

• Contribute to overall project(s) design, activity implementation guidelines, training development, and documentation

• Develop a systematic mechanism for the lesson learned about the programs to provide information to conduct advocacy activities, with periodic field visits to other projects (s)s to strengthen across mission information and best practice sharing; and encourage the development of the innovative approach

• Produce regular success stories on project implementation and work with senior communication officer

• Support the development of project(s) proposals, concepts, and improvements. 

Supervisory Responsibilities (10%)

• The ECHO and GFFO Project manager will not directly line manage any staff. However, for the successful implementation of the ECHO and GFFO projects, she/he is expected to closely work and support the field office project managers/staff (Action Against Hunger and the consortium members) in identifying gaps, areas of improvement, and project-related concerns. More specifically, areas that need the Project manager's engagement as far as staff management is concerned are the following:

• Ensure that all project(s) staff are briefed on all relevant components of the ECHO and GFFO project(s)(together with other responsible bodies facilitate internal field-level kick-off meetings, joint review meetings, and others)

• Keep bases and consortium members aware of any changes in the project(s) and in the wider organization;

• Ensure project staff are aware of and operating by humanitarian principles and other codes of conduct;

• With consultation of the field, the team Identify and facilitate training important for project implementation

• Facilitate cross-program/organizational learning through joint review and planning with other departments and/or consortium members

• Follow and check the employment of the project staff as per the approved proposal

• Ensure the provision of updated records and reviews for team personnel reviews and records for the projects

• Manage conflict resolution and motivation exercises with the project(s) team in a proactive manner;

• Encourage compliance with the Charter and the fight against fraud, corruption, and abuse of power; alert the Deputy program director and program director in the event of fraud, corruption, or abuse of power.

Gender Equality Commitments  

• Foster an environment that supports the values of women and men, and equal access to information.

• Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.

• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, and children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion. race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status. 

• Value and respect all cultures. 

Fiscal Responsibility

• The Project manager will oversee the budget follow-up for the two projects and raise alerts for the base and the capital teams (Action Against Hunger and the consortium). S/he will directly manage consortium coordination or visibility and communication budgets. 

Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job (more than 65% on the field). Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

• The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.

• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases. 

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

• Master’s degree in project management, international development, development study, disaster risk reduction & management, Food security, humanitarian affairs, social science, or another relevant area.

• 7 years of professional work experience in direct management of field operations, at 5 years of experience directly in large-scale project management.

• Strong working knowledge of Nutrition, WASH, MPC, Food Security and Livelihoods, and protection.

Required Skills & Competencies

• Excellent writing and communication skills;

• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to establish effective working relations with national staff and other stakeholders;

• Ability to work in a deadline-driven environment and undertake a proactive approach;

• Excellent project management skills, including strong budget management capacity.

• Thorough understanding of displacement issues and related international standards/frameworks;

• Experience with ECHO and GFFO project management,

• Willing to travel, live and work in an insecure and changing environment.

How to Apply

Register using the following LINK

Note: Send your application composed of none returnable CV, a Covering Letter with “Project Manager: ECHO and GFFO Projects-Addis Ababa” written in the subject line, and three references