The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organisation that promotes children’s rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries.

TEAM/PROGRAM: Ethiopia Civil Society Coalition for Scaling Up Nutrition (ECSC-SUN) Movement Secretariat

LOCATION:  Addis Ababa

GRADE:  1C

POST TYPE: National

Child Safeguarding: Level 3 – the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people

ROLE PURPOSE:  

The Senior Program Manager, in collaboration with the ECSC-SUN National Lead, ECSC-SUN Secretariat team and ECSC-SUN Regional Program Managers, Regional Support platform leads will be responsible for the management of the ECSC-SUN’s work including managing sub-awards. S/he will provide technical leadership to ensure a holistic technical approach, guidance and coordination with other coalition member agencies to ensure nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive programs are cohesive and well managed.

S/he will engage with ECSC-SUN Steering Committee, ECSC-SUN member agencies, GoE Ministries, other SUN networks in the country to ensure smooth coordination and implementation of the coalition’s activities and supports GoE national food and nutrition related initiatives. In addition, the Sr. Regional Manager will also provide support to the National Lead, regional lead Regional Program Managers and the steering committee for program management, coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting tasks of ECSC-SUN.

The Sr.  Program Manager will also be expected to support with different role as given by the National Lead in setting up of youth leaders for nutrition platform through organizing different meetings with the national nutrition leaders network senior leadership and engaging nutrition leaders at regional levels. The Sr. Programme Manager will be expected to provide technical support to the different food and nutrition implementing Government sector bureaus, in aligning the planning, monitoring, budget allocation to emergent Food and Nutrition Strategy and programme. S/he will work to ensure

The position holder is expected to coordinate the advocacy efforts to influence effective implementation of food and nutrition policy and its strategy by nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive sectors and regional leads stakeholders at national, regional and sub-regional levels for improved nutritional outcomes.

S/he represents SC values and principles in interactions with staff and external audiences, including ECSC-SUN member technical and management staff members.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: National Lead, Ethiopia Civil Society Coalition for Scaling Up Nutrition (ECSC-SUN) Movement

Dimensions: ECSC-SUN works and coordinating efforts in all regions in Ethiopia through its secretariat based at Save the Children and through the ECSC-SUN regional support platforms and thematic initiatives

Number of Positions/Staff directly reporting to this post:  Award and Donor Compliance Coordinator and ECSC-SUN Regional Program Managers and ECSC-SUN Coordination platform team

Length of Contract- Up to August 2022 with possibility of extension

Monthly Salary in ETB– As per the organization scale

Place of Work – Addis Ababa with frequent travel to Afar, Somali, SNNPR and Sidama regions.

No of Positions – One

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Programme Management:

• Play the key leadership role and be responsible for overall implementation and management of all aspects of the project at regional levels as per the design to meet the intended ECSC-SUN programme objective, outcomes and outputs.  That includes providing overall technical, administrative, operational, and logistical support to the ECSC-SUN regional leads, with a focus on achieving the key outcomes.
• Provide technical support for the start-up and implementation of the regional support platforms in Sidama region and strengthening in SNNPR, Sidama, Afar and Somali regions through supportive supervision, mentoring, coaching, review meetings, capacity building and learning visits.
• In consultation National Lead of ECSC-SUN, develop concept notes, proposals and budgets to be submitted for potential donors; develops log frame, detailed implementation plan and M&E plan as part of the proposal package and revise proposals to accommodate comments from coalition members and donors.
• Provide technical inputs to conduct mapping, capacity gap assessments and start-up of ECSC-SUN regional support platform; monitoring effective implementation of ECSC-SUN projects and ensure program performance is in line with the international and national standards.
• Engage in capacity building activities including training and knowledge transfer to ECSC-SUN regional leads, members, coordinate and technical lead the regional capacity building initiatives and provide support to the ECSC-SUN members agencies assigned to lead the coalitions effort in Somali, Afar and Tigray regions.
• Follow and the implementation of the planned activities of ECSC SUN project like the completion of the development of the strategic plans which are contracted out to be done by consultants.
• Coordinate, facilitate and participate in ECSC- SUN General assembly, national and regional steering committee and thematic focus group meetings forums/meetings.
• Provision of support to regional food and nutrition implementing sectors and national nutrition program related demands raised by Regional Health Bureau and other food and nutrition implementing regional sectors.
• Provide technical support and coordinate the completion of National Food and Nutrition strategies development and initiate its implementation in Afar, Somali and Tigray regions.
• Provide technical support to Food and Nutrition council and agency/ coordination office establishment process in Somali, Afar, SNNP and Sidama regions through training and capacity building, as well as organizing workshops and meetings jointly with the regional leads that will be used to define the National Food and Nutrition Council’s strategic plan.
• Coordinate, manage and motivate ECSC-SUN regional support platform teams, ensuring that they have clear objectives/individual work plans as part of performance management and receive meaningful feedback on their performance.
• Engage in preparation of detailed implementation plan and phased budget for the project.
• Write-up of ECSC SUN project report and closely work with the Programme Director and Senior M&E, Research and KM specialist for timely submission to the donor.
• Contribute to learning and research that supports the coalition advocacy objectives
• Document and communicate programme achievements against agreed outcomes and milestones for a wide range of ECSC-SUN coalition members and external audiences.
• Actively communicate and coordinate with the ECSC -SUN regional support platform leads, to ensure coherence and integrated approaches across program activities.
• Identify critical issues in the implementation of ECSC-SUN programme and take the necessary actions to address problems and constraints.
• Travel frequently throughout the programme’s areas of intervention to monitor program implementation and provide managerial guidance.
• Be responsible for the overall management and coordination of this project with the ECSC-SUN regional support platform and other partners and stakeholders working in, SNNR, Sidama, Somali and Afar regions.
• Coordinate activities to strengthening regional Nutrition leadership platform and organize meetings of different nutrition professionals and leaders to support the creation of different Technical Working Groups under the nutrition leadership initiative.
• Be fully aware of national food and nutrition related policies, strategies and other regional initiatives and developments by government and other coalition members and stakeholders.
• Ensure that relevant crosscutting issues are strategically mainstreamed in new ECSC-SUN projects; also ensuring relevant ECSC-SUN coalition member staff understand and are capacitated to take the issues forward
• Ensure that strategies for phasing out and closely followed during implementation

Programme Quality and Effectiveness

• Working closely with the National lead, Sr. M&E, Research and KM Specialist, MEAL unit and technical specialists, ensure timely implementation of key assessment/ research activities of the project. That include providing ongoing monitoring and coordination of timely implementation of the assessment and research activities, and provide technical guidance to the ECSC-SUN regional leads and consultants, as needed.
• In cooperation with National lead, Sr. M&E, Research and KM Specialist and Communication Specialist, ensure proper documentation of experiences and lessons learned from the ECSC-SUN programme under supervision.
• Coordinate with ECSC-SUN Secretariat technical team and MEAL focal person, and oversee that all field level interventions being led by the regional leads and related researches/ learning documentation is technically managed to a high standard.
• Work closely with ECSC-SUN Secretariat technical team to provide technical and managerial support to the ECSC-SUN regional leads in reviewing and adapting strategies and project plans in view of changes in the internal and external operational environment.
• Work with ECSC-SUN Secretariat technical team and ensure timely and quality delivery of capacity building activities and other technical support for ECSC-SUN regional support staff and other stakeholders
• Collaborate with ECSC-SUN regional support teams ensure the ECSC-SUN Programme records and documentation are properly managed and compliant with organizational requirements and international best practices.
• Ensuring guiding documents for project activities draw on international best practices and global research, lessons learned from the field-level and reflect implementation realities related to ECSC-SUN programme.
• Work with Sr. M&E, Research and KM Specialist and technical specialists to ensure development and continual revision of monitoring and evaluation system for the program linked to its strategies, indicators, and information management tools; which supports program management, accountability and learning.
• Work with Sr. M&E, Research and KM Specialist and MEAL unit to contribute to the development of an M&E framework/ systems that monitors progress of activities and progress towards achievement of the program objectives and outcomes, with quality.  That includes the identification and design of needs assessments, profiling exercises and other research initiatives, which contribute to enhancing knowledge on ECSC-SUN programme.
• Work with the ECSC-SUN secretariat technical team, ECSC-SUN regional support platform team and ensure proper understanding of cross-cutting issues among project staff (e.g., gender, child protection and safeguarding), and integration of same in the ECSC-SUN programme implementation
• Ensure monthly, quarterly and annual review is conducted to monitor progress and where appropriate take corrective measures.
• Review, edit and submit timely and quality written reports on the ECSC-SUN programme activities capturing impacts related to all activities.

Budget Management/ Budget Holding Responsibility

• In collaboration with ECSC-SUN National lead, Secretariat, award and finance staff, prepare annual project budgets based on the project budget proposal and ensure compliance with donor requirements;
• Ensure that budget for the assigned projects accurately reflect anticipated costs of planned work at all times.
• Ensure that the annual project budget is properly phased, mapped to the budget coding and uploaded on Agresso (Financial Management System),
• Ensure effective and efficient utilization of project budget and other resources for intended purpose; monitor budget utilization and project expenditure as needed
• Ensure an integrated approach to programme implementation in order to maximize resource utilization and synergy between the staff and different programmes.
• Exercise sound judgment to ensure project expenses are reasonable, allocable and prudent. Ensure all project funds are spent in accordance with donor rules and regulations.

External representation

• Participate in relevant ECSC-SUN in national and regional coordination meetings and working groups and learning initiatives linked to the ECSC-SUN program
• Represent ECSC-SUN at all relevant national and regional technical external task forces, working groups, seminars or other nutrition coordination meetings and use these meetings to negotiate strategic and advocacy positions.
• Build and maintain ECSC-SUN’s relationships with ECSC member, other CSOs, donors, key stakeholder, government departments, development partners and UN donors working in the three regions
• Perform additional tasks and duties as and when required.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor Degree in Nutrition, Public Health, or related field; with a minimum of 10 years related work experience in the area of nutrition programme management and coordination;
• Experience in working with national and regional government counterparts, COSs and other partners at various levels with more focus in Somali, Afar, SNNP and Sidama regions within the framework of nutrition.
• Experience in program and budget management, monitoring, technical support, capacity-building and coordination
• Experience of coalition building, forum coordination and working with civil society actors to deliver change;
• Superior written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex arguments into accessible English for a non-specialist audience,
• Good communication and interpersonal skills, excellent understanding of the global nutrition movements, sustainable development goal,
• Good presentation, training and facilitation skills; fluency in spoken and written English; good computer skills (particularly Excel, Word and databases)
• Knowledge of SNNPR, Somali, Afar and or Sidama languages is advantageous
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Commitment to Save the Children values