About EDUKANS

EDUKANS is an international development and humanitarian agency headquartered in the Amersfoort, Netherlands, and Country Offices in Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, and Uganda as well as operational presence in various countries including Ghana, middle, southeast Asia and Latin America. Edukans mission is creating opportunities for children and young people to shape their future by unleashing the power of education.

Broadly, EDUKANS work on two core programmes– both in development and humanitarian contexts– namely, basic quality education and skills for work and life with gender and climate change being cross-cutting themes. In collaboration with both local and international partners, Edukans is providing the best of quality basic education and skills development for children and young people with significant contribution to their holistic development and transition to productive adults.

Role summary

The Programme Development Officer (PDO) is sought to provide support across Edukans main programme development and management functions including (1) fundraising and grants management, (2) programme management and (3) learning and knowledge management. This is a cross-functioning role that aims to support the core staff leading main programme development and management functions to be able to meet key requirements such as delivery quality, donor commitments and deadlines. The postholder will also act as a central liaison point for Edukans team including Edukans Management, Programme Leads and Field Managers. By doing so, the postholder is expected to ensure smooth communication and coordination among Edukans core team members to work as a cohesive team. The postholder is also responsible for following the implementation of agreed actions among team members to address issues, ensure progress and deliverables on time and in quality.

In this role, the postholder will work with different people and teams from across the Programmes as well as colleagues in Edukans HQ and other Country Offices.

Main responsibilities

Support to programme management:

• Assist all the program leads in obtaining relevant program information from internal staff and external stakeholders/partners.
• Actively participate in problem solving and troubleshooting throughout the project management cycle to assure implementation remains within the spirit of the original design concept and donor agreement.
• Ensures that all Field Staff prepare regular work plan, monthly and quarterly of field activities progress review, compile and submit to the immediate supervisor on time.
• Support the Programme Leads in managing information flows, overseeing change controls, issue management and documentation.
• Take part and support in the organization of relevant internal and external coordination meetings, position edukans and provide technical inputs.
• Liaise with Country Director and Programme Leads with regard to queries raised on reports/proposals/documents submitted to stakeholders/partners and  donors.
• Facilitate and maintain linkages and networking among team members to foster teamwork and maximize collective impact.
• Support the Programme Leads in preparation, documentation and sharing of project progress reports and other ad hoc reports as per the required guidelines/templates.
• Closely work with the Programme Leads and make sure that project progress reports, lesson learnings, and project related issues are shared to the donor and other partners as per the schedule.
• Support the Programme Leads in organizing workshops, meetings and other events. Also, compile the workshop reports/ meeting/ event minutes, document and share it to the relevant body.

Support to programme development and grants management:

• Assist Edukans Partnership Strategy in Ethiopia, focusing on mapping and establishing database of local partners.
• Prepare and maintain accurate documentation and recording of prepositions (Quickscans, concept notes and proposals), approved and ongoing projects and closing projects on Edukans CRM (customer relation management) system.
• Lead the development of high-quality proposals and budgets that are relevant and include input from key stakeholders (finance, operations, programs, partners, etc.).
• Assist the Programme Leads and the Fundraising Manager in collecting data and information required for proposal development.
• Liaise with Field Managers to collect region or context-specific information to help the design and development of contextually relevant and responsive projects.
• Develop and maintain grant management tools, such as funding and grant trackers, reporting templates and calendars; and ensure the team is aware of these timelines.
• Lead and coordinate writing of concept notes and proposals, under the guidance of the country director This includes development of internal work plans for the submission and coordination of the operational and programme staff, as well as headquarters and technical advisors to facilitate input.
• Assist in the identification of potential partners, and work with them to design and develop grant concepts and activities, through networking and outreach, under the overall direction of the Fundraising Manager and Programme Leads.
• Support the program managers and field staff in the implementation of existing projects

Support for knowledge management, project reporting, and documentation

• Support the Senior MEL Officer (SMO) to ensures that MEL systems are in place and well-functioning.
• Support the maintenance of MEL systems including MEL plans, performance indicators, data collection & reporting tools and data management systems at project and organizational levels.
• Support the ongoing development of organization wide data management systems, including grants database.
• Support the SMO in developing and implementing systems for identifying, capturing, documenting, and sharing knowledge around project outputs including project progress and results.
• Closely work with other team members (particularly those working at the field office) to ensure all data is collected in a timely manner and fed into progress and results reporting.
• Support the coordination and monitoring of programme MEL activities including data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Work closely with the SMO to identify and disseminate good practice and lesson learning through different programme learning forums and publications.
• Provide support to and perform other tasks as assigned by the Programme Leads as needed.

Employment Type: Fixed term contact renewable annually based on performance and availability of funds

About You

Requirements 

Education

• Advanced University Degree (master’s degree) in Project Management, Development Studies, Education/pedagogy, Skills development, Environmental Protection/Climate Change or related field is required.

Experience

• Experience of coordinating programme development processes and systems.
• Experience of working collaboratively in an open program development culture which encourages knowledge sharing and learning.
• Experience in stakeholder management and communications is an asset.
• Experience working in the education and skills development sector is a plus.
• Experience in circular economy and sustainable development principles and practices is an asset.
• Proofed in knowledge management and deigning of practical projects
• At least, 5 years of related experience in national and international NGOs in mandatory

Other skills and abilities

• Ability to work by own initiative and effectively manage a workload with multiple staff and streams.
• Clear and concise communicator, both verbally and in writing, who is able to adapt information for varying audiences.
• Fluency in in written, reading and spoken English is required.
• Excellent administrative and ICT skills including experience of Microsoft Office 365 (Excel, Teams, Outlook).

• Interested and qualified applicants that fulfill the requirements of the role are required to send their CV (maximum 4 pages) and cover letter only to [email protected]
• Write the Job title in the subject of the e-mail