Job Description and Person Specification

Salary: Competitive
Location: Lilongwe, Malawi (Regular Visits to our Programme Districts will be required)
Role Duration: Contractual (36 Months)
Hours: Full time (Standard Office Hours: 8am – 4pm (Mon-Fri) Occassionally additional Hours will be required outside of these hours.
Reporting to: Executive Director
Start Date: March 2023 (date to be agreed with successful candidate)

About Standing Voice

Standing Voice (SV) is one of the foremost NGOs defending the rights of persons with albinism in Malawi. SV also has offices in Tanzania, and the UK where our head office is based. Our team has over 15 years’ experience working to promote the social inclusion, health and wellbeing of persons with albinism in the region. Our Lilongwe office is responsible for the implementation of all operations in Malawi. Our programmes are impacting the lives of thousands of people with albinism, and are undergoing significant expansion across the country.

About the role

Standing Voice is looking for a creative, organised and experienced Programmes Manager to lead an exciting portfolio of programming in Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Education, Trauma Recovery, and Economic empowerment in Malawi.

The Programmes Manager will lead all aspects of local programme management, from design through to implementation, ensuring schedules are met and systems and processes are effective to deliver high quality programming. You should have excellent relationship-building skills; a sensitive approach to working with vulnerable individuals; and solid multi-tasking abilities. An ability to think strategically, whilst maintaining attention to detail, is vital – as is an aptitude for passing on these skills to others.

The successful candidate must have experience of managing project teams and partners in resource limited settings, and have implemented projects for institutional funders such as the UN, DFID, EU or USAID. The Programme Manager will have primary responsibility for managing an EU-funded project which is shortly to commence and will run to February 2025.

The Programmes Manager will act as the focal point in the interaction between our teams in Malawi, and Standing Voice in the UK, supporting the delivery and quality of in-country programmes. In addition the Programmes Manager will develop relationships with key stakeholders, including funders, through reporting on progress and generating new project concepts.

The applicant will need to be comfortable with travel throughout Malawi, and occasionally internationally. This role is ideal for someone who has worked in the NGO field for 5-10 years and is ready to make the step up to managing a larger team and workload.

This role will commence in May 2023 (start date to be agreed with the successful candidate).

Duties and Responsibilities

Programme management

• Overall responsibility for the successful delivery of SV Malawi’s programmes
• Implement new tools, systems and processes, including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), logical frameworks, risk registers and work plans
• Design project budgets for funding applications and project delivery
• Ensure programmes provide rigorous quality assurance, safeguarding and risk management, and that they have a rights-based approach
• Work closely with SV UK’s programme management team to plan and evaluate programme activities
• Report on programme delivery to the SV UK programme management team on a weekly basis
• Comply with SV’s full range of operational policies and procedures

Team management

• Lead day-to-day management of programme delivery staff in Malawi to ensure strategic targets are met within timeframe and budget
• Build strong and effective relationships with SV teams in Tanzania and the UK
• Monitor work plans for programmes staff
• Manage volunteers to help support programme delivery

Liaising with stakeholders, partners and donors

• Work closely with the UK programmes management team to contribute to project reports to donors
• Develop and maintain relationships with SV’s Malawi-based funders including the EU
• Build and maintain strong relationships with SV’s partners and advisory board
• Build partnerships that contribute to SV’s voice and influence within the issue of human rights and albinism in Malawi
• Deliver presentations on behalf of the organisation to partners and donors at high level meetings and conferences
• Work with SV Directors and management personnel in Malawi and the UK to develop new project concepts and define strategic targets
• Support the UK Fundraising Team to create compelling fundraising proposals which compliment SV’s strategic targets

 Monitoring and evaluation

• Oversee the implementation of an electronic data collection system across all programmes in Malawi: coordinate training; provide ongoing technical support and maintain strong oversight over data collection
• Contribute to the improvement of SV data processes encompassing policies; evaluation systems; organisational and programme theories of change; evaluation indicators and data collection tools
• Lead on quarterly impact measurements and programmes reports submitted to the SV Malawi Executive Director and the UK programmes management team
• Implement MEL plans

Other responsibilities include:

• Act at all times with complete transparency and integrity
• Always act in the ultimate interest of people with albinism
• Stay abreast of all Standing Voice project activities
• Stay abreast of information in Africa and globally relating to the human rights and welfare of people with albinism

Working for Standing Voice

Our approach to achieving social change is grounded in individual agency and common respect. We ensure those values are reflected in the experience of our staff. Standing Voice considers gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, religious belief, disability (or former disability) and age to be irrelevant to our recruitment and staff progression processes, and we do not take those factors into account when filling roles.

 To Apply

If you wish to apply for this position, please send the following to malawi@standingvoice.org by Friday 31 March 2023

• CV
• Cover letter explaining why you are interested in this position and why you consider yourself a suitable candidate with reference to the criteria outlined in the person specification (1.5 pages maximum)
• Contact details for 2 referees (your referees must have known you for more than 6 months and either be a former employer, lecturer or qualified teacher)