Aga Khan Foundation, East
Africa
Employment Opportunity: Project
Director
Do you want to be part of a
robust effort to strengthen education systems in East Africa?
Are you a relationship
builder with the maturity to lead a consortium of actors in education?
The Strengthening Education
Systems in East Africa (SESEA) is a five-year 31.8 M Canadian Dollar project
co-funded by Global Affairs Canada and AKF Canada that aims to sustainably
improve learning outcomes, with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy,
for pre-primary and primary students in target areas of Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania.
This position will be based
in Nairobi and will report to the Regional Programme Director.
AKF is part of the broader Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). a group of development agencies that work primarily in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia with mandates that include the environment, health, education, architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, disaster reduction, promotion of private-sector enterprise and the revitalisation of historic cities.
AKF works in collaboration
with other agencies and partners outside the AKDN to develop and promote
innovative solutions that contribute to improving the quality of life in East
Africa.
Key Responsibilities
Acting as the strategic lead
in coordinating SESEA, the Project Director will directly manage a Project
Coordination Unit (PCU) which acts as a secretariat of the AKDN consortium in
fulfilling the following:
- Coordinate all
project planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting processes
- Manage,
appraise, guide and motivate a team of 8 PCU staff
- Build direct
and maintain cross-agency relationships with AKDN agencies implementing
SESEA
- Act as the
focal point for coordination among agencies implementing the project,
ensuring excellent inter-agency communication and joint implementation
- Build
relationships with relevant government ministries and other stakeholders
to engage them on key education issues.
- Ensure the PCU
assesses, analyses, synthesizes and articulates lessons learnt,
challenges, and risks emerging from the project and feeds these back into
project planning and implementation
- Ensure PCU
fulfills its function as the secretariat to SESEA governance bodies by
overseeing coordination, collaboration, compliance, capacity-building and
timely feedback.
- Oversee the
roll out of the end-line survey, as well as other Monitoring and
Evaluation activities
- Oversee the
implementation and dissemination of SESEA’s research, learning and policy
dialogue agenda
- Leading the
process of developing a follow on version of the project (SESEA II)
Qualifications and Experience
- Graduate degree
in education, international development, or social sciences
- Minimum 10
years’ experience in a similar position with a project of similar scope
and complexity, preferably in the education sector
- Experience with
results-based management, grant management, financial management, project
development and donor requirements and reporting processes
- Demonstrated
ability to lead and motivate a team of individuals
- Diplomacy and
excellent communication skills required
- Excellent
written and oral communications skills in English and superior analytical,
organizational, interpersonal, negotiation and problem-solving skills
- Experience in
East Africa within a development context is desirable
- Experience with
Canadian International Development Agency and other bilateral donors is
desirable
How to Apply:
Candidates interested in this
exciting career opportunity with AKF should submit a cover letter, CV and the
names and contact information of three professional referees by 21st October,
2016 with “Project Director - SESEA” as the e-mail subject line to recruitment@akfea.org
The Aga Khan Foundation is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network
(www.akdn.org)
