Program Officer Job Vacancy - Research

Twaweza, a dynamic East Africa wide organization, is looking for a competent, effective and energetic Program Officer, Research

Job Title: Program Officer
 
Unit: Uwezo Tanzania
 
Cluster: Data and Voice
 
Mandate: Country
 

Salary Grade: 5

Reports to: Manager, Uwezo Tanzania 

Supervises: Usually none, except as assigned by the Supervisor
 
Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
 
Overall Responsibility: You will assist the Manager, Uwezo Tanzania in overall planning and implementation of the annual national learning assessment and related monitoring. 

You will assist the Manager in recruiting credible partners and engaging them to coordinate the assessment in all districts. 

You will assist the manager in preparing all assessment materials, including development, production and the transfer logistics to and from the districts. 

You will assist the Manager to manage all activities linked to the district partners, including the pre-assessment activities, fund requests and disbursement to partners, and ensure in district reports on assessment and financial expenditure reports are reviewed and well documented to guide for decision on final payment to the respective partners.
 
Specific Responsibilities
1.    Assist the Manager in identifying credible organisations for partnership to implement Uwezo annual learning assessment in respective districts, conduct all recruitment and due diligence process ahead of contracting including preparation of partner assessment tools/checklist, engaging external assessors to carryout partner recruitment in selected districts, analyze the list of proposed partners by external assessors and advise the manager on potential partners. Also support in drafting and presentation of Ideas and Decision Memos related to partner recruitment and related assessment activities;
2.    Assist the Manager in contracting all district partners, creating and managing data base for district partners, village coordinators and volunteers, initiating all payments to partners and in ensuring that the contracts are well managed up to the reporting (including financial expenditure reports) and final payment stages.
3.    Assist the Manager to ensure District partners/ Heads of organisations are well oriented on Uwezo assessment processes, contractual obligations including adhering to Twaweza financial standards, fund disbursement processes and related tools, and financial retirement procedures;
4.    Assist the Manager in ensuring that all assessment materials, including assessment tools, call for volunteers, volunteer selection and household listing forms, volunteers’ bags, identification badges and certificates are dispatched to partners in a timely manner and in adherence to standards. This will be done in collaboration with Program Assistant and Assistant Program Officer for Communications;
5.    Assist the Manager in coordinating receipt of assessment materials back from the districts after the assessment and ensure that they are verified by the Regional coordinators, and respective District partners/ Coordinators.
6.    Assist the Manager in ensuring that funds are disbursed to partners on time, all partners submit well documented financial expenditure reports with genuine supporting documents on time, and review them for disbursement of final payments to allow timely closing of contracts.
7.    Assist the Manager in maintaining close contact with district partners during the assessment period and address any issues arising;
8.    Assist the Manager in initiating all requisitions and payments within the budget lines linked to the above activities.
9.    Conduct occasional research and writing assignments on Uwezo in diverse ways supportive to program goals, including internal learning, policy debates, opinion articles:
10.  Participate in other Uwezo processes for dissemination of assessment findings at national and subnational levels e.g. support preparing partner list for invitations to attend National report launches.
General Responsibilities
1.    Successfully implement above responsibilities and assigned activities in work plans and budgets, consistent with Twaweza Policies.
2.    Contribute effectively to planning, monitoring, reporting and information dissemination of Uwezo’s/Twaweza’s work.
3.    Collaborate with Twaweza staff across units and countries in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation to get things done.
4.    Communicate your work through active use of internal platform (SalesForce), electronic calendar (Gcal) and being accessible on electronic chat (Skype) as per Twaweza requirements.
5.    Participate actively in organization-wide learning and other joint activities.
6.    Comply with and foster adherence to the established Twaweza values, policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.
7.    Undertake any other lawful tasks as may be assigned by your Supervisor, respective Director and/or Executive Director.
Core Qualifications
1.    A university degree in education, or any other social sciences, preferably a master’s degree.
2.    At least four years’ experience related to your responsibilities.
3.    Sufficient knowledge in research and analysis.
4.    Passion for education work, creative and ability to think outside the box.
5.    Team player, able to coordinate and motivate a small team of staff to perform.
6.    Very good writing skills in English and Kiswahili, with keen attention to detail.
7.    Good basic knowledge of development and education issues.
8.    Strong computer skills and use of database and internet.
9.    Excellent organizational, reporting and management skills.
10.  Very good time management skills.
11.  Ability to work under pressure and adhere to strict deadlines.
Changes and Amendments: This job description may be amended by Twaweza after consultation with the employee and the supervisor.
 
Application process:
 
To apply for this position, please submit your CV (max 4 pages) tojobs@twaweza.org, including a cover letter explaining your interests/motivations to work for Twaweza, and 2 samples of your written work and names of 3 referees, in MS Word or PDF file.

In the subject of your email write your name, position you are applying for and country.

Deadline for the submission is 15th January 2017.