Project Manager Job Vacancy in Kenya - NGO

Job Vacancy: Project Manager - Negele, Ethiopia
 
Organisation: Caritas Switzerland is a non-governmental aid agency and member of Caritas Internationalis. 

Caritas works worldwide and adheres to international humanitarian principles (NGO code of conduct).

Caritas Switzerland is involved in Ethiopia with a main focus on development oriented humanitarian aid, water resource development (including aspects like management, sanitation and hygiene) and education. 

We seek a dynamic person as Project Manager with expertise in Agriculture / Agri Econ / Irrigation / Value Chain (additional qualifications such as engineering and construction management are advantageous) for our project Strengthened livelihoods through improved market access of agro-pastoral communities practicing small scale irrigation and school gardening. 

Based in our emerging project office in Negele (Guji Zone of Oromia Region – with a prospect of being based in Addis Ababa after 6-12 months) she/he will be responsible for planning, implementation, monitoring of the project activities. 

Position: Project Manager 

Reporting to: Programme Director or Country Representative for Caritas Switzerland in Addis Abeba 

Duration: 1 year contract with a possible extension based on performance and depending on available funding. 

Location: Negele (Guji Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia) with frequent trips to Addis Ababa and project sites. 

The position holder has the prospect of being relocated in Addis Ababa after 6-12 months

Key tasks & responsibilities

Represent Caritas in the project area in relation to all project matters
  • Present, explain and defend Caritas project to secure the agreement of regional, Zonal and woreda level government offices; and secure the collaboration of woreda sector offices during the implementation of the project;
  • Seek the support of local authorities (Kebele, Woreda and Zone) in case of facing challenges during implementation.
  • Liaise with other potential local actors, private sector, community institutions for collaboration and attainment of project goal. Actively attend and contribute to Zone and woreda level NGO forums.
  • Legally and official represent Caritas Switzerland’s interests in the project area.
Periodic project planning activities at the project level

  • Lead coordinated planning process of the project with the project managers of co-implementing partners
  • Prepare realistic and participatory DIP adequately broken down into annual, quarterly, monthly and bi-weekly plans.
  • Engage community and private actors (producers, transporter, sellers) in the planning pro-cess
  • Whenever possible and necessary align project plan with the overall plan of the local and regional government.
  • Shared DIPs and important milestone events of the project with the CR and PD ahead of time.
Project implementation, Monitoring and Reporting
  • Facilitate disbursement of funds for timely procurement, labor mobilization, transportation and supervision of project activities
  • Translate DIPs into daily and weekly activity plan that can be clearly understood and followed by the project team.
  • Ensure that daily activity schedules are respected and timely actions are taken in case of failure
  • Mobilize the collaboration of Kebele and Woreda actors for community resource mobilization during implementation of activities.
  • Ensure implementation responsibilities are properly shared among the signatories of the project and the community. Not engaging all actors could entail willingness to shoulders not only failures but also possible damages and bad turnouts.
  • Adjust project activities according to seasonal variability.
  • Conduct regular meetings with co-implementing partners to discuss pending project matters and to jointly plan activities
  • Keep track of the project logframe indicators during monitoring. Instill the habit of logframe monitoring among the other co-implementing partners.
  • Collect timely data for compilation of quarterly report to Woreda and Zone government(depending on project agreement this could be an overall project report including that of the other co-implementing partners).
  • Compile an overall bi-annual and annual report for CaCH internally and for back donors.
  • Revise reports as per the comments of CaCH Program Director/Country Representative
Provide Leadership and Resource management
  • Supervise, coach and motivate staffs assigned in the project and required involve in hiring and firing of project staffs.
  • Resolve routine problems as per the staff regulation and refer to difficult ones to the next superior as deemed necessary.
  • Asses the security situation of the project area and ensure adherence to local security guidelines of CaCH by all project staff
  • Open a project bank account in Negele and be responsible for its management (?)
  • Make period transfer requests based on expenditure forecast
  • Approve local payments in consultation with Program Director/Country Representative.
  • In collaboration with the Finance Director ensure complains with internal regulations and financial regulations of the country.
  • Supervise the project cashier
Programme approach
  • Use and encourage partners to use participatory approaches as far as possible throughout the project cycle, in site identification, implementation, operation and maintenance of schemes;
  • Be informed about local context and needs and make use of indigenous knowledge to check the appropriateness proposed activities, technologies and approaches; and
  • Take account of gender, Do-No-Harm, environment and other important cross-cutting con-cerns in programme design, implementation and reporting; carry out activities in a way that reflects the needs of specific groups and individual’s e.g. elderly people, women, children and people with disabilities.  
Essential requirements & qualifications
  • Bachelors or advanced degree in Agriculture/plant science, Agricultural Economics, Agri-culture/ water engineering with specialization training in Agri-business, value chain and ru-ral marketing. And additional engineering qualification and/or experience in WASH pro-ject is an advantage.
  • At least 10 years of relevant work experience in rural development project out of which 2 years in managerial position with responsibility for the program implementation and re-source management.
  • Experience in negotiation, coordination and leading a process that involves various actors at a local level.
  • Experience in implementing community based projects; ability to liaise activities with various actors, with different interest and in different places
  • Experience in project cycle management such as practical experience in project identifica-tion, proposal writing, monitoring, report writing, etc.;
  • Sensitivity to the needs and priorities of different sectors of a community;
  • Good knowledge and experience of accompanying partner-managed projects;
  • Proficiency (oral and written) in English and Oromifa
  • Assessment, analytical and planning skills;
  • Diplomacy, tact and negotiating skills; and
  • Ability to work well in a team. 
Contract start: April 1st, 2016 

Special Remarks: This is a national position. 

Qualified women are especially encouraged to apply. 

Application
 
If you feel you fit the required profile, please let us know how your qualifications, experience and career aspirations match the requirements of this position.

Send your application latest by 13th of March 2016 via email to jobs.nairobi@caritas.ch indicating “Project Manager – Ethio-pia’ in the subject line.

Please provide an updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) with details of your qualifications, experi-ence, present position and remuneration, earliest date of availability, telephone contacts and names of three referees.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for a subsequent written and oral test to be held on March 21/22 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

Website: www.caritas.ch