Programme Manager

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mothers2mothers (m2m) is an African Primary Health Care organisation that employs women living with HIV as community health workers across 10 African nations. These "Mentor Mothers" deliver integrated health services at clinics and in communities to ensure everyone, everywhere, has access to the services they need to be healthy and stay in care. Over the next five years, this proven, peer-led model is being scaled up to double down on ending HIV, as well as to tackle new health challenges and reach more people - all with the aim of building a fairer, healthier future. Since its creation in 2001, m2m has created jobs for nearly 12,000 women living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and, together, they have reached over 15M people with critical health services and education.

Job Title: Programme Manager

Location: Cape Town - , 8000 ZA (Primary)

Type of position: Fixed Term Contract

Education: Degree

Closing Date: 13/1/2025

Job Description:

The Programme Manager (PM) is a member of the Country Management Unit (CMU), with responsibility for managing country programmes and projects, working closely with all functional units of the organisation, including Finance, Human Resources, Grants & Compliance, Programmes and Technical Support, and Business Development. The position reports to the Director Country Management (DCM) and works within the CMU to support a portfolio of countries and cross-cutting organisational projects. The individual will be based at m2m Head Office, with regular travel.

Key Performance Areas:

Country Support:

• Manage selected country programmes, under the direction of the Director Country Management (DCM) at all stages of the programme life cycle.
• Act in lieu of DCM as delegated, e.g. serve as primary liaison for day-to-day management support for select countries.
• Backstop country programmes to ensure they receive a full complement of operational and implementation support to ensure programme excellence and target achievement.
• Manage development, finalisation, updating, and continuous review of project and country work plans and budgets.
• Supervise interns and junior personnel.
• Engage in external representation of m2m at relevant fora, including stakeholder and funder meetings.

Start-up:

• Lead the operational side of project and/or country start-up, including office set-up and IT.
• Support recruitment of key personnel, including CV screening and participation in interviews.
• Develop, manage, and monitor project start-up plans.
• Contribute programmatic inputs to logic models and work plans.

Planning:

• Manage, with country teams and Head Office functional units, the management, initiation, and finalization of award actions, e.g. project scope; monitoring, evaluation and learning plan; branding and marking plan; and budget.

Implementation:

• Review, interpret, and monitor financial reports, including forecasts and burn rates.
• Represent and sensitively reflect the interests and needs of Country Leads at m2m head office.
• Serve as Project Coordinator on select awards.
• Provide training and support to countries on operations strengthening, implementation issues and best practices.
• Coordinate, facilitate, and initiate follow-up actions after regular cluster meetings and country-focused Resource Reviews and check-ins.
• Monitor award compliance in coordination with relevant head office departments.
• Ensure country governance filing and status remains up-to-date.
• Collaborate with Head Office departments to facilitate successful implementation of country programmes.
• Manage external consultants.
• Design, implement, and coordinate programme activities, as assigned.
• Track project-specific travel, ensuring alignment with project work plan and budget and compliance with donor requirements.
• Manage and respond to head office requests of countries, as needed.
• Provide oversight in the management of inventory.
• Capacitate new personnel on organisational and CMU structure and objectives.
• Train personnel on systems, organisational policies and award regulations.
• Liaise with Head Office Department of Programmes and Technical Support on quality improvement model and best practices.
• Conduct joint visits with DPTS personnel for m2m internal Quality Improvement system (BIO) implementation and monitoring.
• Manage operations-specific follow-up actions after joint BIO and other visits with DPTS.
• Represent CMU at Joint Country Support Calls (JCSCs) on a monthly basis and brief DCM on relevant information.

Close-out:

• Assist in managing project, office, and/or country close-out.
• Develop, manage, and monitor project close-out plans.

Reporting and Deliverable Management:

• Develop reports, presentations, and other communications materials for projects, country programmes, and the CMU.
• Write and/or contribute to the development of concept notes and proposals.
• Manage country inputs, write donor reports for cross-cutting projects, copy edit, and support the development of other project reports.
• Facilitate communication and respond to information requests from internal and external stakeholders, including donors.
• Manage, initiate, and draft award actions, e.g. prior approvals, budget redirections, major purchases, in conjunction with country teams.
• Foster communication and coordination among head office departments supporting country programmes and facilitate shared learning.
• Document project successes, challenges, and lessons learned for internal and external dissemination.
• With the DCM, develop spaces/platforms to facilitate information sharing among countries.

Cross-Cutting Country Management Unit:

• Contribute to the development of operational systems, processes, and procedures to support country programmes.
• Support and manage Operations Department-led initiatives, including the annual meeting, country director meetings, operational planning, special projects, and internal and external meeting coordination.
• Develop weekly Senior Management Group (SMG) updates and Board meeting presentations; present at SMG and Board Meetings in the absence of, or at the discretion of, the DCM.
• In collaboration with the Department of Communications, lead the coordination and management of site visits for donors, funders and other stakeholders.
• Represent m2m with external stakeholders, where necessary.
• Represent CMU and country teams with SMG and Board Members, as relevant.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief Operations Officer and DCM.

Qualifications and experience:

• Minimum bachelor's degree in public health, social sciences, or related field.
• Master's degree in public health or policy advantageous.
• 5-7 years' experience working on international development and health projects and with non-governmental organisations.
• Demonstrated experience developing donor and project reports, work plans, budgets, and proposals.
• Experience managing cross-organisational processes.
• Direct experience with managing bi- and multi-lateral funding mechanisms, for example USAID, CDC, DFID, UNICEF, foundation, and other government and private donor funding instruments and regulations.
• Demonstrated experience throughout the project management lifecycle including business development, implementation, course correction, reporting, and financial and human resources management.
• Experience working in sub-Saharan Africa and with multi-cultural teams.
• Mastery of project lifecycles and programme development and implementation.
• Proficiency in people and process management in a dynamic environment.
• Portuguese working fluency advantageous.
• Ability to work independently, think analytically, and to solve problems.
• Ability to manage and prioritise multiple responsibilities under pressure.
• Ability to manage cross-cutting projects with diverse project teams.
• Excel and budgeting literacy.
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Experience with new project start-up at country level.
• Experience working with and understanding of HIV/AIDS, health programmes, and community settings.
• Excellent writing skills including analytical reports and proposals.

mothers2mothers is an equal opportunity employer. We particularly encourage applications from people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), people with disabilities, women and previously disadvantaged people. Competitive salary packages will be negotiable in accordance with m2m's remuneration policies.