Programme Manager at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world's leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position:

Job Title: Programme Manager

Location: Port Harcourt
Department/Country: Programmes/Nigeria
Pay Band: 7
Reports to: Director, Education and Skills
Duration of job: Indefinite
Start Date: 1st June 2015

Purpose of Job

• To act as the Senior Responsibility Officer for Programme delivery in the Port Harcourt office with associated representational, leadership and management responsibilities and accountabilities.
• To work with the Director Programmes, Director Education and Skills, and wider Education and Skills team to lead on the development and implementation of a new Skills portfolio in Nigeria including management of the grant funded two year Fast Forward (FF) action research pilot project starting in 2015.

Context and Environment

• The British Council in Nigeria works in three strategic business areas; Arts, English, Education and Society.
• This is a new post that will manage the two year grant funded Fast Forward (FF) project in Rivers, Cross Rivers and Lagos States funded by the MacArthur Foundation and build a portfolio of projects, campaigns and research in employability skills, building from the foundations laid by the 'Mind the Gap Skills Roundtable (event) held in October 2014 in Lagos.
• In so doing, the British Council's networks, credibility and knowledge of the education and skills sector are expected to grow, that will expand our programme and replace the MacArthur funding after 2017.
• FF is an action research project that will enable co-creation between schools and employers of work-based learning for students in senior secondary school facilitated by British Council in partnership with a Nigerian organisation (expected to be LEAP). The pilot will test how this approach can develop employability skills and how innovations can be introduced in teaching the government curriculum that prepares students for the demands of the workplace.
• At the end of the project, evidence will exist about the new skills students have gained, the effectiveness of bringing work-based learning into the classrooms and the aptitude of teachers to learn new methodologies for teaching skills within the curriculum. Dissemination of research findings will be nationwide with the expectation that if successful, the approach will be adopted into policy by other States and/or scaled up by donor intervention.   
• Twenty senior secondary schools across Rivers, Cross Rivers and Lagos States will be selected to participate that will include 1000 students and 300 teachers. An external advisory group will support each State cohort made up of Ministry, NERDC, employers and other stakeholders.
• FF will give us the credibility and leverage as practitioners to contribute to policy direction in employability skills in Nigeria.

Programme Development, Management , Evaluation and Reporting:

• Work with D/Education and Skills, D/Programmes and project partners to develop and implement an effective project management plan for FF that will achieve project targets within the time frame agreed.
• Contribute to the development of and then manage the External Advisory and other stakeholder Groups for FF
• Manage the internal programme board structures that will report in to D/Programmes as the SRO for FF
• Lead project team on delivery of FF activity
• With D/Education and Skills, D/Programmes other SBU leads contribute to the development of the broader Nigeria skills programme content, building on existing plans and including review and analysis of the external context, initiating and/or reviewing research, meeting with external stakeholders, supporting external consultants and project partners, and working with internal British Council experts.
• Work with the Director Education and Skills and Evaluation Manager to ensure monitoring and reporting against agreed indicators and measures for FF and all other BC Skills projects, campaigns and events
• Lead responsibility for ensuring agreed project reports are complete and delivered on time to grantor/client/partner to the standards required
• Lead responsibility for ensuring project management information is up to date at all times
• Lead responsibility for implementing effective project dissemination of results and learning to wider stakeholder audiences

Financial Management:

• Responsible for developing annual work plans and budgets for the broader Nigeria Skills programme, the FF budget specifically and managing multiple funding streams
• Responsible for ensuring effective management of programme budgets including internal monthly reporting on budget performance and external reporting on budget performance to the requirements set by funders, partners and clients
• Responsible for overseeing procurement in accordance with established corporate policies and processes

Risk Management:

• Responsible for maintaining and updating project risk registers for FF specifically and the broader Nigeria skills programme
• Responsible for managing relevant country risks and ensuring the country risk register is updated quarterly in accordance with the corporate cycle
• Participate in regular project risk review meetings with the programme management team
• Ensure dissemination of risk management standards to programme partners

Contract and Account Management
For FF and the broader Skills programme and in compliance with corporate standards, processes and templates for contract and fund management:

• Prepare contracts for all partnerships ensuring they capture all elements of the partnerships and outline clearly all partner responsibilities and benefits following established corporate templates
• Prepare agreements for all project contractors, consultants and suppliers ensuring they clearly capture all roles and responsibilities following established corporate templates
• Maintain contract records to ensure up to date at all times
• As part of Country CRM framework, maintain and update the CRM database, recording contacts/ leads and outcomes of meetings , ensuring follow up action is carried out in a timely and efficient manner
• Monitor proper invoicing and payment schedule from grantors, partners and donors

Equality, Diversity and inclusion and Child Protection standards:

• Ensure that programme delivery, training events and activity are appropriately screened, including conflict sensitivity screening, and reflect British Council EDI policy
• Lead on programme reporting in Skills for British Council Diversity Assessment Framework
• Ensure that child protection policy and standards are followed and maintained for FF and all relevant projects, including the training of partners in CP standards

Communications:

• Work with British Council Nigeria Marketing and Communications team to develop and disseminate case studies, reports and impact stories for external and internal communication channels including digital and print media
• Work with Directors Programmes and Education and Skills and the External Advisory Groups to disseminate outcomes from FF in accordance with the project plan and identifying other means to maximise reach
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Programmes team to share intelligence and opportunity that creates added benefit to project partners and contacts

Team Leadership and management:

• Demonstrate effective leadership of wider Port Harcourt business delivery team and ensure that line management of Project Manager, Skills is to British Council standards.
• Coach, Mentor and support team.
• Model appropriate leadership styles and British Council behaviours and ensure that staff work in alignment with the British Council Values at all times

Key Internal Relationships

• Country Director Nigeria, Director Programmes, Director Education and Skills, Nigeria Programme Management Team, Nigeria Marketing and Communications team, Nigeria Finance team, wider BC Nigeria programmes team, Regional and Global Education and Society team

Key External Relationships

• Support Directors Programmes and Education and Skills to develop and manage relationships with key government and private sector stakeholders, development organisations, funders, donors and partners
• Maintain relationships with Fast Forward project partners and participants (schools, employers and External Advisory Groups) in Rivers, Cross Rivers and Lagos State.

Other important Features or Requirements of the job

• This is a new post that will require the post holder to hit the ground running and to quickly understand the new FF project and understand and comply with British Council policies and processes.
• Travel will be required on a regular basis to Cross Rivers and Lagos and occasionally to Abuja.
• Operational project work requires occasional work outside conditioned hours, for example in the evenings or at weekends. TOIL should be agreed with the line manager in advance to maintain an adequate work-life balance.
• The post-holder may also be required to travel internationally on BC business and should therefore hold valid travel documents.
• Training may be required for certain aspects of the job such as using SAP.

Person Specification
Behaviours:

• Connecting With Others (most demanding)
• Working Together (more demanding)
• Being Accountable (most demanding)
• Making it happen (most demanding)
• Other behaviours needed for the job but not evaluated at interview
• Shaping the future (more demanding)
• Creating a shared purpose (more demanding

Skills and Knowledge

• Managing Projects Analyses requirements with the sponsor/stakeholders, defining the specification, planning, revising, implementing and evaluating on medium-to-large scale and/or high risk projects.
• Coordinates a diverse team with awareness of equality and diversity impact as part of the project specifications and handles changes in specification or plan to meet unexpected circumstances
• Managing People - Provides full line management to a team where all members are working in a similar area of expertise or business. Scope includes planning, setting objectives, role modelling an inclusive culture, recruitment, development and performance management
• Communication skills - Displays good listening, writing and speaking skills, setting out logical arguments clearly and adapting language and form of communication to meet the needs of different people/audiences.
• Planning and organising - Organises own work over weeks and months, or plans ahead for others, taking account of priorities and the impact on other people.
• Develops and reviews the implementation of annual plans for a work group or function, taking account of business and customer requirements and reconciling competing demands
• Managing finance and resources - Monitors and controls an agreed budget within a defined area, producing reports and analyses and contributing to planning.
• Knowledge of the employability and skills discourse
• Knowledge of the secondary education sector
• Network of contacts in education and or industry sectors in any or all of Rivers, Lagos and Cross Rivers

Qualification

• Bachelor’s Degree (Essential)
• Post-graduate Degree in Education, Humanities or Social Sciences (Desirable)

Experience:

• Working knowledge of Nigerian Education and Skills systems.
• For Skills this should include private and public funded interventions within TVET and Employability fields
• Experience of working with donor/grant/ client funds

Remuneration

• Pay Band: 2/J Pay: 1,871,329.76 NGN per annum.

Application Closing Date
15th June 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details MS Word

Click here to download BC Core Skills (pdf)

Click here to download BC Behaviours (pdf)