Programmes Development Cordinators 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 of:

Job Title: Programmes Development Cordinator

Region: SSA
Location: Abuja
Department: Programes, Nigeria
Pay Band: 6
Reports to: Director of Programmes

Purpose of Job

• To provide business development support to Director Programmes and members of the Programmes Management Group that contributes to the strategic leadership, governance and integration of projects and programmes in Nigeria resulting in a high performing, relevant and visible programme portfolio.
• To manage events and projects in stakeholder engagement under the programme leadership of the Partnerships manager, that will deepen our strategic relationships with critical target groups across all sectors
• Under the direction of senior managers, support production of tender submissions, expressions of interests and proposals in pursuit of new contracts and partnerships that grow and deepen the portfolio.
• To manage short, fixed term events or projects such as visit programmes for inward visitors, background research on particular organisations; training events for the wider Programmes team

Context and Environment

• The British Council in Nigeria works in three strategic business areas (SBUs); Arts, English, Education and Society.
• The Programme Management Group consists of Director Programmes, Directors of the SBUs and the Partnerships Manager
• This is a new post that will play a critical role in supporting the work of the Programme management group and the senior leadership of the operation and be engaged in every aspect of our Programmes portfolio. The post holder will gain an understanding of the corporate approach to planning and leadership in the British Council and opportunity to support the governance, management and development of our portfolio.
• The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. In all that we do the British Council acknowledges our duty of care to ensure a healthy and safe place to work for our staff, customers and visitors. We aim to achieve this through compliance with the safety laws in each of the countries in which we operate. We aim, where practicable, to follow UK standards, guidance and codes of good practice where these offer enhanced standards of health and safety.
• The British Council recognises that we have a fundamental duty of care towards all children we engage with including a duty to protect them from abuse. We achieve this through compliance with UK child protection laws and relevant laws in each of the countries we operate as well as by adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989.
• Our Equal Opportunity Policy commits us to ensuring that there is no unjustified discrimination in the recruitment, retention, training and development of staff on the basis of age, disability, gender including transgender, HIV/AIDS status, marital status including civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, political opinion, race/ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, spent convictions, trade union activity or membership, work pattern and on the basis of having or not having dependants or any other irrelevant grounds.
• We guarantee an interview to candidates living with disability who meet the essential criteria.
• Candidates with special needs should please ask us for this information in alternative formats.
• All employees of the British Council must adhere to the Corporate Health & Safety, Equal Opportunity & Diversity and Child Protection policies and the Code of Conduct.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties
Project Management and Coordination:

• Maintain an accurate and up to date schedule of all Programme activity in co-ordination with teams to support effective planning and communications
• Coordinate the collation of timely management information and other data to support effective planning
• Organise effective and motivating training and development events and programmes for members of the programmes team
• Co-ordinate and monitor compliance with corporate governance and management requirements for project plans, briefs, and risk management by the project teams, maintaining an up to date log of documents at all times
• Manage stakeholder project activity to agreed terms of reference, timelines, costs, targets and established performance indicators
• Be responsible for organising and managing meetings, teleconferences, advisory and selection boards and other project or contract related events as required by senior managers.
• Organise inward visit programmes, to include supporting the visitor with travel guidance and advance briefs and information

Financial Management:

• Responsible for developing detailed activity and event budgets for approval by Partnerships Manager and Director Programmes and managing delivery against budgets with an emphasis on value for money
• Responsible for managing the Business Support budget for projects supporting external stakeholder engagement: including preparing monthly financial performance reports, monthly cash flow, and quarterly project forecasts against the annual budget to the timelines set, for internal use.
• Responsible for researching costs as required for new contract opportunities or events and contributing to costing price models, under the direction of senior managers
• Responsible for supporting Director Programmes with financial information needed for standing financial meetings including collating, checking and presenting financial reports
• Responsible for project procurement in line with established corporate policies and guidelines

Communications:

• Prepare briefs, reports and other communication documents as required by D/Programmes that contribute to managing internal and external stakeholder management, including the BHC, DFID, UKTI and the Prosperity Board
• Work with the Project teams and the Marketing and Communications team to ensure a flow of information and stories for internal and external audiences
• Build and maintain sound knowledge of the programmes, services. major developments, issues and stakeholders within the British Council Nigeria in order to build professional confidence

Contract and account management:

• Support Director Programmes and Partnerships Manager in drafting agreements for contractors, consultants and suppliers.
• Maintain up to date information and intelligence on key contacts and relationships for the Programmes team using the Client Relationship Management (CRM) system, reporting to Partnerships Manager.

Business Development
Under the guidance of senior managers:

• Support pursuit of new opportunities with research of potential partners and other intelligence needed
• Support the development and production of proposals, concept notes and tenders with research and drafting.

Key relationships
Internal:

• Programme Management Group; Country Management Team, Senior Leadership Team, and all programme and project managers;
• Marketing and Communications
• Large scale contracts: Justice for All (J4A) and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP)
• Finance and Exams teams

External:

• BHC, DFID, UKTI, Prosperity Board

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 establish constructive relationships with the SBU leads and wider Programme Team
• Travel will be required on an occasional basis to other offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Kano
• 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
Behaviour (Essential):

• Connecting with others (more demanding)
• Working together (essential)
• Being accountable (essential)
• Making it happen (more demanding)
• Other behaviours needed for the job but not evaluated at interview
• Shaping the future essential
• Creating a shared purpose.

Skills and Knowledge
Managing Projects:

• Examines project data and performance, reporting on progress and recommending corrective action as needed.

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.

Managing finance and resources:

• Strong numeracy and skills in data analysis and presentation; comfortable working with financial data
• Monitors and controls an agreed budget within a defined area, producing reports and analyses and contributing to planning.
• Knowledge of any of the sectors or themes we work in: education and society Arts; English
• Knowledge of the secondary education sector
• Knowledge of the Nigerian education sector (desirable)

Experience:

• Working knowledge of Nigerian Education and Skills systems.
• Experience of working with donor/grant/ client funds

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree

Application Closing Date
30th October, 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 Behaviour (pdf)

Click here to download BC Core Skills (pdf)

Note:

• Applications received after the stated deadline will not be considered. Please apply using the materials on the website.
• We are unable to process applications that do not conform to the required format, and we will not accept Cvs.
• Candidates with special needs should please ask us for this information in alternative formats.