Senior Program Officer: Community Health

Job Overview

This is a superb opportunity for a development professional to be part of a team of national and international staff supporting the development, reporting and evaluation of SEED’s community health program.

SEED Madagascar is a UK charity working in partnership with communities in south-east Madagascar. We integrate high-quality community health, sustainable livelihoods, education infrastructure, and conservation programs to support long-term sustainable change while adding to international best practices through research and publication.

Our community health program covers maternal and child health, SRHR and food distribution. We use participatory, community-led approaches, working with local communities to identify and implement projects that meet their needs and priorities.

This is an exciting position for someone who has some field experience to work alongside national and international staff, supporting the development, funding, reporting and evaluation of our community health program . You will be responsible for generating funds across programs to maximize impact. This position will partner with our country implementation teams, manage donor compliance, ensure proposals and reporting are of a high standard and budgets are managed appropriately.

It is essential that the post holder has grant writing experience and is able to work in English at a high level with at least basic French. Applicants who do not meet these criteria will not be considered.

*Title:*Senior Project Development Officer Location: Fort Dauphin, Anosy Region, Madagascar *Time limit:*18 months extendable Type of Contract : Local salary, contribution to flights and insurance Pertaining to: Program Manager

Duties and Responsibilities:

Provision of advice and support in the development of projects, including: preparation and editing of funding proposals; preparing and editing reports for external stakeholders; monitoring and evaluation of ongoing projects; develop and update guidelines and templates for external documents; liaison with the London project development team and local staff; and support and mentoring of trainees and officers.

Core Tasks

  • Support program officers and interns in compiling funding proposals based on past assessments, team discussions and international best practices in an engaging and professional manner
  • Support program officers and interns in writing project reports that clearly demonstrate project successes and challenges, learning from the project and providing clear budget information
  • Provide first stage review of all proposals and reports across the Department at a senior level and provide detailed and constructive feedback to interns and officers
  • Support in managing donor compliance across multiple projects, working with Program Manager and Implementation team to ensure project milestones are met
  • Work alongside the Head of Programs and Head of Department in problem solving and provide additional support based on emerging issues from project implementation
  • Manage long-term project work items that require a higher level of expertise and experience across the Department
  • Support the recruitment of new employees and provide support, management, review and professional development to your team of interns, agents and project development specialists
  • Foster essential cross-cultural collaboration, providing support to national and international teams to bridge gaps in understanding and priorities for project development and implementation
  • Provide pastoral care, guidance, and serve as a role model, both professionally and personally, for a team of early career professionals living in the country
  • Work alongside the Head of Department and Head of Finance in developing and managing project budgets
  • Develop and update resources to support project development processes, including proposal and budget templates and style guidelines
  • Assist departmental MEL specialists in developing MEL tools and analyzing data, including writing MEL reports as needed
  • Support the development of project development procedures, guidelines and training and provide project specific information to inform policy development across the organization
  • Work with program officers and interns to ensure accurate project statistics, research, funding tracking, photo database and transfers
  • Oversee project specific website and social media content
  • Work with the national team and external partners to increase their skills and capacities, providing mentorship or training as appropriate
  • Play an active role in project management meetings, lead discussions and replace the Head of Programs as needed
  • Ensure that all SEED policies and procedures are evident throughout the work of the department, including those relating to safeguarding, whistleblowing and anti-corruption, and undergo ongoing training to ensure that ‘they get promoted all the time
  • Be part of the team representing projects or SEED as needed
  • Liaise closely with the UK team in London ensuring clear communication at all times
  • Perform any other duties required by the Head of Programs or Director of Operations and Heads of Departments corresponding to this role.

Person specification

  • University degree or equivalent experience in international development, health or equivalent experience
  • At least two years of experience with similar programs
  • Minimum of 2 years of professional experience in securing funding, project management, donor compliance and donor reporting
  • Familiarity with the use of project management tools, including logframes, theory of change models, budgets, activity plans, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks
  • Fluency in written and spoken English with excellent written communication skills, at the level of editing English material for publication at a very high level
  • Excellent proposal and report writing and editing skills, with previous experience in compiling project proposals and reports and the ability to adapt written information to various audiences
  • Demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the SEED philosophy and approach and be a good ambassador for the organization at all times
  • Have passion, curiosity and drive for work and the ability to enthuse others
  • Experience living and working in a developing country with the ability and desire to work with teams from different economic and cultural backgrounds and across multiple language barriers
  • Demonstrate a proven ability to recognize and appropriately handle difficult situations and solve problems.
  • Demonstrate awareness and comfort with increased social and professional responsibility, working at all times with cultural sensitivity and respect
  • Demonstrate the ability, social skills, and confidence to provide clear guidance and support to other team members in adherence to SEED philosophy and procedures to protect both their safety and the reputation of the team NGO
  • Ability to work and uphold all SEED policies and procedures, protecting those SEED works with and reporting any concerns appropriately
  • Be punctual and be able to work under tight deadlines in an organized manner and to high standards
  • Be able to work both independently and as part of a team
  • Excellent listening and verbal communication skills and a flexible and patient attitude
  • Ability and desire to develop and support a team of volunteers and staff and support the project development internship program
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Practice

The successful candidate will need to have their own laptop (not tablet).

How to register

Interested candidates should send a CV and cover letter in English outlining how their skills and experience match the requirements of the job description criteria to SEED Madagascar’s Director of Programs and Operations, Lisa Bass, by email at lisa @seedmadagascar.org

Application deadline: June 30, 2022. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis throughout this period until the position is filled. Shortlisted candidates will have an initial informal conversation on Skype with staff based in Madagascar and shortlisted candidates will then be offered an interview.

SEED Madagascar actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and aims to create a work environment free from bullying, harassment, victimization and unlawful discrimination, where individual differences and the contributions of all staff are recognized and valued.

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