District Project Manager

ABOUT ACTED PAKISTAN:

ACTED is a non-governmental organization with headquarters in Paris, founded in 1993. Independent, private and not-for-profit, ACTED respects a strict political and religious impartiality and operates according to principles of non-discrimination and transparency. ACTED has been present in Pakistan since 1993 and currently supports communities in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Azad Jammu Kashmir. ACTED Pakistan programmes range from short-term emergency responses to recovery and rehabilitation, as well as longer-term development initiatives. ACTED strategy is to target vulnerable communities affected by natural and conflict-related disasters as well as lack of socio-economic development.

Project Objective

Reference to the huge devastation of the recent flood, which resulted in damages of more than 19000 schools across Pakistan. According to ESWG updates more than million children across Pakistan are left with no access to teaching and learning process.  ACTED- Pakistan in partnership with UNICEF is struggling to outreach these children either by establishing temporary Child Friendly Spaces and safely re-open public sector schools to reconnect children with formal teaching & learning process. The intervention is planned to established 131 CFS across Sindh provinces of Umerkot & Kandhkot While 372 Public schools will be made functional through de-watering, minor rehab and capacity building of teachers, community and officials & provision of psychosocial support to coup up with this traumatic situation

Assignment

Under the supervision of District Project Manager, the District Project Manager is responsible for the technical guidance of Partner organization, Project implementation, monitoring and reporting of the “Education Can’t Wait” project targeting flood affected children in Sindh.

The positions are based in Sind (Umerkot, Kandhkot) to support District Project Manager in timely implementation through partner’s organization keeping in view minimum standard of ACTED Program Implementation policy. The District Project Manager will be responsible for capacity building of partner’s organization respectively through rigorous field monitoring, progress review meetings, training & mentoring. He/she will be responsible for project reporting, documentation and financial management/ oversight as per ACTED compliance policies and procedures. Ensure that beneficiaries are selected as per criteria and effective CRM system are in place. Maintain close coordination with local education office and other stakeholders and participate in education related forums for maximum presentation of the ACTED achievements.  Support consortium technical partners in arrangement and delivery of training sessions.

This is a highly important role to ensure in time implementation of the project, documentation, reporting and transparency in programmatic and financial matters.

Functions

Summary

The District Project Manager shall be responsible for:

• Develop detail implementation plan and it’s in time execution.
• Build capacity of Implementing partner through rigorous field monitoring, training & progress review sessions.
• Ensure effective coordination with district education officials to actively engage them in intervention.
• Ensure beneficiaries are selected on merit and address their concern on intervention.
• Ensure child protection across project intervention and establish effective referral pathways.
• Ensure that effective CRM system are in place and children and communities have access to the system.
• Ensure minimum standard of INEE guiding principles in implementation.
• Ensure donor policy compliance both in programmatic and financial matters.
• Effective monitoring of IPs activities and sharing feedback for improvement.
• Coordination with internal departments including fleet, logistic, finance, HR, AME, security & coordination for project support.
• Ensure in time reporting and documentation of project activities.
• Any other task assigned by Field Program Manager/ Team Lead.

Accountability to Communities and Beneficiaries

The District Project Manager is responsible to ensure that IP follow the principles of “Do No Harm” while interacting with the communities, they must be careful, respectful and consultative in approach. Strong attention must be paid to ensuring that communities are adequately approached for consultation and informed about ACTED programme objectives, activities, beneficiary selection criteria, and related methodologies.  This is the responsibility of every ACTED staff member.

1. Programme Management

The District Project Manager shall undertake, the following while managing project:

1. Ensure that INEE- EIE Minimum standards are met in implementation of the project.
2. Ensure that IP follows policy compliance of both donor and ACTED.
3. Ensure that all project deliverables are meet within time frame.
4. Ensure that challenges to implementation are identified and addressed in a manner that takes into account beneficiary needs and expectations;
5. Ensure effective CRM system are in place & feedback is collected and shared in programme and coordination meetings;
6. Targeted indicators as stated in the Project Management Framework (PMF) and/or Log frame are met in a satisfactory manner;

Objective 1.2: Management of Implementing partners 

The District Project Manager shall ensure capacity building of implementing partner to effectively implement project outputs and utilize the project resources efficiently. Ensure that all agreed deliverables are meet before closing of project.

Objective 1.3: Coordination

The District Project Manager shall ensure that He/she regularly meets with HR, Finance, and Logistics Departments to specify/ensure that support mechanisms are responding to individual Project output. She/he shall ensure that all project stakeholders are board on project activities, achievement and challenges.

Objective 1.4: Reporting

The District Project Manager shall support the District Project Manager in overall implementation, coordination and preparation of reports to be submitted to ACTED ECW Team leader, Senior Management, Donors / Authorities. He/she will be expected to provide reports covering activity implementation, achievement of objectives, successes, challenges, attempted-proposed solutions, changes suggested and or adopted, beneficiary feedback, etc.

General Functions

• Critically analyze and evaluate project activities of IPs and inform FPM & TL with feedback.
• Critically analyze the challenges of the implementation both at grass root and district administration level.
• Assist Deputy Team Lead to ensure smooth running and quality of administrative activities.
• Proactively identify project needs and ensure timely planning for implementation.
• Ensure that all safeguarding mechanisms are adhered to at each CFS & Public school level
• Develop clear guidelines against corporal punishment and flag any observation to Field Program Manager according to ACTED devised system.
• Streamline audio/visual aids and ensure its best utilization in project intervention schools/ CFS

Objective 3.3: Facilitation

The District Project Manager is expected to facilitate senior management and IPs in programme implementation, stakeholder’s coordination, reporting and monitoring.

Required Qualifications:

Post graduate / master’s degree in education (M.Ed. etc.) or other related social science area with over 07 years of professional experience.

• A minimum of three to four years’ experience in project management.
• Having 1-2 years’ experience in managing Implementing partners 
• Strong experience in training and capacity building of project staff, education officials/stakeholders
• Good understanding of monitoring protocols and approaches at field level.
• Having strong coordination skills at various level with different stakeholders.
• Good understanding of child safeguarding/protection issues in Pakistan. Particularly for girls.
• Previous experience of Education in Emergency sector in Pakistan is desirable.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, writing, motivation, reporting and presentation skills.
• Fluency in Sindhi language is must, with good writing and spoken ability in Urdu and English.

Note: “ACTED is committed to protecting beneficiaries and staff within our programs from sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). ACTED has a Code of Conduct and organizational policies, which outline the expected behavior of all staff, consultants and other stakeholders and reminds ACTED’s zero-tolerance approach. Any candidate offered a job with ACTED will sign those documents as part of their work contract and is expected to abide by them.” “ACTED is commitment to zero tolerance to all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff. ACTED is equal opportunity employers. Females and minorities are encouraged to apply. Candidates with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Final selection will be based on security clearance of the candidate.”