PROJECT COORDINATOR
Job Description and Person Specification
Location: Mbeya, South-West Tanzania
Reporting to: Executive Director of CST
Applications Close: 28th December 2017
Must be available in Dar es Salam w/c January 16th for project planning and meeting UK partners
Child Support Tanzania (CST) is a Tanzanian NGO based in Mbeya in the South-West of the country. CST is the only recognised inclusive early childhood education centre catering to the early learning needs of disabled children within the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, an area comprising nearly a quarter of Tanzania. For the past 10 years it has become essential to the community, widely known and with strong relationships with local government. In the absence of quality state education for disabled children, CST has been providing a vital service to children and families, whilst also aiming to bring about wider scale change through advocacy and training of primary schools for an even greater impact longer term.
CST, along with our UK based partner organisation AbleChildAfrica, will be implementing a new four year project with funding from Comic Relief UK through the ‘All in All Learning’ call 2016. We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Project Coordinator to lead an innovative Inclusive Education project in Mbeya, South-West Tanzania. The project aims to bring Inclusive Education to some of the most marginalised children in the area using a participatory Child to Child approach. This approach puts children at the heart of all activities, including the identification and engagement with out of school disabled children in their communities, and believes children can be powerful advocates to improve understanding of disability in their schools and communities. Specifically, this project seeks to increase inclusion of disabled children in Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres and support the successful transition of disabled children into mainstream primary education. The project also involves working alongside families, teachers and communities to lobby local and national government and advocate for inclusive education to be a priority issue and the Child to Child approach to be mainstreamed across national primary education services in Tanzania.
This is a four year scale-up project working with schools and communities in Mbeya, South-West Tanzania. You will be responsible for all project activities, deliverables and, alongside the support of a Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer, you will oversee all the MEL associated with the project. You will report to the Executive Director of CST, as well as maintaining a close working relationship with AbleChildAfrica in the UK. You will also work closely with the CST Accountant to oversee the financial management of the project.
Job Purpose
1) The effective management and delivery of project activities and outcomes for a four year project in Mbeya.
2) Provide high quality communication and coordination with stakeholders on local, regional and international levels
3) Lead on the Monitoring and Evaluation of the project
4) Lead on Advocacy activities with government, universities and communities at district, regional and national levels
5) Ensure effective financial management of the project.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Project Management
a) Implement and monitor a project plan for the four year project life cycle in line with the outcomes and targets set out in the Comic Relief Log Frame.
b) Regularly review project timeline, deliverables and planned project activities; ensure timely delivery and coordination of all project work streams concurrently.
c) Provide quarterly, mid-term, annual and end of project narrative and financial project reports to CST headquarters and AbleChildAfrica against proposed project activities.
d) Provide effective support to all project stakeholders including government, schools, teachers, parent support groups, children, project stakeholder committee, the ‘All in All Learning’ disability consortium and communities.
e) Support the development of project materials, toolkits and trainings alongside CST Executive Director and AbleChildAfrica.
Communication and coordination
a) Implement and coordinate quarterly steering committees for the project.
b) Maintain very regular contact with 8 project schools and the Master Trainers (MTs) and Head Teachers in each of these schools to ensure quality delivery of project and ensure effective networking across MTs by providing linkages and networking opportunities.
c) Lead on effective liaison with a range of project stakeholders; CST staff, UK partners & donors.
d) Coordinate and facilitate high level meetings with external stakeholders; including national and district level government bodies, Kyambogo University and other Comic Relief grant holders involved in the ‘All In All Learning’ disability consortium.
e) Maintain regular communication with local and district level Parent Support Groups (PSGs) and support the PSG Chairperson in organising trainings for members and advocacy activities for each of the 8 project schools.
f) Participate in regular meetings with Mbeya City Council and national MoE meetings to build relationships with key stakeholders and ensure coordination of the project with ongoing local and national priorities and activities to ensure sustainability of the project and its results.
a) Proactively and regularly communicate with CST senior staff on progress of the project, highlight potential risks (particularly child protection risks) or delays and mitigate challenges.
Monitoring and Evaluation
a) Oversee all work completed by the MEL Officer and ad hoc data collectors for this project and ensure that high quality and relevant data collection is completed in order to measure the impact of the project and fulfill donor MEL expectations.
b) Ensure that the MEL Officer puts robust MEL systems in place and that systems are reviewed against the Comic Relief Log frames on a monthly basis.
c) Alongside the MEL Officer, support the design and implementation of monitoring frameworks and tools (including baseline analysis, KAP survey & other monitoring tools)
d) Ensure regular tracking of project progress at community level, school, district and national levels
e) Support the MEL Officer in organising the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual collection and synthesizing of data from the 8 project schools and other project activities.
f) Conduct monthly monitoring visits to all schools, teachers and communities in the project.
Advocacy
a) Oversee all national and local advocacy activities associated with the project with support from the CST Executive Director. This will involve completing learning exchange visits with other Comic Relief ‘All In All Learning’ grant holders and attending annual national learning meetings with this group.
b) Develop a project communication and advocacy strategy to identify media and stakeholder engagement opportunities across the four year project as well as assigning roles and responsibilities to project staff and stakeholders.
c) Arrange and coordinate Project Launch and Project End events to bring together key officials from district and national level and to engage communities in the project.
d) Lead in the identification of key project stakeholders and continue to build relationships with them through monthly communications, meetings and facilitate visits to the project schools.
e) Arrange and deliver key sensitization meetings regularly with local and national level government stakeholders
Financial Management
a) Oversee project finances including managing budgets and funds, timely and accurate submission of financial requests and reports to CST Executive Director.
b) Manage project budget and review income and expenditure regularly, advice on potential risks and proactively mitigate challenges
c) Provide financial information to CST accountant on a weekly basis and submit financial project reports on a quarterly basis throughout the project life cycle
d) Maintain a close overview of funds received and disbursed to relevant stakeholders, coordinate the submission of financial reports and expenditure status
Essential
Desirable
-A Bachelor’s degree in Education, Early Childhood Development, Social Sciences, Development Studies or Business Administration.
-Master’s degree in Education, Early Childhood Development, Social Sciences, Development Studies or Business Administration.
-Minimum 2 years’ Project Management Experience working on projects funded by large institutional donors (such as DFID, UN, EU etc.)
-5 or more years managing projects for international NGOs, which are funded by large institutional donors and with experience cutting across 3 or more projects.
-Experience of working in an NGO, preferably with international experience.
-Experience of working in an organisation focusing on disability and /or development issues.
-Experience of coordinating projects over large or hard to reach geographical areas
-Understanding of the regional and cultural context of rural regions in Tanzania
-Experience of line managing personnel teams with a minimum of 5 people
-Personal lived experience of disability or marginalisation.
-Excellent Team leadership skills - working with a range of staff, stakeholders and donors across wide geographical areas
-Experience in parenting, caretaking or professionally working with children with disabilities.
-Willingness to live in and travel in Mbeya, Tanzania for the duration of the project (4 years); flexibility with travel schedule and willingness to economize budget with travel arrangements.
-Expertise in child protection and the additional risks faced by girls and by children with disabilities
-Excellent Monitoring and Evaluation skills and an understanding of the importance of incorporating the lessons learned into the project framework. Experience of successfully reporting against big institutional donor logical frameworks or similar reporting formats. Experience of data collection and the differing tools and methodologies available, particularly for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data.
-Knowledge of and experience with inclusive education
-Excellent Financial Management skills. Proven experience of maintaining a close overview of funds received/disbursed, expenditure status, exchange rate gain/loss and profit/loss status. Proven track record of addressing issues of under/overspends and alerting management of any cash-flow challenges.
-Understanding and commitment to the rights of children with disabilities
-Willingness to travel regionally and nationally on a regular basis
-4 year contract commitment.
-Excellent communication skills; fluent written and spoken English essential
-Excellent attention to detail; proven ability to multi-task and juggle the timely implementation of a heavy workload with multiple work streams.
Start date: 1st February 2017. Application Deadline: 27th December 2016. Interviews held: 4th/5th January.
TO APPLY: 2 Page Cover Letter and 2 Page CV. Anything above these page limits will not be considered.
Please write to:
The Executive Director,
Child Support Tanzania,
P.O. Box 1420,
Mbeya, Tanzania
Apply Online Through
Email: nmsuya@gmail.com
The closing date is: 10 am (Eastern Africa time) Tuesday 27th December 2016. So as to minimize administrative costs, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
CST strives to be an equal opportunities employer. CST is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.
Job Description and Person Specification
Location: Mbeya, South-West Tanzania
Reporting to: Executive Director of CST
Applications Close: 28th December 2017
Must be available in Dar es Salam w/c January 16th for project planning and meeting UK partners
Child Support Tanzania (CST) is a Tanzanian NGO based in Mbeya in the South-West of the country. CST is the only recognised inclusive early childhood education centre catering to the early learning needs of disabled children within the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, an area comprising nearly a quarter of Tanzania. For the past 10 years it has become essential to the community, widely known and with strong relationships with local government. In the absence of quality state education for disabled children, CST has been providing a vital service to children and families, whilst also aiming to bring about wider scale change through advocacy and training of primary schools for an even greater impact longer term.
CST, along with our UK based partner organisation AbleChildAfrica, will be implementing a new four year project with funding from Comic Relief UK through the ‘All in All Learning’ call 2016. We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Project Coordinator to lead an innovative Inclusive Education project in Mbeya, South-West Tanzania. The project aims to bring Inclusive Education to some of the most marginalised children in the area using a participatory Child to Child approach. This approach puts children at the heart of all activities, including the identification and engagement with out of school disabled children in their communities, and believes children can be powerful advocates to improve understanding of disability in their schools and communities. Specifically, this project seeks to increase inclusion of disabled children in Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres and support the successful transition of disabled children into mainstream primary education. The project also involves working alongside families, teachers and communities to lobby local and national government and advocate for inclusive education to be a priority issue and the Child to Child approach to be mainstreamed across national primary education services in Tanzania.
This is a four year scale-up project working with schools and communities in Mbeya, South-West Tanzania. You will be responsible for all project activities, deliverables and, alongside the support of a Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer, you will oversee all the MEL associated with the project. You will report to the Executive Director of CST, as well as maintaining a close working relationship with AbleChildAfrica in the UK. You will also work closely with the CST Accountant to oversee the financial management of the project.
Job Purpose
1) The effective management and delivery of project activities and outcomes for a four year project in Mbeya.
2) Provide high quality communication and coordination with stakeholders on local, regional and international levels
3) Lead on the Monitoring and Evaluation of the project
4) Lead on Advocacy activities with government, universities and communities at district, regional and national levels
5) Ensure effective financial management of the project.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Project Management
a) Implement and monitor a project plan for the four year project life cycle in line with the outcomes and targets set out in the Comic Relief Log Frame.
b) Regularly review project timeline, deliverables and planned project activities; ensure timely delivery and coordination of all project work streams concurrently.
c) Provide quarterly, mid-term, annual and end of project narrative and financial project reports to CST headquarters and AbleChildAfrica against proposed project activities.
d) Provide effective support to all project stakeholders including government, schools, teachers, parent support groups, children, project stakeholder committee, the ‘All in All Learning’ disability consortium and communities.
e) Support the development of project materials, toolkits and trainings alongside CST Executive Director and AbleChildAfrica.
Communication and coordination
a) Implement and coordinate quarterly steering committees for the project.
b) Maintain very regular contact with 8 project schools and the Master Trainers (MTs) and Head Teachers in each of these schools to ensure quality delivery of project and ensure effective networking across MTs by providing linkages and networking opportunities.
c) Lead on effective liaison with a range of project stakeholders; CST staff, UK partners & donors.
d) Coordinate and facilitate high level meetings with external stakeholders; including national and district level government bodies, Kyambogo University and other Comic Relief grant holders involved in the ‘All In All Learning’ disability consortium.
e) Maintain regular communication with local and district level Parent Support Groups (PSGs) and support the PSG Chairperson in organising trainings for members and advocacy activities for each of the 8 project schools.
f) Participate in regular meetings with Mbeya City Council and national MoE meetings to build relationships with key stakeholders and ensure coordination of the project with ongoing local and national priorities and activities to ensure sustainability of the project and its results.
a) Proactively and regularly communicate with CST senior staff on progress of the project, highlight potential risks (particularly child protection risks) or delays and mitigate challenges.
Monitoring and Evaluation
a) Oversee all work completed by the MEL Officer and ad hoc data collectors for this project and ensure that high quality and relevant data collection is completed in order to measure the impact of the project and fulfill donor MEL expectations.
b) Ensure that the MEL Officer puts robust MEL systems in place and that systems are reviewed against the Comic Relief Log frames on a monthly basis.
c) Alongside the MEL Officer, support the design and implementation of monitoring frameworks and tools (including baseline analysis, KAP survey & other monitoring tools)
d) Ensure regular tracking of project progress at community level, school, district and national levels
e) Support the MEL Officer in organising the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual collection and synthesizing of data from the 8 project schools and other project activities.
f) Conduct monthly monitoring visits to all schools, teachers and communities in the project.
Advocacy
a) Oversee all national and local advocacy activities associated with the project with support from the CST Executive Director. This will involve completing learning exchange visits with other Comic Relief ‘All In All Learning’ grant holders and attending annual national learning meetings with this group.
b) Develop a project communication and advocacy strategy to identify media and stakeholder engagement opportunities across the four year project as well as assigning roles and responsibilities to project staff and stakeholders.
c) Arrange and coordinate Project Launch and Project End events to bring together key officials from district and national level and to engage communities in the project.
d) Lead in the identification of key project stakeholders and continue to build relationships with them through monthly communications, meetings and facilitate visits to the project schools.
e) Arrange and deliver key sensitization meetings regularly with local and national level government stakeholders
Financial Management
a) Oversee project finances including managing budgets and funds, timely and accurate submission of financial requests and reports to CST Executive Director.
b) Manage project budget and review income and expenditure regularly, advice on potential risks and proactively mitigate challenges
c) Provide financial information to CST accountant on a weekly basis and submit financial project reports on a quarterly basis throughout the project life cycle
d) Maintain a close overview of funds received and disbursed to relevant stakeholders, coordinate the submission of financial reports and expenditure status
Essential
Desirable
-A Bachelor’s degree in Education, Early Childhood Development, Social Sciences, Development Studies or Business Administration.
-Master’s degree in Education, Early Childhood Development, Social Sciences, Development Studies or Business Administration.
-Minimum 2 years’ Project Management Experience working on projects funded by large institutional donors (such as DFID, UN, EU etc.)
-5 or more years managing projects for international NGOs, which are funded by large institutional donors and with experience cutting across 3 or more projects.
-Experience of working in an NGO, preferably with international experience.
-Experience of working in an organisation focusing on disability and /or development issues.
-Experience of coordinating projects over large or hard to reach geographical areas
-Understanding of the regional and cultural context of rural regions in Tanzania
-Experience of line managing personnel teams with a minimum of 5 people
-Personal lived experience of disability or marginalisation.
-Excellent Team leadership skills - working with a range of staff, stakeholders and donors across wide geographical areas
-Experience in parenting, caretaking or professionally working with children with disabilities.
-Willingness to live in and travel in Mbeya, Tanzania for the duration of the project (4 years); flexibility with travel schedule and willingness to economize budget with travel arrangements.
-Expertise in child protection and the additional risks faced by girls and by children with disabilities
-Excellent Monitoring and Evaluation skills and an understanding of the importance of incorporating the lessons learned into the project framework. Experience of successfully reporting against big institutional donor logical frameworks or similar reporting formats. Experience of data collection and the differing tools and methodologies available, particularly for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data.
-Knowledge of and experience with inclusive education
-Excellent Financial Management skills. Proven experience of maintaining a close overview of funds received/disbursed, expenditure status, exchange rate gain/loss and profit/loss status. Proven track record of addressing issues of under/overspends and alerting management of any cash-flow challenges.
-Understanding and commitment to the rights of children with disabilities
-Willingness to travel regionally and nationally on a regular basis
-4 year contract commitment.
-Excellent communication skills; fluent written and spoken English essential
-Excellent attention to detail; proven ability to multi-task and juggle the timely implementation of a heavy workload with multiple work streams.
Start date: 1st February 2017. Application Deadline: 27th December 2016. Interviews held: 4th/5th January.
TO APPLY: 2 Page Cover Letter and 2 Page CV. Anything above these page limits will not be considered.
Please write to:
The Executive Director,
Child Support Tanzania,
P.O. Box 1420,
Mbeya, Tanzania
Apply Online Through
Email: nmsuya@gmail.com
The closing date is: 10 am (Eastern Africa time) Tuesday 27th December 2016. So as to minimize administrative costs, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
CST strives to be an equal opportunities employer. CST is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.