Programmes Officer - based in Sierra Leone

Job Title: Programmes Officer - Sierra Leone
Reporting to: Head of Programmes – Sierra Leone & Liberia
Salary: £25,000 - £30,000
Contract Type: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Principal Location: Freetown, with frequent travel across Sierra Leone
Updated: October 2024

Our Organisation:

Street Child believes that every child deserves the chance to go to school and learn. Our projects focus on a combination of education, child protection and livelihood support to address the social, economic and structural issues that underpin today’s education crisis. We partner with local organisations and communities to deliver our locally rooted programmes, using evidence to drive learning and the refinement and scale up of programmes to create maximum impact for the most children at the lowest cost. We pride ourselves on being willing to go to the world’s toughest places where others won’t, including remote, hard-to-reach areas and fragile, disaster-affected states across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Since 2008 we have helped over 1,000,000 children to go to school and learn.

Part 1: Role Purpose:

We are seeking an outstanding Programmes Officer for an exciting opportunity to support Street Child’s programme portfolio in Sierra Leone. The key objectives of this role are to work closely with Street Child’s national partner to support the effective implementation of adaptive programming, and to support accurate and timely donor reporting across a range of institutional, trust & foundations, and corporate donors. The ideal candidate will have strong written and excel skills, with experience of MEAL and financial management processes, and a strong preference for German language skills and experience of working with Bengo funding. The role will include regular, detailed interaction with Street Child’s UK and European fundraising community, in support of donor reporting and future funding opportunities

The role holder will work in close collaboration with Street Child’s regional Head of Programmes, based in Freetown, as well as partner Programmes, MEAL and Finance teams to coordinate timely and quality implementation and reporting across the programmes portfolio.

Part 2: Key Responsibilities:

1) Reporting & Programme Funding Engagement – 35%

• Review narrative and financial quarterly reporting from country teams and provide feedback.
• Lead on the consolidation of narrative reporting (low-mid value donors) for a variety of donors within the portfolio.
• Ensure regular information flow to Street Child communications and fundraising teams, inclusive of collection and drafting of case studies and photos.
• Supporting income-generation opportunities - potentially including supporting donor visits, in-country donor engagement and broad-based support to the group’s global programme-funding efforts for Sierra Leone.

2) Programme & MEAL Management – 35%

• Work in collaboration with national partner and cross-country implementation teams across Liberia and Sierra Leone to ensure quality and timely implementation of project activities.
• Work alongside social, enterprise and education teams across both countries to support a joined-up approach to project implementation and MEAL, ensuring relevant data are collected with due care and utilised for project planning, reporting and learning.
• Provide strong support to programme staff and partners in Sierra Leone in programme and MEAL department.
• Alongside colleagues provide training, guidance and advice to partner delivery staff to ensure effective and accurate use of programme documents and tools.
• In liaison with Safeguarding Focal Points monitor safeguarding policies ensuring adequate implementation of policies and procedures, and support to close feedback loops with partners & project participants.

3) Financial Support – 25%

• Support the country teams in compiling requisitions in line with programme forecasts and budgets.
• Support on the collation of financial reporting requirements for low-mid value donors.
• Support on tracking of donors & match funding.

4) Other – 5%

• Cordinating staff, stakeholders and donor visits.
• A strong commitment to Street Childs vision, mission and values
• Adhere to all Street Child’s policies and procedures.
• Represent Street Child appropriately both internally and externally.
• Carry out all reasonable requests that are within the broad remit of the role.

Part 3: Person Specification

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

Experience and Knowledge:

• Relevant field experience of development programming, with a commitment to and respect for local partnership.
• Experience of successful delivery of team objectives by working closely and collaboratively within a team at all levels
• Experience of data collection, cleaning and analysis.
• Relevant experience of working in support of local partners.
• Demonstrable experience of quality programme implementation.
• Demonstrable experience of budget management.
• Demonstrable experience of capacity building with national staff.
• Demonstrable experience of donor reporting.
• Strong working knowledge of education, child protection and livelihoods approaches.
• Strong working knowledge of the Liberia and/or Liberia context.
• Experience with Bengo funding and/or other German donors.

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

Skills and Abilities:

• Good organisation and administrative skills and an ability to forward plan
• Coaching / Capacity Strengthening Skills
• Good time management skills, able to work to tight deadlines and an ability to work under pressure

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

Other:

• Excellent written and spoken communications in English (additional languages welcome).
• A ‘can-do’, and agile attitude, a passion for problem solving and adaptive thinking.
• Self-starter with strong motivation to succeed and ability to work independently in carrying out assigned tasks within a fast-paced team.
• German language skills advantageous.

Attributes / Essential / Beneficial

Education / Qualifications:

• Degree or Higher in International Development or related field; or relevant training courses in MEAL

Street Child’s commitment to Safeguarding:

Street Child is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the communities we serve, our partners, our volunteers, and our staff.

As part of this commitment to safeguarding, all offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate background checks. Street Child also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.

To apply:

Please submit your CV and a covering note explaining why you think you could make an extraordinary impact in this role. Please also answer the pre-application questions in depth.

We will be reviewing applications as they are submitted so interested candidates are encouraged to apply early.