Programme Manager – SPARK عودة إلى الفرص

Position: Programme Manager

Location: Tunis, Tunisia

Application Deadline: 15 March 2020

Duration: 12 months with possibility for extension

Start Date: As soon as possible

About SPARK

SPARK develops higher education and entrepreneurship to empower young, ambitious people to lead their fragile and conflict-affected societies into prosperity. SPARK is a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organisation with 80+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world. SPARK supports refugees in the Middle-East by providing them with scholarships in universities and higher education institutions in the region. SPARK also supports young entrepreneurs in fragile states, to start or grow their own businesses.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Regional Program Director, the Tunisia PM will be responsible for the successful project delivery of the LEAD programme in Tunisia, working collaboratively with the Regional Program Support Officer & local partners in the region to manage directly the implementation of the LEAD 2 Tunisia activities. The Tunisia PM will be responsible for identifying new opportunities for SPARK in Tunisia, build effective relationships with various stakeholders and support in the development of new proposals. .

The LEAD 2 program is a 4-year Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs-funded program (2020/2023) that aims to improve and enhance economic prospects and opportunities for youth in Tunisia and Somaliland by supporting SMEs to grow, alongside supporting an enabling business environment and developing entrepreneurship and employability measures.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities:

The responsibilities and tasks include, but are not limited to:

• Staff and Program Management:
  • Oversight of Tunisia based program staff, coordinate and implement activities in line with approved project proposal, budget and within the agreed time frames.
  • Lead the coordination, management and motivation of program staff by ensuring that they have clear objectives/individual work plans as part of performance management and provide constructive feedback on their performance. Ensure work plans are designed collectively with staff and other key stakeholders.
  • Ensure compliance to all Spark, Donor and Government of Tunisia policies, procedures and guidelines that relate to the implementation of the program with limited supervision.
  • Make sure that all project deadlines, quality standards and targets are met, redesigning deadlines, quality standards (as needed) in consultation with the LEAD 2 Regional Program Director.
  • Manage external consultant relationships and local partners, tracking deliverables against timeline, and ensuring quality delivery
  • Review and verify local partner’s narrative reports and conducting a thorough verification of results
  • Draft reports related to the LEAD 2 program both internal and external to the donor and HQ, with a high level of quality with limited need for revision.
  • Oversee the implementation of program activities, both local partner and SPARK-led, including providing clear objectives and methodology, budget and work plan.
• Partnership Management/ External Representation:
  • Independently establish, maintain and grow productive working relationships with Local Government officials and line departments, and private sector, soliciting their participation in all activities where appropriate, in close coordination with the Regional Program Director
  • Develop new program ideas, supporting in the drafting of new proposals on a range of private sector and SME-oriented activities
  • Build and strengthen strong partnerships with private sector actors with an incentive to support and mentor SME’s and entrepreneurs
  • Responsible for monitoring partners based on partnership agreements and ensuring Tunisia M&E dashboard is regularly updated.
  • Identify follow-up funding for leveraging the LEAD program and coordinate partnership possibilities and business development at country level in coordination with the Regional Progamme Director.
• Program Support Operations:
  • Capacity building of staff to ensure operational systems are in place to support field activities