Senior Program Manager - Malawi

About Imagine Worldwide Malawi

Imagine Worldwide Ltd is a subsidiary of Imagine Worldwide, is a California-based (United States) nonprofit  organization. Imagine exists to demonstrate that children with personalized technology in their hands can  become literate and numerate with little or no adult instruction. More than 250 million children and youth  worldwide do not have access to school. And hundreds of millions more go to school but never learn to read or write. We believe in working with schools and communities to address these seemingly intractable  problems. 

We are partnering with organizations across the globe to implement tablet-based learning solutions. We are  continuously building evidence on what works, why, and under what conditions. We use data to  continuously improve content, approach, and implementation. Then we provide tools, expertise, capital, and  a network to enhance the ability to scale. We envision a world where all children have access to opportunity.  Through rigorous implementation of tablet-based learning solutions in areas with few alternatives, we  continue to open up limitless possibilities for all children. 

Imagine Worldwide Ltd has partnered with the Ministry of Education, Government of Malawi, and other  partners to scale up nationally an innovative Edtech program that is focused on improving literacy and  numeracy skills among learners in standards 1-4 in all public primary schools in Malawi. To support this  ambitious program, Imagine Worldwide Ltd seeks to engage a Program Manager to join a  team to support the Ministry of Education and other implementation partners in the successful roll out of the  program.

About the Role

The Senior ProgramManager will play an instrumental role in carrying out Imagine’s mission, to test  and scale tablet-based learning solutions that enable children in Malawi to become literate and numerate. The successful candidate will play a key role in providing technical leadership and coordinating with implementing partners who will support the  Ministry of Education at national, district, zone and school levels to ensure effective program planning, knowledge management, monitoring, and evaluation. The Senior Program Manager will join a highly committed  and collaborative team that is working together to empower every child, to achieve their full potential. The position offers an international, flexible, learning environment to enhance individual career development and  growth.

Key Responsibilities

The Senior Program Manager will work closely with Imagine’s Program Director and local implementing partners to ensure effective implementation and monitoring of project activities in  Malawi. The Program Manager’s responsibilities will include - but will not be limited to - the  following: 

Provide leadership for overall program and stakeholder management

• Manage and build relationships with project stakeholders and implementing partners 
• Lead the development and management of project plans and financial budgets for assigned program areas
• Support the Director of Programs to source, vet, and performance manage Implementation Service Partners (ISPs) and/or field officers
• Coordinate and support facilitation of trainings for our implementation partners
• Provide positive and effective communication to all stakeholders
• Ensure that all project deliverables meet or exceed quality standards and are documented within the project quality control process
• Support dissemination of project outcomes with local stakeholders, including representing the work in relevant meetings and forums 
• Support and ensure timely and comprehensive report submissions to donors and partners.

Provide program leadership to ensure high-quality implementation and monitoring

• Engage regularly with implementation partners to track progress and  oversee implementation, including check-in meetings, progress reports, site-visits, and any other relevant activities 
• Lead collaboration with program team and scale teams to improve tools, systems, processes, and methodologies to support  implementation, and monitoring.
• Ensure provision of adequate technical support, capacity building, and guidance to the team and partner staff to implement program plans, tools and strategies. 
• Oversee and manage quality data collection to facilitate effective monitoring of program activities against set program quality benchmarks.
• Regularly review monitoring data and share results with relevant stakeholders and teams to identify successes and make decisions about adapting activities and approaches to achieve results.
• Work with the program and research teams to conduct and supervise program assessments, surveys, and impact evaluations.

Provide leadership to ensure accountability and learning

• Manage a knowledge management framework for capturing key lessons and findings to inform evidence-based program design and implementation.
• Oversee implementation of strong accountability and beneficiary / community feedback mechanisms, including quality assurance of established processes.
• Coordinate learning processes and documents, including periodically organizing learning summits for reflections on program performance, dissemination of M&E findings, and  driving partnerships and donor engagement.
• Collaborate with program and communications teams to collect, document, and disseminate impact stories.
• Build team and partner staff capacity to enhance program accountability through guidance, training and resources.

Requirements

Education and Work Experience

The successful candidate will possess the following competencies, experiences, and qualities: 

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field (development or social studies).
• Minimum of 7-10 years of proven work experience in program management of development programs, with at least 3-5 years in a senior or leadership role managing teams and implementation partners
• Proven track record in managing multi-site, multi-partner program implementation in complex environments

Ideal Candidate Profile

Exceptional project management skills and proven experience that includes: 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Chichewa 
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills 
• Ability to work effectively in multicultural environments and teams 
• Strong organization skills and superior attention to detail 
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines 
• Ability to proactively manage and resolve conflicts
• Good knowledge of computer hardware and software 
• Experience in managing multi-site and multi partner projects 
• Ability to positively influence partners decisions and actions 
• Proven facilitation and training skills with diverse audiences 
• Ability to prioritize and display a high level of adaptability/flexibility while handling job responsibility
• Ability to design and coordinate implementation of MEAL systems
• Excellent skills in MS Excel and other tools for organizing, performing calculations, analyzing and presenting data
• Proven understanding of systematic knowledge management within development organizations and a capacity to promote organizational learning
• Proven understanding of evaluation methodologies, analysis, and presentation of key findings to inform decision making and facilitate adaptive programming
• Strong communication skills and ability to write clear and concise reports

Additional Skills 

• Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision
• Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Strong writing and communications skills
• Relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to ‘manage by influence’
• Team-oriented, collaborative, flexible, adaptable, and comfortable working in an inclusive, low-ego, matrix-management environment
• Self-starter, able to work independently, and enjoys creating and implementing new initiatives.
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• High integrity, conscientious and willing to take responsibility

Qualities

•  Passion for Imagine’s mission and vision 
•  Demonstrated commitment to equity in educational access and outcomes
• Passion for project management
• Demonstrated ability to think independently and solve problems
• Collaborative team player; clear and proactive communicator
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to work in a fast-paced, changing environment

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

Location

The Senior Program Manager must be based in Lilongwe, Malawi.

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Imagine Worldwide is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.