Head of Project Development (Conservation and Sustainable livelihoods) Full Time

SEED Madagascar is a British Charity working in partnership with communities in the south east of Madagascar. We integrate high quality community health, sustainable livelihoods, education infrastructure and conservation programmes to support long term, sustainable change and add to International best practice through research and publication across all of our programmatic areas. We are now looking for an early career Head of Project development to coordinate the development and management of our conservation and sustainable livelihoods programmes on the ground in Madagascar.

Location: Fort Dauphin, Anosy Region, Madagascar Contract minimum duration: 2 years

Probationary period: 3 months

Contract type: Local stipend covering reasonable living expenses of 1,500,000 Ar rising to 1,750,000 after probation; contribution to flight of £1,000; contribution to insurance; Unaccompanied post.

Reporting to: Director of Programmes & Operations Duties and Responsibilities

Project Development

1. Work with national and international staff to design projects that fulfil local needs and align with SEEDs strategic aim taking into account past learning, international best practice, contextual constraints and government objectives.
2. Oversee the development of project frameworks (e.g LogFrames and Theory of Change) and proposals to ensure they are representative of the community needs whilst being attractive to donors
3. Conduct research into international and national development trends, best practice, and funding opportunities for the conservation and sustainable livelihoods department and support other departments where necessary
4. Edit to a very high standard all project documents, proposals, reports and evaluations submitted to donors to secure the ongoing funding of the NGO’s projects – currently at around £500,000 per annum across all active interventions
5. Work with the Director of Programmes & Operations, other Heads of Project Development and Heads of Department to develop project and organisational strategy
6. Skill share and build capacity of national staff where necessary and actively promote this throughout the team

Programme Management

1. Provide timely updates to the PD Coordinator in London on project activities and support the PD Coordinator to communicate any changes in project activities to donors when necessary
2. Oversee effective systems for monitoring project progress against activity plans, working with project teams to ensure objectives are met and using learning from ongoing evaluation to inform the development of projects and the personal development of the team
3. Conduct field work and monitoring visits to project sites when appropriate and ensure observations are fed back into ongoing project design
4. Use evidence-based advocacy from research and project findings in briefing papers for staff, local and regional stakeholders and government departments to inform regional and national development strategy

People Management

1. Recruit, support, manage, review and provide professional development to a team of Project Development Interns, Officers and Specialists, delegating to and managing their work programmes to achieve departmental objectives and support organisational ethos and strategy
2. Foster essential cross-cultural collaboration, providing support to both the national and international teams to bridge gaps in understanding and priorities for project development and implementation
3. Provide personal support, guidance and act as a role model, both professionally and personally, for members of the International team to ensure SEEDs reputation is maintained
4. Support the Director of Programmes & Operations in overseeing and ensuring day-to-day support of SEED Madagascar staff and volunteers, both professionally and privately, including acting as an intermediary of organisational priorities to the wider team

Budget Management

1. Oversee the development of budgets including full cost allocation with consideration of the organisational strategy and priorities over the coming years
2. Monthly overview of financial reports, ensuring project spending is on track and identifying trends in expenditure, and management of exchange rate gains
3. General
4. Provide core support to the Director of Programmes & Operations in management and ensuring the security and safety of all international volunteers and personnel, including leading cultural orientations for new international volunteers and staff
5. Work flexibly, including changing work priorities at short notice and working unsociable hours when necessary to meet a short deadline, for example the submission of project funding documents within the timeframe set by donors
6. Represent SEED Madagascar in external meetings with other agencies, donors and partners on the ground in Madagascar and in the UK
7. Act as temporary stand in for the Director of Programmes & Operations and/or other Heads of Project Development when required during period of leave and absences

Required skills & experience:

• Degree-level qualification or equivalent experience in international development, conservation or sustainable livelihoods
• Sound knowledge of international development frameworks and contemporary global issues facing least developed countries
• Minimum of 2 years’ professional experience related to conservation or sustainable livelihoods
• Minimum of 2 years’ professional experience in line management and/or project management
• Familiarity with the use of project management tools including Logical Frameworks, Theory of Change models, Budgets Activity Plans and Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) with excellent written communication skills, to the level of editing English documents for publication
• Excellent listening and verbal communication skills, and a flexible and patient attitude
• Excellent proposal and report writing and editing skills, with previous experience compiling project proposals and reports and the ability to tailor written information to various audiences
• Cross-cultural negotiation skills and a curiosity in effective work practices in a cross-cultural setting. Ability and desire to build capacity both within international and national teams
• Ability and desire to develop, support and manage a team of volunteers and staff, and to oversee the Project Development internship programme
• Ability to demonstrate and support staff to develop appropriate professional and social attitudes required for living in another country, and to manage these aspects of volunteers’ behaviour when required
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills, with demonstrable ability in gathering and
• assimilating facts and data from various sources
• Experience of living and working in a developing country with the ability and desire to work with teams from different economic and cultural backgrounds and across multiple language barriers
• A sound understanding of the importance of MEL and of approaches used to measure outcomes and impact
• Proficiency in written and spoken French would be an advantage
• Candidates need to have their own non tablet laptop

Tagged as: SEED Madagascar, Taolagnaro