The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Programme Officer
Location: Adamawa
Pay Band: Pay Band 6
Region: Sub Saharan Africa
Role Type: Business Delivery
Reports to: Operation Manager
Job Category: Project Management
Department: Business Support Services
Contract: Fixed term ending December 2020
Role Purpose
- The Programme Officer will be responsible for managing the administrative and logistical support to programme activities to ensure quality and timeliness of delivery;
- Good control of resources and compliance with agreed programme management systems and processes;
- Ensuring full and complete budgets are prepared and met for all activities with variance reports prepared as and when required;
- Utilize Monitoring and Evaluation tools for measuring results and impacts during the programme lifespan
Geopolitical/SBU/Function Overview
- The British Council in Nigeria is implementing the European Union Conflict Management in Nigeria programme under their Trust Fund (EUTF) and the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption programme in Nigeria under their Development Fund programme (EUDF).
- We will be implementing the Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (ACT) Programme under the European Union development fund.
- In partnership with COFFEY, we are delivering the Policing work under their Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) and are managing the Programme Coordination Office for DFID’s Deepening Democracy in Nigeria Phase 2 (DDiN2) Programme.
- To support our existing contracts as well as all future contracts, we are developing flexible structures that meet the global British Council standards to provide support to all our Full Cost Recovery (FCR) (Justice, Security and Conflict) work in Nigeria.
- The Managing Conflict in North-East Nigeria (MCN) Programme is a €21m EUTF-funded
- Programme (2017-2021) and works with the overall aim of enhancing state and community level conflict management capability to prevent the escalation of conflict into violence in a number of locations in North-East Nigeria. The Programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and will work in 3 states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as well as in Abuja. The programme is being delivered alongside a partner (International Alert) with the British Council leading the contract.
- The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) programme in Nigeria is a €25m EUDF-funded Programme (2017-2021) and has the overall aim of enhancing good governance in Nigeria by contributing to strengthening of the rule of law, curbing corruption and reducing impunity. The programme has an annual turnover of around £5-£6m and will work in 5 states – Adamawa, Anambra, Kano, Lagos, Edo as well as in Abuja.
- The Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation Programme is a €15m EDF-funded Programme (2018-2020) which aims to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in Nigeria through enhancing the credibility of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and enhancing their role as independent development actors and drivers of change. The ACT programme has completed its inception phase and will be proceeding to its implementation phase.
- The programme will be implemented at the Federal and in selected states where EU programmes concentrate. The Nigerian context is generally challenging, having poor infrastructure and currently facing a volatile security situation. Three states remain under an extended State of Emergency – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. In addition, there is still a significant reliance on the cash economy, corruption is high and the regulatory and compliance structures that exist are highly ineffective.
- The overall economic situation is not good with the low oil prices leading to high unemployment, increasing inflation and a shortage of foreign currency causing the value of the Naira to weaken considerably. This makes Nigeria a very challenging environment in which to deliver programmes of this size and value. The State Office is located in Yola, Adamawa State.
- The post holder must therefore have the ability to work in an ambiguous and difficult environment in which British Council processes need to be adapted or developed to cope with unusual requirements and difficult context. The post holder will work closely with the programme delivery and management teams as well as having significant interactions with the technical teams and Nigerian partners.
Main Accountabilities
Accountabilities, responsibilities and main duties:
Project management and delivery:
- To provide support for projects and manage and organise events to a high standard and within deadline.
- To liaise with support units to manage the arrangements for visitors including booking travel, accommodation and preparing programmes.
- Provide administrative and logistic support to consultants who deliver programmes.
- To support financial and technical reporting to internal/external clients and customers, ensuring reporting standards are in accordance with client and corporate standards.
- Produce monthly work plan for end client, useful for planning and monitoring of programme implementation.
- Support with review of consultant deliverables against Terms of Reference to ensure agreed outputs and outcomes are delivered.
- Build and manage output folders and database of key contacts and stakeholders to ensure regular growth in engagement of key audiences, with the aim of increasing awareness and impact.
- Ensure the provision, collation and analysis of participants and stakeholder feedback on all events and programs to ensure quality and effectiveness can be assessed and recommend improvement.
- Actively builds professional networks and information channels that maintain an excellent understanding of relevant developments, stakeholders and opinion formers in the development sector to support the creation of high quality programs and events.
Finance Administration:
- Responsible for project procurement in line with established corporate policies and guidelines.
- To provide financial support to the State Team Lead and Finance team, including the detailed budgeting for planned events, raising advances, issuing payments to workshop participants, processing of workshop claims, retirement of advances in a timely manner.
- To ensure risk is minimized by strict application of corporate BC financial principles in all programme related activities.
- Monitoring expenditure against set budgets for an agreed portfolio of projects to ensure financial targets are met.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E):
- To support initiatives led by M&E technical lead developed to monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions.
- Disseminate lessons learned to enable the State team share successes, act on lessons learnt and improve the quality of events and their outcomes.
- Identify opportunities for replication and support activities that facilitate replication of interventions.
Knowledge Management:
- To provide support to Knowledge Management consultant to broaden the reach of programme impact and improve its sustainability.
- Support activities to facilitate replication of interventions (Demonstrate ‘value for money’).
- Liaise with Knowledge Management team to provide summary reports and stories that feed into the quarterly impact reports, newsletters and other knowledge management products.
- Provide up-to-date information and share stories of live events on social media networks such as twitter, Facebook, Flickr with the wider audience.
Team Support and Contribution:
- Ensure professionalism is demonstrated in own work area and that customer / client needs and perspectives are reflected in own behaviours and focus.
- To support the embedding of continuous learning and improvement into the team.
- To seek to understand the interdependencies and connections the State team has with other functions and teams within EU programmes and the wider organisation.
- To proactively share best practice and learning across the wider EU programmes team.
Leadership and Management:
- Provides coaching and mentoring and sharing information for staff in the project teams, as agreed to build capability and capacity within the team and ensure the team receives the support it requires.
- Supports the analysis of skills, identifies development needs and contributes to the development of learning and development initiatives from areas of own expertise.
- To ensure career planning, development planning and continuous professional development are embedded in own area of work.
Other Administrative Work:
- As required.
Key Relationships
Internal:
- National Programme Managers, Technical Lead, Operation Managers, State Team Lead (STL), Procurement and Estate Manager, HR Manager, Finance Manager, Other Programme Officers, Admin and Resource Assistants.
- All Visiting National and International Consultants
- Other Project Teams
External:
- External relationship management where appropriate (i.e. linked to function of role), to include: EU, consultants, external partner organisations, Civil Society Organizations, MDAs, etc.
Role Requirements
Threshold Requirements:
- Passport requirements/ Right to work in country: All applicants should have a pre-existing legal status to live and work in Nigeria. The British Council will not facilitate/sponsor visa applications and work permits
Assessment Stage
Shortlisting
- Direct contact or managing staff working with children?: Appropriate child protection assurance checks in accordance with British Council policy
NB: Some unsocial hours, weekend work and travel may be required where the need arises
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential:
- Graduate level education
- Evidence of continuous professional development
Desirable:
- Project management qualification aligned to P&P professional standards (APM) at the appropriate level of the role
- Other project / programme management qualification.
- Eligibility: Candidates must have pre-existing legal status to live and work in Nigeria
Assessment Stage: Shortlisting and Interview
Role Specific Knowledge & Experience
Essential:
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience with an international organization
- Experience of working as part of a successful team/function.
- Experience of scheduling and supporting meetings with internal stakeholders / external partners.
Desirable:
- Experience of work in an Full Cost Recovery project.
- Experience of operating in a complex, multi-cultural context
Assessment Stage: Shortlisting and Interview
British Council Core Skills
- Planning and Organising (Level 2) Plans ahead – Organises own work over weeks and months, or plans ahead for others, taking account of priorities and the impact on other people.
- Managing Projects (Level 2) Analyses project data – Examines project data and performance, reporting on progress and recommending corrective action as needed.
- Managing Accounts and Partnerships (Level 2) Works with stakeholders and partners – Communicates regularly with diverse stakeholders, customers and/or partners to build mutual understanding and trust.
- Managing Finance and Resources (Level 2) Uses financial systems and processes – Uses corporate financial systems and processes appropriately as part of the job and on behalf of a team.
- Using Technology (Level 2) Operates as an advanced user – Works as an advanced practitioner in the use of office software and/or British Council standard and social media platforms and trains or coaches others in their use.
Assessment Stage: Shortlisting and Interview
British Council Behaviours
- Being accountable (More demanding) Putting the needs of the team or British Council ahead of my own.
- Making it happen (More demanding) Challenging myself and others to deliver and measure better results.
- Working together (More demanding) Ensuring that others benefit as well as me.
- Creating shared purpose (More demanding) Creating energy and clarity so that people want to work purposefully together.
Assessment Stage: Interview and Performance Management
Remuneration
N8,106,739.00 Naira per annum
Deadline: 15th April, 2019 (23:59 UK time)
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online
Click here to download Job Details
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