Project Coordinator

BACKGROUND

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Plan has over 80 years’ experience and works in more than 75 countries across the world. We strive for a just world, working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners.

Plan International has been working in Tanzania since 1991. Our work supports marginalised children and youth, especially adolescent girls, to grow up physically and mentally healthy and ready to shape their future. We create an enabling environment and empower girls to be active drivers of change in realising their rights. We prioritise working with partners, and ensuring all of our work is evidence based

The Keeping Adolescent Girls in School (KAGIS) project is a 5 year Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC’s) funded project, aiming at addressing key barriers inhibiting adolescent girls from realizing their right to safe, quality and gender-responsive education, with a particular focus on their unique needs and barriers associated with participation in primary and lower-secondary school. The project’s Ultimate Outcome, ‘Adolescent girls realize their rights to safe, quality, gender-responsive education’, will be achieved by employing a three-pronged, rights-based, gender-transformative approach to tackle demand- and supply-side barriers, while strengthening local level governance and building improved linkages between education, health and child protection systems

ROLE PURPOSE

This role will coordinate the planning and implementation of KAGIS project activities in collaboration with Technical Leads and implementing partners to deliver major project objectives efficiently. She/he will ensure that the project is embracing the Theory of Change and aligns with government guidelines and work towards gender equity during the undertakings of the activities. She/he will participate in the planning, implementation and monitoring project progress, prepare donor reports and coordinate project meetings. This position report to the Project Director.

Dimensions of the Role

• Developing and maintaining an effective partnership with all implementing partners and government departments.
• Ensuring that project partners are supported to deliver high quality project outputs on a timely basis in line with donor requirements and encouraging networking and collaboration amongst implementing partners.
• Assessing performance against agreed project objectives, indicators, and standards/ approaches.
• Ensuring accurate, sufficient, and timely flow of information and progress narrative reports (both internal and for the donor)
• Developing annual operational plans and managing the budget allocated to the project ensuring that agreed results are delivered in time and within the budget available.
• Ensures proper management of financial resources and assets in line with PLAN International policies and donor requirements in collaboration with the Program Director and Finance Manager
• Ensuring that partners submit timely funding requests and financial returns.
• Coordinate the activities and ensure their execution, in compliance with set arrangements and procedures in order to achieve the intervention objectives
• Coordinate all necessary technical inputs from the project team that contribute to the implementation of the intervention, and ensure that external expertise is mobilized on time when and where needed
• Coordinate implementing partners’ capacity development in order to contribute to the improvement of their organization, processes and systems and of their staff’s competences
• Coordinate the learning process of how an intervention contributes to the development of gender equality in order to ensure that the knowledge and/or results generated through this process are disseminated
• Conducts community visits to monitor project related activities in the project area to improve program delivery.
• Provides technical review of progress, reviews quality gaps and provides inputs to make improvements routinely.
• Conducts regular visits to partners in Geita regional to provide technical support for effective implementation management of project activities.
• Develops and maintains good relations with the Regional and district level education and community development departments
• Facilitates building of partnership, networks coalitions and alliances with other stakeholders in the project areas to increase program effectiveness.
• Ensures safeguarding children and young people policy is mainstreamed into all education related program activities
• Ensures rights-based programming in all the project activities to meet Plan International’s goals
• Contribute to the development of work plans, budget preparation, and field implementation
• Ensuring projects adhere to Plan International policies and all documentation is maintained appropriately.
• In coordination with communications and influencing section, coordinate all communication activities of projects to ensure all project news and outcomes are shared with all stakeholders.
• Undertake other reasonable tasks as directed by the Project Director

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Coordinate Planning and Routine Monitoring

• Lead the development of donor workplans and coordinate/ supervise all activity plans (of both partners and Plan) and ensure donor and Plan’s standards are followed.
• Follow up implementation of any recommendations by programs team at CO
  • Coordinate with MERL team to Rollout Results Frameworks for the team to understand the requirements.  
  • Routinely update and track all outputs indicators to inform project progress.
  • Support the project team to apply program results and lessons learned to refine activities and implementation.

Produce Reports and Reporting

• Coordinate timely submission of high quality narrative and financial reporting to donors (monthly, quarterly, and final)
• Produce Result Based project implementation reports

Working with Partners

• Relates well with all partners and support them to effectively deliver the agreed results
• Is consistently helpful, positive and collaborative
• Gives constructive and timely feedback to partners colleagues
• Lead reflection and feedback meetings with partners, and share success stories.
• Maintain close working relationships with implementing partners, international NGOs, and local NGOs and associations in the project areas.

Making effective decisions

• Tailors own work practices
• Willing to take decisions within the accepted parameters of the role
• Shares appropriate and timely information with others
• Recognises when to refer any problem up to the more senior colleagues

Knowledge Management

• Translate project learning and results into a success stories.
• Encouraging staff to form relationships that encourages knowledge sharing because it is through these interactions that staff get to know each other and enhance their awareness of each other’s’ strengths and weakness.
• Be transparent by sharing what you are doing and why, and ask for feedback.
• Coordinate the documentation of best practices and success stories

Security and Upholding Plan Values

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of Safeguarding policies.

• Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
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• Be champion of Plan values
• Handles constructive criticism and learns from it
• Shows respect for and sensitivity to protected characteristics, cultural and religious differences
• Ensure compliance to COVID-19 and other outbreaks safety measures

Compliance to Global Polices

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Child Protection (CPP) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEIP) are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring Plan and Partner’s staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures

Communications and Working Relationships:

Internal:

• This position works closely with Programme staff at PU level, including Programme Coordinators, all PUs M&E staff and Project Managers/ Directors (high)
• This position works closely with Thematic heads (medium)
• This position works closely with project counterparts at Plan International Canada (high)

External:

• This position works closely with M&E of active local partner organizations (medium)

Key relationships

• PU & CO
• Head of M&E, CP, and Education
• Gender and Inclusion, Communications & Influencing
• Functional networks within Plan
• Plan International Canada

Technical expertise, skills, and knowledge

Required experience and Qualifications

• Minimum of a basic degree in Community Development, Education, Social sciences, International development or its equivalent.  Master’s degree will be an added advantage
• Minimum of at least three (3) years of experience as a technical staff in the related field
• Minimum of 2 years of providing trainings/capacity building to the community and partners
• Experiences in monitoring of Education projects, Child protection and ASRH.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability and willingness to travel intensively in the fields
• Computer skills – MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and others related packages.

Essential

Knowledge

• In-depth knowledge of education system in Tanzania, specifically girl’s education challenges
• Knowledge of gender transformative approach in programming
• Demonstrated knowledge in developing and leading gender-transformative in program delivery
• Develops, motivates, coaches and promotes high performance staff
• Knowledge in leading multiple stakeholders with complex relationships
• In-depth knowledge of project management methodologies

Skills

• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Proficient computer skills in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Ability to work under multidisciplinary and multicultural environment
• Excellent communication skills, with demonstrated ability to write technical reports
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
• Fluent spoken and written English and Kiswahili

Behaviours

• Hardworking with capacity to work independently with minimum supervision
• Honest, integrity, open and transparent personality.
• Working towards achieving a team goal
• Be able to Respect all groups of people in the community and culturally sensitive
• Persuasive and able to work with different cultural settings
• Motivated, energetic and strives to develop and support others
• Result oriented and a team player
• Working for the best interest of the organisation and children
• Appreciate of child rights and gender equality

Desirable

• Knowledge and experience with Global Affairs Canada’s (GAC’s) project management.
• Experience managing and knowledge of project that support girls’ education.
• Strong program management, presentation, team-building and interpersonal skills
• Advanced critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Commitment to girls’ development and a values-driven work environment.
• Operate in a high-pressure deadline-driven environment with professionalism

• Managing project with strict reporting deadlines
• Working with the project team and ensure project results are achieved timely without compromising with quality
• Good command over conflict resolution while maintaining important relationships: Capability to resolve conflicts
• Plan and schedule own work, interpreting instructions and selecting appropriate methods/tools for delivery.

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

Physical Environment

• Working environment will include both typical office environment and field environment
• The position requires regular field travels, at least 70% of the officer’s work

Level of contact with children

Mid contact: Occasional interaction with children during reflection meetings, evaluations, and research