Who we are

Marie Stopes International (MSI) is a global organisation providing personalised contraception and safe abortion services to women and girls. Our local teams of professionals are passionate about the work they do in communities across 37 countries. The services we provide give a woman the power to choose when she has children so that she’s free to pursue her plans and dreams for herself and her family.

The primary responsibility of this role is to further MSI’s goal: the prevention of unwanted births, and its mission of ensuring an individual’s right to have children by choice, not chance.

The Function 

MSI has been working in Tanzania since 1989, providing voluntary contraceptive services to thousands of women and men. Marie Stopes Tanzania (MST) is the country’s largest specialised sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning (FP) organisation, working in every region in Tanzania. Renowned for providing a wide range of high quality rights based SRH services to women, men, and adolescent, MST has played a crucial role in delivering essential FP and comprehensive post-abortion care (CPAC) services to underserved women, especially in rural areas.

MSI seeks a qualified team leader for a five year, multi-million-pound SRH programme funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The programme will increase access to family planning for women, men, and adolescents in remote areas, rural settings, and refugee settlements through a combination of: (i) increasing awareness of the benefits of modern contraception; (ii) increasing access to quality contraception in the private and public sector; and (iii) improving the supply of quality family planning commodities. Gender-based violence prevention and response, will be included in the response. Gender will be mainstreamed. The project is strongly committed to leaving no one behind and the do-no-harm principle. As a result, MSI focusses all programming on hard-to-reach populations, including but not limited to young people, people living under 1.9 USD per day, and people living with disabilities.

The team leader will lead the programme, ensuring timely and quality delivery of the expected results.

The Role

The team leader is key member of the project leadership team and is responsible and accountable for ensuring the project is implemented efficiently and effectively, meets agreed targets, results, and key performance indicators (KPIs), and delivers good value for money.

S/he will be the technical focal point and is expected to provide technical oversight for the day-to-day implementation of the project with the partner. S/he will ensure that donor standards are reached in the implementation of the project and that all technical specifications of the project are delivered to a high quality. 

S/he will ensure that the implementation of the project aligns with MSI’s global standards for clinical quality, project management and data management and verification.

S/he will be responsible for stewardship and coordination of the consortium partner and will work closely with the programme leadership of the partner to ensure that the activities are aligned and implemented efficiently and effectively, to meet agreed country-level targets and deliver good value for money. S/he will provide strategic guidance to the partner, and will ensure synergy between the various work streams of the programme, avoiding duplication and ensuring that resources are deployed effectively to deliver on project commitments. S/he will manage the preparation, review and periodic revision of detailed country-level implementation plans, monitor and respond to partner performance and be responsible for driving communication between the partners in country, and across the programme.

The team leader will steward the flexible and adaptive programme approach at a national level, monitoring effectiveness, environmental opportunities and challenges, and risk levels. The team leader will work with MSI’s DFID team in London to refine and adjust the programme approach to maximise opportunities, mitigate risks, and continue to deliver high impact.

S/he will be the face of the project to the government, the donor and other development partners. The project works closely with the Ministry of Health at central level as well as regional and district level, and supports their targets for sexual and reproductive health. The Team Leader will work closely with the Ministry of Health to integrate the project into ongoing sexual and reproductive health initiatives and projects, and to engage in relevant policy dialogue and advocacy for a.

S/he will be the main point of contact with DFID-Tanzania and manage relationships within the partner. S/he will have ultimate authority on all aspects of the programme and will ensure that it is implemented with the highest standards of quality and efficiency, working closely with the country director, technical teams, and support teams. S/he will ensure that the programme meets MSI’s internal standards and donor compliance.

This role is subject to the successful award of the contract and the project is due to commence in 2019. The role will be for a minimum of one year and may be extended for the full duration of the project (5 years).

Key responsibilities

Leadership

• Lead the effective and efficient delivery of the programme within budget, ensuring that DFID expectations and programme KPIs are met or exceeded;
• Provide overall leadership for the programme team at country level, ensuring collaboration with the partner and coordination across implementation geographic areas;
• Ensure high quality programme delivery, following donor and MSI compliance and standards, to agreed workplans;
• Provide guidance, support, and oversight to the consortium partner to ensure the programme is implemented efficiently, effectively, and providing good value for money;
• Ensure robust, accurate and meaningful monitoring, evaluation, and learning across the project, ensuring learning is integrated into ongoing implementation;
• Foster a positive and encouraging team atmosphere, supporting team members to develop and excel in their positions.

Governance/ programme management

• Ensure compliance with donor requirements at all levels and provide guidance to the partner on donor compliance.
• Effectively manage the project budget, ensuring efficient use of resources, and managing expenditure in line with the agreed budget.
• Ensure the programme adheres to guidelines in MSI’s project cycle management manual.
• Compile and submit regular technical and financial reports to DFID-Tanzania, ensuring all reports are reviewed by the required approvers internally.
• Ensure agreed workplans are adhered to and/or corrected when necessary.

Representation

• Representation of MSI and the project at strategic level, including with DFID-Tanzania, and engage and influence the Ministry of Health and associated institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies, government institutes and authorities at central, regional, and local level, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Uphold all MSI core values, lead by example, and promote the “One Team, One Spirit” approach

Skills and Experience (essential)

• Significant (10+ years) experience in delivering clinical family planning and sexual and reproductive health programming in sub-Saharan Africa or a similar context at a senior level of management;
• Demonstrable experience managing large and complex programmes funded by DFID and other institutional donors with budgets of upward of £10 million;
• Demonstrable experience leading consortia and managing local and international implementing partners to deliver results across a range of work streams;
• Proven general management experience in operationally demanding and challenging environments, including recruitment, training and supervision of direct reports;
• Track record in building and maintaining strong relationships with government (Ministry of Health and local authorities), the private sector, and peer organisation and UN agencies to deliver sexual and reproductive health programmes;
• Demonstrated capacity to manage financial resources effectively and transparently to achieve maximum impact and value for money;
• Proven knowledge and experience applying DFID compliance and familiarity with DFID terms and conditions, duty of care requirements, due diligence, etc. (essential)
• Fluent in English (essential)

Personal attributes

• Pro-choice
• Approachable with strong interpersonal & listening skills together with the ability to empower their team
• Track record of delivering targets
• Ability to push the boundaries and develop market share
• Results focused
• Self-motivated and a self-starter
• The highest levels of integrity, strong ethical attitude
• IT literate

Please note that this role will be subject to full pre-employment background checks which may include, but are not limited to, employment references, right to work verification, credit check, and criminal record check (where appropriate)

Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Closing date: 2nd February 2019

Salary: competitive

Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and post holders to share this commitment.