Senior Project Development Officer (WASH and Education Infrastructure) 313 views

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 early career officers and managers to work alongside national staff and expand our team.

Position Overview

Based in the coastal town of Fort Dauphin in the southeast of Madagascar, this post will provide support to the community health, WASH and Education Infrastructure projects run through the NGO. The successful candidate will work within a combined Malagasy and international team to assist in providing support in developing projects, writing proposals to secure funding, providing concentrated editing support and mentoring to interns and officers, supporting with the implementation of projects and evaluating their success. The role is predominantly office-based, and the diversity of activities undertaken will provide a wide-ranging experience for a development professional who can effectively and efficiently deal with a comprehensive range of tasks related to the complex world of overseas development work.

Title: Senior Project Development Officer

Location: Fort Dauphin, Anosy Region, Madagascar

Timeframe: 18 months extendable

Basic local stipend of 1,000,000 rising to 1,200,000 Ar a month, contribution to flights of £1,000, contribution to insurance of £400.

Reporting to: Head of Project Development

Duties and responsibilities:

Provision of advice and support in the development of projects including: preparation and editing of funding proposals; preparation and editing of reports for external stakeholders; monitoring and evaluation of current projects; developing and updating guidelines and templates for external-facing materials; liaison with the London project development team and local staff; and support and mentoring of Interns and Officers.

Core Duties

Managing pieces of long term project work that require a higher level of expertise and experience across the Department

Working alongside the Head of Project Development in problem solving and providing additional support in line with emerging issues from project implementation

Supporting Project Development Officers and interns in compiling funding proposals based on past evaluation, team discussion and international best practice in an engaging and professional manner

Supporting Project Development Officers and Interns in writing project reports that clearly demonstrate the successes and challenges of the projects, learning from the project and providing clear budgetary information

Providing first stage editing of all proposals and reports across the Department to a high standard and providing detailed, constructive feedback to interns and Officers

Working alongside Project Co-ordinators in tracking activity plans against log frames and donor agreements, feeding back to the team and working with the team to adjust to emerging project needs

Working alongside the Head of Project Development and Head of Finance in developing and managing the budgets relating to projects

Developing and updating resources to support project development processes, including proposal and budget templates and style guidelines

Assisting departmental MEL specialists in developing MEL tools and analysing data, delivering relevant training and implementing these programs in the field whilst assimilating best practice and lessons learnt.

Supporting the development of Project Development procedures and guidelines and providing project specific information to inform policy development across the organisation

Working with the PD Officers and interns to ensure that statistics, research, funding trackers, photo database and handovers relating to the projects are accurate

Overseeing the website and social media content for the community health, WASH and education infrastructure projects undertaken through this role

Working with the Malagasy team and external partners in increasing their skills and capacity, providing mentoring or training where appropriate

Supporting the Head of Project Development in delivering orientations for new PD Officers and Interns

Taking an active role in project management meetings, leading discussions and standing in for the Head of PD where appropriate

Forming part of the team representing projects or SEED when required

Liaising with the UK team in London ensuring clear communication at all times

Taking an active part in international team meetings and the support of other members of the team

Completing any other tasks required by the Head of Project Development or Director of Operations and Heads of Departments commensurate with this role.

Person specification

· Degree-level qualification or equivalent experience in international development, health, WASH or have equivalent experience

· Minimum of 2 years’ professional experience of securing funding, project management, donor compliance and donor reporting

· Familiarity with the use of project management tools including Logical Frameworks, Theory of Change models, Budgets Activity Plans and Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks

· Fluency in written and spoken English with excellent written communication skills, to the level of editing English documents for publication to a very high standard

· 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

· Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to SEED’s ethos and approach and be a good ambassador for the organisation at all times

· Have passion, curiosity and motivation for the job and the ability to enthuse others

· 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

· Demonstrate proven ability to recognise and appropriately deal with challenging situations and problem solve.

· Demonstrate an awareness of and comfort with increased social and professional responsibility, working at all times with cultural sensitivity and respect

· Demonstrate the ability, social skills and confidence to give clear guidance and support to other members of the team in respect of the philosophy and procedures of SEED in order to protect both their safety and the reputation of the NGO

· Be able to work to and advocate for all of SEEDs policies and procedures, safeguarding those that SEED works with and reporting any concerns appropriately

· Be punctual and be able to work to tight deadlines in an organised manner and to a high standard

· Be able to work both independently and as part of a team

· Excellent listening and verbal communication skills and a flexible and patient attitude

· Ability and desire to develop and support a team of volunteers and staff and to support the Project Development internship programme

· Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint

· Proficiency in written and spoken French would be an advantage

Practicalities:

The successful candidate will need to have their own laptop computer (non-tablet).