Project Manager at Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh) Nigeria (2 Openings)

Terre des hommes (Tdh) is leading Swiss organisation for children’s aid. Since 1960, Tdh has helped build a better future for deprived children and their communities, making an impact with innovative and sustainable solutions. Active in more than 45 countries, Tdh works with local and international partners to develop and implement field projects which improve the daily lives of over 3 million children and their relatives, in the domains of health, protection and emergency relief. This engagement is financed by individual and institutional support, with administrative costs kept to a minimum. Tdh in Nigeria implements projects in Health, Wash, Child Protection and Education sectors.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Project Manager

Locations: Akure - Ondo and Calabar - Cross River
Employment Type: Full-time

Job Summary

• The Project Manager will lead the overall response in Ondo and Cross River states, ensuring effective program delivery, contributing to building capacities and working closely with a wide range of government, clusters and community-level stakeholders. With a minimum of 5 years managing multisectoral programmes including child protection and education programmes,
• He / She will bring specific expertise in Participatory Action Research.
• He / She will work to combat child labour and child rights violations through a holistic, integrated, and innovative approach.
• This project is structured around the deep participation and empowerment of children and communities, enabling them to act as leaders in identifying and implementing solutions to child labour and child rights issues within their communities.
• The project commences with a rigorous Participatory Baseline Assessment to understand the communities, their needs, and potential child protection risks, and ensure the proposed approach is appropriate and tailored to actual needs.
• This includes “Child and Community Centric Design Thinking” - having children and communities at the forefront of decision-making from the start of the project – adjustments may be made to the approach and in consultation with our donor, based on the results.
• This position holder must be committed to the delivery of high-quality services within a changing and complex environment.
• He / She must have passion for the programme approach e.g. participatory approach, child-centeredness, commit to the principles of equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice, be self-motivated, goal-oriented, enthusiastic and possess an entrepreneurial attitude and must be willing to travel to and work with communities living in poverty in remote areas.

Key Responsibilities and tasks

• Strategic Planning, Project Implementation, Accountability:
• The Project Manager is responsible for the overall implementation and delivery of project goals including budget management and follow-up monitoring, reporting, and ensuring accountability to the affected population, Tdh and donor.
• He/ She contributes to ensuring that teams and partners have been instructed in the security policies and the general code of conduct and conform to them at all times.
• He/She collaborates with the security department to provide project staff with timely update on safety and security and contributes to managing and assuming ultimate responsibility for all the mission’s risks and aspects of access.
• He/she will represent Tdh to the Government (Ondo/Cross River States, Federal Government) Donors and other key stakeholders in the absence of or as delegated by the HOD.

He / She will provide high-level technical support and guidance to the Project Supervisors to achieve the following:

• Lead planning and implementation of the project in their assigned locations by the proposal document, Tdh, donor and global standards and principles.
• Lead in ensuring a safe approach to working practices by creating awareness through meetings, training and events that present opportunities for discussing vulnerabilities, safeguarding risks and best practice in preventing and mitigating harm and abuse to children especially those participating in CLECA and vulnerable adults in the programme.
• Work with and provide guidance and support to volunteers to improve access to quality education at the primary school level by establishing child-led protection clubs and supporting them to engage in community-led evidence collection and action.
• Establish child protection committees including specific child-led CPCs and support them to act as drivers of change and engines of innovation in the prevention and response to child protection concerns within their communities.
• Train government stakeholders on child protection case management to further strengthen the formal child protection systems for these communities.
• Support village savings loan associations (VSLAs) in establishing sustainable community child protection funds and in turn improve their access to livelihoods.
• Strengthen community structures including child-led protection clubs, and in collaboration with the government to improve community infrastructure through the CLECA methodology.
• Through a collaborative effort, the project supervisor will improve multi-stakeholder engagement by establishing a steering committee to act as a strategic decision-making body for the project.
• Identify and build strong relationships with community and government stakeholders including humanitarian actors and coordination bodies relevant to this project implementation.
• Review and update line manager about knowledge of policy and procedural frameworks and demonstrate professional competencies in ethical practices that will keep children and vulnerable adults involved in the programme safe.
• Work with individuals, families, communities, and children’s groups to help them make informed decisions, enabling them to clarify and express their needs and contribute to programme planning and delivery.
• Assess the needs, risks and options of programme participants, taking into account legal and statutory requirements regarding safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
• Ensure the compliance of the activities with the internal and sector quality standards.
• Undertake all other duties as assigned by the Team Lead that are compatible with the job.
• Provide written and concise monthly reports to the line manager on all activities undertaken.

Line Management and Human Resources Management:

• Supports team recruitments within designated projects, and contributes to the development and revision of job descriptions.
• Ensures the project team has a clear understanding of Tdh mandate and projects through an initial induction meeting followed by regular weekly and ad-hoc get-togethers with relevant staff;
• Leads and manages staff, encouraging effective teamwork and providing supervision and guidance, including regular and constructive feedback.
• Organizes and leads weekly team meetings and provides weekly program updates and movement plans to the logistics department.
• Supervise and provide technical guidance to project supervisors and volunteers assigned to the project to achieve project deliverables.
• Promote a constructive, motivational, and respectful working environment within the team and towards community members, especially children.

Procurement Planning/Budget Management:

• In collaboration with the Procurement department, S/he develops a comprehensive and realistic procurement plan to guide all procurement processes promptly and in adherence to Tdh procurement policy.
• S/he is completely responsible for budget management and follow-ups and collaborates with the finance and compliance department to develop systems/strategies to prevent fraud, mismanagement and/or misappropriation of project funds.
• Reports all suspected, reported and/or actual cases of fraud to Tdh designated reporting channels.

Capacity building and development:

• Provide technical guidance and support project supervisors to build the capacities of child-led protection committees, child protection committees, and VSLAs, strengthen government capacities to identify and respond to prevailing child protection concerns with a major emphasis on addressing child labour in cocoa-producing communities in Ondo and Cross River states.

Monitoring and Reporting – Provides overall guidance and technical support to project staff to:

• Support the MEAL department in conducting Participatory Baseline Assessments to examine the existing child protection structures and capacities within their assigned communities.
• Support the development of project tools and related activities for improving project performance.
• In coordination with the MEAL department, s/he is tasked with data protection assurance.
• Lead the development of appropriate IEC materials on MHPSS, to build awareness of services and promote key messages.
• Actively participates in monthly project reviews and contributes to the monthly update of the Programme Follow Up
• Provide monthly progress reports for his/her assigned community which contributes to donor and internal reporting.
• Promote the culture of learning and documentation so that lessons learned, and good practices are documented and shared.

Coordination – The Project Manager has the overall responsibility to represent Tdh at all government, sector and community engagements and can delegate the project supervisors as he/she deems fit on the following:

• Regularly liaise with the directorate of relevant ministries, agencies, and departments (State steering committee on the elimination of Child labour, MWASD, SUBEB, SAME, LGEA)
• Coordinate with other humanitarian actors within the area of responsibility, and actively participate in coordination meetings and activities including the Child Protection Sub Sector, CM Task Force, and other working groups where available.
• Ensure full coordination with community members and community leaders, women and youth groups, children clubs and other structures relevant to the project implementation.
• Promote coordination and integration with other sectors (Logistics, Finance, MEAL, Compliance etc) within Tdh.

Security:

• Complies and ensures staff compliance with Tdh Security Regulations.
• Reports any security/safety incident and/or risk to the Security Team or focal point.
• Regularly update staff under his/her supervision, on security rules defined by the Country Security team/Representative.

Tdh Global Code of Conduct and Risk Management Policies:

• Fully comply and ensure staff compliance with Tdh’s Global Code of Conduct and systematically report any breach of the code through the whistle-blowing framework: raise awareness within the Foundation on abuse and violence and rights deriving therefrom, respecting the rights and dignity of children, members of communities where Tdh operates and our Staff.
• Commits to respecting Tdh’s risk-management policies including the Safeguarding Policies (Child Safeguarding Policy, the Policy on Protection against Sexual Exploitation and the Directive on Staff Misconduct at the Workplace), the Safety and Security Policy, Anti-Fraud/Corruption policies and those related to the prevention of the financing of criminal activities.
• Commits to reducing the risk of abuse and harm by developing a culture of open and informed leadership within the organization and in our work with children and the communities in which we work.

Requirements
Education & Training:

• HND, B.SC, B.Ed., M.SC in Social Sciences, Management, Education and other relevant field, with experience working in humanitarian and/or development contexts.
• Experience working with children and vulnerable adults is an added advantage.
• Good knowledge of PAR and IT.

Experience and skills:

• Strong technical expertise and at least 5 years of experience in implementing child protection and education programmes in remote communities.
• Experience in Participatory Action Research is highly desirable.
• At least 3 years Experience in facilitating participatory action research processes
• 5 years’ experience in staff management and supervision.
• Demonstrated experience in ensuring the proper representation of the voices of highly marginalized people and the least powerful (in groups)
• Experience of developing programme Implementation plans
• Demonstrated experience of employing a rights-based approach
• Demonstrated experience of working with hidden and vulnerable populations
• Experience of community development in urban slums
• Familiarity with a range of participatory process tools and approaches
• Experience in overseeing and implementing child-led participatory processes
• Experience and knowledge of safeguarding and risk assessment with vulnerable and marginal groups
• Experience in research methods, using both qualitative and quantitative methods
• Practical experience in knowledge management within a non-profit organization
• Documentation skills and ability to support local communities in documenting their process
• Familiar with social protection systems and actors in Dhaka;
• Experience in setting up and managing household and individual level coaching or case management interventions;
• Solid experience in managing community empowerment projects;
• Proven experience in working with marginalized and disadvantaged communities; preferably in urban slums.
• Good knowledge of and experience using participatory methods with marginalized and disadvantaged communities and children;
• Demonstrable competencies in the use of community facilitation/mobilization approaches and techniques;
• Experience in building the capacity and mentoring of community facilitators/mobilisers;
• Experience in monitoring and reporting on community projects;
• Experience in managing budgets, including monitoring expenditures;
• Excellent planning and coordination skills;
• Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of patience, tact and diplomacy;
• Fluency in one or more of the local languages and a high level of written and spoken English is mandatory.
• Good teamwork and interdepartmental collaboration skills;
• Excellent skills in Microsoft Office.

Competencies:

• Ability to communicate effectively with children and adults, local authorities, and other partners, and express oneself concisely.
• Proficient capacity building skills
• Excellent team-building skills and ability to work in a multicultural environment and under pressure.
• Active team player contributing to overall team performance.
• Ability to write clear, concise records and reports.
• Skills in assessment and analysis of risk.
• Ability to communicate effectively and creatively with children/vulnerable adults in a non-judgmental manner.
• Ability to effectively organize work within a framework where time and service delivery targets are set.
• Advocacy skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work collaboratively in mixed-skill teams (e.g. researchers and practitioners); Skills in negotiation, problem-solving and decision-making
• Strong organizational and time management skills, including the ability to manage a complex workload.
• Knowledge of relevant legislation, policies, and procedures.

Knowledge:

• Fluency in spoken and written English
• Fluency in at least one or more of the local language/s is desirable.
• Good understanding of the realities faced by children in the worst forms of child labourand those who are vulnerable to being drawn into it.
• Knowledge of / experience of the programme approach e.g. Participatory Action Research approach, child-centeredness.

Others:

• Commit to respect Tdh Risk Management Policies including Tdh Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding Policy, Safety and Security Policy and Anti-Fraud/Corruption Policy, Whistle Blowing Policy
• Ensure adherence to Tdh standards and quality requirements in all the project activities.
• Promote, and ensure project activities are in line with child protection principles and humanitarian principles
• Ensure the project activities are well-integrated into the Nigeria child protection system and humanitarian coordination practices and guidelines.
• Ensure Tdh Child Safeguarding Policy and Child Protection Minimum Standards are mainstreamed through all the programmatic activities
• Commit to report any suspicion or actual case, allegations, or possibility of transgression, even potential, of the Tdh Policies.
• Respect the cultural values and traditions of the people.
• Adhere to and ensure the team under her/his responsibility follows Tdh administrative, logistical, financial and compliance regulations and procedures.

Application Closing Date
30th September, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: Applications will be processed on a rolling basis.