PLAY International recruits 01 Programme Manager

Purpose of the job:
To provide overall leadership in the planning and implementation of PLAY International’s project portfolio in Kosovo and the Western Balkans. The Programme Manager is crucial in building and maintaining the framework within which projects can thrive and create long term change where PLAY is working. The key areas of responsibility for the Programme Manager include project cycle management, project financial management, monitoring, evaluation and learning, communications management and human resource management.
Context of the position:
PLAY International has been active in Kosovo since 2002, using sport to build bridges and promoting peace and reconciliation between communities on a national and international level. New large-scale funding opportunities from 2019 have enabled the Mission to scale up its engagement in the formal and non-formal education sector, with a focus on inclusion, access and retention in school for vulnerable groups, and active education. Working on several complimentary initiatives at the same time, PLAY actively engages local partners and multipliers to ensure sustainability and impact.
Operating with a small, busy, local team on a variety of challenging 3-year projects, it is crucial to have a central coordinating role within the team to ensure PLAY manages all its responsibilities effectively and the implementation team operate in a targeted and efficient way. Moreover, with new and ambitious projects, the Mission must build on progress already made in key project management areas to ensure the impact of the work is captured and capitalised on.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Project Cycle Management (40%):

• Create detailed work plans for each project, ensuring that project goals (specific objectives, expected results etc) are reflected in the operational roll out;
• Coordinate the work of the project and peda teams, ensuring that priorities are identified and acted upon in a proactive and planned way;
• Provide a strong structural framework for effective management of PLAY projects (meetings, management tools, risk management etc);
• Supervise the peda team and the project assistant in gathering the relevant data and writing high quality internal activity reports in a timely fashion;
• Represent PLAY when needed in project management committees with partners;
• Write interim and final project reports for donors in accordance with the implementation timelines and deadlines.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) (20%)

• Draft detailed MEL plans according to the framework set out by PLAY and reflecting the Logical Framework and other details laid out in project proposals;
• Lead work within the Mission to draft and operationalise MEL tools needed to capture the results of projects;
• Ensure all MEL data is captured by the project / peda teams during the course of implementation and effectively stored and analysed in digital and hard copy;
• Provide a strong structural framework for effective management of MEL actions and data within PLAY projects (meetings, management tools, analysis tools etc).

Project Financial Management (20%)

• Draft detailed project budgets using standard tools provided for project financial management;
• Work alongside the Mission’s financial manager to ensure effective planning, ongoing monitoring and management of project finances;
• Ensure that financial and procurement procedures set up within the organisation are respected and followed in the implementation of projects.

Communications (15%)

• Draft detailed communications plans for each project using standard tools provided for communications management;
• Lead internal work (including drafting content where needed) in implementing communications plans related to projects;
• Supervise the management of PLAY’s social media platforms;
• Ensure the Mission section of PLAY International’s website contains up-to-date, accurate and high-quality information about the projects;
• Provide a strong structural framework for effective management of communications within PLAY projects (meetings, management tools, etc).

Senior Management Team (5%)

• Play an active and dynamic role in the SMT to contribute to the overall success of the Mission;
• Attend and contribute to SMT weekly coordination and any other meetings as required;
• Act on behalf of the Head of Mission when appropriate;
• Line management of one or more team members.

Key Relationships:

Internal: Head of Mission, Programmes Manager (HQ), Financial Manager, Pedagogical Manager, Project
Assistant, Senior Coordinator, Coordinators / Trainers.

External: Partner organisations and institutions; donors.

Other important features or requirements of the job

A willingness to develop and grow skills and experience through training, collaboration with colleagues and initiative.

Ensure safeguarding and guidelines are applied and upheld in line with organisational standards and policy for the following areas:

• Child protection
• Equal Opportunity and Diversity
• Health and Safety
• Information Knowledge Management

Operational project work requires occasional (or sometimes regular) work outside normal hours, for example in the evening or at weekends. Recuperation days should be agreed with the line manager in advance to maintain an adequate work-life balance. Posthoders will be required to travel abroad on PLAY International business and should therefore hold valid travel documents.

Skills and Experience Required

Essential

• Master’s degree in Project Cycle Management, international cooperation, political sciences or other relevant discipline;
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience in project management;
• Minimum of 1 year of experience in team management;
• Budget/financial management experience;
• Interest or experience working in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and gender-balanced environment
• Languages: English (Essential): fluent, written and spoken (C2)
• Strong sense of initiative and autonomy;
• Strong organisation and planning skills;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Desirable

• Youth work;
• Languages:

o French (highly-desirable)
o Albanian (desirable)
o Serbian (desirable)

• Previous work experience within the Western Balkan countries;
• Current driving license.

Passport and/or nationality requirement: Right to work in Kosovo. Right to travel in the Balkans.

Contract: international solidarity volunteering (french contract)
2 year fixed-ter

Applications are to be sent until June 28th, to recruitment.kosovo@play-international.org