Vacancy: Government Uptake Programme Manager

Company Profile

Lively Minds is an award-winning NGO working to get preschoolers in rural Ghana & Uganda school-ready.

Over 250 million children under 5 years globally do not get the early childhood care and education (“ECCE”) they need, leading to poor health, poor education, lost life opportunities and poverty. We believe that one of the main barriers to ECCE is that parents in remote resource-poor villages lack the information, education and aspiration to provide basic and affordable opportunities for their children. We have developed an innovative behavior-change programme that empowers marginalized, poorly educated Mothers to run educational Play Schemes for preschoolers and to provide better home-based care, using cheap local resources.  Not only does this result in positive outcomes for child development, but also has positive impacts for the Mothers too.

These are exciting times for Lively Minds. In Ghana, we are finalising a partnership agreement with Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service to integrate the programme in to the national kindergarten system and to support them to scale it across 60 rural districts in the northern regions of the country, reaching approximately 4000 kindergartens and 1.1million children. Our programme in Uganda is in a test and preparation for scale stage. We are currently optimising the model so that it can be delivered through local government systems, with the long-term aim of national roll-out.

Job Description

OUR PROGRAMME

One of our key scale strategies is to ensure that local government officials are able to run and project manage the Lively Minds programme themselves. We will therefore provide time-bound technical assistance for each local government team to ensure that they have the motivation, the technical ability and the tools to implement to quality standards. After which team, they will be required to run the programme themselves with support only from national and regional government.  We will also be providing training and support to regional and national government partners, so that they are able to supervise and project manage the programme. We are therefore recruiting for a Programme Manager to deliver this challenging but exciting government uptake strategy. 

Key responsibilities for the Programme Manager include; designing a technical support package (capacity-building and technical trainings, coaching and supervision, project management and quality assurance tools) to embed the programme within each district, region and at national level; training and supporting Lively Minds staff to deliver the technical support package;  building and overseeing a project management system to track performance/compliance of each district and integrating this with government systems; working with our content teams and implementation teams to optimise user-experience for government partners.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Strategic development 

• Contribute to the global scale and sustainability strategy for Lively Minds


• Develop and implement plans to support the achievement of strategic goals


• Identify and drive forward government uptake strategies

“Government as doer” strategy

• Develop and implement strategies, founded in behavioural science techniques, to build the motivation and capacity of all levels of government to set-up, embed and sustain the Lively Minds programme 


• Support and train implementing teams to execute the strategy


• Create user-friendly systems, processes and tools to support programme implementation and quality assurance


• Work with the Head of Monitoring & Evaluation to evaluate government uptake, capacity, motivation levels


• Review and iterate strategy and approaches in response to feedback loops


•  Create and manage organizational know-how to support government uptake 

Implementation excellence

•  Develop coaching and training content and processes for staff to ensure an effective cascade approach


• Work with COO, Country Directors to identify implementation challenges and risks, and create effective systems, tools, trainings, materials to improve quality of implementation, and specifically the cascade delivery approach


• Work with other senior management team members to identify ways to improve the programme, curriculum, approaches, systems and practices to ensure it is as simple, efficient and customer-focussed as possible.

Required Skills or Experience

We are looking for someone with expertise in project management systems and who has experience in working in government uptake and capacity building.

To succeed in this role you must:  

• Be a real “doer” with a proven problem solving mentality.  Be tenacious and resilient. 


• Have a minimum of 5 years of project management experience, in particular creating customer-friendly tools, systems, dashboards.


• Have experience in developing and delivering capacity-building training.


• Have experience managing and coaching others of differing capabilities

Possess brilliant “people” skills with a flexible approach to get the best out of a range of relationships

• Advanced IT skills, ability to create basic yet robust systems to capture and report on data. 


• Demonstrate excellent communication skills, both oral and written including presenting to a range of stakeholders at differing seniority levels


• Ability to manage a complex and varied work load and to work under pressure


• Change management experience 

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience working in global south


• PMP certification or equivalent project management certification

COMPETENCIES  

Lively Minds is a fast-paced, results-oriented organisation with a drive for excellence. The postholder must be able to work as a team player and contribute to our small, global senior management team as well as deliver a complex and busy programme at the country level, leading a remote team effectively. Our organisation is going through a period of immense growth and change and you will need to support the teams through this transition.  To succeed in this role you will be expected to consistently exhibit the following core and leadership competencies at a high level: 

Core Competencies 

Thinking and improving - Uses a structured approach to analyse situations and identify SMART solutions and improvements 

Ownership and quality of work- Effectively manages and takes accountability for own work and work of teams ensuring timely delivery of high-quality work 

Mission Driven (Client Oriented)- Demonstrates commitment to the mission of the organization as a whole and works to effectively engage stakeholders (including government, communities, parents, children) to achieve maximum impact. 

Internal Team Collaboration - Helps colleagues as needed, views responsibilities as shared, and effectively engages stakeholders (internal & external) 

Communication - Uses effective written and oral communication with internal staff, teams, stakeholders, and communities served 

Initiative - Proactively seeks opportunities to contribute to the team and improve the organization as a whole by actively integrating goals, values, and mission; demonstrates positive and solution-oriented attitude 

Leadership 

Change Management - Effectively prepares for and guides teams through changes, both small and large making them feel safe, engaged and supported. 

Decision-making- Effectively structures and facilitates decision-making processes; 

makes and owns team decisions effectively and responsibly to improve organizational health and impact 

Develops and motivates others- Motivates others, supports their development through strong coaching and mentoring and builds strong relationships with colleagues; fosters effective teams and collaborative interactions 

Strategic thinking- Considers the future of the organization proactively and responsively; considers limitations and resource constraints; weighs diverse inputs to inform strategies; identifies innovative opportunities 

Values and prioritises inclusivity- Consistently sees, learns from, and takes strategic action related to diverse perspectives; and demonstrates the self‐awareness and behaviors to work with stakeholders (of various identities and levels of power) respectfully and effectively. Actively seeks to build and retain a diverse workforce and fosters an equitable inclusive workplace. 

Initiative and results driven- Makes and executes strategic plans ensuring alignment to overarching objectives to enhance intended impact, adjusting course as needed