Options Consultancy Services Limited was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. We are a consultancy organisation providing technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors to governments and international development partners to transform the health of women and children.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:
Job Title: Programme Manager, SRH Innovation
Location: Nigeria
Contract type: Fixed Term Contract – 18 months
Department: Programmes Department
Reporting to: Project Lead / Head of Programmes Resource Unit
Responsibile for: Project Consultants
Laison with: Internal Options Departments and Programme Teams; Project Lead; Consultants; External parties (incl. Client, partners, programme Innovators)
Hours: Full-time
Background
- Options Consultancy (Options) is preparing to implement a second phase of a Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Innovation Learning Platform. The Learning Platform will support organisations (innovators) who have received funding to advance their work in SRH, including safe abortion.
- The objective of the innovators is to employ innovative and transformative approaches that put women and girls in control of their reproductive health choices.
- The Platform will be expected to accelerate and track the impact of innovators by providing non-financial support. To do so, the Platform will support innovators in groups and individually to work towards and achieve proof of concept and develop a plan for sustainable impact at scale.
- The Platform will leverage learnings from previous phases of the initiative, innovators’ lessons learned, and expertise in the area to provide best practices and build a collaborative innovator community and extended professional network.
- The Platform will support a cohort of active innovators at different stages of their innovation journey (some receiving seed funding, some receiving funding to support scaling).
- These innovators will be focused on testing new or improved approaches to increasing early access to existing abortion products and services in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as testing next generation methods of pregnancy termination, menses induction or conception interruption providing one or more significant improvements over existing methods. Over the 18month project, the Platform will provide localised, bespoke support and capacity building for innovators based and working in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas and Asia, including technical assistance to drive context-specific support and scaling strategies.
- This will be achieved by a small yet highly adaptable Project Team (inclusive of the Project Lead, Programme Manager, SRH Innovation (this position), pool of specialised consultants and Options’ in-house experts.
- Services under the Platform will be provided in both French and English, and focused along the two Pillars of the Platform:
- Pillar I: Strategic design and implementation of innovations through technical support. The Platform will facilitate group-based capacity-building and individual support sessions with innovators.
- The goal of the support will be to aid innovator teams to be strategic in their planning and early implementation, to best position themselves for success. Support may include but not limited to the following broad areas.
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
- Quality Improvement Support, including developing a minimum standards package
- Next generation methods innovator support
- Networking, mentorship and community of practice Pillar II: Impact and Investment The Platform will provide regular 1:1 support to innovators who are scaling, and to innovators with high potential for scaling, to prepare them for graduation and transitioning to scale.
The Platform will deliver:
- Technical support for innovators preparing to scale
- Group-based capacity-building and support sessions for innovators
- Ecosystem engagement and enabling environment support.
Responsibilities
- This multi-disciplinary role is responsible for effective and efficient project management, and support in technical implementation of the Learning Platform, of which will operate in both French and English. This involves building relationships with and supporting organisations/innovators who are testing and scaling transformative approaches in sexual and reproductive health, from new pharmaceutical products, to digital communication technologies and community-based approaches to reducing stigma.
- All innovators are working towards a shared vision of putting women and girls in control of their reproductive health choices. The Learning Platform aims to accelerate and track the impact of innovators by providing non-financial support. The Programme Manager will ensure that the Learning Platform succeeds in providing high-quality, tailored support and networking opportunities for innovators, via providing high quality programme management oversight to the project.
- Strategic support and technical expertise will be provided by the part-time Project Lead, and you’ll recruit and deploy a range of consultants to meet the specific technical needs of innovators (from MEL and quality standards to investment and impact strategies). The Programme Manager will also contribute to their own areas of technical expertise to the Learning Platform where appropriate, feeding into the design and delivery of group sessions and one-to-one support.
- The Programme Manager will track the team’s inputs into the Learning Platform, and monitor and report against progress and results. They will develop and manage the project budget. They will ensure that our client (the funder of the Learning Platform) is kept up to date with progress and that all contractual commitments to them are honoured. They will be a key contact person between the client, the rest of the Platform team and consultants, and Options’ internal departments and teams.
Person Specification
- Experience in a professional environment and delivery of work in both French and English.
- A relevant degree in relevant subject area, or comparable professional experience in a relevant field. Relevant technical expertise could include programme management, SRH including safe abortion, health innovations, gender and social inclusion, violence against women and girls or more (see the JD for more!)
- Good experience of working in international development at Programme Management and/or Technical Officer / Consultant level
- Experience of the development and implementation of programmes. Including supporting and co-ordinating technical or programme management work in similar organisations
- Experience working and delivering in resource-constrained settings and low and middle-income countries
- Experience of building and developing close working relationships with donors, partners, consultants and /or consortia
- Experience of contracts and contracting
- Experience in delivering high quality technical outputs (i.e. webinars, sessions, reports/briefs)
Criteria
Qualification:
- A relevant Degree in relevant subject area, or comparable professional experience in a relevant field.
- Relevant technical expertise field could include: Health innovations, health systems strengthening, health financing, advocacy and accountability, gender and social inclusion, prevention of violence against women and girls, maternal, newborn child and adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, safe abortion, or social.
Experience:
- Experience in a professional environment and delivery of work in both French and English Good experience of working in international development at Programme Management and/or Technical Officer / Consultant level Experience of the development and implementation of programmes.
- Including supporting and co-ordinating technical or programme management work in similar organisations
- Experience in distance management and liaison of relations between a head office and an internationally based team
- Experience of managing large, complex donor-funded commercial budgets
- Experience in strategic planning
- Experience working and delivering in resource-constrained settings and low and middle-income countries
- Experience of building and developing close working relationships with donors, partners, consultants and /or consortia
- Experience of contracts and contracting
- Experience in delivering high quality technical outputs (i.e. webinars, sessions, reports/briefs)
- Experience of producing and/or contributing to external reports and/or research papers.
- Experience of working across Africa in a relevant capacity and with governments; international agencies and local NGOs
Benefits
Options offers a comprehensive benefits package specific to each country.
Application Closing Date
Sunday, 5th March, 2023.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online
Click here for more information (PDF)
Note
- Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, candidates are encouraged to apply at the earliest.
- This position is subject to Options receiving a signed project contract which is expected imminently.
