Programme Manager

Title: Programme Manager

Number of Vacancy: 1

Functional Area: Programmes, Partnership & Impact

Reports to: Programme, Partnership and Impact Director

Location: Country Office Travel required As per need

Travel Required: As per need

Type: Open to all applicants, Fixed-term employment up to 2 years; based in country office

ABOUT PLAN INTERNATIONAL NEPAL:

Plan International is a development and humanitarian organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and achieving equality for girls. With a presence in over 75 countries, we work alongside children, young people, supporters, and partners to create a just world. Our work is guided by core values such as transparency, accountability, collaboration, inclusion, and the overarching ambition to empower girls and young women as part of our legacy.

Plan International has been operating in Nepal since 1978, earning a strong reputation as a trusted development and humanitarian actor. We currently work in 23 districts across the country, helping marginalized children, their families, and communities access their rights to health, education, economic security, and protection.

Committed to feminist leadership and a gender-transformative approach, Plan International Nepal collaborates with local partners to ensure sustainable impact and foster equality, particularly for girls and young women.

Plan International Nepal strives for an inclusive, just, and safe society that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. Our mission from 2023 to 2028 is to see all girls and young women standing strong enjoying their rights, and freedom with dignity in Nepal.

Plan International Nepal is looking for candidates who embrace feminist leadership, value diversity, and are driven to find innovative solutions to challenges. Ideal candidates should respectfully and boldly share their ideas, foster cross-department collaboration, practice active listening, uphold confidentiality, build trust, and demonstrate a strong passion for advancing children’s rights and promoting equality for girls.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Programme Manager will support Programme, Partnership and Impact (PPI) Director, providing operational leadership to ensure high quality programme delivery (both development and humanitarian), strengthened partnerships, and contextual inputs during project design. The role is primarily operational and is responsible for planning and governance and for overseeing the successful delivery of the program’s outputs/outcomes through partners.

DIMENSIONS OF THE ROLE:

Direct Line Manager: Programme, Partnership and Impact Director

Dotted Line Manager: Regional Manager West and Regional Manager East

Budget Accountability: None directly, but accountable for keeping healthy spending for all projects

Number of direct reports: None

External relationships and representation:

KEY RELATIONSHIPS:

Description
ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Programme Governance, Oversight and Risk Management (20%)

• Provide operational integration across the programme, ensuring coherence, consistency, and alignment with country strategy and localization commitments.
• Establish and maintain programme-level governance systems, including performance dashboards, structured performance review forums, risk tracking systems, and agreed implementation thresholds.
• Facilitate periodic Programme Performance Review Forum chaired by Regional Manager/s to review progress, risks, financial performance, and corrective actions.
• Consolidate and analyse programme performance data across regions and provide timely, evidence-based reporting and recommendations to the RMs, PPID and Country Management Team.
• Ensure agreed actions from performance reviews are implemented and tracked to completion.
• Escalate significant delivery risks, safeguarding concerns, or compliance gaps to PPID in a timely manner.
• Promote cross-regional learning and adaptive management through structured reflection and knowledge-sharing processes.

Integrated Planning and Results Delivery (15%)

• Lead consolidation of annual programme plans in coordination with Regional Managers and technical teams, and Program Quality and Innovation Director ensuring alignment with the Country Strategy and Plan’s Commitments.
• Monitor programme outputs and milestones to ensure timely and quality delivery of results for children, especially girls and young women.
• Support Senior Technical Advisors, Regional Managers and project leads in setting realistic milestones, outputs, and resource allocations.
• Strengthen cross-sector integration and coherence across grants and thematic areas.
• Ensure implementation progress is aligned with financial utilization, partner capacity and donor commitments.

Project Life Cycle Management (20%)

• Provide operational and contextual inputs during proposal development to ensure feasibility, realistic planning, and partner readiness.
• Lead governance set-up and operational readiness during project start-up phase, ensuring clarity of roles, reporting lines, risk management arrangements, and performance expectations prior to handover to project leads.
• Ensure Plan’s and partners’ project team fully adheres to Plan’s Project Management Manual standards, operational manual, safeguarding policies, financial and procurement procedures across all projects.
• Conduct periodic programme-level risk reviews and identify systemic issues requiring management attention.

Partnership Quality and Localization Advancement (20%)

• Provide programme-level oversight of partnerships to ensure alignment with Plan’s partnership principles and localization commitments.
• Promote equitable and transformative partnerships, strengthening shared accountability, transparency, and joint ownership of results.
• Monitor partner performance trends and institutional capacity strengthening plans, ensuring program and partnership risks are proactively addressed via programme level governance systems, working closely with Plan’s Partnership focal.
• Facilitate structured engagement between Plan and partners to support joint planning, implementation review, and adaptive learning.
• Ensure partners are meaningfully engaged in programme design, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive learning processes.

Financial Oversight and Risk Management (15%)

• Provide programme-level oversight of budget performance, ensuring expenditures are aligned with implementation progress and approved plans.
• Work closely with Finance, Grants, and Regional Managers to monitor financial variances, forecasts, and ensure project leads implement corrective measures in compliance with donor requirements.
• Review and recommend corrective actions when implementation or financial performance deviates from agreed thresholds (within delegated authority).
• Integrate financial risk analysis into overall programme risk management and escalate significant concerns to programme governance system, and to PPID if critical.

Strengthening Programme Management Practice (10%)

• Strengthen programme and project management practice across regional and project teams in collaboration with the APAC Regional Project & Programme Management Specialist.
• Provide orientation and ongoing guidance on Plan’s Project Management standards/Project DPro standards, governance expectations, and performance management processes.
• Coach project leads to enhance planning quality, risk management, milestone tracking, and accountability for results.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, and learning-oriented culture within the PPI Department and across regions.

Any other tasks as assigned by line manager in accordance to organizational mandate and priority.

• Ensures the full integration of Plan International’s global policies on Safeguarding Children, Program Participants, and Gender Equality and Inclusion (DEI) within their area of responsibility. This includes adherence to the policy principles, relevant Implementation Standards, and Guidelines. Key responsibilities involve ensuring that staff and associates are informed of and understand their obligations under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their specific roles, and that any concerns are promptly reported and managed in line with established procedures.

TECHNICAL EXPERTIESE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE:

Education Qualification and Experience

• Master’s Degree in development-related field, preferably Development Studies, Project Management, Development Management, Human Rights, Management, Social Sciences, and Public Policy, Policy Administration with minimum 7 years of experience managing large and complex projects.
• Experience in rights-based approaches to development. Experience engaging with government private sectors, CSOs and/or multilateral institutions.
• Minimum Level 1 project management certification in Project DPro, PMP or similar. Preferably Level 2.
• Understanding of the structures, processes and trends in the Nepal political system.
• Good understanding of the processes by which you achieve policy change and conducting power and political analysis.
• Good understanding of the national and international environment on development trend.
• Commitment to Plan’s goals, mission, values and approach including the ability to lead on safeguarding and child protection matters where necessary.
• Experience and understanding of the development and humanitarian issues from different perspective.
• Demonstrate understanding of feminist and gender transformative approaches.
• Proven experience in managing complex teams, including indirect staff management and development.
• Ability to communicate effectively and authoritatively on area of expertise, and influence others to reach common goals.
• Proven experiences and ability to coordinate and collaborate with different organizations including the government and demonstrable working experience in development program.
• Developing contingency plans, strengthens local capability and implements responsible exit strategies that reduce future aid dependency.

Knowledge and Skills

• Good written and verbal English and Nepali skills.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with colleagues, a variety of team members and external contacts, through good written and spoken communication skills.
• Good interpersonal skills for team working in multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment.
• Demonstrably strong verbal and written communication, presentation and persuasion skills.
• Ability to plan work and meet deadlines when working under pressure on a number of projects.
• Sound strategic thinking and planning skills, including ability to think creatively and be innovative, set priorities, manage work plans and evaluate progress.
• Strategic, analytical, negotiation skill and decision-making skills.
• Able to create linkages, networking, lobbying and advocating with relevant stakeholders.
• Good awareness and analysis of sensitivities attached with the government functionaries.
• Ability to articulate the vision of Plan’s programme to different audiences.

Behaviours

• Demonstrable professional maturity and able to work independently.
• Ability to apply good judgment and professionalism in the resolution of work-relatedproblems.
• Honest, encourages openness and transparency.
• Growth mindset with an aptitude to listening and learning.
• Efficient in meeting commitments and deadlines in achieving results.
• Ability to plan and organize work by identifying priority activities and adjusting priorities asrequired.
• Demonstrated approach to work that is characterized by commitment, motivation, energyand flexibility.
• Ability to relate to government authorities, UN agencies, and otherdevelopment/humanitarian actors and to build a rapport effectively.
• Continually assessing the external policy and advocacy landscape and adjusting strategy and activities as needed.
• Commitment to Plan’s values including the rights and needs of children.

PLAN INTERNATIONAL’S VALUES IN PRACTICE:

We are open and accountable

We create a climate of trust inside and outside the organization by being open, honest and transparent. We hold ourselves and others to account for the decisions we make and for our impact on others, while doing what we say we will do.

We strive for lasting impact

We strive to achieve significant and lasting impact on the lives of children and young people, and to secure equality for girls. We challenge ourselves to be bold, courageous, responsive, focused and innovative.

We work well together

We succeed by working effectively with others, inside and outside the organisation, including our sponsors and donors. We actively support our colleagues, helping them to achieve their goals. We come together to create and implement solutions in our teams, across Plan International, with children, girls, young people, communities and our partners.

We are inclusive and empowering

We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge inequality in our programmes and our workplace. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential.

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT:

This position is based in Country Office with travel to field as necessary.

LEVEL OF CONTACT WITH CHILDREN:

Low Level: Less interaction with children.

“Say Yes ! To Keeping Children and Young people safe and Protected”

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