Project Manager

Aasaman Nepal (ASN) ‘A pioneer organization for education and nutrition’, is one of the leading Terai based NGOs led and managed by social activists since its establishment in Dhanusha, Janakpur in 1999. ASN has been engaged in developing and implementing programs aimed at protection, promotion, and fulfillment of child rights in Nepal. Currently ASN has been working in 17 districts under 6 Thematic Areas as: Education/Child Protection, Women Empowerment, Livelihood/ Natural Resource Management, Disaster Risk Reduction, Health/ Nutrition and Good Governance.

Aasaman Nepal is implementing USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion is a five-year project set to implement in Karnali and Madhesh Province with the objective of contributing to reduce barriers to access and retention in grade 6-10; improve quality education for marginalized children; and ensure quality implementation of disbursement linked indicators related to equity and inclusion activities under School Education Sector Plan (SESP). The project will be implemented in approximately 1800 schools spanning 215 LGs across 18 districts of Karnali and Madhesh Province.

Aasaman Nepal is looking for the self-motivated, result oriented and hard-working Nepali citizen for the following position:

Project Manager – One

Job Purpose:

This position will lead the thematic expertise of USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion project in the Madhesh province by supporting Provincial Director in collaboration with key Government of Nepal (GoN) counterparts (province and local government). The Project Manager will support to the project team leading the project planning, implementation and result capturing process. This position will also serve as one of the key member of the project management team and will provide thematic leadership to project team members in the province and in the field.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Management, Financial and Administration

• Support to Provincial Director in provincial office management that includes management of staff, finance, administration and program at Province.
• Play lead role in providing thematic expertise in reporting, documenting, training, planning and implementation of provincial level actions through planning meetings with the staff and partners to review plans, progress and issues, etc.
• Maintain good team communication, engender good team dynamics and take remedial actions when problems occur.
• Support in financial and administrative management of all programs/projects leading timely and effectively utilization of fund, ensuring the implementation of policy and guidelines.
• Act as a focal person of overall project by closely working with Project Management Team.
• Encourage for ensuring practice of sharing lessons or learning, innovations amongst the team members.

Planning and Implementation of Program

• Support in preparing annual, quarterly and monthly plans, implementation action plan, and intervention guidelines, training manuals, etc. of the assigned project.
• Prepare training manuals, guidelines, relevant policies at province and local level related and delivery of trainings or orientation to the staffs on along with carrying put follow up to ensure that these approaches are effectively implemented.
• Support to the project team on effective implementation of the assigned program at province level and in the field as per stipulated plan and objectives of inclusive quality education.
• Prepare project plans, progress, issues and future contingency plans, and their effective implementation
• Ensure effective implementation and completion of approved and planned activities of assigned program and supervision and assure the other project’s implementation strategies in the program areas through regular field visits.
• Prepare training/workshop guidelines and manuals to be delivered in the field related to inclusive education including Non-Formal and Alternative Education, community learning center, social audit system, Integrated Education Management Information System (IEMIS), disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs), rolling out ESIP activities.
• Coordinate with local government including education unit in relevant interventions to local governments and target schools.
• Prepare specific policies/guidelines/frameworks like EI policy guidelines; LG guidelines to facilitate timely execution of annual EI-related activities and budget; accelerated learning relevant framework, provincial-level campaigns for school enrollment; teacher training on UDL, SEL and gender-responsive pedagogy (ETC); etc.

Supervision and Monitoring

• Carry out regular field visit to supervise, monitor and support in providing technical inputs on education related thematic areas and also implementation of cluster/field activities to ensure timely completion and quality of works.
• Monitor and review field activities in each programs area to ensure that the activities are implemented in line with expected outcomes and provide on the spot feedback and support for improvement as necessary based on the indicators/targets of the program.
• Support to program staff as well as finance staff, and ensure the best possible management of the budget as per organizational norms and policies.
• Provide feedback/recommendations to the cluster/field team and line manager on program implementation with regards to education as thematic areas and other cross-cutting issues.
• Provide feedback on developed assessment and evaluation tools to measure the project’s effectiveness and impacts.
• Support to ensure staff assessment and evaluation as per organizational policies and norms and provide hands on coaching and feedback including orientation formally and informally to strengthen their capacity to implement the program activities effectively.
• Guide and assign the field level project team to planned programme interventions, approaches or strategies and capturing results.

Documentation and Reporting

• Prepare and submit field visit reports and support to prepare monthly, quarterly and annual reports, technical progress reports and financial reports as required by the agreement/funding partners and cycle.
• Prepare case stories/case studies, database, result capturing documents and assessments related to program and submit to the supervisor for the further action.
• Contribute to the development and revision of organization’s strategy/thematic papers, action plans and priorities related to education.
• Support to cluster teams for the systematic documentation providing guidance, format and ample, etc.

Capacity Building and Mentoring

• Support team members in carrying out capacity building sessions to the staffs as per the needs by providing sessions on thematic areas of education, policy advocacy, and other emerging areas to the cluster team members for mentoring them.
• To assess the needs of staffs for capacity building areas and report to line manager for carrying out sessions or trainings through external resources/consultants.
• Identify issues and needs of the target groups and review/finalize training package and facilitate capacity building and empowerment training/orientation/awareness.
• Facilitate to identify local issues and needs and resolve them in a participatory manner through meetings, awareness, orientation, and training including advocacy campaigns as appropriate.

Coordination and Representation

• Coordinate with the units of province government and local government based on the project plans on advocacy and lobby, consultation and meeting actions by providing information and technical inputs to the plans, budgets of the respective governments.
• Support to provincial head for effective coordination and represent the organization at provincial governments and its bodies, provincial and district level development partners, private sector, service agents and suppliers, NGOs/Networks, and other stakeholders for effective delivery of project activities.
• Maintain good relations, communication and understanding within the team(individually and in group) and funding partners by regular communication and sharing of the project related information and issues, seeking and providing support for timely resolution of the issues and problems.
• Support to cluster team to maintain good relations and communication with program beneficiaries including local governments and other concerned stakeholders at local and district levels.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Education qualification and experience

• Master’s Degree in Mass Communication and Journalism, Social Sciences or any relevant field.
• Minimum 10 years of working experience as communication and coordination related thematic expert or management of education related projects/programs in Nepal.
• Experience managing USAID funded project would be an added advantage.

Knowledge

• Knowledge on communication, reporting, documentation, and related policies, plans, (international, national and local).
• Well known about the child education, child rights, and formal and non-formal education system in Nepal.
• In depth understanding about the Nepal government’s provincial priority program in education, inclusion, and related policies and plans;
• In depth knowledge about School Sector Education Plan (SESP) and SDGs and the role of provincial and local government and development partners in implementation.
• Basic understanding about the issues of equity and inclusion (EI) in education and EI related disbursement linked indicators (DLI) at local level.

Skills

• Preparation of training manuals, guidelines, strategies, etc. on education and child protection and safeguarding, etc.
• Demonstrated analytical, strategic thinking and negotiating skills;
• Strong communication, coordination and negotiation skills;
• Strong problem solving and relationship building skills;
• Demonstrated ability to build positive and trustworthy relations for influencing;
• People management and team building skills;
• Experience in managing time and resource constraint;
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing in English and Nepali complex and technical information to technical and general audiences; and Proven IT skills: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoints etc.

Languages: Strong command of Nepali, English, Maithili, Bhojpuri (oral and written) and local language preferred/required.

Aasaman Nepal has zero tolerance of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. We expect all our employees/volunteers to ensure we are protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults from harm and abide by our safeguarding policy.

Other Attributes for all positions: Excellent quality of work and commitment to high standards, strong communication skills, team building and willingness and motivated for good service delivery with strong networking and interpersonal skills and comfortable to work under stress and emergencies.

Age Limit: Candidates between 21 years to 45 years are only eligible to apply for the above position, depending upon the nature of job they will carry.

All employees must adhere to child safeguarding in person’s provisions covered in the project agreement.

Monitor staff and partners’ and ensure adherence to Aasaman Nepal’s policies and internal procedures, protocols, Aasaman Nepal’s code of Conduct with special attention to Safeguarding Standards and Procedure, Case Handling Framework, Child Protection and Do No Harm Policies. Also, immediate reporting and redress of any complaints and issues based on its severity.

Notes:

• Locals, especially women and members of ethnic or marginalized communities from Madhesh Province are encouraged to apply for this position.
• Applications received after the deadline will not be considered and only shortlisted candidates will be notified for the further process.
• Canvassing at any stage of the recruitment process shall lead to automatic disqualification of the candidate.

Interested candidates are requested to submit their application along with updated CV in below link by 12/11/2023.

https://forms.gle/bbN3vhBKHgtxFpe77

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for participation in the recruitment process. No telephone enquiry is entertained. ASN reserves the right to qualify/disqualify any applications without any reason.

This job description is not incorporated into the employment contract. It is intended as a guide and should not be viewed as an inflexible specification as it may be varied from time to time considering the organization work. The post holder will be expected to demonstrate high level of efficient and effective working skills to perform the responsibilities.