Project Manager (Finance, Operations and Compliance) – Shule Bora
Contract
Full time
Dodoma, Tanzania
Job Description
The Project Manager will function as part of the Core Team, responsible for financial & fiduciary risk management, contract management of downstream partners & oversight of operations, procurement and compliance with MM systems and processes.
Initiate and Plan:
- Agree project management approach with client. Establish budget, plan of work & control systems.
- Work in accordance to STEP, participate in meetings to determine programme outline, roles, responsibilities, technical governance & methodology, team management, communications, deliverables & commercial management.
- Ensure all approaches are confirmed with the client & documented.
- Develop Scope of Work Plan (SWP), ensure scope is clearly defined & understood by client & team.
- Develop Project Management Plan (PMP), Project Quality Plan (PQP) and establish Project Plan of Work (PPW).
- Budget & populate the project using approved cost management tools.
- Prepare Delivery Chain Mapping for DFID.
Programme Delivery: Execute, Monitor and Control:
- Manage performance against PPW and PMP. Make updates & changes.
- Manage performance against contract, identify changes & implement change control via contract amendment.
- Hold monthly control meetings.
- Support TL to ensure deliverables are submitted on time & make leadership aware if project is off track.
- Identity & manage commercial risks. Determine & manage a justifiable contingency against identified risks.
- Responsibility for supplying regular & accurate financial information to client in the form of annual/monthly budgets & forecasts.
- Responsibility for billing client in accordance to contractual billing schedule.
- Support in preparing a costed workplan & ensure staff implement workplan within budget & record change control when amendments are made.
- Monitoring internal budget & reporting monthly on financial performance & budget availability.
- Manage performance against budget, monitor & update financial management tools monthly, ensure project maintains sustainable profit & minimises capital employed.
- Report on WIP values monthly, ensure value is fully justifiable.
- Lead on VfM initiatives including ensuring procurement process is followed.
- Support VfM reporting by overseeing allocation of costs against logframe indicators.
- Ensure recruitment of staff & consultants follow STEP due diligence practices.
- Ensure engagement of 3rd party suppliers are in-line with STEP due diligence & supplier selection processes.
- Proactively manage 3rd party suppliers to deliver quality products/services on time & to budget.
- Establish Health Safety & Security Risk Assessment, to be reviewed quarterly, ensure this is communicated & acknowledged by team & international staff/consultants.
- Oversee with HR that all staff complete mandatory training, annual PDRs & model MM core values, including a commitment to: Progress, Respect, Integrity, Drive & Excellence (PRIDE).
- Ensure staff & consultants apply project controls correctly.
- Implement anti-fraud actions, training & awareness. Responsible for protecting the company from unethical behaviour.
- Develop a strong relationship with DFID, focusing on finance, HR, procurement & operations. Serve as first point of contact with DFID programme manager on commercial matters.
- Lead on client audit & compliance requirements
- Work with Territory Manager to ensure Group’s Safeguarding Policy is implemented.
- Maintain records by ensuring use of Sharepoint & file storage on OneDrive.
- Ensure adequate operational & logistical support to conduct all planned activities, including transport & accommodation, technical events, logistics for studies/fact-finding missions.
Candidate Specification
Skills
- Ability to prioritise and work under pressure.
- Ability to work in a collaborative team setting.
- Understanding of and sensitivity to cultural differences in developing countries
- Proficient in using MS packages, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Strong organisational skills, reliability, and adherence to ethical standards
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Strong people leadership and influencing skills
- Fluency in written and spoken English, Kiswahili preferred.
Experience
- Managing and leading teams of finance and operations professionals
- Experience in operations management for large-scale, international development projects, ideally for DFID/ UK government
- Experience with procurement, contracts management requirements, and cost accounting principles
- Experience in providing administrative, logistical and financial support to projects
- Extensive experience of setting up and managing multi-million-pound project budgets.
- Extensive experience with stakeholder engagement, including international donors and local government, and the ability to develop partnerships with local government, private sector, and the wider international community
Knowledge
- Educated to a degree level (International Business, Economics, Finance, Project Management, or equivalent)
- Undertaken Project Management Professional Qualification (PRINCE, APM)
- Financial management (AAT, or part qualified: CIMA, ACCA,) desired
- High degree of commercial acumen and knowledge of planning and project controls
- Good understanding of contractual issues and risks relating to delivery of projects
- Current knowledge of Tanzanian procurement, labour, tax, banking, and other laws and regulations
Job Profile
Cambridge Education is bidding for Shule Bora (Quality School) in Tanzania. Implementation is expected to begin in March 2021 and the project value is anticipated to be £80m.
The programme aims to improve the quality of pre-primary and primary schools in Tanzania. There are four main outcomes: improving learning outcomes for all children, improving transition rates to secondary schools for girls, ensuring children are safe in and around schools, and helping children with disabilities access quality education.
If successful, Cambridge Education will design and implement the £80m Shule Bora programme in Tanzania over 6 years – March 2021 – March 2027. The programme will:
- Work with Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) and the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) to test, adapt and implement at scale quality, gender-transformative, disability-inclusive and safe to learn education approaches in 9 regions, generating learning and evidence on how to achieve these outcomes affordably and at scale.
- Support GoT with the timely and effective implementation of the PforR mechanism through technical assistance and capacity building, with a strong focus on data verification, financial management and risk management. Support lesson learning processes from PforR so that these can be embedded into government processes and shared with development partners and other key stakeholders. Ensure that lessons and best practice from (1) are used to inform PfR mechanism.
- Manage and coordinate programme activities, with a strong focus on (i) ensuring a high quality programme, financial and risk management oversight, (ii) working with an independent Learning and Evidence (L&E) provider on establishing regular, rigorous and community-driven monitoring and evaluation activities, and (iii) developing and implementing a strategy for effective communication of Shule Bora objectives, results, and lessons learned to a range of target audiences.
