Senior Country Engagement Manager, West Africa

Are you looking for a challenging role where you can put your extensive experience with international Project Cycle Management, Aid Programming and exceptional proposal writing skills to work? Are you self-driven, a strong communicator and do you thrive managing projects and donor contracts? Are you in your element juggling multiple activities, ensuring quality control, and building strong, collaborative relationships – all while maintaining a clear oversight of it all? Then you might be right for our new Senior Country Engagement Manager role.

MANAGE RELATIONS WITH COUNTRY OFFICES AND ENSURE QUALITY
We are looking for a Senior Country Engagement Manager (SCEM) for the West and Central Africa Region, with particular emphasis on the Sahel. You will be joining the Africa Unit, where you will be the second Senior Country Engagement Manager working on the West and Central Africa portfolio. You will have the opportunity to influence the strategy of the Africa Unit, and the International Department. Our SCEMs manage Save the Children Denmark’s (SCD) relations with Country Offices and ensure quality assurance and control of funding proposals and donor reports, hence mitigating programming and financial risks. The SCEMs develop and safeguard SCDs strong and positive portfolio management relations with Country Offices in the assigned region and with donors of SCD-funded awards.

There are countless opportunities for networking and development via close collaboration and sparring with colleagues in the same regional team, as well as a Compliance Officer, SCEMs of other regional teams and colleagues from other sections such as “Project Finance,” “Education in Emergencies,” and “Evidence & Learning.” Externally you will work with Institutional Donors who fund SCD activities, as well as partner NGOs.

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
In short, the Senior Country Engagement Manager (SCEM) serves as the key focal point on day-to-day programmatic and donor contract management between Save the Children Denmark (SCD) and the Country Offices in West Africa. The SCEM ensures close coordination and monitoring of new project design processes, programme implementation, compliance and in reporting both in French and English.

More specifically, the SCEM will be responsible for the following:

• Management of assigned, large scale and multi-country programs:
• Collaborating with COs on all aspects of project cycle management.
• Coordinating multiple SC members’ interests and inputs to programmes and projects.
• Monitoring progress towards achieving results.
• Capturing and sharing key lessons from country and regional programming in relation to assigned programmes.
• Ensuring contract compliance for the grant throughout reporting cycles and closeout.
• Performing Quality Assurance/Quality Control on COs’ funding proposals, reports, modification requests, and other significant correspondence with donors.
• Keeping track of in-house co-financing and cost-sharing decisions.
• Informing and advising COs on relevant developments at SCD’s Copenhagen Office.
• Supporting the Head of Region, Africa, and Senior Institutional Partnership Afvisor in ensuring coherence and continued relevance of SCD in the region.
• Bringing questions of programmatic risks to the attention of the Head of Region, Africa.
• Identifying gap areas in CO grant performance and requesting deployment of matching surge capacity.

Management of donor relations for SCD-funded grants in COs, including:

• Writing high-quality funding proposals (following best practices in PCM and intervention logic formulations).
• Submitting high-quality funding proposals to institutional donors, especially Danida, the EU and Education Cannot Wait, but also private corporations and foundations for co-financing.
• Coordinate and develop a combined Communications and Visibility Plan.

The SCEMhas no direct line management responsibility but advises the Country Offices assigned.

YOUR PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL PROFILE
The relevant candidate has a Master level university education in a relevant area of study such as Disaster Management or Social Sciences. In addition, we expect that you have the following experience and competencies:

• Extensive international Project Cycle Management experience, with documented successes writing proposals and managing projects and donor contracts. Concrete, first-hand and significant experience with Danida and the EU is desirable.
• Extensive experience working with aid programming in at least one (preferably more) of the following areas: Education (including Education in Emergencies), Child Protection, Local Partnerships and regarding contextual analysis of the conditions for children and youth.
• Financial literacy: Strong ability to develop, read, understand and revise budgets and financial accounts.
• Superior English and French writing skills: Ability to independently present different thematic theories of change.
• Strong analytical skills: Ability to develop intervention logics on the basis of context analysis and to design projects and write convincing funding proposals.
• Proven success performing Quality Assurance/Quality Control on funding proposals, reports, modification requests, and other significant correspondence with donors.
• Operational field experience and experience travelling to COs and/or project implementation sites.
• Solid understanding of the specific needs and rights of children in fragile and development settings.
• Demonstrated experience successfully applying above-listed skills for more than five years.
• Proven Communications and Visibility experience in relation to EU donors

In addition to above, you have strong organization and coordination skills with the ability to marshal resources (people, funding, material, support) to get things done. You have proven experience juggling multiple activities at once, as well as multiple stakeholders with at times conflicting interests. You communicate clearly and confidently with others to engage, influence and build trust, and you are an excellent team player.

You are self-driven, take the initiative, and stay with a problem or challenge until a solution is reached. You have good knowledge and application of technical and professional standards in portfolio management and growth. You take responsibility for your work and are excellent at planning and prioritizing your tasks to ensure timely delivery and appropriate results.