Country Project Coordinator

About the Aga Khan Foundation

For nearly 50 years, the Aga Khan Foundation has been partnering with communities, governments, and the private sector to harness the best from people from all backgrounds to improve the quality of life. The Foundation’s work is rooted in core values of self-reliance, pluralism, and respect for human dignity. AKF is a member of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), one of the world’s leading poverty solutions networks. AKDN makes long-term investments, builds permanent institutions, and cultivates an active civil society, impacting tens of millions of people annually in 30 countries. Alongside its sister AKDN agencies, the Foundation implements innovative, community-driven solutions that are based on decades of experience, evaluation, and learning.

Project background

Advancing Gender Equality through Civil Society (AGECS) is a Sub-Project of AKF and Global Affairs Canada’s Foundations for Empowerment and Education (F4EE) initiative. F4EE is active in five countries (Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda) and will improve education systems at the pre-primary and primary level, in addition to strengthening women’s empowerment, and gender equality. As part of the AGECS component 3 Sub-Grants have been issued to Uganda Women’s Organizations and Gender-Equality focused civil society organizations (CSOs) implementing gender equality targeted and gender equality transformative programming.

Position Summary

AKF is seeking an experienced and dynamic Country project coordinator under the AGECS project who will also serve as Focal Point for the Civil Society work in Uganda. The Country Project Coordinator will be responsible in providing leadership in planning and coordinate the effective implementation of the Country AGECS Sub-Projects and their implementing partners to ensure the project is implemented on time, on budget, and achieves its objectives, while remaining compliant to all donor requirements. S/he will also serve as Focal Point for the Civil Society in Uganda and working closely with the Regional Technical Advisor – Civil Society to provide technical support on civil society strengthening beyond AGECS. The position will be based in Kampala with frequent travel to West Nile region, specifically Arua. The Country Project Coordinator reports directly to the Country Manager with secondary oversight from the AGECS Regional Project Manager and the Regional Civil Society Technical Advisor. The Country Project Coordinator will work closely with the Country Gender Focal Point, the MERL Coordinator, and the Finance Manager to ensure that the project is compliant and achieves its intended results.

Responsibilities

The Country project coordinator AGECS will be responsible for providing leadership in planning and coordinating the effective implementation of the Country AGECS Sub-Project (s) and their implementing partners to ensure the project is implemented on time, on budget, achieving all intended project outcomes, and remaining compliant to all donor requirements. The Project coordinator will provide in-country strategic and technical oversight to AKF Uganda’s Civil Society portfolio, including support on civil society strengthening, M&E and Gender Equality alongside the Country Gender Equality Coordinator, Country M&E Coordinator, Country Manager and the AGECS Regional Project Manager.

Specifically, the Country Project Coordinator will:

• Provide comprehensive capacity development process of AKF civil society organizations (CSOs) through institutional strengthening tools and platforms, and provide specific technical training, mentoring, and coaching.
• Ensure efficient and effective grant management of the AGECS Sub-Projects.
• Be responsible and accountable for all Country AGECS Sub-Projects’ reporting and donor compliance requirements.
• Be responsible for quality project implementation and reporting including the delivery of project activities on time and budget.
• Preparation and submission of project work plans, activity reports, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual narrative reports.
• Coordinate quarterly and annual review meetings with implementing partners*.*
• Coordinate, liaise, and collaborate with key local stakeholders during the implementation of the projects.
• Ensure integration of gender equality considerations and social inclusion in all aspects of project design, implementation, and management.
• Build relationships and maintain coordinated communications with AKF’s Country Program Team and the F4EE Regional Team, and other local partners.
• Analyze field performance with monitoring and evaluation benchmarks and recommend and implement procedural changes to improve operations to meet objectives.
• Provide technical support and coordination of the AGECS sub-projects including civil society strengthening activities during implementation in collaboration with Country Gender Equality Coordinator, Country M&E Coordinator, Country Manager, AGECS Regional Project Manager, Regional Civil Society Technical Advisor.
• Distill gender equality related lessons learned from program implementation and ensure these are documented, shared, and used in subsequent adjustments to program implementation.
• Identify, document, and share learning.
• Promote the culture of sharing lessons learnt and networking on gender equality across the F4EE/AGECS teams and implementing partners.

Coordinate with / support the Country M&E Advisor to:

• Develop, review, and finalize Sub-Projects’ M&E plans, including the selection of appropriate indicators.
• Engage Sub-Projects’ teams to support regular data collection, analysis, interpretation & learning.
• Ensure all data collection processes adhere to robust ethical standards, including AKF’s Safeguarding Policy and all relevant national research and ethics standards.
• Provide technical and operational oversight of Country M&E-based consultancies, learning components, and policy engagement to elevate visibility and learnings from the program approach.

Coordinate with / support the Country Finance focal point to:

• Coordinate with the country’s financial focal point on reporting, forecasting and compliance.
• Work closely with the finance focal point to manage project expenditure and control over/under spending.
• Discuss monthly finance reports with the country’s finance focal person.
• Work closely with the procurement focal point to ensure project purchases are done on time and as per donor regulations.

The ideal candidate will have:

Required Qualifications, Experience, and Competencies

• A bachelor’s degree in development studies preferably social sciences, especially gender studies, and/or other relevant disciplines.
• Minimum five (5) years of project management experience
• Proven experience in working through and strengthening civil society.
• Demonstrated analytical, organizational, convening, interpersonal, negotiation, and problem-solving skills in a cross-cultural context.
• Expert capacity in written and verbal skills in English with the ability to write high-quality reports for donor projects and analytical briefs.
• Ability to work well in teams and particularly teams that span across multiple geographies.
• Demonstrated ability in public speaking and public presentations in local community and partner meetings, trainings, and workshops.
• Capacity to work independently, take initiative and manage a variety of activities simultaneously while meeting strict reporting deadlines and keeping colleagues and senior managers well informed.
• Ability to facilitate collaborative and participatory processes with partners and stakeholders.
• Ability to work in local languages relevant to the country is an asset.
• Strong understanding of monitoring and evaluation methodologies and logical frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to remotely work, lead and motivate a diverse team of partners.
• Strong familiarity in working using online and digital technologies including proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other valuable presentation platforms.