Project Coordinator

Job Description

Career with BRAC Sierra Leone 

BRAC is an award-winning international non-governmental development organisation, with the vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential. BRAC is a leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programmes to assist poor and disadvantaged communities in low-income countries, including in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings. It is an organisation of and for the people of the Global South, pioneering new development and social enterprise approaches to equip communities to achieve prosperity. As well as being the world’s biggest NGO by number of staff and people directly reached, BRAC has regularly been ranked the number one NGO in the world by the Geneva-based NGO Advisor, an independent organisation committed to highlighting innovation, impact and governance in the non-profit sector. BRAC retained the top spot in 2020 among the top 500 NGOs for the fifth consecutive year.

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. It started its first programme outside of Bangladesh in Afghanistan in 2002 and has since reached millions of people in 11 countries in Asia and Africa. BRAC has a holistic approach to development that uses a wide array of programmes and social enterprises, including in microfinance, education, health, agriculture, gender, and human rights. BRAC believes that every person has inherent potential, and when an enabling environment is created and that potential is unleashed, even the poorest can become agents of positive change in their own lives, for their families and their communities. 

About the Project:

This project, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), will engage communities, provide access to quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) services, and support young mothers’ education and income generation.

BRAC Sierra Leone NGO is seeking applications from competent, dynamic and self-motivated individuals to fill the following position in Sierra Leone NGO.

Purpose:

We are seeking a passionate and experienced Project Coordinator to coordinate implementation of activities for a transformative project aimed at empowering young mothers in supporting their children and enhancing their lives in Sierra Leone. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in community engagement, project management, and gender-transformative approaches. The responsibilities include managing staff, project activities, local stakeholders’ coordination, and implementation of the activities within the program and is supervised by the Project Manager. 

To provide day to day coordination and technical support to the Community-Led Two-Generation Approach Project activities in Sierra Leone

Key Responsibilities: 

Project Coordination 

• Collaborate with key local stakeholders on the design and plan the implementation of the project including conducting meetings with stakeholders and advocating for empowerment of children, AGYW and child protection. 
• In partnership with the Project Manager, complete a comprehensive project plan that outlines activities, timelines, and milestones for each phase of the project.
• Establish good working relations with the project team, government and stakeholders at organization, districts, and regional level.
• With the Project Manager, support coordination of the community action planning workshops, working with AGYW and community members to identify priorities, resources, and strategies for implementation and community ownership. 
• Establish strong relationships with the project team from the country office, field office and technical teams. 
• Manage 3 Project Officers in implementation of the project. 

Gender-Transformative Approaches and Child Protection:

• Ensure that gender-transformative principles are integrated into all project activities.
• Support Project Officers and community champions in raising awareness to challenge harmful gender norms and promote gender equality within the communities.

• Promote and ensure child rights-based programming at field and office level.
• Promote and abide by internal policies and procedures including child protection and safeguarding policies. 
• Ensuring mandatory reporting to child abuse cases in play lab project operation.
• Promote and facilitate child rights and gender inclusion based on play lab projects at field level.
• Ensuring Child Protection Committees at Play Lab centers are fully functional and Safeguarding prevention and reporting mechanisms are in place for youth programming. Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, encourage others to do so.
• Ensuring all project team and relevant others, including Play Lab leaders, parents, AGYW, community champions and project stakeholders are aware and have access to Child Protection Policy and Safeguarding Policy and under their responsibilities in policy implementation. 
• Adhere to high ethical standards and comply with all regulations.

Project Implementation and Management:

• Coordinate implementation of project activities according to the project plan and in line with the established timelines.
• Monitor project progress, assess challenges, and work with the Project Manager to adapt strategies to achieve project goals.
• Support delivery of quality orientation and refreshers trainings for front line workers (Play Lab Leaders, Project Officers and Community Champions) and participants – including AGYW, parents and stakeholders – to ensure effective implementation of activities including adequate preparation for training, supervision of quality delivery and monitoring of training outcomes.
• Ensure Project Officers manage availability of required manuals and guidelines in Play Labs and conduct regular review.
• Collaborate with partner organizations and institutions to enhance the capacity of ECD centers, teachers, and community service providers.
• Collaborate with partner organizations and institutions to deliver social and economic empowerment of AGYW through linkages to existing services including adult literacy, TVET and non-formal community education. 
• With the Project Officers, link children in the communities under play lab centers with available services surrounding them.

Data Collection, Reporting and Learning:

• Develop and submit to the Project Manager monthly, field progress and other reports in a timely manner.
• Document project success stories/case studies/ best practices/lessons learned and submit them to the Project Manager as part of the month report. 

Provide ongoing updates to stakeholders in coordination with the Project Manager

• Contribute to the project reporting led by the Program Manager
• Coordinate with the MEL team for project monitoring and learnings from monitoring reports 
• Provide coordination and support in stakeholders management especially children and communities in the districts and project locations and documenting what works in the project locations and share with Project Manager 
• Assist PM in regular project reports for internal and external stakeholders, highlighting achievements, challenges and lesson learnt.

Person Specifications:

• Strong English competency.
• Excellent analytical, planning, and organizational skills with the ability to adapt strategies based on data and feedback.
• Excellent understanding of project development, implementation, monitoring, and reporting
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage diverse stakeholders and build collaborative relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in cross-cultural settings and with diverse communities.
• An effective public speaker, able to communicate to external education stakeholders and communicate a clear vision to motivate a small team to deliver that vision.
• Support PM in ensuring excellent, clear, and high-quality report writing, with an analytical mind and attention to detail.
• Able to use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to capture, report and communicate complex data and ideas.
• Confidence to ask for help from BRAC International teams and comfort with assessing mistakes and learning from them.
• Ability to work in a fast and complex environment with stakeholders from multiple cultural backgrounds and with different levels of skills and English language ability. 
• must be able to embrace cultural relativism and avoid subjective assessments to remain respectful and mindful of the value all stakeholders have to always offer.

Safeguarding Responsibilities:

• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the programme’s goals on safeguarding implementation. Act as a key source of support, guidance, and expertise on safeguarding for establishing a safe working environment.
• Practice, promote and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action. 
• Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, encourage others to do so.

Educational Requirements:  

Bachelor’s degree in project management. Combination of Education/Social Science with some courses in international development and personnel management required.

Experience Requirements: 

• At least 3 years of experience in project management, community engagement, and gender-transformative programming, preferably in an international development context.
• Strong understanding of the education sector in Sierra Leone is a must; preferred Early Childhood Development (ECD) and gender-transformative approaches and/or Youth Empowerment and employment approaches in Sierra Leone 
• Proven experience in designing and implementing community-based projects, including participatory methodologies with civil society and action planning.

If you feel you are the right match for the above-mentioned position, please follow the application instructions accordingly:

Candidates need to email their CV with a letter of interest mentioning educational grades and years of experience at recruitment.sierraleone@brac.net 

PLEASE MENTION THE NAME OF POSITION IN THE SUBJECT LINE

Only complete applications will be accepted and shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Application deadline: 2nd October, 2023

Women are strongly encouraged to apply.