Job vacancy Consortium Coordinator and Program Design

SKILLS & EXPERTISE

• Leadership and people management (make others thrive)
• Innovation & knowledge management
• Knowledge and comprehension of program related policy creation, analysis and advocacy
• Planning, organization, time management, and coordination
• Expertise in Program Review, Evaluation, and Monitoring

EDUCATION AND REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• At least master’s degree in development and/or related disciplines such as Social Science, International Development, Public Health and related fields. 

Required experiences

• Commitment to advancing child health to give a healthy start of every child’s life
• Proven knowledge and expertise in designing and managing innovative and sustainable multi-partner programmes, preferably with a focus on maternal and child health, WASH, Nutrition, climate change and entrepreneurship
• A minimum of 15 (fifteen) years of work experience with 8 (eight) years of experience in developing & managing programmes 
• Experience in leading multiple teams
• Prior experience as head of a department or programme for a similar organization. 
• In-depth knowledge of programmatic and policy concerns at the national and international levels
• Experience in innovation management & market system approaches (M4P) towards improving and designing programmes and new approaches 
• Fluency in written and spoken English and native / national language

About Max Foundation

Max Foundation is a dynamic international non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring a healthy start in life for every child. With an annual program budget of €4.5 million and a team of 58 full-time employees, our headquarters are situated in Amsterdam. Our operations positively impact 3 million people globally, particularly focusing on vulnerable communities in Bangladesh and Ethiopia, with plans for further expansion into sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Burundi.  

In Ethiopia, Max Foundation Max Foundation is a dedicated partner in this shared vision of ensuring a healthy start for every child through its integrated approach to programming, to ensure adequate nutrition, access to health care, clean and safe water, proper sanitation, adequate care, and safe spaces for play.

At Max Foundation, our programs serve as a 'design lab,' where we develop and scale innovative solutions in safe water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), nutrition, food security, and maternal health, all with the overarching goal of improving child health. We firmly believe in supporting entrepreneurs to play a pivotal role in providing solutions to the multifaceted challenges faced by children, their families, and their communities. Through evidence and insights gained from our integrated solutions, we aim to influence the development sector and governments to implement these solutions on a broader scale, addressing issues from various perspectives.

Purpose of the Position

Max Foundation Ethiopia is currently recruiting for the position of Consortium Coordinator & Program Design Lead.  The incumbent will be responsible for effective and high-quality coordination and management of the consortium implementing the Healthy Village Program (HVP).  The Healthy Village Programme (2020 – 2025) is implemented by the consortium of Max Foundation and Plan International, and in close collaboration with the Government of Ethiopia (GoE).  iDE and ORDA Ethiopia are implementing partners.  The aim of the Healthy Village Programme, currently being implemented in Amhara and Tigray, is to reduce stunting and water- and faecal-borne diseases in a sustainable manner.

The incumbent will therefore support the Healthy Village Programme’s consortium efficient planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and reporting.  He/she will ensure integration of standardized approaches and systems across the consortium to ensure timely and high-quality interventions are delivered to achieve impact.  

In playing the role of Program Design Lead, he/she will facilitate generation of learnings and evidence from Healthy Village implementation (and from external learnings) to continuously inform quality program delivery as well as programme design, in the most innovative manner.  The Consortium Coordinator & Program Design Lead serves as a technical advisor to the Healthy Village Programme Steering Committee as well as the program team of the consortium.  The position is based in Addis Ababa. 

ACCOUNTABILITY AND LINES OF COORDINATION  

• He/She manages, coordinator and provide oversight to the Healthy Village Programme consortium while strategically offering strategic oversight to Max Foundation.  
• The position reports into the Country Director of Max Foundation Ethiopia and is a member of the Senior Management Team. 
• This position also works closely with MF-Netherlands, Director Programmes & Operations who serves as Consortium Lead at Netherlands level, particularly on technical, content and process matters that affect programme quality and delivery. 

Core responsibilities/accountabilities

Programme Management & Quality Assurance

• Ensure that programmes produce the outputs desired, with quality, budget, and time, while also allowing the consortium to refine strategies and methodologies for greater impact, scale, and sustainability. 
• Lead the process of planning, implementation, monitoring, learning, and reporting to ensure quality and standard across the consortium.
• Strengthen the practice of regular monitoring; evidence generation, gathering of success stories, documentation and communication of results and lessons; and that challenges are tracked and addressed in a timely manner.
• Ensure that quality programme progress updates and reports are produced (by collecting from respective organizations) and shared with consortium members. 
• Produce high level presentations to donors, synthesized from reports and lessons. 
• Institute a practice of producing a harmonised quality programme report, analysis of the report, and extracting best practices and lessons from it for continuous improvements and scale up of the programme. 
• Develop a strategy for and implement capacity-building training that will improve performance and strengthen partnership across programmes.

Coordination & Communication

• Coordinate joint platforms to enable consortium partners to develop harmonised approaches and standards for implementing the programme and follow up on uniform application of the standards. 
• Oversee the effective coordination and communication of consortium partners’ activities via joint planning sessions, joint review meetings, supportive supervisions, and other ad-hoc visits – and ensure these platforms lead to sharing of key lessons, challenges, and solutions for program improvement. 
• Chair the Programme Technical Working Group (TWG) to be held on a regular basis – and use this platform to facilitate effective communication, cross-learnings, best practice identification, identifying challenges and risk, and devise solutions.
• Proactively identify platforms to present programmes’ approaches, strategies, success, and learnings, leading to the scale-up and adaptation by others.
• Lead the organization of field visits by donors and other stakeholders. 
• Provide strategic guidance and report to Steering Committee and implementing partners in planning and implementing a high quality and innovative consortium programme.

Programme Design and Innovation Management 

• Support the team in adapting and (re)designing project interventions, when external circumstances require so
• Facilitate, in collaboration with the team, the organization of various cocreation & learning sessions for the consortium members, to enhance project interventions and bring out innovations.
• Give guidance to learning & innovation management throughout the programme and organization by facilitating idea generation and transition ideas into operational plans.
• Provide coaching and technical assistance to program teams to develop technical briefs, success stories, and best practices to document and share key approaches. 
• Build meaningful and effective relationships with expert partners, innovators and researchers and engage them in concept- and project development.
• Contribute to development of proof point and footprint; and assisting in the process of measuring effectiveness (evidence) of innovative project/programme approaches.

Management of staff 

• Supervise programme team including seconded staff to achieve deliverables in accordance with annual implementation plan. 
• Ensure timely completion of goal settings, periodic performance evaluations and coaching of staff under your supervision.
• Ensure an enabling environment for the performance, recognition, and reward of the team to encourage staff productivity, innovation, and performance. 
• Assess and indicates training needs and advice CD on possible improvements and training possibilities for the programme staff.
• Provide technical support and on-going on-the-job training and coaching to staff in management and or technical subjects.
• Provide induction, training, coaching, mentoring and advice to staff to help them carry out their responsibilities effectively. 

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Analytical
• Entrepreneurial mindset: considers a challenge as opportunity to find innovative solutions
• Cocreator: ability to leverage inputs of others into new concepts
• Ability to think and act ‘out of the box’
• Networking, influencing and interpersonal
• Ability to shape ideas into project concepts
• Ability to facilitate proposal development for fund raising
• Excellent presentation, written and spoken communication, and negotiation
• Networking and stakeholder management skills