ILRI Vacancy: Program Management Officer

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit an experienced, dynamic, innovative, self-motivated, and results-oriented Program Management Officer who will be responsible for overall administrative, financial, human resource and grants/program management within the Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) program. The position will be accountable to the AVCD program manager. The program will be implemented by a consortium of three CGIAR centers working on four main value chains, namely: livestock (ILRI), dairy (ILRI), root crops (CIP) and drought tolerant crops (ICRISAT), with ILRI as the lead center. The Accelerated Value Chains Development program for Kenya will work with small scale farmers, processors and traders in selected value chain to attain resilience, food and nutrition security, and economic development through rapid and wide adoption of improved technologies and innovations.

ILRI works with partners worldwide to enhance the roles that livestock play in food security and poverty alleviation, principally in Africa and Asia. The outcomes of these research partnerships help people in developing countries keep their farm animals’ alive and productive, increase and sustain their livestock and farm productivity, find profitable markets for their animal products, and reduce the risk of livestock-related diseases. www.ilri.org

ILRI is a not-for-profit institution with a staff of about 700 and in 2015, an operating budget of about USD 83 million. A member of the CGIAR Consortium working for a food-secure future, ILRI has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, a principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and offices in other countries in East, West and Southern Africa and in South, Southeast and East Asia. www.cgiar.org

Responsibilities:

1. Program Reporting, Administration and Human Resource

Oversees all the Program Administrative functions and directly supervise program Support Staff including performance management, work planning and reviewing of job descriptions.
Support the Program Manager and the AVCD team in the preparation of Weekly Reports, Monthly Reports, Quarterly Reports, Annual Program performance indicators reports, Program Advisory Committee Reports and other adhoc reports.
Participate in Program Management Committee meetings, serving as management group Secretary and ensuring follow up on action points.
Participate in Program Advisory Committee meetings to assist in taking notes and recording the proceedings of the meetings.
Provide leadership and management of all aspects of the Program Administrative Office ensuring the office systems run efficiently and in a coordinated manner.
Reviews Program administration functions, structures and procedure and makes recommendations to the Program Manager for changes, and oversee their implementation.
Preparation of program procurement documents, include tenders and requisitions.
Act as the main link between the Program and Human Resource units and also provide support to the Program Manager with staff planning issues.
Support the Program Manager and AVCD technical staff with national and international staff and international consultants’ recruitment contracts.
Maintain updated staff/supervisor list and organization chart.

2.Grant / Partnership Management

Review all Program related sub grant agreements to ensure compliance with donor agreement provisions and ILRI legal and financial policies and that reporting requirements for interim and final financial and technical reports are achievable.
Drafting of all program partner sub grant agreements ensuring compliance with donor regulations. This includes but not limited to working with different project partners in development of sub grantee budgets, project financial and technical reporting requirement etc.
Provide guidance and/or trainings to program partners/sub grantees on donor and ILRI administrative, legal and financial requirements.
Review all consultancy contract requests and staff recruitment position requests prior to approval by Program Manager and submission to Human Resources office to ensure compliance to ILRI and donor requirements.
Review program partners/sub grantees and consultants payment requests before approval by program manager and submission of payment to finance for processing.
Review program financial reports once prepared by the budget and grants department to ensure that all costs are included and adherence to donor requirements.

3.Budget development and Management

Preparing of Program annual budgets and subsequent periodic budget revisions in consultation with team leaders, project managers and Program Manager.
Working with the Program’s team leaders and in consultation with different project managers in the updating of monthly staff time in line with budget provisions and work plans before submitting to finance for processing of monthly payroll.
Review of activity project budgets including workshop, training and/or field activity budgets, prior to approval by project leaders and implementation of the project activities. This is to ensure that the all projects are implemented within the approved budgets and also in line with donor and ILRI financial requirements.
Follow up with related project staff and ILRI corporative services team to ensure that all projects are properly closed on completion.

Requirements

Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), Program Management or equivalent Masters Level degree in a related field.
At least five (5) years working experience in Project management environment in an international or development organization.
Professional training in project management.
Knowledge of administrative and financial management of development programs and/or donor funded projects/programs.
Good managerial skills with a high-level of problem solving.
Good writing and communication skills and well conversant with essential computer software.
Ability to work under minimal supervision.

Post location: The position is based in ILRI Nairobi, Kenya.

Terms of Appointment

This is a Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position based at ILRI’s Nairobi campus. It is open to Kenyan nationals only. The position is on a 3-year contract, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funding.

Job Level: This position is job level 3A. ILRI offers a competitive salary and benefits package which includes; pension, medical and other insurances for ILRI’s Nationally Recruited Staff.

How to apply: Applicants should send a cover letter and CV explaining their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Director, People and Organizational Development. The position title and reference number REF: PMO/FTF/AVCD/10/2015 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the cover letter.

All applications to be submitted online on our recruitment portal: http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 27 November 2015.

We thank all applicants for their interest in working for ILRI. Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

To find out more about ILRI, visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org/

To find out more about working at ILRI visit our website at http://www.ilri.org/ilricrowd/

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer