Senior Programmes Manager BBC Media Action

Job Introduction

The BBC Media Action office in Zambia is looking for a Senior Projects Manager to provide overall leadership of the management and delivery of our donor funded projects. Reporting to the Country Director, Zambia, the Senior Projects Manager will be responsible for ensuring that our projects are delivered on time, on budget and to high quality.

The role requires a high degree of personal resilience and a flexible approach to implementing development projects in a challenging, resource-poor, multi-cultural context. The Zambia office has a talented team of staff, and is a supportive and inspiring environment in which to work.

BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development charity, which uses media and communications to help reduce poverty, address development goals, and support people to understand their rights. We do this through partnering with media, civil society and others to produce creative programmes and other outputs which inform and engage audiences on key development issues. We also strengthen the media sector through building professional capacity and infrastructure of local media organisations in the countries in which we work.

BBC Media Action delivers a portfolio of projects in Zambia. It seeks to expand this portfolio of work, but also to ensure that existing projects are delivered on time, on budget, to the highest standards and in accordance with BBC editorial values as well as Media Action methodologies.

Main Responsibilities

This exciting and influential role will be responsible for the overall management and delivery of a range of development projects which use the power of media to tackle issues of governance, health, media ecosystems/media freedom and resilience. The Senior Project Manager will oversee a diverse, multidisciplinary team to ensure the agreed targets and objectives are met; and will ensure the quality and cohesion of project outputs. Maintaining relationships with donors and ensuring accurate and timely financial and narrative donor reporting will be a key part of the role, as will identifying further funding opportunities related to meeting development priorities in Zambia and taking the lead on writing successful proposals.

The Senior Projects Manager will be responsible for overseeing the overall delivery and budget management of projects, and for reporting on progress to the Country Director, partners and donors. Upon request of the Country Director, the Senior Project Manager will represent Media Action in country to key stakeholders and will ensure effective relationships and partnerships with a wide range of partners including broadcasters, NGOs, international development agencies and others.

BBC Media Action works to ensure that everyone we work with remains safe during their time with us. The Senior Projects Manager will support the Country Director in ensuring that safeguarding is factored into project design and budgeting, staff and freelancers receive relevant safeguarding training, and relevant safeguarding due diligence is conducted with any local partner organisations that may be working with vulnerable adults or children as part of our projects.

The role reports to the Country Director, Zambia and will work closely with other members of the Senior Management Team.

Are you the right candidate?
Essential skills and experience

• Considerable experience developing and managing large-scale, donor-funded projects in a developing-country context, preferably in Africa.
• Proven ability to develop and secure new donor-funded international development projects, including ability to develop new business ideas and present these persuasively to potential partners and funders.
• Proven experience writing successful donor-funded proposals that incorporate project research and development, logframes, budgets, etc.
• Strong financial management skills, with proven experience managing complex medium to large budgets for donor-funded international development projects and knowledge of the reporting requirements of donors.
• Experience managing teams, preferably within a developing-country context, and developing and improving internal management systems and processes.
• Proven ability to forge strong working relations quickly and gain the trust of local partners and counterparts (such as other NGOs, donors, local media and other stakeholders).
• Confident public speaker with experience of presentations to colleagues, donors and stakeholders.
• Good judgment and decision-making skills, including the ability to adapt, react and respond to crises, and to evaluate risk.
• Experience working on own initiative and organising time effectively within a range of often conflicting deadlines and demands.
• Excellent written and spoken English.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience working in one or more of BBC Media Action’s key thematic areas in Zambia: governance (particularly youth participation and accountability), media ecosystems/media freedom, health (e.g. maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health including family planning and sexual and gender based violence), resilience and climate change.
• Experience of working in both the media/communications and development sectors.
• Experience in managing a portfolio of multiple, simultaneous complex projects.
• Demonstrable editorial judgement skills and understanding of BBC editorial values, or demonstrable potential to acquire strong editorial skills in order to help make sensitive editorial judgements at a senior level.
• Knowledge of the Zambian or regional development context.
• Experience mainstreaming disability inclusion into projects or managing projects focused on disability inclusion.

Package Description
Band: D

Contract type: 2 year attachment / fixed term contract

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Safeguarding Commitment

BBC Media Action has zero tolerance of all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. All staff are required to undergo safeguarding training and maintain behaviour that is consistent with BBC Media Action’s code of conduct. The role involves managing staff who have direct contact with children and adults at risk of harm.  The role is based in a country where poverty, police corruption and criminal impunity may be significant risk factors. Informal contact with children and vulnerable adults is likely to be frequent, including when not at work. The successful candidate will need to undergo enhanced DBS and/or related background checks.

DISCLAIMER

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.