Department: Programmes

Responsible to: Head of Programmes

Location: Tubmanburg, Bomi County

Contract length: TBD

Our vision

That every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things.

Our mission

To enable people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer, and through this involvement, provide the most effective help to those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities.

Our values

Confidence in the innate goodness of people – respect the dignity of every human being and family life – good stewardship of resources entrusted to us.

Job purpose

Reporting to the Head of Programmes, the Programme Development Lead will provide strategic leadership of the programme development team, in line with the MMI MEL strategy and relevant policies. The Programme Development team works very closely with the Programme Delivery team to understand programme issues. He/she is responsible for research, learning, and providing key inputs and innovative ideas on how to continuously improve the MM School Feeding Approach and working towards programme excellence. In addition, the position is responsible for leading institutional donor project impact assessment and baseline activities.

The post is key to the successful running and development of the school feeding programme in country, and will have regular interactions and strategic alignment with key personnel in the MMI Programmes Operations and PIL teams in support to the Head of Programmes. The Development Lead requires to dedicate considerable time to ensure a high-performing, resilient, and dedicated development team.

Key activities

Ensure effective management of the development team, in line with the MMI Global MEL Strategy, in-country Strategy, and lead in the following:

Programmatic Excellence

• Liaise with the Programme delivery team and lead in the identification of programme issues, operational improvement and development needs
• Coordinate strategic research, rapid assessments and learning to understand and explain identified issues
• Refine existing programmes and develop innovative programme refinements, aligned to our school feeding approach, with clear implementation guidelines
• Monitor programme refinements and piloting of new approaches to ensure implementation has desired effects.

Monitoring, Impact and Granting

• Ensure that the systems and processes for monitoring programme impact are robust and consistently applied, in coordination with the data quality staff.
• Lead in the design and development of impact assessment research, including developing implementation tools and plans for an effective tracking of indicators and activities.
• Lead project monitoring and rollout of surveys and data collection to support reporting of all institutional and other grants

Learning and Capacity Building

• Promote a learning culture across Programmes function and MML more widely • Establish a strong system of feedback and knowledge sharing across the Programmes function and Mary’s Meals Liberia as a whole
• Lead on the learning and capacity building needs of school and community partners • Facilitate the sharing of best practices across MML and our global programmes, through the Programme Development Lead Forum and with other opportunities as identified
• Identify in-country research needs and lead research in accordance with MMI Programme Development team.

Other

• Coordinate responses to external audits conducted by MMI Risk & Assurance, liaising with MMI Programme Operations and Programme Development as required • Develop a high-performing, innovative, resilient, and sustainable development team through constant coaching, mentoring and role modelling
• Lead the management of implementing partners where applicable
• Any other duty as assigned from time to time.
• Any other duty as assigned from time to time.

The role will require to travel to locations in which Mary’s Meals programmes operate.

Key relationships

Reports to:Head of Programme

Internal relationships : Programme Delivery Lead , Programme Operations Lead

Internal Relationship MMI:MMI Programme Development Lead , MMI Programme Development Manager

Direct reports:Programme DevelopmentManager

External relationships: Ministry of Education officials , MMX Stakeholders

How to apply for this role

To apply, please send your CV (maximum 3 pages) with details of three professional references (emails and cell numbers), a cover letter explaining why you are interested in the role and a valid up-to-date Police Clearance of good conduct (Liberian nationals) to : Jobs.Liberia@marysmeals.org

Closing date: 14th October 2022, at 5pm. Only shortlisted candidates will be communicated to for interview.

Your covering letter should make a compelling case for why you feel motivated to work for Mary’s Meals Liberia in this role, as well as giving a concise overview of your most relevant skills and experience and should fill no more than two pages of A4.

While Mary’s Meals Liberia will endeavour to contact all candidates within a reasonable time, this may not always be possible due to limited resources. Therefore, if you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, you can assume that your application has, on this occasion, been unsuccessful. Mary’s Meals Liberia is an equal opportunities employer.

All applicants will be judged strictly on the basis of merit.

Please note: A second interview stage may be required.

Mary’s Meals is a child friendly organisation committed to the protection of children.

Mary’s Meals is an equal opportunities employer, all who meet the criteria are encouraged to apply.