British High Commission Programme Manager - Skills for Prosperity Programme South Africa Jobs

British High Commission Programme Manager - Skills for Prosperity Programme South Africa Jobs


Job Category

  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Policy & Political roles)

    Job Subcategory

  • Economic and Prosperity

    Main purpose of job:

    This is a great opportunity to deliver a key component of the £1.2bn cross-government Prosperity Fund. New and innovative, the Fund represents a step change in the UK Government’s (HMG) approach to promoting economic development and prosperity overseas.

    Your job will be to help define and implement a circa £5-7m multi-year Prosperity Fund programme supporting the development of Higher Education (HE) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in South Africa, which:

  • Reduces poverty and stimulates inclusive, sustainable economic growth
  • Addresses skills gaps and opens new markets for international businesses, including UK companies
  • Is aligned with equivalent UK programmes in other middle-income ODA-eligible countries
  • Is coherent with wider High Commission/HMG efforts to build education links with the UK
  • Has impact in South Africa and is good value for money

    Roles and responsibilities:

  • Help finalise a global Business Case and input into the programme’s design
  • Provide strategic advice to design and oversee small-scale transition activity
  • Contribute to a London-led procurement exercise to contract lead global implementers, highlighting any local risks or issues
  • Build a strong network for the High Commission amongst education stakeholders in Government, civil society and business
  • Develop strong relations with education leads in London and other priority Prosperity Fund countries
  • Use this network and knowledge to refine a cross-cutting High Commission Education Strategy into which the Prosperity Fund programme will feed
  • Connect the global programme implementers with the right organisations in South Africa and robustly represent cross HMG interests
  • Ensure that the programme is de-conflicted with other UK Government and donor work in South Africa
  • Secure UK credit in working up the programme details with beneficiaries.
  • Ensure that the programme is run effectively and that risks are mitigated appropriately
  • Monitoring: sign off delivery partner milestones and report to central programme team
  • Continue de-conflicting the programme with other UK-funded work in South Africa
  • Ensure that the UK gets due credit for successes, and that South Africa’s contribution to the overall programme’s annual reviews has impact
  • Deploy High Commission’s diplomatic levers to support the programme’s primary aim of reducing poverty
  • Deploy High Commission’s commercial levers to support the programme’s secondary aim of opening new markets
  • Ensure the South African programme complies with the International
    Development Act, including the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014; meets the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)’s criteria; is untied; meets UK government transparency commitments on ODA spend; and complies with HMG audit requirements.
  • Identify and manage risks to successful programme implementation.
  • Keep abreast of education policy developments in South Africa and the UK, using this knowledge to spot opportunities for programme interventions which support better education in South Africa.
  • Support gender equality act compliance and support PF’s policy and guidance on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth.
  • Build links across the High Commission and participate in Cross-Government initiatives consisting of programme, policy and commercial colleagues in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
  • Deepen the High Commission’s education engagement in South Africa’s TVET sector (this will involve regional travel around South Africa).
  • Maintain a strong network with your colleagues in the UK, and counterparts in Africa and other priority Prosperity Fund countries, adapting the programme on the basis of lessons learnt (this may involve international travel).
  • Support the wider Prosperity team, and take on High Commission corporate roles.
  • Oversee a small non-ODA fund to build UK/South Africa trade/investment links in education.

    Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

    Small-scale transition projects in 2018
    Programme manager for large-scale multi-year contracts from 2019-21 (circa £5-7m)

    Essential qualifications, skills and experience

  • We are looking for a proactive, creative self-starter who can prioritise to operate in a fast-paced environment, largely unsupervised, delivering to deadlines.
  • S/he will need excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the High Commission; in South Africa; and with stakeholders in the UK.

  • Graduate with a university degree
    Knowledge of the education sector in South Africa from having worked in the public/private sectors
  • Passion for education and a desire to improve education in South Africa
  • Experience in developing policy advice/analysis and delivering successful programmes
  • Minimum 5 years experience in programme management, ideally in a development context
  • A strong understanding of gender issues
    Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems
  • Desirable qualifications, skills and experience
  • Experience of managing budgets

    Required competencies

  • Seeing the Big Picture, Leading and Communicating, Collaborating and Partnering, Delivering Value for Money

    How to Apply

  • Interested candidates should apply online by 4 December 2018
  • For more information and job application details, see; British High Commission Programme Manager - Skills for Prosperity Programme South Africa Jobs

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