Program Operations Director, Tanzania
Organization Profile:
Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in
developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in
education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner
organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of
reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete
secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and
beyond.
We are non-governmental, non-religious and work with many local NGOs
and community based organizations to implement our programs. We
currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South
Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia – countries with a
desperate lack of resources to educate their children. Since our
inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 7 million
children by constructing more than 1,600 schools, establishing over
15,000 libraries, publishing 800 new children’s book titles in 11 local
languages, and rewarding over 20,000 girls with long-term, holistic
scholarships.
Room to Read has an annual budget of approximately US$43.7 million
and our global staff numbers over 500. Our global headquarters is
located in San Francisco, and we have smaller fundraising offices in
Delhi, New York, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Sydney, and Tokyo. We have
an Asia Regional Office located in New Delhi and program offices in
Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kathmandu,
Lusaka, New Delhi, Pretoria, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane.
Position Overview:
This position is part of the Country Management team. This is a
senior management Country position primarily responsible for leadership
with the strategic and tactical execution on all work related to
implementing Room to Read’s Literacy Programs and Girls’ Education
Program. The Program Operations Director will oversee the
implementation, coordination, development, reporting and expansion of
our current and prospective Program and Administrative work. The
position will report directly to the Country Director and will directly
supervise the programs implementation teams. The incumbent will also
work closely with the country Literacy Director who provides technical
expertise. Regular travel to all geographical areas where Room to Read
works will be required.
Duties & Responsibilities:
- Direct and ensure efficient, effective and timely management of all
designated program development, implementation, budgeting and internal
controls per the design created by the technical programs staff.
- Supervise, coach and mentor the Field Operation Managers who are
responsible for overseeing the implementation of program activities in
specified geographical areas, including budgeting, scheduling, reporting
and other project implementation related tasks for their assigned
schools.
- Responsible for overseeing and facilitating the completion of donor
reporting and timely and accurate data entry in Room to Read’s Global
Solutions Database.
- Responsible for timely reporting on the status of implementation to the Country Management Team and Regional and Global Office.
- Responsible for the coordination and leadership on procurement, inventory management, and distribution.
- Facilitates communication between the technical team at the Country
Office level and the field level implementation team, and ensure
utilization of research, monitoring and evaluation data to inform
implementation.
- Develop Country Office program implementation calendar and budgeting
processes in coordination with the Country Office Field Operations
Managers and Programs staff.
- Collaborate with Human Resources to handle recruitment and training of staff according to need.
- Conduct Field Operations Managers appraisals.
- Prepare terms of agreement for outside program consultants and oversee the non-technical aspects of their work.
- Visit project sites to support and supervise program implementation.
- Develop and implement ideas that address program priorities in
collaboration the technical program staff, provide input into strategic
and operational planning exercises.
- Collaborate with relevant in-country, regional, and global office
staff to strengthen and improve program impact and sustainability.
- Ensure high quality achievement of annual goals.
- Collaborate with the Programs, and Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RM&E) team to support RM&E of all programs.
- Prepare the annual project permission and fund release documents and
persuasion to obtain such permission from the NGO affairs bureau,
Directorate of Primary Education and with the other government bodies
both at the national and district level.
- Identify, track and document program trends, lessons learned and
best practices and report to Country Office Program technical staff to
consider in improving program designs.
- Ensure that organizational, governmental and donor reports are high quality and provided on a timely basis.
- Explore shared-learning and networking opportunities.
- Ensure government approval and legal compliance of the programs implemented directly or through Room to Read partners.
- Develop and manage relationships with government, NGOs and appropriate educational bodies as related to program implementation.
- Represent Room to Read at relevant meetings and assist in planning and hosting donor visits.
- Provide regular updates on program implementation and plans to the Country Director.
- Participate in any other activities as required to fulfill the objectives of the organization.
- Manages Admin team and Field Manager(s).
Qualifications:
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Management or other related field
- A minimum 10 years of professional experience, including 3 years working in a senior managerial role
- Working knowledge and understanding of project management methodology and software
- Experience in working or volunteering in a non-profit organization
- Strong planning, budgetary, supervising, and project implementation skills
- Ability to travel regularly to project sites and Province or District offices throughout the Country
- Strong English verbal and written communication skills
- Proven track record of achieving results
Preferred:
- Prior success working closely and building relationships with diverse groups of people
- Effectiveness in working or volunteering in a non-profit
organization that is focused on maintaining high quality work and low
overhead
- Prior experience in a fast-paced, growth-oriented global or regional organization
- Ability to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously and take initiative
- Prior experience living and/or working in rural areas,
- Prior experience working with schools, teachers, administrators and government officials
- Experience in successful implementation of a wide range of tasks as
well as developing and implementing improvements in a prior position
To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:
- Have a passion for our mission and a strong desire to impact an up-and-coming non-profit organization
- Be an innovative and creative thinker – you are not afraid to try something new and inspire others to do so
- Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
- Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
- Work well independently as well as part of a team
- Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment
Compensation:
Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. Benefits including 13th
month bonus, provident fund, medical allowance and check-up, health and
accidental insurances for staff and their family; leaves and staff
professional development. The non-monetary compensation includes a
unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, fun, and
rapidly growing organization that is changing, transforming the lives of
millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy
and gender equality in education.
Application Procedure:
Please send a cover letter and resume by email, with “[POD TZ ]” in the subject line, to tz.hiring@roomtoread.org or
send by post to Associate Director Africa, Room to Read Tanzania, Post
Box 105459, Ileje Street, Mikocheni B, Plot No 36, Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania.
If you do not hear from Room to Read within one month of the closing
date, please accept that your application was unsuccessful. Please note
that late applications will not be considered and correspondence will be
limited to short-listed candidates only.
Room to Read is proud to be an equal opportunity
employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and
leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.
