ECD & Nutrition Program Manager at National Child Development Agency ( NCD) Deadline: 5 April, 2024

Using the action plan developed as part of project launch work, the coordinator will lead an annual planning exercise that will involve consultations with participating districts, and other key beneficiaries of the project to develop a consolidated annual work plan, budget, and cash flow forecast. The work plan and budget will be prepared annually and submitted to the World Bank for approval. The annual work plan and budget would serve as a basis for updating the MTEF for the project. The Program Manager would take leadership in this process, which would include arranging consultations with technical stakeholders under the leadership of NCDA and presenting the draft documents for consideration and/or adoption by the NCDA management, Project Steering Committee (PSC), before submission to the World Bank. The Program Manager will work in close collaboration with relevant technical units within NCDA and his counterpart at RBC (Rwanda Bio-medical Centre) and participating districts to provide implementation support and guidance on project-related activities. To this end, the Program Manager will review project submissions, consolidate inputs, and provide advice as needed The Program Manager will ensure the monitoring and implementation of activities and prepare regular reports on the status of implementation of project activities, identifying problems and proposing remedial actions The status reports would cover both reporting on technical and financial/administrative issues, as well as reporting on the project’s Results Framework. Conduct regular technical meetings and field visits. To organize quarterly meetings with project implementers to review progress, budget utilization, and results attained Led the task team in following up with participating districts to provide quarterly reports on implementation progress in time to feed into the project-wide quarterly report. The reporting will include both activity implementation progress including the monitoring indicators that are followed up quarterly, and financial management reports. Lead preparation of quarterly progress reports, in line with requirements of the World Bank financing agreement, and the consolidated annual report to facilitate annual learning and knowledge sharing. Follow up on recommendations from internal and external audits to ensure timely implementation. In coordination with the project team and technical teams at the NCDA (Nutrition & WASH, Child Development Promotion and Protection) the Programme Manager is expected to also provide other ad hoc briefs on the project to the Project Steering Committee MoH/RBC leadership and the World Bank task team, as needed, to address emerging issues, and ensure effective communication on this high visibility project. The Program Manager will be responsible for managing the project team under his or her Program. The Program Manager will ensure an ongoing operational liaison between the National Child Development Agency, the Management of the World Bank Project, and other Social Cluster Ministries. The Program Manager will ensure daily coordination of the work of the team and working closely with other key stakeholders working on the Bank program and responsible for other nutrition projects operating in the same districts as the bank-funded project. Act as a secretary to the PSC and lead the project team to provide secretarial services to the PSC’s operations. In consultation with the chairperson of the PSC and the DG of NCDA, the Program Manager will develop a calendar of PSC activities and circulate it to the committee members Support the Chair to develop an agenda for committee meetings and to disseminate minutes to all stakeholders with clearly articulated actions and with identification of responsible individuals or organizations. The Program Manager and the project team will provide any other secretarial services that will be required to ensure the effective functioning of the PSC. The Program Manager will provide technical backstopping to the NCDA leadership to ensure effective stakeholder and donor coordination as it relates to the project. The Program Manager will be expected to take the lead in coordinating with his/her counterparts. This may involve representation in technical working groups like the one on nutrition and food security, and participation in the social cluster sector working groups to ensure the desired coordination and harmonization of interventions to achieve the convergence agenda. Stakeholder coordination will also involve regular collaboration with the RBC and districts. Organize and/or participate in different national and regional meetings about knowledge sharing; and facilitate project beneficiaries to document and share good practices. In line with the learning, the agenda developed as part of project preparation facilitates the systematic collection and compilation of good practices, helps to identify corrective measures, and supports the sharing of experiences and lessons among participating and non-participating districts, to improve the implementation of the project and the overall Bank Program.