Special Project Manager at Spark MicroGrants: (Deadline 29 April 2022)

Special Project Manager at Spark MicroGrants: (Deadline 29 April 2022)

We are hiring a Special Project Manager

ABOUT SPARK MICROGRANTS

Spark Microgrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Decades of prescriptive aid have sidelined the poor from the very programs meant to uplift them. We believe in local solutions and catalyzing rural villages facing poverty into action.

At the heart of Spark’s model, the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), are ‘town-hall’ style weekly meetings, in which women, men, young, old, plan together for their community’s future. Each village elects a leadership committee, establishes a village savings account, and launches a project of their choice. Members receive training on financial management, transparency, leadership, village planning, and advocacy. Each village then receives US$8,000 in seed funds and additional management support to turn their project ideas into reality.

Spark trains partner organizations and works with governments to scale the FCAP as the model of choice to advance social and economic development, improve lives, and secure lasting change. Spark is now active in 500+ villages in 6 countries, improving the lives of over 500,000 people.

As a team, we share a set of common values that shape how we work. These are:

1. Facilitators. We don’t impose; we enable others to generate impact.
2. Community-driven. We are motivated by what is best for the community.
3. Process-centred. The how of what we do is just as important as the what.
4. Authentic. Our vision and values live in everything we do.
5. Dynamic. We seek opportunities and are willing to take risks to serve our community partners better

ABOUT THE ROLE

Spark is seeking a highly organised, detail oriented project manager to join the Impact & Design team. The Special Project Manager will work closely with the Impact & Design Director to deliver strategically critical projects across the organisation to time and to budget. These projects will vary in size and scope including:-

1. i) designing and managing tech teams to deliver a mobile app
2. ii) rolling out a training curriculum to 500 learners in Malawi

iii) ensuring external consultants are managed, paid and procured effectively and inline with organisational policies

1. iv) proposing and developing methods of ongoing support for project stakeholders.

This is just an indication of the variety of in-depth and broad projects that you will lead  as not just an implementer but heavily involved in conception and design.

This role’s variety means that we are seeking a self starter, able to thrive in ambiguity, and fiercely meticulous.  We are looking for a candidate who has a wide range of skills, including a strong understanding of technology development and is able to adapt them to any project, communicates with ease via email, on the phone and through formal reports, that is adept at reading people, highly organised, and passionate about a better world.

 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Lead to day to day running of a variety of strategically important projects, ensuring that all projects are delivered on-time, within scope and within budget. This includes:
   1. Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives, involving all relevant internal stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility
   2. Develop and maintain comprehensive project documentation in order to  monitor and track progress
   3. Measure performance using appropriate project management tools and techniques
   4. Report and escalate to management as needed
2. Manage external relationships with consultants, providers and partners with regards to on-going projects in their domains.
3. Perform risk management to minimise potential risks
4. Delegate project tasks based on staff members’ individual strengths, skill sets, and experience levels
5. Provide regular updates on project progress, risks and mitigation strategies to senior management.
6. Collect requirements and conduct user research to develop solutions that balance stakeholder needs with technical capacity constraints.
7. Develop and collect feedback on UI design, product wireframes and specs.
8. Lead modified agile development process; including managing workloads, prioritisation of backlog, and ensuring project teams are working efficiently.
9. Perform other related duties as assigned

WHO YOU ARE:

You are an up and coming project manager looking for your next step. You thrive in bringing order to chaos, understanding a variety of stakeholders, requirements and priorities and bringing them all together into coherent and systematic processes for delivery. You enjoy being part of a team with ambitious ideas and you gain energy from turning those ambiguous ideas into a pragmatic reality.  You are a clear communicator, understanding differing styles and backgrounds and you bring things up to your colleagues proactively that need to be discussed.

REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications experience & skills:

• 2-5 years demonstrable experience of delivering a variety of projects
• Excellent planning and organising skills.
• Incredible attention to detail
• Strong English written and oral communication
• Experience working with INGO setting/environment is prefered.
• Project Management Qualifications are preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office / G-Suite applications
• Remains calm and positive under pressure and in difficult situations.
• Ability to lead project teams of various sizes and see projects through to completion.
• Strong understanding of formal project management methodologies.

 OTHER INFORMATION

Job Location: Kigali, Rwanda or Kampala, Uganda

Estimated start Date: As soon as possible

Application closing Date:   On a rolling basis, we reserve the right to close this recruitment process at any time.

How to Apply: Follow this link to apply https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=37&source=aWQ9Ng%3D%3D

Please note that we are able to sponsor visa applications for this position. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Spark Microgrants provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Spark are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Spark does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by the law. Spark will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE AND APPLY