Mine Action Program Manager Zimbabwe

Do you have experience managing demining programs? Does leading a mine action program clearing densely laid minefields in a wildlife conservation area on the Zimbabwe/Mozambique border sound like an interesting challenge?

Context

APOPO is an international mine action NGO with over 20 years of experience in humanitarian Mine Action. While best known for its mine detection rats and dogs, APOPO’s program on the Cordon Sanitaire minefield in Zimbabwe is dependent on a team of 90+ local staff, including 5 teams of frontline manual deminers. Through a year and a half of operations, APOPO’s team has released nearly 500K sqm and will need to release around 1M sqm more between 2023 and 2025 to finish its task area. If remaining contamination exists, APOPO anticipates maintaining its program until the country is declared mine-free. APOPO’s Zimbabwe program is currently supported by multi-year grants from Foreign Governments.

For more information about APOPO, please visit our website: www.apopo.org.

Role

We are seeking to hire an experienced and highly motivated Program Manager (PM) for our Mine Action Program in Zimbabwe to lead a team of 90+ staff members. The main office is situated in Harare and the job requires frequent visits to operations on the border with Mozambique.

Requirements

The PM should have the following profile:

• Demonstrate excellent management and leadership skills;
• Minimum 5 years of mine action experience, field experience is an advantage;
• Detailed understanding of the concept and of the implementation of Land Release (LR), and experience both in theory and in practical management;
• Experience in operational planning of mine action activities;
• Experience in interacting with Mine Action Authorities;
• Experience in resource mobilization and monitoring financial procedures.
• Excellent computer skills to create documents, working on shared databases, writing reports, and proposals, analyzing excel data, and monitoring activities on ArcGIS Online applications.
• Knowledge of International Mine Action Standards;
• Demonstrate excellent communication skills (government, donors, partners, internally);
• Experience in proposal development, donor reporting, partner/donors relations, grant monitoring, management, information management, administration, and contract compliance;
• People management experience with highly developed social and communication skills and cultural competence;
• High level of integrity, sound judgment, maturity, patience, flexibility, and adaptability;
• High degree of self-motivation and ability to work independently;
• Good networking skills and ability to engage in partnership processes with other organizations;
• Capacity to organize, prioritize, and delegate (where appropriate with follow-up) a heavy load efficiently and cope with a high degree of pressure;
• Spoken and written fluency in English;
• Experience with government grant management is an advantage.

Key Responsibilities

Implement and manage APOPO’s Mine Action strategies

• Implement the Mine Action strategy in Zimbabwe;
• Develop a local strategy and implementation plans in line with APOPO’s strategic goals;
• Manage staff members who are working for the program;
• Manage the administrative and logistic aspects including the budget of the project, in line with APOPO and donor policies and procedures;
• Recruit local staff as required;
• Implement and finetune tools, methodology, and training modules for staff, including APOPO SOP’s.
• Actively engage in the search for funding for operations in partnership with APOPO’s US and Swiss Directors, Head of Programs, Mine Action, and other HQ staff;

Promote APOPO’s mine action activities

• Raise APOPO’s profile with stakeholders;
• Strengthen the existing networks with central and local authorities and liaise with new local partners and stakeholders;
• Ensure appropriate documentation of operational activities and regular reporting to donors and national authorities;
• Present APOPO’s work and concepts at conferences, workshops, and other relevant fora;
• Liaise with current and potential stakeholders, operational partners, and donors.

Be an active member of the APOPO management team

• Write and submit regular progress reports to the Head of Programs, Mine Action;
• Report any relevant information about the project and stakeholders;
• Participate in mine action management meetings;
• Provide input to the communications team in support of the website or general communications;
• Assist other APOPO projects when appropriate.

Compensation and benefits

• Salary: compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience;
• Accommodation: APOPO provides comfortable housing in-country including utilities;
• Allowances: APOPO provides a telecommunication allowance;
• Leave: you’ll have a minimum of six weeks out of the program per year;
• Flights: APOPO provides annual holiday flights;
• Insurance: Insurance cover by APOPO’s insurance package including Personal accident, travel and medical expenses insurance and access to 24-hour medical assistance including evacuation and repatriation;