Program Manager, HCDExchange

About HCDExchange

The HCDExchange is a community of implementers, funders, designers, evaluators, and youth committed to advancing learning and practice related to the integration of human-centered design (HCD) and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in low-resource settings, with a particular focus on countries in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The HCDExchange aims, through our learning community, to accelerate the field of HCD+ASRH and thereby elevate young people’s agency and transform sexual and reproductive health outcomes for youth and adolescents.

The first phase of this work built a more cohesive, globally accessible, and representative body of practitioners and policymakers, expanded HCD+ASRH skills and capacity of practitioners and institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; and began to generate a well-curated and researched body of evidence and learning that is accessible to the entire global health community in one location, and tailored to different audiences. In the next phase, the HCDExchange will transition from building a broad-based learning community to accelerating access to knowledge and evidence on HCD+ASRH for a focused set of actors, particularly among professional and institutional stakeholders and specific geographies.

The HCDExchange Secretariat and the Advisory Committee are preparing the Community of Practice (CoP) for its next stage of development. We established this startup CoP for improving networks and advancing global learning about HCD+ASRH during the COVID 19 pandemic, which required considerable time and resources. We are now working with a vibrant community of practice and wish to maintain and accelerate the momentum of HCDExchange, moving toward a model of sustainability and local ownership, if possible.

Purpose of the Role

The Program Manager will support the overall project management activities. S/he will help ensure resources and systems are in place for effective management and completion of work. This includes setting and managing deadlines, communicating with the team and leadership about the state of the activities, ensuring projects stay on track and on budget, and adjusting if necessary to meet new requirements. S/he will also work with the technical and operations teams to manage sub-contracts, identify gaps in documented processes and generate standard procedures for project implementation. This person will work under the direction and supervision of the HCDExchange Director and will collaborate with the broader HCDExchange team including staff, consultants, Youth Leadership Hub Associates, and Advisory Committee members.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Program Management

• Supports the overall project management activities, ensuring resources and systems are in place for effective management and completion of work. This includes setting and managing deadlines, communicating with the team and leadership about the state of the activities, ensuring projects stay on track and on budget, and adjusting if necessary to meet new requirements.
• Leads routine communications and coordinates meetings with key partners, clients, donors, and field offices (e.g. development of meeting objectives/agendas, note-taking, and coordination of meeting dates).
• Supports recruitment, including review of job descriptions; coordinates job postings on HCDExchange Job Posting Database; coordinates hiring committees and the onboarding process of new staff. Recruits and manages temporary staff and interns
• Maintains the project’s technical and operating electronic files, including the HCDExchange shared drive, and Google Drive.
• Works with management and workstream leads to support the management of sub-contracts such as the Francophone West Africa engagement among others.
• Facilitates and participates in the development of, and/or the timely completion/review of, project technical reports, such as monthly, quarterly and annual reports, work plan revisions, technical and strategy papers, and other ad hoc reports, as required.

Operations Support

• Develop, document, and operationalize business processes for the HCDExchange
• Routinely review and update organizational procedures and business processes with technical, financial, and management teams
• In collaboration with the management team, manage the HCDX Operations work plan; identify organizational human resource gaps and goals and develop an operational strategy for achievement
• Maintain archives of data sets produced by JSI and facilitate internal and external access and distribution.
• In coordination with the HCDX team and in close collaboration with the MEL Lead, consolidate and support monitoring the project work plan through metrics to ensure alignment with mission and vision.
• Work with the MEL Lead to generate annual reports and other syntheses for internal team meetings and management review, and client reporting.
• Coordinate event planning (internal & external workshops and trainings) including participating in the conceptualization of the event, creating and managing event budget, and managing logistics (i.e. participant coordination, venue, catering, IT, and supplies)
• Supports project leads with drafting of communications content, abstracts, articles, and other materials.
• Support the management of the project budget and ensure overall project management compliance.
• Undertake any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Qualification, skills, and experience:

Qualifications

Master’s degree in Project Management, Development Studies, Operations Management, Public Health plus 5-7 years’ technical support and/or administrative experience required or a Bachelor’s degree and 8-10 years of relevant work experience.

Required skills and experience

• Prior experience in international health, sexual and reproductive health or development, as well as experience working in a developing country is required.
• Demonstrated project management skills, including experience with workplan and budget development, contractual compliance, and client relations.
• Excellent writing, communication, and organizational skills (both analytical and problem solving).
• Ability to self-manage and handle competing priorities between teams.
• Ability to work with diverse teams, take initiative and be flexible.
• Proven organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Proficiency in Excel and ability to work comfortably in the MS Office package, specifically MSWord, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with mining, analysis, interpretation, and presentation, and visualization of data desirable, including Salesforce experience.
• Ability to work independently and manage various projects in a team setting with minimal supervision.
• English fluency required; second language proficiency desirable (French preferred).