PROJECT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

1. Background and Project Description:

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty through innovation and entrepreneurship. By the end of 2019, Village Enterprise (VE) will have impacted the lives of one million people living in extreme poverty in East Africa. Our new strategy focuses on ‘scale and impact’, and the organization has ambitious goals in both areas. We intend to impact the lives of twenty million people living in extreme poverty by 2030.

Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems for Refugees (DREAMS) Project is a 5-year project that seeks to help refugees in Ethiopia (Dollo Ado) and Uganda (West Nile) achieve economic self-reliance. DREAMS’ Vision is a world where refugees access opportunities to put their skills, passion, and energy to use to sustainably support their families and build self-reliance.

Our mission is to provide 100,000 of the most vulnerable refugees in Dollo Ado with the security and dignity that comes from providing for one’s family, through establishing 3600 new microenterprises and working with 35 private sector actors to strengthen the local market.

The project will be implemented in a consortium, by Village Enterprise as the Lead Partner and Mercy Corps with IDInsight as the evaluation partner.

2. Scope of Work:

The consultant will generally provide direct oversight of the DREAMS project as Village Enterprise continues to pursue efforts to be registered in the country. The consultant will work together with the Mercy Corps team in Ethiopia to roll out project inception activities. He/she will engage in

coordination and relationship management with key stakeholders.

3. Expected Outputs

Output 1: Completed Annual Work plan

i. Develop an annual work plan for the project based on contractual obligations

ii. Coordinate the implementing partners to complete their annual work plan based on contractual obligations

Output 2: Design workshop conducted in Dollo Ado

i. Participate in the design visit in Dollo Ado

ii. Develop a report that will inform adaptations that will be made in the tools and methodology of delivering the graduation piece for refugees and host communities

Output 3: Play a key role in the integration workshop across partners

i. Participate in the preparatory activities of the integration workshop

ii. Play a key co-facilitation role in the integration workshop that aims at sequencing, layering, and integrating Graduation and Market Systems Development pieces of the project.

Output 4: Relationships with relevant government authorities

i. Work alongside Mercy Corps to build strong relationships with relevant government authorities that would, in turn, lead to a smooth registration of Village Enterprise in Ethiopia**

ii. Play a support role for the team leading the registration process in Ethiopia.**

4. Deliverables and Timeline

Based on the nature of this assignment, it is anticipated that some milestones will be implemented over a period of time

DELIVERABLE

ESTIMATED TIMELINE

Submitting of final work plan

10 days

Conduct Design Workshop in Dollo Ado including developing a report for the same

10 days

Co-facilitation of the integration Workshop

5 days

Build relationships with relevant government authorities and other partners

Across the 12 months

Participate in Village Enterprise various management meetings

Across the 12 months

Recruit field staff

Across the 12 months

Launch the project activities as appropriate

Across the 12 months

Other Key Roles

· Coordinate with the Director of Talent Management to ensure adequate staffing at various levels of implementation.

· Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones.

· Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where the whole team strives to achieve excellence.

· Represent Village Enterprise at conferences, events, and at the government level when needed

· Assist with the roll-out of new activities, processes, and procedures from functional teams

· Ensure compliance with the country governments on registration, tax, and reporting to the different stakeholders.

5. Institutional Arrangements

The consultant will be supervised by the Vice President of Africa Operations with a dotted line to the Director of Partnerships.

Role of Consultant:

· The consultant is responsible to provide their technical expertise to deliver the outputs stipulated above

· The consultant will report on and submit the deliverables under this assignment to the Director of Partnerships assigned as the focal person of this project

· The consultant needs to maintain daily communication with Village Enterprise as and when problems emerge during the consultancy period, especially if they affect the scope of the project.

· Participate in all management meetings as appropriate

Role of Village Enterprise:

· The Director of Partnerships will provide overall project quality assurance of this project

· Village Enterprise will review the deliverables for payment release

· The Director of Partnerships will act as the focal person to interact with the consultant to facilitate the assignment, to facilitate the field mission, to facilitate the review of each output, and ensure timely execution of the same.

6. Safeguarding

· Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility at VE, and it begins with me

· Communicate and uphold VE safeguarding standards at the country level for all field employees, partners, and program participants.

· Ensure compliance with VE’s safeguarding policies

· Report any incident of safeguarding in program operations for appropriate action/follow-up.

· Support in investigations and input as required during safeguarding disciplinary processes

7. Duration of Work

This assignment is expected to be completed within 12 months. The consultant will work on a full-time basis and anticipate transitioning to a full-time staff upon registration of Village Enterprise in Ethiopia.

8. Duty Station

This position will be based in Addis Ababa with frequent travel to Dollo Ado and other field offices within the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

9. Key Performance Metrics include:

· Timely, innovative, and high-quality implementation of Village Enterprise Model to achieve outcomes

· Team members become increasingly effective and efficient implementers as a result of mentoring and coaching, driving impact and scale.

· Leadership and commitment to a culture of accountability and learning within the Country team

· Village Enterprise becomes an increasingly significant player in the global graduation space as a result of innovative and effective implementation on the ground.

10. Minimum Qualifications

We are looking for someone who can execute, work both independently and as a member of a team, and think big all at the same time. Ideally, we are looking for:

· Education

o A Bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Community Development, International Development, Public Policy, Statistics, Business, or other applied social research.

· 5+ years of work experience

o Experience in a management/leadership role is required

o Experience living/working/traveling in a developing country or emerging economy

o Experience in project design, business planning, product innovation, or other entrepreneurial activities

o Experience in budget design and oversight.

o Experience in managing a team of an innovative organization

o Experience in adopting new technologies

· Critical Thinking & Analysis Skills

o Must be a very strong critical thinker able to identify potential solutions to challenges in new environments

o Must be able to use Excel to analyse data, budgets, and financial reports

• Work independently and as part of a team

o Experience working effectively in a highly independent capacity – self-managing, taking ownership of goals, developing work plans and self-deadlines

o Experience working as part of a diverse team and willingness to work via email, skype, and other Internet-based communications

o Strong writing and oral communication English skills are required, as this role will involve report writing and training at times

· High-quality execution

o Dedication to producing and executing high-quality projects, tasks and recommendations quickly, with a high level of accuracy and systematic attention to detail

o Passion for innovative approaches to poverty reduction around the world, including but not limited to social entrepreneurship and business development in Africa

· Willingness to commit to living in rural areas of East Africa

· Language: Fluency in English and the local languages

· Other skills/experience desired, but not required

o Experience in curriculum development: this role will require curriculum development for VE’s Training Program

o Strong IT and database skills**

11. Payment of Milestones

This is a full-time consultancy job and payment will be made on a monthly basis based on completion of the milestones stipulated above and submission of a timesheet. Payment will be in compliance with the Ethiopian labor laws.