Position: TLC Project Manager

Reports to: TLC Project Director

Supervises: TLC Assistant Regional Managers and TLC MEL Coordinator

Location: Building Tomorrow, Kampala Office, with regular field visits

Start Date: October 15, 2024 - contingent on funding

Contract Duration: September 30, 2029

OVERVIEW

Building Tomorrow (BT), an international nonprofit organization, mobilizes communities in Uganda to deliver universal access to inclusive, quality education. To achieve the goal of literacy and numeracy for all, BT uses a community-powered approach that creates positive learning outcomes, accessible to all. BT is significantly growing within Uganda, in large part thanks to receiving its first U.S. federal sub-grant through USAID Uganda’s five-year Targeting the Learning Crisis (TLC) project. BT is seeking a Project Manager to lead day-to-day implementation efforts of the project, supervising all field staff to ensure effective delivery of program activities. This position requires strong management experience, a good understanding of Uganda’s education sector, and excellent communication and reporting skills to interact with diverse stakeholders.

THE ORGANIZATION

Started in 2006, BT supports community-powered learning in rural areas. Through over 500 BT Fellows and over 14,000 Community Education Volunteers, BT has enrolled over 140,000 out-of-school children and reached over 350,000 learners with our signature Roots to Rise (R2R) literacy and numeracy camps. Between offices in the USA and Uganda, BT has a full-time staff of over 230, just eight of whom work outside Uganda. BT has received funding and recognition for its innovative work from Echoing Green, Big Bang Philanthropy, Clinton Global Initiative, and Forbes Magazine. More information can be found online at: www.buildingtomorrow.org.

POSITION HIGHLIGHTS

The Project Manager will serve as the core technical and administrative project role, supporting the TLC Project Director in the successful implementation of BT’s field activities. The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring the timely and efficient delivery of project activities, compliance with the TLC requirements and regulations, and fostering productive collaboration with staff, field partners, and stakeholders. The PM should have experience working in the community-powered foundational learning context.

This is a full-time role based in BT Uganda’s Country Office in Kampala, with regular travel to program sites across the country. The Project Manager will report to the Project Director and collaborate closely with BT’s programmatic leads and other TLC leads.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Program and People Management:

Oversee the daily execution of program activities, ensuring that they align with TLC objectives and BT strategy.
Monitor project progress to ensure the achievement of program deliverables and objectives.
Provide strategic oversight and support to Assistant Regional Managers (ARMs) and Regional Coordinators (RCs) in their efforts to deliver community-powered learning initiatives through regular one-on-one check-ins and leading department meetings
Responsible for the professional development and mentorship of ARMs and RCs
Ensure that Building Tomorrow rules and procedures, policy guidelines are enforced within assigned districts.
Create and utilize feedback mechanisms that allow for information flow from field staff to BT UG HQ and from BT UG HQ to local districts
Travel monthly by bus and boda to rural schools, other districts to provide field support to ARMs and RCs.
Foster a culture of continuous learning and innovation within the field teams and channel the innovations to BT leadership

2. Program Operations and Compliance:

Oversee operational aspects of the TLC program in the field, ensuring compliance with USAID regulations and BT’s policies.
Working with the Finance, Compliance, and Logistics departments coordinate day-to-day field logistics and administrative tasks related to program activities.
Work with the Program Director and Finance Manager to ensure effective management of program budgets and expenditures at the field level.
Ensure that any deviations from the approved work plan are addressed and reported to the Program Director promptly.
Coordinate the submission of field reports, ensuring accuracy and timely submission.

3. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL):

Ensure that field data is accurately collected and reported, contributing to program performance analysis.
Document lessons learned from field activities to inform future program improvements
Support the MEL lead in implementing the program’s monitoring and evaluation framework.

4. Innovation and Sustainability:

Identify and leverage opportunities to innovate and enhance the effectiveness and scalability of the TLC programming and BT programming, sharing best practices and lessons learned.
Lead efforts to document and share learning from the TLC program, contributing to the global evidence base on effective approaches to improving learning outcomes in low-resource settings.

QUALIFICATIONS, EDUCATION, BACKGROUND, REQUIRED SKILLS:

Minimum of 5 years of experience in program management, preferably in education, international development, or a related field.
Proven experience in managing field-based teams and delivering program activities in rural and underserved areas.
Familiarity with USAID regulations, particularly regarding financial management and compliance.
Strong leadership and project management skills, with the ability to handle multiple tasks and deadlines.
Bachelor’s degree in Education, International Development, Public Administration, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
Proficiency in English and at least one local Ugandan language.
Strong organizational skills, with attention to detail and the ability to manage field operations effectively.
Passion for education equality and a commitment to improving learning outcomes for children in rural areas.

WE WANT YOU TO APPLY IF YOU…

Have an unshakeable passion for education equality, believing access to an inclusive, quality education is a basic human right.
Possess creative ingenuity, being progressive in your thinking and approaching challenges old and new. You are intrapreneurial and unafraid to pilot new ideas.
Are relentlessly determined, refusing to accept the status quo, persistently striving to create new opportunities to reach more children, allowing them to reach their maximum potential.
Believe in collaborative engagement. You believe more can be achieved together than alone, believe in the power of cultivating relationships, and see everyone as an equal partner.

The compensation package includes benefits and will be commensurate with experience. This is a management position based in Kampala, Uganda.

If someone referred you to apply for this position, please provide his or her name in your cover letter.

Building Tomorrow maintains a dedication to promoting gender equity, diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion, and recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of protected characteristics. Building Tomorrow will not tolerate illegal discrimination or harassment under any applicable law in any jurisdiction where it operates.