Director of Programme Development and Partnerships

Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a private international, nonprofit, and non-denominational development agency. It seeks sustainable solutions to long term problems of poverty, with special emphasis on the needs of rural communities in mountainous, coastal and other resource poor areas across the world. Concentrating its efforts in health, education, rural development and strengthening civil society sectors, AKF’s approach is based on long-term commitment that is maintained through political and social uncertainty.

Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan is part of a dynamic network of development agencies currently operating in over 30 countries across Central and South Asia and East and West Africa. AKF, A currently manages and implements the largest, multi-sectoral development programme within the network. Currently reaching more than 2.8 million people in 53 districts across seven provinces, AKF is implementing a long-term initiative to build the capacity of local actors to lead a process of sustainable development. AKF (Afg) is now seeking an exceptional individual to become part of its senior management team in the capacity of Director, Programme Development and Partnerships for its National Program Office Kabul

Job Summary:
Contribute to the strategic direction of the organization through programme policy development and the management of external partnerships.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Programme Development:

• Facilitate dialogue on strategic direction in coordination with other members of the senior management team, including workshops, planning sessions and reviews.
• Build on the overall Programme Strategy to develop a series of specific policy papers that guide aspects of AKF’s programming and influence policy dialogue.
• Support Sector Heads and Programme Coordinators to develop sub-sector strategies to guide their work.
• Assist the CEO and Directors in the analysis of programming with a view to improving effectiveness and efficiency.
• Work in coordination with the Evaluation, Research, and Learning team to improve systems for measuring programme outcomes.

Grants management
• Provide effective supervision, guidance and mentoring to the members of the Grants Coordination team, maintaining an overview of all grants, standardizing tools and procedures and ensuring good information management.
• Provide overall guidance and quality control for the writing of reports and the development of proposals, in line with the overall strategic direction and analysis of programming.
• Organize implementation workshops for new grants to ensure all programme staff are aware of the grant requirements.
• Lead on resource mobilization, identifying resource needs across sectors, future funding gaps and strategies to address them.

External Relations
• Deepen and broaden relations with donors and other relevant external actors through informed policy dialogue and exploration of major issues, articulation of achievements, impacts and lessons learned.
• Seek to influence broader Government and international community policy through sharing lessons from grass roots programming.
• In coordination with the CEO, represent AKF in various external meetings, including policy fora, roundtables and working group meetings and coordinate external relations across the Network.
• Coordinate with the AKF donor units and other AKDN agencies on current grants and future funding needs and opportunities.

Communications
• Work with the AKDN Communications Coordinator to develop case studies for both internal and external audiences.

Other
• Lead the coordination and preparation of the internal AKF report to the board, including the preparation of regional overviews.
• Provide additional support to the CEO as necessary.
• Lead on the recruitment of Programme Coordinators and Programme Management Support Officers.

Required Qualifications and Experience:
• Minimum Masters Degree in a relevant field.
• Minimum 3 years work experience in the field of international development, preferably in challenging environments.
• Strong team management and leadership skills.
• Sound understanding of Results-Based Management and the development and measurement of programme-wide outcome indicators.
• High level of motivation and drive.
• Ability to self-manage, mentor junior staff and willingness to regularly visit programmes in the regions.
• Exceptional English writing and editing skills. Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto is an advantage.

Jobs.afghanistan@akdn.org.