Southern Africa Regional Program Manager

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

We are non-governmental, non-religious and work with many local NGOs and community based organizations to implement our programs. We currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia – countries with a desperate lack of resources to educate their children. Since our inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 5 million children by constructing more than 1,400 schools, establishing over 11,000 libraries, publishing 550 new children’s book titles in 22 local languages, and putting over 10,000 girls onto long-term, holistic scholarships.

Room to Read has an annual budget of approximately US$38 million and our global staff numbers over 420. Our global headquarters is located in San Francisco, and we have smaller fundraising offices in Delhi, New York, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Sydney, and Tokyo. We have an Asia Regional Office located in New Delhi, a Southern Africa Regional Office in Pretoria, and program offices in Colombo, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kathmandu, Lusaka, New Delhi, Pretoria, Phnom Penh, Vientiane, and we are setting up operations and hiring staff for a new office in Tanzania.

Position Overview:

The Africa Regional Program Manager will provide guidance, direction, support and technical assistance and expertise to local in-country teams in the South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania on managing Reading Room and Local Language Publishing programs. The Reading Room program involves setting up children’s libraries in primary schools and building capacities of the school teachers to ensure usage of the resources provided through this program. Through the Local Language Publishing Program Room to Read publishes children’s books in local languages and in English. The position will also provide support to the Literacy as well as the School Room programs.

The position will report directly to the Regional Director and will have a dotted line reporting relationship to the Global Program Officers regarding technical issues. The position will require regular interactions with Partner NGOs, Global and Country teams. This position will be based at Room to Read’s Africa Regional office in Pretoria and will require frequent travel to the Country Offices.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Oversee the designing, planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring, and reporting of RtR’s Reading Room Program.
• Lead efforts to review and monitor program implementation
• Supports Program staff in the Region by serving as a mentor and coach who encourages collaboration, innovation, excellence, and professional development;
• In collaboration with the Regional and Global Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Team, collects and analyzes metrics from the programs that can be used by M&E to enhance the effectiveness of Program reporting and evaluation
• Assist Human resource teams with the recruitment, training, and development of annual performance plans for Program staff, and provide regular feedback on their performance.
• Identify Program staff capacity-building and professional development needs and assist the Human Resources team with sourcing of support to address the needs; provide similar support to partner capacity-building efforts
• Assist the Development Team by giving input into fundraising strategies for the program, preparing funding proposals and reports, and meeting with donors, as required;
• Recommend improvements to the Regional Director to more efficiently and effectively manage the RR Program and other regional programs;
• Represent Room to Read by attending and speaking at relevant forums and advocate the importance of its RR Program work;
• Oversee the selection, negotiation, hiring and other processes related to Program consultant and other service providers.
• Leads the Program section of the annual, quarterly and periodic budget and plan reviews and reporting processes
• Explore opportunities with governments to obtain support as well as replicate Room to Read’s ideas and innovations into the mainstream.
  • Extensive visit to program programs and program sites for overseeing the implementation, monitoring, evaluation, donor and government visits, training, workshop and other purposes.
  • Liaise with other non-profits running similar programs to identify areas of knowledge sharing and possible collaboration.
  • Provide support to admin team in purchase and procurement including reporting

Qualifications:

Required:

• Master’s degree required in a related field of study (e.g. MEd, MA, MSS, MPA, or MSc in International Education, Development Studies, Education, or Early childhood development);
• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in education programs;
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience as direct program implementer in a field focused on primary education levels, with a minimum of two years in a senior management capacity;
• Demonstrated leadership in program planning and design, implementation, compliance as well as monitoring and evaluation.
• A proven ability to establish effective working relationships and partnerships with diverse stakeholders including donors.
• Strong financial management and team management skills including the ability to supervise multi-location and multidisciplinary professionals and motivate staff effectively.
• Experience managing partner NGOs
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) and capability to relate and interact with multicultural teams and represent the organization in professional forums.
• Willingness to work with strict deadlines and ability to travel frequently (at least 50% of the time), occasionally on short notice, and, when required, for extended periods of time.

Preferable:

• Experience working with government schools will be an asset
• Experience with reading/literacy or learning improvement programs
• Experience in language education at the primary stage
• Experience teaching at the primary stage
• Experience with children’s book publishing

Personal Attributes:

• Have a passion for the mission and a strong desire to impact an up-and-coming non-profit organization.
• A capacity to listen and to work with others
• An ability to inspire trust, a proven ability to lead and facilitate with strong interpersonal skills and an ability to move from ideas to action
• An ability to communicate effectively and professionally with a diverse range of people from different environments, sectors, and society
• An ability to listen to others and learn from their best ideas, demonstrating intellectual curiosity, approachability, and openness to input from all levels of staff
• An ability to be stay grounded, trustworthy, an ability to give credit and recognition to others and personal style of acting with humility and grace – in sum a superb professional and personal presence
• A person with high sensitivities toward issues e.g. gender and disability.

Compensation:

The salary range for this position will be determined based upon the experience of the candidate hired. Benefits including health and a retirement plan are also provided. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, fun, and rapidly growing organization that is changing the world through literacy and gender equality in education.

Application Procedure

Please send a cover letter and resume by email, with “Regional Program Manager” in the subject line, (no letters, calls, faxes, or drop-ins) to africa.hiring@roomtoread.org. Due to high applicant volume you may not receive a response from Room to Read. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.

Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing
the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.