Kyrgyzstan: Team Leader, Governance in Action

Palladium is has an exciting opportunity for an experienced programme leader and governance expert to lead the innovative and dynamic Support to the Jogorku Kenesh (S2JK - Governance in Action) programme in Kyrgyzstan.

S2JK aims to strengthen Kyrgyzstan's democratic institutions by supporting politicians and non-state actors to work collectively to promote citizen priorities and spearhead change from within. It uses an innovative and politically smart approach to identify and support genuinely locally-led accountability initiatives within parliament and scale up where there is traction.

The programmes' objectives are:

• to improve the parliamentary committee capacity to scrutinise legislation and hold government to account;
• to increase the use of evidence based policies in political parties' approach to winning public support;
• and to ensure that the political system meets citizens' priority concerns.

We are looking for a Team Leader to drive the programme to its conclusion in August 2020. The role has overall in-country programmatic, financial and management responsibility for the project. As Team Leader you would be a senior representative of Palladium the primary liaison with the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) in-country and represent the company with other donors, partners and stakeholders, including the host country government.

ResponsibilitiesThe primary responsibilities of the Team Leader include:

o Lead the preparation of the annual strategic plans; Stage plans, work plans and budgets; staffing plans; performance improvement plans and other plans as required.

• Ensure appropriate consultation in the development of plans and budgets (including consultation with the appropriate project staff members, the Project Director, the Client, national government agencies and other project stakeholders).o Provide guidance, oversight and quality assurance for all project activities, Outputs and deliverables.
  o Assume overall responsibility for the effective implementation of work plans to ensure delivery is on time, within budget, meets Client and stakeholder expectations and is contractually compliant.

• Monitor implementation progress; maintain up to date project logs and registers; work to resolve issues, manages and mitigates risks; and escalate material issues and risks as appropriate.

• Develop and implement plans for results measurement, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, value for money analysis and communication management.o Assume overall responsibility for the effective and professional management of the project team.

• Lead, guide, mentor and manage the performance of technical and administrative direct reports and ensure appropriate leadership, guidance, mentorship and management of other staff.

• Participate as required in Human Resource management including but not limited to recruitment and contracting, performance management, disciplinary and grievance proceedings, and learning and professional development of project staff.o Ensure the project provides and demonstrates good Value for Money.

• Oversee the preparation and delivery to the Client of budget variations and contract amendments.

• Maintenance of Project Income as planned.o Represent and promote the legitimate commercial interests of the Company.
  o Maintain excellent working relationship with the Client and ensure agreement of the project's strategy, plans, resource requirements and any other contract amendments required.
  o Maintains regular communication with the client and relevant stakeholders and ensure that activity reports and critical program issues are resolved in a timely manner.

Requirementso Excellent leadership skills, and a track record of motivating and driving staff performance.
o Good interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to build lasting relationships with clients and stakeholders.
o Exceptional project leadership knowledge, skills and experience ideally with large donor funded programmes with clients such as DFID, DFAT or USAID.
o Experience providing technical inputs to governance and policy development programmes, particularly with programmes which take a politically smart, adaptive approach
o Good financial skills sufficient to oversee the project accounting function and commensurate with the company's fiduciary responsibilities under the project
o Experience managing a project or an organisation in Kyrgyzstan or the surrounding region would be a great advantage, as would the ability to speak Russian
o Ability to communicate effectively and negotiate persuasively with high level decision makers.

To apply, please submit an application via our site here: http://thepalladiumgroup.com/jobs/Team-Leader-Governance-in-Action-VN5608