JOB PROFILE

Job Title: / Regional Programme Manager
Place of Work: / Scotland
Grade: / 3
Reports to: / Deputy Head of UK Programmes
Line management responsibility: / Regional operations team
Budget Responsibility: / Income / Expenditure up to £5m per annum (depending on funding streams)
Child Protection Level: / Level 3 - a CRB check (enhanced level) or equivalent overseas police check and will be required for this post
Introduction

Save the Children has been achieving breakthroughs for children across the UK and Internationally since our foundation in 1919. We are exponentially growing the scale, impact and visibility of our UK work. By 2015 we aim to have transformed the life chances of 150,000 children in poverty and impacted a further 1 million children across the UK through legislative changes as a result of our campaigns and advocacy.

This step change will be lead by a cadre of inspiring Regional Programme Managers (RPM's). These leaders will have the vision, skills and drive to strategically grow, build and implement a programme that proactively responds to children and families living in disadvantage.

Save the Children is committed to protecting children’s rights and the full implementation of the United Nation Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Job Purpose

The Regional Programme Manager (RPM) will provide the leadership and expertise required to develop and implement innovative programmes that mitigate the causes and respond to the affects of child poverty across a geographical region. This includes the capacity to respond to emergencies with a child focus across the UK.

The RPM will:

  • Lead a multi-disciplinary regional team to effectively deliver a range of interventions and approaches that strategically position Save the Children within the children’s services sector.
  • Grow the funding base of the UK programme. Responding proactively to new opportunities and seeking out innovative partnership across a variety of stakeholders.
  • Work closely with their policy, advocacy and media colleagues to ensure that the evidence from our programmes drive long term policy and practice change across the sector.
  • Be a member of the Senior Management Team of the UK Programme
  • Manage large and complex regional budgets, growing from £0.5-1m currently to over £5m per region over the next four years.

Key Accountabilities

1. Programme Delivery & Fundraising

  • Working with the Head and Deputy Head of UK Programmes to develop and implement a robust needs-led regional strategy that seeks to both alleviate and end child poverty. This will be based on an holistic understanding of child poverty and will demonstrate a high level of understanding of the region’s diversity and complexity.
  • To deliver programmes of work that demonstrate real and lasting change for children that are fundable and sustainable within a UK and regional context
  • Working closely with the fundraising divisionregionally and in London to proactively fundraise for the implementation of this strategy. To investigate funding channels from Local & National government, Corporates, Trusts,the mass market and High Net worth individuals and to participate in proposal writing and donor pitches.
  • To support at a national and regional level the emergency response capability of the UK programme, including supporting local volunteers and local and regional resilience forums
  • To develop senior level regional partnerships and collaborations that support and challenge regional delivery to bring about the systemic and attitudinal changes in public bodies required to end child poverty
  • To actively collaborate with key team members across the UK programme and wider Save the Children workforce to plan and deliver programmes which inform and support our local, national and UK wide advocacy calls.
  • Working with the appropriate policy, advocacy and media colleagues to deliver case-studiesand stories that effectively communicate to the public what life is like for the poorest families in the UK and represent our programmes to the mediaTo ensure that children, young people and families living in poverty across the region are supported and trained so that they are able to influence change and have their voices heard and mobilise regional and national support.
  • To ensure that our programmesare accountable to children, young people and their families.
  • To build and enhance the profile of Save the Children’s work by providing expertise and leadership at a regional level on effective programming approaches and how these approaches can be integrated in wider local planning around tackling child poverty,.
  • To effectively own and capture an evidence base that can be used to demonstrate impact to a wide range of audiences to ensure we meet our fundraising targets, donor requirements and advocacy targets, as well as using this learning to inform the future development of the programme.
  • Driving Save the Children’s effective programmes approach with partner organisations that lead to a greater observance and recognition of children’s rights.
  • Delivering a high standard of monitoring and reporting that captures both financial accuracy and illustrative reporting of case studies and impact.
  • Working closely with and supporting the strategic leads for core programmes across the Save the Children UK Programme, responsible for developing strategic regional responses to programmes in order to successfully drive change within their regional context. Being seen as the “go to person” within the region in terms of understanding the specific issues being faced by families and professionals in relation to child poverty practice and policy.
  • Contributing to a robust regional and UK evidence base. Working closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation Officers, being accountable for ensuring that this evidence base is captured and leveraged across their region. Success will also involve compliance with and continuous improvement of programmes standards and policies thereby driving the quality of our overall programme delivery.

2. Leadership and Management

  • Be a member of the Senior Management Team for the UK Programme, developing strategic partnerships across their region to ensure that systems and infrastructure are tested, understood and profiled to support and sustain high quality, cost effective, early intervention programmes for children, young people and their families.
  • Leading, growing and motivating an expanding and diverse multi-disciplinary regional team (potentially up to 60 staff and volunteers) to deliver high quality direct delivery that can also be used to demonstrate impact to practitioners, decision makers, donors and external media
  • Supporting and challenging regional practitioners and leaders to respond to issues of child poverty in their areas. Ensuring the team is integrated with other key practitioners across the region, including health professionals, emergency response professionals, other voluntary sector organisations and local authorities/ public bodies.
  • Building and leading strong regional teams, guiding staff development, planning succession and taking prompt action to address issues of underperformance
  • Facilitating effective contact and working relationships between campaigns, advocacy, policy, media , fundraising and programme staff and with other UK teams and in head office
  • Demonstrating a thorough understanding of the local and national political and operational structures and systems that need to be influenced in order to bring about a radical change to the lives of children across their area.
  • Ensuring our working methods across the UK Programmes are as safe as practicable, securing the implementation of Save the Children’s staff security and child safeguarding policies and processes
  • Promoting opportunities for staff in the programme to develop their skills, and share good practice

3. Donor compliance, budget management and communications

  • Working with the Head of UK Fundraising, Head of Finance & Finance and Administration Officers to comply with budget holding responsibilities that ensure efficient and accurate donor budget management.
  • Controlling programme budgets and ensuring resources are committed for planned and approved purposes, used effectively and closely monitored in a timely manner.
  • Managing large and complex regional budgets, growing from £0.5-1m currently to over £5m per region over the next four years.
  • Working within a grant funded environment and therefore understanding the complexities that accompany such budget management. Being accountable for ensuring that all reporting requirements and deadlines are met both in terms of internal financial management and external responsibilities to donors.
  • Ensuring that the team are responsive to donors and that monitoring and evaluation of projects meets their needs
  • Working with media and communications colleagues to present Save the Children priorities externally to appropriate audiences

4. General responsibilities

  • To undertake a range of administrative duties in support of your own work. The use of Microsoft products including, but not limited to, Outlook, Excel and Word is integral to this post.
  • To comply with Save the Children policy and practice requirements with respect to health and safety, child protection, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
  • To work with understanding and commitment to Save the Children’s principles of equal rights and equal opportunities for all groups especially those experiencing disadvantage and/or discrimination in order to combat that disadvantage and discrimination.
Working Contacts

Internal:UK Programmes Leadership Team and Senior Management Team, Policy & Advocacy Team, Fundraising, Finance & HR

External: Children, young people and parents, local government and local authorities, schools, consultants, corporate donors, partner agencies, the media, local community, and all suppliers of goods and services.

Person Specification

  • A proven track record of growing, building and delivering a portfolio of programmes.
  • Evidence of securing funding and of meeting donor requirements for significant programmes of work. Up-to-date knowledge of general and local funding sources and the ability to develop funding strategies to manage complex financial arrangements and comply with donor requirements.
  • Knowledge of the regional statutory funding environment.
  • Ability to initiate, develop and implement programmes of work covering complex issues and a broad range of activities/resources within a strategic framework
  • A successful track record of developing and delivering processes to collect, analyse, and present data on outcomes of projects in ways that demonstrate outcomes to a range of audiences including donors, promote continuous improvement and support replication by others.
  • A successful track record of leading high quality interventions across large multi-disciplinary teams and successfully operating within matrix management structures
  • A successful track record of analysing, implementing and evaluating needs lead programmes across complex areas/regions
  • Experience of leading a management team
  • Experience of senior management and leadership in a related field or sector i.e. the statutory, voluntary and charity sector and of working with the public/private sectors
  • Excellent people management skills, able to motivate and inspire a team and maintain high levels of performance over periods of change
  • Proven ability to work effectively and value multi-disciplinary teams, to lead and manage the work of groups of divers staff and to motivate and develop the work of individuals and the team as a whole.
  • Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills in order to work with a wide range of professionals, children young people and families, volunteers and the general public both internally and externally.
  • Ability to work at all levels of a large organisation, including with senior managers, children, young people and their families, and volunteers.
  • Experience of negotiating complex organisational processes and an ability to network effectively both internally and externally in order to share information and develop joint working.
  • Knowledge of public policy and practice and system issues affecting children, young people and their families in the UK, particularly in relation to child poverty.
  • Considerable experience of operationalising complex programmes of work with children young people and families and partners
  • Proven ability and experience of strategic and operational partnership working and an understanding of effectively collaborating with other stakeholders to drive through shared objectives.
  • Proven understanding of the operational complexities and political contect within a given geographical
  • Experience of participative approaches of work with children, young people and their families
  • A clear understanding of organisational accountability
  • IT skills and knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
  • Ability to demonstrate flexibility, proactivity and a “can do” attitude in high pressured and within tight timescales
  • Proven ability to manage multiple demands with minimal direction.
  • Ability to be administratively self-sufficient.
  • Willingness to travel frequently within the UK
  • A commitment to the aims and values of Save the Children including a strong commitment to safeguard the wellbeing of children as set out in the Child Protection Policy and Health and Safety Policy.
  • Understanding and commitment to Save the Children’s principles of equal rights and equal opportunities for all groups especially those experiencing disadvantage and/or discrimination in order to combat that disadvantage and discrimination.