OUR VISION: LEPROSY DEFEATED, LIVES TRANSFORMED

Job Description

Job Title:Programme Advisor

Responsible to:Head of Operations Support

The Leprosy Mission (TLM) is a leading international Christian organization with over 140 years of experience. It operates as an international federation (Global Fellowship) of 32 Member countries which, through the TLM Charter, have made commitments to one another and to certain principles and ways of working. They consist of both ‘supporting’ (donor) countries and ‘implementing’ (field) countries - both equally valued Members and equal partners in the work and in ‘big-picture’ decisions about how TLM should function and develop.

Main Purpose of the Job:

The Programme Advisors provide strategic and impartial programmes support to the Members of the TLM Global Fellowship. They do this by:

  • adopting a facilitative, connecting and encouraging approach to affirming the identity and value of each Member;
  • maintaining an overview of implementing country capacity support opportunities,
  • while at the same time championing the Member-agreed values and standards[1] to ensure that the integrity of the TLM Global Fellowship is protected and maintained.

TLMI programme advisors are uniquely well placed to provide strategic, country level advice and support to implementing Members looking beyond individual projects, to advocate on behalf of members when needed, to facilitate the strengthening of relationships within and beyond the TLM Global Fellowship, and to encourage learning that builds up all of the TLM Global Fellowship.

Duties and Key Responsibilities:

Each of the three TLMI Programme Advisors will be assigned responsibility for supporting a portfolio of TLM implementing member countries across Africa and / or Asia. These represent a wide and diverse range of programme size, capacity and historical presence in any particular country. The role of the Programme Advisor will be flexible to the needs of the individual country andthe type of support offered will recognise the expertiseand the scope of work within each membercountry.

As a source of support and advice for all Member countries the Programme Advisor will:

  1. Ensure that Members are aware of TLM’s policies, operating guidelines and best practice. Liaise with others in the TLMI team to ensure that those policies and guidelines are appropriately implemented.
  1. Facilitate international learning and the sharing of good practices in order to encourage Members to meet the Global Fellowship agreed strategy, principles, policies, position papers, and procedures with special reference to the Project Cycle Management (PCM) approach
  1. Ensure that Members are aware of changes to internal (new decisions taken, or changes, within the Global Fellowship) and external (international NGOs working in their country; capacity building opportunities; institutional funding opportunities) operating environment
  1. Work with Members to develop potential partnerships and facilitate good communication i.e. local churches, institutional donors , other international NGO’s
  1. Facilitate communication between Members and support the better understanding of expectations between the Members. This will include regular partner teleconference calls; coordination around funding opportunities and project development and approval processes.
  1. Contribute good practice improvements to the revision of TLM global standards, policies and procedures

As a source of support and advicefor ImplementingMember countries the Programme Advisor will:

  1. Support the Country Leader in the development, implementation and review of the Country Strategy
  1. Support the Country Leader in the identification of strategic and organisational development capacity building needs and the subsequent development of plans to address the opportunities. Maintain an overview of implementing country capacity gaps and needs. When required and best placed to do so TLMI programmes staff can provide direct technical support to Members or can connect Members with the appropriate expertise and resources from within or outside the TLM Global Fellowship.
  1. Support, and be available to advise, the Country Leader in matters relating to programme leadership and management
  1. Provide technical advice and input for all stages of the project cycle for specific projects, particularly where there are no supporting country programme staff involved.
  1. Review project reports to provide country project staff with feedback and identify issues in need of follow up.
  1. Offer advice and support to the Country Leaders in project evaluation, midterm reviews, annual project reviews and ‘Annual Country Learning’ events, facilitating, together with project managers, a learning approach to the review process at both project and country level
  1. Assist with annual country budget planning coordination
  1. Support communication and learning between Members and in country
  1. When requested by a country Leader identify potential funding opportunities and support the Country leader in developing contacts and relationships
  1. Together with others in the TLMI team support the various processes of Fellowship accountability including Country Office Audit and other areas of monitoring such as feeding into annual governance reports
  1. Provide disaster response coordination when needed

General

  1. Keep up-to-date knowledge of programme management, community developmentand leprosy project good practice.
  1. Plan, undertake and report onvisits to Implementing Countries in line with agreed Terms of Reference.
  1. Research and collate information on areas of interest and opportunity to TLMin sharing relevant project information in order to identify gaps, investigate new methodologies and maintain good practice.
  1. Provide ‘surrogate’ country leadership for non-member TLM countries when and if required. This would include fulfilling the strategic, planning, reporting, communication and TLM Global Fellowship accountability responsibilities of a country leader.
  1. Undertake any other duties appropriate to the post as may be required

Person Specification

Attributes / Essential / Desirable
Education / Qualifications /
  1. Educated to degree level or equivalent in development studies or related field
/
  1. Masters degree in International Development or related field; or attendance at specific relevant training courses

Experience and Knowledge /
  1. Experience of working in or with an international NGO
  2. Previous field experience of working in developing countries in the Asia and / or Africa regions
  3. Field experience in project implementation and management
  4. Significant experience of supporting international development programmes
  5. Experience of supporting the production of policies/procedures, strategic planning and its implementation, programmes/projects, funding proposals, reviews and reports
  6. Significant experience in building the capacity of partner organisations and their staff
  7. An interest plus knowledge and experience in a key current theme for TLM e.g. advocacy, disability, neglected tropical disease, water and sanitation, discrimination, community development, leprosy care etc.
/ 28. French language (written and spoken)
Skills and Abilities /
  1. Good ability to both support and challenge members/partners and nurture the interdependency between individual members and global fellowship
  2. Proven ability to assess needs and strengthen organisations and individuals in an international environment
  3. Able to provide advisory support to senior leaders and management on a wide range of programme leadership, management and implementation issues
  4. An interest and ability in gathering expertise with one or two matters such as institutional fundraising, strategic alliances, knowledge management, leadership and management development, grassroots theological reflection, etc.
  5. Good knowledge of the project cycle
  6. Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to relate to people from a broad range of backgrounds and cultures
  7. Good analytical skills to appraise proposals and reports and knowledge of project evaluation techniques
  8. Good writing skills to prepare documents, reports and general correspondence
  9. Working knowledge of basic budget and accounting procedures
  10. Ability to work to tight deadlines in meeting departmental and organisational targets
  11. High degree of organisation and initiative
  12. Good computer literacy skills

Other /
  1. Willingness and ability to travel overseas and to perform well in challenging and sometimes difficult areas
  2. Ability and willingness to work closely with others as part of a team
  3. Be able to work in a partnership and non-paternalistic manner understanding role as an advisor and not an expert.
  4. Value diversity and honour own and other’s national cultures.
  5. Have a high desire for collating experiences, learning and putting learning into practice
  6. Be a practising Christian committed to the objectives and values of The Leprosy Mission and able to work in an interdenominational environment

1

[1] ‘standards’ here refers to the TLM Global Fellowship agreed strategy, principles, policies, position papers, and procedures