Director of Programme Implementation

• Broad and deep understanding of the political, social, financial and cultural drivers of inequality; with practical experience of developing and implementing strategies for change
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and leading the impactful implementation of significant development and humanitarian projects; utilising good practice in MERL to set targets and adaptively managing to ensure achievement of results
• Experience of strategic financial management including understanding relevant funding sources, revenue cycles, budgeting and cost estimation, balance sheets, return on investment etc.
• Outstanding ability to analyse and interpret complex data-sets, both internal and external, to spot trends and patterns, opportunities and risks, and to inform decisions and action (even when the information is incomplete or ambiguous).
• Outstanding communication skills with an ability to deeply understand the starting position of an audience and produce compelling written and/or spoken communications that effectively influence others.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills with an ability to relate effectively to a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds; proven track record of leading collaborative working relationships and resolving conflicts between parties with differing interests.
• Proven track records of excellent humanitarian and Programme cycle management within a complex organisational structure.
• Experience of capacity building and prior experience in the design, delivery, or management of programmes in education, Sexual Reproductive Health, youth economic empowerment, humanitarian response in Uganda/East Africa or in a country with similar context.
• Knowledge and experience of gender transformative programming
• Knowledge of child rights-based approach to programming

Job Purpose

The Organization is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. However, this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination, and it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners in more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, Our purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality of girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

The Director of Programme Implementation, Humanitarian Preparedness and Response is responsible for ensuring that the organization’s development and humanitarian programmes are implemented with the highest standards and quality for impact on the lives of children as defined in the organization’s country strategy. The incumbent will be accountable for delivery of our development projects, humanitarian preparedness and response on time, scope, and budget as per project management and core humanitarian standards.

KRA 1: Strategy, & Programme Design

• As a member of the Country Leadership Team (CLT), participate in the development and critique of new strategies at both organisation and intervention levels; proactively involve the Programme Implementation and emergency response teams to contribute insights garnered from their specialisms:
• Design and oversee implementation of disaster preparedness and response programmess in line with the organization’s global humanitarian preparedness and response policy, country strategy, national and international emergency standards and guidelines
• Collaborate with the Director of Programme Development & Quality to develop and implement a programme of research to inform the development of innovative strategies and programmes (e.g. girls rights situational analysis, Multisector Needs Assessments, Rapid Gender Assessment, baseline studies etc.)
• Regularly review the results of the organization’s research, monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities to identify key insights; actively contribute to the development of theories of change and the design of impactful interventions (development and humanitarian projects including advocacy)
• Play an active role in reviewing and contributing to humanitarian and development project proposals; aiming to optimise the impact that is achieved via the deployment of limited (people & financial) resources
• Lead the emergency response and resilience initiatives in the country, including providing advice to the Country Director and the Country Leadership Team on the organization’s emergency response processes
• Co-lead fund raising initiatives ensuring that there is strategic representation of the organization’s in strategic spaces at National and sub national and above the country level
• Provide strategic leadership over the delivery of the organization’s Protection, Gender, child rights, education, Food security and livelihoods and Health programming in both development and humanitarian settings

KRA 2: Project & Partner Onboarding

• Work with the Sr Partnership Coordinator to develop partner selection criteria and procedures; including strategies for attracting and selecting partners with the greatest potential for adding value to the organization’s programming including refugee children and youth (especially girls).
• Once projects/emergency responses are approved, ensure that on-boarding processes are started in a timely manner; especially that a project or response team is on-boarded as soon as possible to foster timely start- up of projects
• Ensure that systems required to manage new projects/emergency responses are set up including cross functional planning and development of Detailed Implementation Plans (DIPs), procurement plans and project set up in SAP and PMERL.
• Ensure that partner on-boarding process is well coordinated and implemented in a timely manner; especially that capacity assessments are conducted with minimal disruption to partner operations
• Put in place measures to reporting within the designated reporting platforms critical for the role such as reporting into the OPM reporting portal which is the harmonized reporting tool current applicable to all legitimate partners working in refugee settings in Uganda
• Put in place measures to establish a systematic filing system of partner records to reduce overall programme risk

KRA 3: Leading Impactful Implementation

• Provide leadership in managing and coordinating the implementation of the organization’s entire programme portfolio (both development and humanitarian); ensure results are achieved and quality projects/responses are delivered in line with the Country Strategic Plan and Emergency Response Plan while ensuring that learning from interventions is fully utilised to maximise impact and innovation:
• Facilitate the implementation of gender transformative programmes that address specific girls’ rights issues and focused on Tackling and addressing harmful gender and social norms in programming.
• Lead the development programme implementation and humanitarian response teams to work collaboratively with the Monitoring Evaluation Research and Learning team; ensure the development of results measurement frameworks (including annual targets) and systems that will facilitate data collection, evaluation, and learning.
• Generate/review emergency response reports, including situation reports (SitReps)
• Hold the Programme Implementation and emergency response teams accountable for the achievement of results; ensure that Programme and Sponsorship Team Leads and Project Managers are effectively coordinating the roll-out of projects and that all projects/emergency responses are implemented on time, scope and budget
• Collaborate closely with the PD&Q and MERL team to ensure collection of data, analysis of results and identification of opportunities for improvement in a blame-free spirit of academic enquiry:

·      If desired results have been achieved, initiate strategies for widespread awareness-raising

·      If desired results have not been achieved, support the implementation/emergency response teams to adapt their approach

·      Periodically review theories of change, revising as appropriate

• Liaise with Technical Advisors and Support Departments to ensure the Programme Implementation and emergency response teams are equipped to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) and effectively utilise project management tools eg DIPs, BVAs that are designed to assure successful programme and emergency response implementation
• Cross functionally trouble-shoot any issues which are impacting successful delivery of projects and emergency responses on scope time and budget, working closely with all departments (finance, Supply Chain, People & Culture, Risk) to develop solutions and roll these out across our Programmes
• Ensure that the Ready-to-Respond (R2R) Plan is updated quarterly and reflect the emerging hazards so that the organization is ready to respond where and when needed
• Put in place measures that ensure reduced risk to Safeguarding and PSEAH
•  Put in place measures to ensure the gender transformative approach is embedded in all the organization’s programme while applying the Gender marker and the Inter- agency standing commit markers IASCM

KRA 4: Communicating for Influence & Networking

• Actively participate in the development and implementation of an innovative influencing & communication plan for the organization as a whole and for each project; ensure that plans will result in key development and humanitarian stakeholders being influenced effectively:
• Work with senior colleagues and the Advocacy & Communications Advisor to implement an influencing & communications plan that support the achievement of the organization’s outcome and impact targets and raise the organization’s profile with important stakeholders
• Oversee the development and implementation of a youth engagement strategy to ensure all programmes embrace a youth centred approach including supporting participation of young people in our  governance through the Youth Advisory Panel (YAP)
• Personally, contribute to the implementation of the Influencing Strategy at both the organization’s-wide and programme levels:

·      Support implementation of the Influencing Strategy and annual plans at district level and ensure that influencing strategy and plans are effectively translated to district and refugee settlement level activities

·      Build relationships with key actors, (UN agencies, government line ministries, embassies, bilateral donors) and implement influencing interventions that drive change

·      Ensure that the team delivers components of the Influencing Strategy and plan that are allocated to them

• Work with the programme team to ensure internal the organization’s Principles of Communication are embraced.
• Represent and ensure the organization’s is visible and voice is heard at various technical meetings with other cooperating agencies and participate in various working groups as required, including making technical presentations on key activities and achievements. Priority will be on UN relevant cluster meetings, and other humanitarian preparedness and response coordination networks

KRA 5: Finance Management, Risk & Accountability

• As a member of the CLT, share responsibility for resource mobilisation, and take responsibility for the management of programme finances in line with the organization’s and Donor policies; ensure that all programme-humanitarian related risks are managed effectively:
• Working collaboratively with CLT, co-facilitate the development of the annual plan and annual budget for the organization
• Co-lead the implementation of the management standards alongside other departmental heads
• Drive excellence in the delivery of the organization’s child sponsorship focused on sponsored children and their families through sponsorship innovation
• Support the Business Development Unit’s efforts to grow the organization’s funding base; personally, contribute by building relationships with potential and current donors and sharing fundraising opportunities
• Review proposal budgets, collaborating closely with the finance department to ensure that projects/sponsorship cover fair allocation of costs; ensure that plans and resources are matched and value for money is optimised
• Ensure that all project expenditures are as per plan and meet the monthly/quarterly KPIs with timely budget re-adjustments where needed; ensure that grant reporting is of high quality and accurate.
• Ensure that risk management matrices are developed and implemented for every project; ensure that adequate emphasis is placed on risk management during team planning and review activities
• Ensure that responsibility for developing contracts with specific partners is clearly allocated during new-project onboarding; liaise with colleagues to ensure an efficient process
• Work with other CLT members to ensure timely and quality development and submission of the annual Plan and budget

KRA 6: Leadership & Staff Management

• Lead the entire programme team in a manner that empowers them to contribute effectively towards achievement of the organization’s strategy:
• Work collaboratively with the Director of People & Culture to develop robust departmental capacity building plans to ensure staff are adequately supported to deliver quality programmes.
• Facilitate performance management of the programme team in tandem with the organization’s performance management policies and guidelines
• Ensure that the department is resourced with the expertise necessary to deliver on the organization’s strategic & project goals through a combination of recruitment and management of staff, mobilization of community volunteers, and procurement of consultants
• Lead and manage the team towards high standards of performance through clear roles & responsibilities and provision of appropriate support; coordinate effectively with others to ensure high performance within the organization’s matrix operating structure
• Develop and encourage talent through on-going staff development, succession planning, career management; proactively address poor performance through timely constructive feedback, coaching and appropriate corrective action
• Foster an inclusive environment by implementation of policies and ways-of-working that provide for diversity and equal opportunities and utilisation of a leadership style that will drive employee engagement
• Ensure that staff are managed in accordance with good HR management practice and provided with a safe and conducive working environment; includes ensuring that all legal and statutory obligations are fulfilled

KRA 7: Safeguarding and Gender Equality & Inclusion

• Ensure that the organization’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes but is not limited to ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and the organization’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

• A master’s degree, preferably in development, from a recognized university

• At least 15 years of experience with 10 years in senior management positions (including international) in managing development and humanitarian programmes with large and complex budget in large international organizations of similar complexity and scope to the organization.

All interested and qualified persons are strongly encouraged to email: vacancy@futureoptions.org clearly indicating the Position Title in the email subject line. The deadline for submissions is Sunday 19th July 2026 at 11:59 pm (EAT).