Energy Programme Manager – Self Help Africa

Job Description

Reports to: DCD Programmes

About Self Help Africa & United Purpose

In late 2021 Self Help Africa (SHA) and United Purpose (UP) merged, with our Global Office in Dublin, Ireland and a UP office in Cardiff, Wales. In early 2023 we launched a new five-year organisational strategy, which defines our shared mission as the alleviation of hunger, poverty, social inequality and the impact of climate change through community-led, market-based and enterprise-focused approaches, so that people can have access to nutritious food, clean water, decent employment and incomes, while sustaining natural resources.

Our three values are:

• Impact: We are accountable, ambitious and committed to systemic change
• Innovation: We are agile, creative and enterprising in an ever-changing world
• Community: We are inclusive, honest and have integrity in our relationship

We require a team ready to live up to our values to encourage initiative and valuing of partnerships, thus requiring a Country Director who can model our values, and be able to build on the strengths of our teams.

We are in the process of transitioning country registrations from United Purpose to Self Help Africa in The Gambia and Senegal and these two countries form an integral part of the West Africa programme along with Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Self Help Africa is now registered in The Gambia.

Job Purpose:

SHA’s Energy Programme in Malawi Only 14% of Malawi’s population has access to electricity and over 90% of domestic energy comes from biomass, the vast majority of which is unsustainably sourced. Lacking access to electricity negatively impacts quality of life and economic development. This only strengthens the reliance on biomass, which is often the only affordable and available source of energy, negatively impacting the local and global environment and increasing Malawi’s vulnerability to increasingly frequent environmental shocks.

SHA supports the Malawi Government’s Vision 2063’s aim to transform the country into a wealthy and self-reliant nation through our green energy work which started in 2008. Our approach focuses on and enabling market-based solutions for cooking, lighting, and enterprise, reaching over 150,000 households with green energy access each year. The scale and impact of our work is achieved by leveraging: our growing our team of 40 experienced staff; expertise in community engagement, marketing and market-based approaches; innovating through trialling and scaling up new approaches; as well as our strong influence in the sector through partnerships with Government, implementers and donors alike.

Our projects predominantly target rural areas on cleaner cooking (through improved firewood cookstoves – chitetezo mbaula) and solar electricity access (through minigrids and lighting products/services). SHA is also engaged in piloting/research projects around sustainable alternatives to charcoal (pellet stoves and electric cooking) as well as productive uses of solar energy (irrigation and agricultural processing).

Over the last 5 years we have on diversified our funding sources and delivery models, moving from reliance on grants and direct delivery, to carbon finance, results-based finance and partnerships with the local and international private sector. This has led to the Energy programme becoming the biggest growth area for the Malawi Country Programme, a momentum we are committed to maintaining.

Aim of Post: 

The Energy Programme Manager will provide strategic and technical leadership in the delivery and development of the SHA Energy programme in Malawi. They will be expected to oversee the implementation of SHA’s existing portfolio of Energy projects in Malawi, provide technical input to the team and sector in Malawi, continue to develop programme approaches based on evolving best practice and the changing landscape, and mobilise resources for continued growth of the programme.

The position will report to the Malawi Deputy Country Director- Programmes and there will be regular meetings between the Energy Programme Manager, other Programme Managers and Management Team in Malawi and technical advisors from SHA’s Global Office. The role will also involve capacity building of national staff in Malawi to take increased ownership of the programme and enable its continued growth. The Energy Programme Manager will leverage their technical and contextualised knowledge to provide expert advice and advocacy to Malawi’s energy sector (particularly in the areas of cleaner cooking, carbon finance and off-grid electrification) and maintain the programme’s close and productive relationships with its donors and stakeholders to expand the reach, sustainability and impact of our work.

Key Responsibilities:

1.Programme Management and Oversight

1.1 Quality Assurance

• Ensure the programme portfolio is delivered in line with good practice and quality benchmarks in line with sector-based standard operating standards and GESI tools etc
• Ensure an adaptive management approach is taken
• Work with the Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Working Group through National MEAL Manager to ensure that we are documenting learning and integrating it into programme design and delivery.
• Ensure MEAL data collected is in line with national MEAL framework through participatory M&E approaches and integrating feedback from staff, partners and project participants.
• Liaise with relevant organisation technical advisors and incorporate learning and global expertise in the programme cycle
• Ensure value for money and efficiency across the programme cycle
• Conduct field visits to monitor project progress.

1.2 Compliance & Risk

•  Oversee the development and timely submission of high-quality donor technical and financial reports, in collaboration with projects and operations colleagues
• Ensure that processes are in place to allow for systematic and inclusive feedback to communities and stakeholders on all programme reports and evaluations undertaken
• Working with Project Managers to ensure all projects develop annual, quarterly and monthly plans and that these are actioned and reported against
• Deliver a consolidated risk assessment for the programme portfolio every month and ensure mitigation measures are actioned and followed
• Ensure that internal audit is adequately budgeted across the portfolio
• Ensure that internal audit findings and recommendations are followed up on and actioned as per agreed timelines
• Ensure that every project in the portfolio has a grant opening and closing meeting and that these are filed
• Ensure that every project has monthly review process
• Ensure adequate oversight on all financial transactions and project activities to reduce the risk of non-compliance with policies and risk of fraud
• Ensure annual procurement planning and that all project procurement is cost effective in line with donor and organisational policy
• Ensure that project implementation is complying to donor driven policy and direction, such as the DSA policy, and engaging in communication and advocacy through the MT where donor direction is not in line with the Malawi 2063 or the organisation’s vision and mission.

1.3 Finance

• Oversee internal monthly financial reports and project budgets and cashflow forecasts
• Ensure full project spend without disallowance
• Authorise all project related expenditure in line with SHAs Delegation of Authority framework
• Support and oversee project related procurements.

1.4 Safeguarding

• Ensure that all projects have an active trained safeguarding focal point who can effectively disseminate the reporting channels and policy
• Ensure that all project have a safeguarding plan and report against this during monthly meetings
• Ensure that reporting channels are promoted and visible across all projects in the portfolio
• Ensure that all colleagues within your portfolio have undergone safeguarding training and signed the global code of conduct
• Ensure all staff, partners and stakeholders sign, comply and promote the SHA Safeguarding policy and code of conduct.

1.5 People Management

• Manage teams of staff across all projects in your portfolio and provide line management to Project Managers
• Incubate and enhance skills development of staff across the programme, encouraging learning and development, identifying opportunities for professional development and upward mobility within the organisation
• Ensure all staff members in your portfolio have completed an induction, have passed probation and that annual PDRs are conducted
• Ensure the portfolio has the right team in place in line with the strategy and the values of the organisation
• Ensure that the portfolio can retain and attract skilled and experienced gender balanced teams
• Ensure that you are promoting wellbeing across your team and that staff are encouraged to take their leave entitlements and access training and wellbeing opportunities provided by the organisation
• Cultivate a culture of accountability, adherence to group policies, and prioritization of staff welfare and security.

2.Strategy and Programme Development

• Ensure we are working in line with the locally-led development approach
• Provide technical support to programme implementation for Malawi Energy programme staff to deliver consistently high quality, innovative programmes in both the energy and carbon finance sectors.
• Working within the Malawi Country strategy, and working with other Programme Managers, towards the delivery of our Strategic Objectives and ensuring integration across our work
• Feed into the development of new Country Programme policies and position papers
• Keep up to date with global good practice, technology, approaches and emerging trends, as well as innovative ideas, translating them to the Malawi context
• Capture learning and adapt programming accordingly to maximise impact for communities
• Feed into and promote our Community-Led programming policy work. Maintain long term local and international donor relations to ensure continuation and growth of existing funding
• Keep abreast of new funding opportunities and oversee the development of high-quality proposals for existing and new funders based on organisational learning. Diversify funding sources and secure funding for existing and new areas of focus in line with the CP strategy including carbon finance and impact investment.
• Foster establishment and growth in SHA’s sustainable energy social enterprise
• Where requested by other Country Programs, to provide remote technical advice to assist in the delivery of their projects.

3. Partnership, Representation and Advocacy

• Act as a thought leader in the energy sector in Malawi providing technical support and strategic direction to a wide range of stakeholders across private and public sectors, and civil society.
• Support the National Cookstove Steering Committee (NCSC) as a key member of the coordination group for which SHA is the secretariat. This includes leading the organisation of the annual Cleaner Cooking Conference and quarterly coordination group meetings.
• Maintain, strengthen and build networks and alliances at national level with government, academia, donors and local organisations
• Maintain, strengthen and build partnerships with companies and entrepreneurs to augment the programme’s reach and sustainability of impacts through market-based approaches.
• Ensure active engagement of the programme at district level with all relevant government structures
• Act as the primary focal point for all donors that fund the programme portfolio
• Liaise with Government of Malawi counterparts (national and district) and ensure we are visible and working in line with Government needs and priorities
• Represent SHA at workshops and conferences, ensuring our organisation and work is visible
• Maintain and expand our partnerships across Government, academia, private sector, NGOs and wider civil society, working in coordination with our Partnerships Manager
• Proactively engage in relevant fora and working groups to achieve systemic change within the sector
• Ensure all programme learning is shared internally and externally.

Knowledge, Experience and Other Requirements:

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree level qualification in energy, development, environment or other relevant discipline (post-graduate preferred)
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in a similar position in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on green energy access

Essential

• Demonstrated strategic judgement, planning, co-ordination and prioritisation skills
  Demonstrated project and programme design and proven ability to secure funding from a variety of donors including international development agencies, impact investors and the private sector
• Demonstrated project/programme management skills including managing a portfolio of simultaneous projects, monitoring and compliance, budget management, and line managing a team of employees
• Demonstrated communication, partnership building and advocacy skills with a wide range of stakeholders including from private and public sector, and civil society
• Demonstrated understanding of energy in the Global South including improved cooking and off-grid electricity (solar mini-grid and productive uses of energy in particular)
• Experience of developing and monitoring carbon finance projects, particularly improved cooking
• A strong understanding and appreciation of safeguarding principles
• Self-starter, capable of innovatively developing the programme
• Attention to details and flexible approach to work
• Demonstrated cross cultural communication skills and ability to build institutional capacity and provide mentorship to staff

Desirable

• Demonstrated experience in programme strategy design
• Ability to pilot innovations and scale-up effective programming initiatives, through an entrepreneurial mindset
• Experience living in Malawi and/or Sub-Saharan Africa and working in the energy sector

How to Apply:

Full Job Description here.

Please upload a completed Application Form, CV and cover letter outlining your suitability for the role here

Please note incomplete applications will not be considered for shortlisting.

The closing date for applications is Thursday 10th October 2024 at 5pm.

Self Help Africa is an Equal Opportunities Employer

All candidates offered a job with Self Help Africa will be expected to sign Self Help Africa’s Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.  Specific roles may require Police/DBS/ vetting.