Practical Action
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
We are an international development organisation putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change their world.
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Challenges made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. We work with communities to develop ingenious, lasting and locally owned solutions for agriculture, water and waste management, climate resilience and clean energy. And we share what works with others, so answers that start small can grow big.
We’re a global change-making group. The group consists of a UK registered charity with community projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, an independent development publishing company and a technical consulting service. We combine these specialisms to multiply our impact and help shape a world that works better for everyone.
OUR AIMS
We help people find solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems, made worse by catastrophic climate change and persistent gender inequality. Our aims (Change Ambitions) are to:
- Make agriculture work better for smallholder farmers, many of them women, so they can adapt to climate change and achieve a good standard of living
- Help more people harness the transformational effects of clean affordable energy and reduce avoidable deaths caused by smoke from indoor stoves and fires.
- Make cities in poorer countries cleaner, healthier places to live and work.
- Build disaster resilience into the lives of people threatened by hazards – reducing the risk of hazards and minimising their impact on lives and livelihoods.
HOW WE WORK
We work on holistic solutions that change systems and have a framework to help us achieve our aims:
- Analyse the root causes of a poverty and vulnerability
- Define the change at scale we need to make
- Develop activities along three complementary paths of our Framework for Change: Demonstrate, Learn and Inspire.
- Demonstrate that our solutions are sustainable in the real world
- Learn by capturing evidence and adapting our approach
- Inspire wider support to multiply our impact.
OUR ORGANISATION
Practical Action is an unconventional, multi-disciplinary change-making organisation
- A highly innovative community development charity operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Practical Action community projects use ingenious ideas to design, test, refine and prove new ways to overcome poverty and disadvantage and then ‘open-source’ knowledge of what works so that it can be implemented at a greater scale by others.
- A world-class consulting operation that helps socially responsible business, government policy makers and other development organisations. This draws on learnings from our own development work as well as the combined brainpower of a roster of over 2,000 expert consultants. Practical Action Consulting helps to extend the reach of our influence by providing the best advice to others, whose work can make a bigger difference.
- A well respected specialist development publisher. Practical Action Publishing brings together development practitioners, researchers and thought leaders to create publications that stimulate discussion, strengthen peoples’ capabilities and inspire sustainable change.
Practical Action
ABOUT THE ROLE
Our Vision
Practical Action’s vision is of a world that works better for everyone.
About the Role
  Reporting to the International Director the post holder will support Practical Action’s Country Offices (COs) in Asia to develop and deliver on their strategic business plans. In this exciting and influential role will, the post holder will:
- Support 2 – 3 Country Offices to develop viable strategic business plans
- Support 2 - 3 COs to lead and manage internal change that enables them to deliver on the SBP. These include capacity building and support in project & award management, quality design and delivery, business development, safety & security management, monitoring & reporting and audit & risk management
- Act as a change agent across the group promoting a collaborative One Practical Action approach between Country Offices and UK teams.
The International Operations Manager contributes to Practical Action’s five core strategic areas to achieve our Change Ambitions, deliver performance, generate funds, manage relationships, invest in people, and strengthen our organisational profile.
Scope
| Title |
Manager, International Operations |
| Directorate |
International |
| Reporting to |
International Director |
| Direct reports |
None |
| Groups |
Facilitates the CO Fundraising Coordination Group + Asia Working Group |
| Relationships |
Country SMTs
With UK Teams with special focus on Fundraising, Finance, PAC, Impact & Influence and Marketing |
| Financial scope |
None |
| Location |
The successful candidate will be required to spend a significant amount of time travelling to and from the UK up until March 2023. The role will be based in either Nepal, or Bangladesh from April 2023 subject to right to work or suitable visas. |
| Duration |
2 year FTC |
| Grade |
The salary for this role is dependent on the country of base; to find out about salary ranges please contact recruitment@practicalaction.org.uk |
| Salary |
Monthly Gross Salary in BDT – 2,27,000 |
| Travel |
Expected approximately 6 - 8 weeks per annum |
Accountabilities – focus on 2-3 COs
Strategic Alignment
Supports Country Offices to align their work (programme and consultancy) to the strategy in order to achieve the Change Ambitions
Contributes to the International Directorate’s overall planning, reporting, communications, effectiveness and team working.
People and Culture
Supports Country Offices to build capacity on Project & Award Management, including in-country and remote training on proposal development, sub-award management, planning, budgeting and budget management, procurement and risk management.
Supports COs to build capacity on safety & security management
Achieving Change Ambitions
Supports COs to align new work with their Strategic Business Plans and Change Ambitions, consistently using the Framework for Change, and integrating gender to achieve impact.
Generating Funding, Managing Relationships, Strengthening Profile
Serves as proposal development backstop for COs – facilitating go/no-go decisions; conducting reviews of proposals with focus on quality, risk, cost coverage and compliance; facilitating technical assistance and approvals; supporting consortia development and ensuring the PAMS database of projects and awards is consistently updated.
Ensures that M&E, gender and systems thinking are integrated into all new RCO proposals.
Member of fundraising coordination team, reviews funding targets vs actuals, facilitates the prioritization of projects for funding and helps COs coordinate with UK fundraising teams.
Signposts marketing teams to projects and stories that we want to feature from COs.
Represents the organisation externally as required.
Delivering Performance – Planning and Risk Management
Supports COs to develop viable strategic business plans
Supports COs in overall operational management including project & award management, high risk awards, quality delivery, monitoring and reporting, risk and audit management, safety & security, sub-award management, etc. – as agreed with RCO SMT.
Serves as a knowledge repository on CO strategies, programmes, projects, learning, etc. to support UK colleagues – i.e. a ‘go-to’ position on COs.
Person Profile
To be successful in the role, the ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:
Experience & Knowledge
Essential
Desirable |
Professional experience in the field of international development, preferably with a good portion of that gained in overseas contexts.
Strong understanding and experience of new business development, including facilitation of consortia and partnerships, opportunity identification, quality proposal development and donor rules.
Experience of project and award management, including planning, budgeting, resource management, controls, problem solving, monitoring and delivering on time, to quality and within budget.
Proven ability to work with others to build capacities in a cooperative way. Good persuasion skills.
Experience in delivering training, in-person, remotely and through mentoring.
Knowledge, experience and/or interest in safety & security management and wider risk management
Ability to work in differing cultural contexts, using the most appropriate methodologies for adoption of change in each context.
Excellent written and oral communications skills in English, with a relevant second language desirable.
Excellent facilitation skills with the ability to listen, and to lead.
A sound understanding of and commitment to gender equality.
Empathy with Practical Action’s vision, mission and values.
Ability to travel up to 8 weeks per year.
Undergraduate or post-graduate degree in relevant subject |
Closing date for applications: 21st June, 2022
HOW TO APPLY: If you want to work for a charity with significant people ambitions, then we would like to hear from you. Please submit a copy of your CV and a supporting statement that describes your suitability for the role to recruitment@practicalaction.org.uk. |
