Practical Action

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 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: 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 changemaking 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. 

Job Profile

Responsible to:  Country Director, Bangladesh
Grade:      B
Line Manages:   Project and Programme Managers, General Support Services Coordinator
Location:    Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nature of Contract:  Fixed Term 2 years, extension depends on performance and fund availability.
Financial Scope:   All restricted grant expenditure
Travel:      Regular to field office locations, international when required

Purpose, Scope and Relationships

The purpose of the role is to providing operational leadership and management for all areas of programme delivery and operations. Working closely with the thematic leadership and MEAL team, the Head of Operations is responsible for delivering high quality programming and ensuring efficient operational systems.  The Head of Programme Delivery and Operations is a member of the senior management team.
The key working relationship is with all internal functions to ensure effective and collaborative operations. There is an expectation to develop external relationships with appropriate contacts, e.g. auditors, donors, partners, private sector and other I/NGOs.
The scope of the role is leadership accountability across all four core areas of the strategy. Accountabilities are indicated below with approximate level of effort against each.

Job Functions and Responsibilities

Delivering Performance – Programme Delivery                                                50%

• Overall accountability for delivery of quality programmes on time, on budget, and in accordance with implementation plans
• Develop and maintain effective processes, systems and tools to ensure all teams can offer optimum support for delivery of programme cycle
• Work with Thematic Leadership, and MEAL teams to ensure our strategic and thematic goals are effectively operationalised
• Embed programme quality and delivery framework across all our programmes
• Lead and manage delivery teams to ensure excellent compliance with donor requirements
• Identify and solve emerging operational problems, proposing adaptations to budgets, scope or timelines and proactive donor communications for greater impact
• Effectively manage all programming partnerships including (sub-grantees)
• Overall accountability for budget management of all awards; working in partnership with finance team
• Ensure programme delivery and operations are compliant with PQD cycle
• Ensure programme delivery is gender responsive and socially inclusive
• Ensure that excellent safeguarding practice is embedded throughout our operations

Delivering Performance – General Support Services                                      20%

• Lead and manage GSS team, including all admin and supporting functions
• Overall accountability for all procurement policy and process
• Oversee all operational processes including:
• Transport, Drivers and logistics
• Equipment and Asset Management
• Dhaka and field office administration
• Management of support staff team
• Accountable for safety and security of our people, premises and programmes. Ensure effective risk management across our operations.

Leadership, Management and People                                                                    20%

• Provide overall leadership to delivery and operations teams to achieve high quality results, encouraging transparent and collaborative ways of working with all functions and teams.
• Work closely with People and Culture team to ensure the organisation is strategically resourced to effectively deliver our programmes.
• Serve as a key member of the Bangladesh Senior Management Team providing strategic input into organisational direction and ensuring flows of information between management and all teams contributing to programme delivery.
• Take time to build team capacities related to quality project and award management, donor compliance, and operational excellence.
• Proactively support the professional growth of team members/ others  by offering quality feedback and opportunities to progress and grow
• Demonstrate and actively enable team learning and development including approaches such as coaching, mentoring, facilitated workshops, review and action planning.
• Foster a culture of inclusive and equitable working, collaboration and common ambition

Generating Funding and Managing Relationships                                          10%

• Manage strong operational relationships with donors, partners, government, communities and other relevant groups
• Ensure timely and quality reporting from partners and to donors
• Ensure regular review and planning meetings as required with donors, partners, communities and other stakeholders
• Lead operational input into project design and development process. Ensure proposals are operationally fit for purpose and are designed and resourced effectively to deliver proposed impact.

Experience, Knowledge & Skills

• At least 10 years working experience
• At least 5 years in leadership position managing large team in diverse programme setting
• Significant experience in programme management within international development organisations
• Strong track record of designing and managing effective operational processes across organisational delivery functions
• Strong knowledge of and interest in at least 2 of the strategic areas of focus – Agriculture, Urban Integrated Waste Management, Energy, Climate & Resilience
• Experience managing safety and security in the development sector
• Experience managing operational, admin and logistics teams
• Well conversant with contemporary development agendas
• Strong understanding and experience of gender transformative programming
• Experience managing large-scale, multi-partner, cross sector projects, e.g. public private partnerships
• Experience managing projects across different regions and field offices
• Experience in major donor reporting requirements
• Highly skilled people manager committed to transparent, inclusive and equitable working practices
• Ability to drive collaboration between departments to achieve quality outcomes
• Excellent written and oral communication skill and able to communicate to different segments of audiences
• Ability to work without being supervised, and meet tight deadlines
• Ability to be creative and innovative to achieve ongoing organizational change
• Ability to work under pressure and still remain effective

Qualifications
Master’s degree in development studies, Business Administration, Economics, Social Science or related field (desired).

Salary Info
Monthly consolidated BDT 262,000 – 334,000/- including all other benefits and allowances.  Experienced and skilled candidates would be offered with appropriate packages.

How to apply

Please apply online by uploading your CV by 8th August. Consider applying as soon as possible because applications will be considered on rolling basis. Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

We treat all applications for employment on their merits and do not take into consideration any factors that are not relevant to the job such as disability, race, age, religion, gender, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.

Only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview.

Practical Action are committed to safeguarding and protecting children and vulnerable adults and as such candidates will be subject to pre-employment checks.