ROLE PURPOSE: 

The Program Manager will provide strategic, operational, and programmatic leadership for the implementation of Save the Children’s IFSAN-funded programme, Integrated malnutrition prevention and nutrition-sensitive livelihoods support for vulnerable households in North Kordofan and Central Darfur. The programme combines nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, including Assida Plus, Assida MAM, iCCM+, community-based management of acute malnutrition, and nutrition-sensitive livelihoods support. 

Based in North Kordofan, with regular travel to Central Darfur, the post holder will be responsible for ensuring the timely, effective, high-quality, and compliant delivery of the programme across both implementation locations. Save the Children will lead implementation in North Kordofan and overall consortium coordination, while Acción Contra el Hambre (ACF) will lead implementation in Central Darfur, including the iCCM+ pilot and the first implementation of the Assida Plus approach by ACF. 

The Program Manager will serve as the primary focal point for the day-to-day management of the programme and will ensure effective coordination between Save the Children and ACF. The role requires strong experience in managing international implementing partners, with the ability to monitor partner performance, maintain accountability for agreed deliverables, and facilitate effective technical and operational collaboration while respecting partnership principles.

Given the technical nature of the programme, the role requires a strong understanding of Health and Nutrition programming, particularly prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, community-based nutrition approaches, and the integration of nutrition with livelihoods, health and WASH interventions. Previous experience with Save the Children programming is highly desirable, particularly familiarity with SC technical models, systems, programme quality standards and project management processes.

The post holder will work closely with Health and Nutrition technical specialists, FSL, MEAL, Supply Chain, Finance, Awards, Operations, research partners and field teams to ensure implementation quality, effective resource management and timely achievement of programme objectives.

The role will also lead and coordinate the programme’s research and learning component. The post holder will work closely with ACF, the University of Khartoum, the University of Kordofan, EPINUT/Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and SCI technical and MEAL teams to ensure that research questions, methodologies, data collection processes, evaluations and learning products are aligned with programme objectives and implemented on time. 

The Program Manager will represent Save the Children with relevant government authorities, particularly Health and Nutrition authorities at state and national levels, and will actively engage in relevant coordination mechanisms and technical forums, including the Nutrition Cluster and other Health and Nutrition coordination structures.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder may be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Coordination & Representation:

• ·Maintain effective relationships with relevant government authorities, particularly state and national Health and Nutrition authorities, humanitarian actors, community leaders, research institutions and other stakeholders.
• ·Represent Save the Children and the programme in relevant coordination mechanisms and technical forums, including the Nutrition Cluster and other Health, Nutrition and FSL coordination structures.
• ·Build and maintain a strong working relationship with ACF as the international implementing partner and ensure effective collaboration throughout the implementation cycle.
• ·Facilitate regular coordination between SC and ACF programme, technical, operational and management teams.
• ·Ensure effective communication and coordination between North Kordofan and Central Darfur implementation teams, Country Office departments, technical advisors, research partners and senior management.
• ·Coordinate engagement with the University of Khartoum, University of Kordofan, EPINUT and other research stakeholders.
• ·Prepare high-quality briefing materials, programme updates, presentations and technical information for internal and external stakeholders as required.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with relevant private-sector actors, including food manufacturers, suppliers, processors and other market actors involved in Assida MAM production and nutrition-sensitive value chains. 
• Facilitate collaboration between private-sector partners, farmer cooperatives, technical teams and programme stakeholders to support sustainable local production and market linkages

Program and Financial Management:

• ·Provide overall leadership and oversight for implementation of the programme, ensuring that activities are delivered on time, within budget, and to the required programme quality standards.
• Lead the development, monitoring and regular updating of Detailed Implementation Plans (DIPs), procurement plans, recruitment plans, partner implementation plans and spending forecasts.
• Ensure programme implementation complies with donor requirements, SCI policies, PMM standards, PRIME requirements and internal control mechanisms.
• Monitor programme progress against agreed targets, milestones and indicators across both North Kordofan and Central Darfur.
• Identify implementation bottlenecks and coordinate timely corrective actions with relevant technical, operational and partner teams.
• Ensure the integration of Nutrition and FSL components so that agriculture and livelihoods activities contribute directly to nutrition outcomes rather than being implemented as standalone interventions.
• Lead regular programme and operational review meetings with field teams and ACF to assess progress, identify challenges, monitor risks and agree corrective actions.
• Monitor budget utilisation, burn rates, forecasts and partner expenditure in collaboration with Finance.
• Ensure strong financial oversight of both SCI and ACF implementation and identify potential overspends, underspends or financial risks early.
• Support the timely initiation and follow-up of procurement, recruitment and operational processes to avoid implementation delays.
• Ensure programme expenditures are eligible, properly documented and aligned with donor-approved budgets.
• Maintain close oversight of procurement and production processes linked to Assida MAM, including private-sector production in North Kordofan and linkages with Local Production Units in Central Darfur.
• Provide oversight of private-sector engagement linked to Assida MAM production, ensuring that commercial arrangements, quality standards, production timelines, procurement processes and programme objectives remain aligned. 
• Work closely with Supply Chain, Finance and technical teams to identify and address operational, commercial and quality risks related to private-sector production.
• Ensure programme management remains responsive to security, access constraints, seasonal calendars and other contextual changes affecting implementation.

Partnerships:

• Provide overall management oversight of ACF’s implementation under the IFSAN programme.
• Monitor ACF performance against agreed milestones, deliverables, budget, technical standards and reporting requirements.
• Ensure clear accountability for implementation in Central Darfur while maintaining a collaborative partnership approach.
• Coordinate structured technical support from Save the Children to ACF for implementation of Assida Plus and Assida MAM.
• Ensure ACF has access to relevant SC technical guidance, SOPs, implementation manuals, monitoring tools, beneficiary selection criteria, referral pathways and quality assurance processes.
• Facilitate regular technical and operational review meetings between SC and ACF.
• Identify partner capacity gaps and coordinate appropriate technical or operational support.
• Ensure partnership management complies with SCI partnership policies, donor requirements and agreed consortium arrangements.
• Promote collaborative problem-solving and timely escalation of issues affecting programme quality, delivery or compliance.

Nutrition Programme Quality and Technical Coordination:

• Work closely with SC Health and Nutrition technical teams to ensure high-quality implementation of Assida Plus, Assida MAM, iCCM+, CMAM and related nutrition interventions.
• Ensure that ACF receives appropriate technical accompaniment for its first implementation of the Assida Plus approach.
• Support alignment between programme implementation and national nutrition protocols, WHO guidance and relevant technical standards.
• Ensure programme models are implemented consistently across locations while allowing appropriate contextual adaptation.
• Facilitate regular technical reviews to monitor implementation fidelity, identify challenges and support corrective actions.
• Promote strong integration between Health, Nutrition, WASH, Social and Behaviour Change and nutrition-sensitive livelihoods components.
• Ensure technical lessons and implementation challenges are systematically documented and used to strengthen programme quality and future scale-up.

Research, Evaluation and Learning:

• Provide overall coordination and management oversight of the programme’s research and evaluation component.
• Work closely with SC and ACF MEAL teams, technical specialists, the University of Khartoum, University of Kordofan and EPINUT to ensure timely implementation of research activities.
• Support the development and finalisation of research questions, methodologies, ethical approval requirements, data collection tools, roles and responsibilities, and publication and dissemination plans during the inception phase. 
• Ensure research activities are integrated into programme implementation rather than managed as a separate workstream.
• Monitor progress of research, process evaluations, impact assessments, costing and scalability analyses.
• Ensure high-quality and timely data collection in collaboration with MEAL teams and research partners.
• Support interpretation and use of research findings for programme adaptation, operational decision-making and advocacy.
• Coordinate development of research outputs, learning products, technical briefs, presentations and dissemination workshops.
• Ensure evidence generated on Assida Plus, Assida MAM and iCCM+ is systematically documented and shared with government, donors, technical partners and relevant coordination forums.

Reporting:

• Coordinate the preparation of high-quality narrative reports in line with donor requirements and agreed timelines.
• Consolidate inputs from SC technical teams, North Kordofan field teams, ACF, MEAL, Finance, Awards and research partners into coherent reporting packages.
• Ensure timely communication of programme achievements, implementation challenges, financial risks and mitigation measures to senior management and relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure partner reports are reviewed for quality, completeness and consistency with agreed deliverables.
• Support documentation of lessons learned, best practices, research findings, case studies and success stories.
• Ensure evidence generated through pilots and research activities is reflected in donor reporting and programme learning products.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)

• Work closely with MEAL colleagues to ensure effective implementation of the programme MEAL and Accountability Framework.
• Monitor progress against indicators, milestones and targets across both SCI and ACF implementation areas.
• Ensure data quality and timely reporting from both North Kordofan and Central Darfur.
• Use programme monitoring and research evidence to inform adaptive management and corrective actions.
• Promote accountability to affected populations by ensuring that feedback and complaints mechanisms are functional, accessible and used to improve programme implementation.
• Facilitate reflection and learning processes with SC, ACF and technical stakeholders to strengthen programme quality.
• Support assessments, baseline/endline activities, evaluations, research exercises, donor monitoring visits and programme reviews as required.
• Ensure that learning from innovative pilots is systematically documented and contributes to future programming and potential scale-up.

Risk Management:

• Identify, monitor and escalate programme, partnership, financial, research, operational and technical risks requiring management attention.
• ·Maintain regular oversight of security and access risks affecting implementation in North Kordofan and Central Darfur.
• Ensure appropriate mitigation measures are developed, implemented and regularly reviewed.
• Monitor risks associated with delays in procurement, partner implementation, research activities, agricultural seasonal calendars and government approvals.
• Ensure early identification and mitigation of financial risks, including overspend, underspend and delays in partner expenditure.
• Immediately report any concerns related to safeguarding, fraud, misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, or other breaches of SCI policies.

Promote safe programming and ensure safeguarding considerations are integrated throughout programme implementation.

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Public Health, Nutrition, Medicine, Health Sciences, International Development, Humanitarian Assistance, Project Management, or another relevant field.
• A postgraduate qualification in Public Health, Nutrition, Humanitarian Studies, Development Studies, Project Management, Research/Evaluation, or a related discipline is highly desirable.

Additional training or certification in project cycle management, research methods, MEAL, partnership management, donor compliance, or humanitarian programme management would be an asset.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Minimum of five years (5) of progressively responsible experience managing complex humanitarian or development programmes in fragile and insecure contexts. 
• Proven experience managing Health and/or Nutrition programmes, preferably including acute malnutrition prevention and treatment, community-based nutrition programming, CMAM/iCCM approaches, or integrated nutrition-sensitive programming. 
• Demonstrated experience managing international implementing partners, consortium arrangements, or multi-agency programmes, including partner performance, budgets, deliverables, compliance, and reporting. 
• Strong financial management skills, including budget monitoring, forecasting, variance analysis, partner expenditure oversight, and identification of financial risks. 
• Experience leading the development and monitoring of DIPs, procurement plans, recruitment plans, spending forecasts, and risk management actions. 
• Experience engaging with government authorities, particularly Health and Nutrition counterparts, and representing programmes in relevant coordination mechanisms such as Nutrition or Health Clusters and technical working groups. 
• Good understanding of research, evaluation and learning processes, including research design, mixed methods, data quality, ethical considerations, and use of findings for programme adaptation. 
• Experience engaging with private-sector actors, including manufacturers, processors, suppliers, or market actors, preferably in food, nutrition, agriculture, or related value chains. 
• Strong knowledge of project cycle management, results-based management, and donor compliance. 
• Excellent coordination, communication, negotiation, facilitation, and problem-solving skills. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English. 
• Working proficiency in Arabic is highly desirable. 
• Willingness and ability to be based in North Kordofan and travel regularly to Central Darfur.and undertake travel to Central Darfur, subject to security and access conditions.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity