Program Manager

The Luminos Fund, an international non-profit bringing education opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable children, is looking for an experienced and dynamic Program Manager to support the rapid scale-up of an accelerated learning program in the Ethiopian primary school system.

The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented, self-motivated, collaborative, and organized, with a passion for driving transformative results for children.

The Program Manager will play a key role in program planning and execution, managing relationships with local implementing partners, monitoring and evaluation, and compiling, analyzing, and acting on program-related data.

This full-time position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and requires extensive domestic travel. This role will report to the Associate Director of Programs and Ethiopia Country Manager. Fluency in English and at least one Ethiopian language is essential.

About the Luminos Fund

The Luminos Fund (www.luminosfund.org) provides transformative education programs to thousands of out-of-school children, helping them to catch up to grade level, reintegrate into government schools, and prepare for lifelong learning. Working in partnership with community-based organizations and the Ethiopian government, Luminos is scaling up its accelerated learning program to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. To date, Luminos has helped over 277,787 children secure a second chance to learn. A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the U.S., Luminos is working in Ethiopia (with an ACSO license #5731 as a foreign NGO), Ghana, Lebanon, Liberia, and The Gambia.

Luminos is supported by a range of funding partners, including Cartier Philanthropy, Dubai Cares, Legatum, and UBS Optimus Foundation. Luminos has been recognized for its achievements globally, receiving the 2022 Klaus J. Jacobs Best Practice Prize, the Library of Congress International Literacy Award, the Lipman Family Prize, the WISE Award, and the HundrED Global Innovation Award for the last seven years.

Duties and Responsibilities

Program Management and Development

• Maintain an integrated project plan that includes key project implementation activities, milestones, operational activities, and monitoring and evaluation activities.

• Ensure that program monitoring and evaluation systems and tools are utilized, and that program progress, results, and immediate objectives are systematically tracked, documented, and shared according to donor requirements.

• Prepare short-term, medium-term, and long-term program scale-up plans.

• As required, coordinate external consultants to deliver high-quality baseline and endline evaluations, even in challenging circumstances.

• Supervise and support implementing partners, ensuring that projects adhere to Luminos program standards.

• Track and deliver against program and country budgets to ensure efficient resource utilization and accurate reporting.

• Implement effective processes for collecting and analyzing data.

• Leverage data to recommend revisions to curriculum tools and project models.

• Support the Associate Director of Programs to ensure the delivery of timely, accurate, and accessible reporting on a range of donor requirements.

• Together with implementing partner staff, identify and develop lessons learned, best practices, and challenges for future learning.

• Support other projects within the Ethiopia portfolio as needed

Partner Management

• Identify performance gaps, provide on-site consultation and professional assistance, and arrange continuous improvement trainings for implementing partners’ program staff.

• Collaborate with the government education sector, including Regional Education Bureaus and Woredas Education Offices, to organize, deliver, monitor, and evaluate accelerated learning programs, and plan and execute the annual education calendar.

• Support the Associate Director of Programs to maintain relationships with existing partners and stakeholders, including the relevant government offices.

• Assist the Associate Director of Programs and Ethiopia Country Manager in developing and formalizing Memoranda and/or contracts to formalize and clarify relationships with implementing partners and government offices.

• Coordinate Programs and Finance staff to compile and submit timely reports and key performance indicators to Luminos and relevant government offices in Ethiopia.

• Support and collaborate with the Programs team in designing, scheduling, and executing field visits for donors, potential donors, government officials, and other Luminos staff.

Please note that the Luminos Fund is a highly dynamic work environment, and the role holder may need to take on additional workstreams not included in the description above. In some instances, they will face challenges in areas where they are not experts and where situations are ambiguous.

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• 5+ years of work experience with increasing levels of responsibility in the nonprofit, private, or public sector, preferably with international organizations and education programming.

• Demonstrated experience with project management, including managing tight timelines in low-resource contexts, with multiple competing priorities.

• Comfort with numbers and ability to analyze quantitative data.

• Outstanding writing skills and meticulous attention to detail.

• Fluency in English and at least one Ethiopian language required.

Core Attributes

• Belief and demonstrated passion for the mission, vision, and values of Luminos Fund.

• Impeccable integrity, professionalism, and a solutions-oriented, can-do attitude.

• Ability to wear multiple hats.

• Team player, with a belief in the power of positivity and appreciative inquiry

• Innate sense of responsibility for delivery of quality work, even in adverse circumstance.

• Self-motivated, with the ability to work independently in challenging international contexts, as required.

Luminos Core Beliefs and Values

1. We believe that every child is capable of learning a remarkable amount in a short period of time, if given the chance.

2. We keep children’s joy and well-being at the heart of everything we do.

3. We embrace assessment as a key component of effective teaching and learning.

4. We celebrate and empower local leadership throughout our work with partner communities and governments.

5. We use research, program data, and skilled classroom observation in the tenacious pursuit of excellence.

6. We celebrate the unique contexts and cultures of the communities we serve in our curricula and pedagogy.

7. We act with the highest standards of integrity and care, ensuring mutual accountability among colleagues and partners.

8. We take the initiative to solve problems where we find them, managing details large and small, with urgency.

9. We act deliberately to ensure that our organization is inclusive for people of different genders, racial backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, abilities, and other sources of diversity.

10. We build deep, authentic relationships with our supporters in celebration of the mutually transformative power of giving.

How to Apply

To apply for this role, please complete the online application with your resume or CV.

You will be asked to provide answers to the following questions as part of your application:

1) Please describe a time you had to learn a new skill to respond to the demands of a current or previous role. What was the skill? What resources, tools or processes did you use to learn the skill? (300 words or less)

2) Share an example of how you have worked with or supported a team that was lacking specific skills or experience. How did you help them develop the necessary skills, and what challenges did you face during the process? (300 words or less)

3) What is one experience on your resume that you would like to highlight for the hiring committee? Describe how this experience will translate to the Program Manager role at Luminos (300 words or less)

4) Have you used program management software or tools before? If yes, please describe which ones (200 words or less).

5) Provide your permanent address and present address (if different from permanent), e-mail address, and telephone number.

6) Disclose any existing personal relationships with existing Luminos Fund employees or implementing partners.

7) Do you currently live in, or would you be prepared to move to, Addis Ababa for this role? (Yes/No)

We are committed to ensuring competitive and equitable compensation for all employees, regardless of location. If you have any questions regarding how compensation may vary by location, please let us know during the application process.

The Luminos Fund is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

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