JOB DETAILS:
Role Summary:
The Country Lead will be responsible for representing the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment in Uganda and acting as the primary point of contact for the Fund for its Implementing Partners (IPs). The Country Lead will act as ‘critical friend’ of the IPs, which will be reflected in closely monitoring the project performance on the one hand, but also discussing any emerging issues from that with the IP, in an open and transparent manner.
The portfolio in Uganda is currently consisting of 10 Implementing Partners. The Country Lead will ensure that IPs are compliant with the Fund’s delivery guidelines. This includes monitoring progress of the Implementing Partners’ projects, and supporting Implementing Partners with technical and financial reporting, providing strategic guidance, mobilizing technical assistance (TA), and any other needs that may arise.
The Country Lead will be part of the fund delivery team working closely with the Fund Management specialist, members of the Technical Assistance team, and supported by Monitoring Evaluation and Learning, Financial Management, Communications teams.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
The responsibilities and duties of the Country Lead include the following:

Portfolio Planning, Project and Relationship Management
- Lead the development of the annual country delivery workplan and lay the strategic priorities for the Country.
- Lead the implementation of the country delivery plan following the timely planning as per the country workplan.
- Represent CFYE in-country - oversee the delivery of projects and serve as the first point of contact for IPs during the project life cycle.
- Take the lead in in-country project operations and management including strategic advisory and periodic review of progress against project targets, due diligence reviews and improvement plan, risk management and oversight of projects’ spending against budgets.
- Working closely with the central Fund Management team, coordinate the contracting of IPs and realisation of any required Contract Amendments.
- Coordination of in-country team to ensure IPs are fully supported by the wider CFYE team.
- Draft sections of documents, newsletters, reports and presentations for a variety of purposes, capturing key developments and insights from country portfolio.

Reporting and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)
- Supporting IPs to successfully set, achieve and troubleshoot project outputs and outcomes that align with the project's TOC.
- Coordinate and chair the quarterly progress review meetings with each Implementing Partner (IP), and document minutes, observations, and reflections, including external conditions and local external factors relevant to project implementation.
- Provide guidance to the in-country MEL advisor in realizing the data validation process to promote high quality data collection, and support partners to monitor and evaluate the impact of their projects in accordance with the CFYE MEL system, and validate documentation tied to Outputs and Outcomes for disbursements.
- Work with the MEL Manager and other relevant team members to analyse portfolio-level data to draw key insights, emerging trends, and lessons, and communicate these in a clear and relevant way internally and externally.

Technical Assistance Delivery and Management
- Supervise the IPs to set, achieve and troubleshoot a strategic impact strategy. Specifically regarding youth empowerment, gender, decent work and social inclusion.
- Supervise the TA planning to the IP’s: coordinate creation of the TA assignment (SoW), requesting approval from central team.
- Support the recruitment and on-boarding of the TA provider. In the case of VSO volunteers, work closely with the in-country local VSO country coordinator.
- Monitor TA delivery to IPs on a needs-based basis and report on a quarterly basis on the progress of ongoing TA delivery.

Communications, Marketing and Outreach
- Provide regular updates on progress and highlights from the portfolio, in weekly CFYE meeting, monthly newsletter and annual report.
- Participate in calls and relevant conferences or events within or related to their country or region to exchange relevant programme learnings.
- Maintain the relationship with the Netherlands Embassy, represent CFYE in meetings and events organised by NL or other network partners.

Financial Planning & Reporting
- Manage Uganda Country Budget in accordance to the agreed-upon country action plan, and in compliance with Palladium policies and procedures.
- Guide and facilitate IPs in preparing financial information and supporting documents as part of quarterly and annual internal reviews or external project audits, as requested by the Fund’s Central Team.
- Liaise with the IPs and Finance team on invoicing and contractual payment processes;
- Alert the Finance Manager at HQ when issues arise in relation to financial management that require a response from the fund management team.

Level of Effort and Reporting:
The Country Lead will report to CFYE’s Team Leader in the Netherlands. However, they will need to work and coordinate closely with other team members as and when demanded by assigned tasks. This includes, a Deputy Team Leader, the Fund Management Unit, and Technical Assistance Unit in addition to other members of the Challenge Fund Team. The level of effort for this role will be full-time fixed employment, initially for 1 year with the possibility for extension.

Required Qualifications:
- Strong business acumen and understanding of business support to a wide range of private sector entities and organisations.
- Strong Project Management skills including Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning experience.
- Strong affinity with youth empowerment, gender and social inclusion, and decent work.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
- Good organisational and planning skills, and sound problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- Flexibility to work in a non-office setup or from implementing partners’ premises.
- Ability to work autonomously, and as part of a remote central team.

Minimum Requirements:
- Must have the right-to-work in Uganda and is based in Uganda
- Relevant academic qualifications in a related field such as business administration, economics, HRM or finance.
- Proven experience with project management and performing related strategic and administrative tasks.
- Relevant technical work experience in one of the following areas; youth employment, private sector development, and/or business consulting.

All submissions must be in English.
Additional information on the Uganda country portfolio can be found on the CFYE website Uganda Portfolio.