Senior Programme Manager, Skills for a Sustainable Future

The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language. We work in two ways - directly with individuals to transform their lives, and with governments and partners to make a bigger difference for the longer term, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world. We help young people to gain the skills, confidence and connections they are looking for to realise their potential and to participate in strong and inclusive communities. We support them to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Our work in arts and culture stimulates creative expression and exchange and nurtures creative enterprise. We connect the best of the UK with the world and the best of the world with the UK. These connections lead to an understanding of each other's strengths and of the challenges and values that we share. This builds trust between people in the UK and other nations which endures even when official relations may be strained. We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.

Role Purpose:

Lead the design and implementation of the Skills for a Sustainable Future (name TBC) programme co-funded by the British Council and a leading corporate in compliance with British Council policies and procedures to ensure achievement of required financial (5m TBC), impact and quality targets, and value for money.

This includes working with a large range of internal and external stakeholders and delivery partners across initially up to 10 markets to ensure that the programme meets identified needs and objectives and is high impact and sustainable.

You will be responsible for internal and external assurance and reporting to funding partners working within an agreed governance framework, with the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) and funding partner Key Account Manager (KAM).

It will be critical to ensure:

• diverse voices are represented through an inclusive co-design and delivery approach
• alignment and no duplication with the wider Cultural Engagement portfolio and funding partner wider CSR portfolio
• we build on learning and experience from relevant programmes, particularly The Climate Connection, and share knowledge, expertise and best practice from the country with the regional and global teams and externally
• the delivery approach is innovative in terms engagement of funding partner employees
• alignment with recommendations from Head Environment

You will also play a role in coordinating and supporting external communication of climate work being delivered across the CE portfolio. This is envisaged to be around 10% of the role.

Role Context:

This role sits within the Cultural Engagement (CE) Strategic Business Unit (SBU). CE brings together our portfolio of work in arts, education, English, and research. Our portfolio is delivered through a set of globally led programmes that locates our work and impact within our strategic framework. These programmes deliver our key performance indicators and impact ambitions.

All programme management roles deliver activities and projects within this global programme and strategic framework. Our programmes are funded by the British Council's grant in aid, through partnerships and external clients.

The British Council has a contextualised programme and project management framework with clear standards and procedures for programme management set out by the CE Centre of Excellence.This framework is in line with Cabinet office functional standard for project delivery , FCDOOperatingFramework andthe Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge. Programme managers within the CE SBU deliver programmes following the standards and procedures set out in this framework.

Main accountabilities:

Leadership & Management

• Identifies and leads a geographically dispersed programme delivery team across up to ten markets
• Builds capacity and capability in programme management in delivery teams and delivery partners.
• Champions EDI within the programme and empowers team members to effectively identify opportunities for mainstreaming EDI in the programme delivery.
• Provides formal line management for the central programme management team (size tbd but likely to be 2-3 FTE).
• L eads relationships with global delivery partners or additional funding partners

Relationship & Stakeholders

• Responsible for relationships with partners/funders clients and internal stakeholders at a programme/project level.
• Proactively builds and maintains relationships with the funding organisation's Sustainability team and other key stakeholders in the UK and countries where the programme is delivered and engage them with the programme to build support and advocacy for the programme.

Programme Management

• Oversee the detailed design, development, delivery and closure of the programme.
• Monitors achievement against the plan and intervenes to take remedial actions where necessary, liaising with the KAM, leaders in the global pillar and region as appropriate to determine the most appropriate solution to protect both short and medium-term performance.
• Ensure the programme brings demonstrable benefit to the UK through delivery partnerships with UK-based organisations.
• Based on programme monitoring data, draft regular progress reports for the SRO and/or KAM and other senior internal stakeholders, and the funding partner .

Sector expertise

• Drawing on any relevant technical expertise in the field of English for Empowerment and/or non-formal education, lead the detailed design of the programme, working with external consultants and other British Council sector experts from Education and English Programmes or external organisations.
• Use ELT / Education sector expertise to represent the British Council's perspective and demonstrate the UK's thought leadership in relevant external fora.
• Ensures evidence of what works from published research and internal programmes drives delivery choices
• Ensures clear inks established between communication. Research and evaluation teams and learning is appropriately shared across teams and disseminated

Consultancy, analysis and problem solving

• Apply knowledge and technical specialism to solve complex issues which may arise during the course of the programme detailed design, inception and delivery.
• Deploy a range of specialist methodologies, approaches and technologies to support the provision of high quality insights and advice to program delivery team; the funding partner and delivery partners..
• Distil complex concepts and analysis into cogent and persuasive business case presentations, which convincingly influence decision-makers about the need for significant changes to policy or practice.

Commercial and Financial Management

• Ensures sound internal/external financial management, planning and reporting is in place.
• Oversight of invoicing process (if contract).
• Produce and communicate performance reports, including income, cost management, results and impact programme against KPIs and mitigate identified variances by working with country programme leads.
• Oversight of financial management of grant; produce and communicate grant expenditure against plan reports to KAM and the donor; and mitigate identified variances by working with Country-based programme leads.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

• To actively contribute to an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of your own biases, and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensuring people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people's well-being and mental health.

• Understand the British Council's approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and how it applies to your role, and make time for learning and development relating to EDI and anti racism.

Role Specific Knowledge and Experience:

• Project/programme management experience or equivalent qualification

• Extensive experience of leading and managing multi-country programmes or large projects including managing risk.

• Extensive experience of managing complex, senior, client, stakeholder and partner relationships and reporting requirements.

• Experience of developing Monitoring Evaluation Learning frameworks and designing data collection mechanisms

• Experience of presenting and communicating programme success to a range of external audiences

• Knowledge and /or experience of delivery of programmes and contracts which address skills development, global issues and resilience, preferably with a focus on climate change

EDI Core Skills:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Recognises and acts to reduce bias, including unconscious bias
• Works inter-culturally, includes and values diverse perspectives and experiences
• Makes decisions and takes actions based on an evidenced understanding of the experiences and barriers for people from diverse equality backgrounds ..... click apply for full job details