View Vacancy - KL - Prosperity Fund Regional Education and Skills Programme Manager, C5L

The main purpose of the job is to provide high quality strategic relationship and programme management to help define and implement a £19 million multi-year Prosperity Fund programme supporting Higher Education and Skills in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines, which:

• is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reduces poverty and stimulates inclusive, sustainable economic growth.
• Opens new markets for international businesses, including UK companies.
• Is aligned with equivalent UK programmes in other middle-income Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) - eligible countries.
• Is coherent with wider High Commission/HMG efforts to build education links with the UK.
• Has impact and is good value for money.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?

Prosperity is one of the UK’s three Foreign Policy Priorities.  We seek to ‘build the UK’s prosperity by increasing exports and investment, opening markets, ensuring access to resources, and promoting sustainable global growth’.

This is a great opportunity to deliver a key component of the £1.2 billion ODA five-year Cross-Government Prosperity Fund. New and innovative, the Fund represents a step change in HMG’s approach to promoting economic development and prosperity overseas. The purpose of the Prosperity Fund is to:

• Promote economic reforms and remove barriers to trade
• Strengthen policy capacity and build strong institutions
• Develop sectors which support growth such as education

In ASEAN, a country grouping of 650 million consumers and growing, education, especially technical vocational education and training (TVET) and upgrading skills is a crucial element of national economic development strategies.  As part of this, we plan to invest in a £19 million multi-year Prosperity Fund programme on higher education and TVET called the Skills for Prosperity programme, which is a priority sector for UK Ministers. The programme will be implemented by a contracted out external entity, and the implementation contract will be managed centrally in London. Your job will focus on Malaysia (with a supporting policy and regional role), to provide high quality programme management, coordination and advice to help design and implement this programme.  Broadly speaking this will take place in three stages:

You will lead on,

• Contributing to the design of the PF Skills programme, participating in the selection panel for the implementing entity; engaging with government, private sector, academia and civil society. Supporting programme monitoring, performance and risk management, and reporting.
• Keeping abreast of education, particularly TVET policy developments at post, regionally, in the UK and internationally (for example World Bank and Asian Development Bank policy and operational reviews), using this knowledge to spot opportunities for sharing lessons and best practice with other ASEAN and prosperity fund priority countries.
• Supporting gender equality act compliance and PF’s policy and guidance on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and inclusive growth.
• Build links across the High Commission.
• Deepen the High Commission’s education engagement beyond the capital cities, at sub-national levels.
• Maintain a strong network with your colleagues in the UK, and counterparts in ASEAN and other priority Education Prosperity Fund countries, adapting the programme on the basis of lessons learnt (this may involve local, regional and international travel).
• Support the Head of the Prosperity team in Kuala Lumpur to contribute to education and skills policy and the wider objective of the Prosperity team.
• Support the wider Prosperity team, and take on High Commission corporate roles.

The cross-government Prosperity Fund’s (PF’s) primary aim is supporting growth in recipient countries and thereby reducing poverty. It represents a key component of the prosperity pillar of the UK Aid Strategy. The Fund uniquely focuses on promoting growth in ODA-eligible middle income countries, which are home to nearly 70% of the world’s poor and where the development challenges remain significant, but at the same time are important business partners and drivers of prosperity. By delivering high impact, strategic multi-year programmes, across high opportunity countries, regions and sectors, the Fund will help create opportunities for international business, including UK companies. As the UK leaves the EU, an even more outward-looking global Britain investing and trading with the fastest growing markets will become increasingly important.

We are looking for a proactive, creative self-starter who can prioritise to operate in a fast-paced environment, largely unsupervised, delivering to deadlines.  S/he will need excellent interpersonal and communications skills to build strong relations within the High Commission, governments, private sector, academia and civil society in the region and with stakeholders in the UK. 

Essential on arrival:

• Excellent working levels in both written and spoken English.
• Qualified to degree level (ideally but not limited to economics or development economics or education or sociology or political science or business studies).
• At least 3 years work experience in the public or private sectors.
• Passion for education, TVET and skills, and a desire to improve education.
• Experience in delivering successful programmes, stakeholder management; developing policy advice/analysis.
• A strong understanding of poverty, inequality and gender issues; knowledge of international development policy (e.g. UN SDGs, UK Aid policy).
• Good programme, contract and financial management skills and experience.
• Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems.

The successful candidate will be expected to embody the UK civil service’s values and FCO’s mission objectives.

We place a strong emphasis on learning and development.  You will be encouraged to undertake developmental training and get involved in corporate activities.  This role provides an excellent opportunity to build up programme knowledge and expertise and gain exposure to working across government.  You will have access to existing and new Project & Programme Management L&D as well as wider job-relevant L&D and support for your own personal development. You may have the opportunity to participate in annual reviews to assess the performance of Prosperity and other UK Cross-Whitehall Funds.