View Vacancy - MNL - Programme Manager, Investment Promotion Programme, DIT, C4 (L)

Main purpose of job:

This is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic individual to join the British Embassy in Manila to support the design and delivery of the Investment Promotion Programme from the UK Government’s (HMG) work on the Prosperity Fund in the Philippines.   This role sits within the Department for International Trade (DIT). DIT is the UK Government department charged with securing UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade.

The cross-government Prosperity Fund (PF) was established under the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) with the primary aim of supporting growth in recipient countries and thereby reducing poverty. As such, it represents a key component of the prosperity pillar of the UK Aid Strategy. But the Fund uniquely focuses on promoting growth in ODA-eligible middle income countries, which are home to around 60% 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.

This role will be responsible for the delivery of the Global Investment Promotion Programme in Manila; a £50 million Prosperity Fund programme, which will work with partner countries to build the capacity and capability of Investment Promotion Agencies. The programme aims to develop and open up selected developing/emerging markets to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), with the objective of fostering inclusive economic growth, sustainable job creation, skills development and productivity gains within local supply chains.

The main purpose of the job is to provide programme management expertise and oversight to support delivery of large, varied and innovative programming on investment promotion capacity building in the Philippines. The total budget of the programme is £50million – to be delivered across 4-6 countries globally. The postholder will need to ensure effective coordination across the IPP delivery team, the Embassy and DIT.   They will also work closely with the Embassy’s Prosperity Fund team, and link effectively with other UK government departments at post and in the UK.

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

Programme management

The programme manager is responsible, on behalf of the Team Leader (Senior Responsible Owner) and working with Policy Leads, for effective co-ordination of the team’s technical assistance programmes including oversight of any risks and issues arising. This will include:

• Ensuring that programme delivery is in line with UK principles, standards and guidance – ensuring all compliance activities are undertaken. This includes implementation of the programme in line with PF systems and processes, Business Case of the Philippines Prosperity Fund programme, Due Diligence Assessments and ensuring Value for Money is demonstrated;
• Working with the Programme Lead in London and provide quality assurance to ensure the delivery of new products or services from projects is to the required standard, on time and within budget, in accordance with the programme plan and programme governance arrangements;
• Working with the commercial lead, to ensure timely and well managed procurement of services to deliver the TA programme;
• Working with London Lead Programme Team to ensure high quality stakeholder management and communications with all delivery partners to drive delivery and ensure appropriate flow of information and advice;
• Working with the Programme Leader and Deputy Team Lead to manage risks including by inputting and managing post risk register and developing strategies for risk mitigation;
• Coordinating Monitoring, Reporting, Evaluation and Learning (MREL) functions;
• Ensuring that data is passed efficiently between internal and external partners, and is inputted effectively to the MREL tool Prospero.
• Ensuring that learning is fed back into the programme to inform course correction and adaptive programming, and outcomes are properly captured;  
• Regularly reviewing partner reporting, in co-ordination with policy leads;
• Critically appraising progress, troubleshooting programme issues and escalating delivery risks as appropriate;
• Monitoring project delivery through visits to project sites and Investment Promotion Agencies as appropriate;
• Leading the production of annual reviews and project completion reviews to quality standards and agreed deadline.

Financial Management

• Ensuring timely and accurate allocation and forecasting of the programme budget and financial management in line to show VfM;
• Ensuring that the team is consistently practicing sound financial management using appropriate tools and practices;
• Ensuring that delivery partners are meeting expected standards on delivering Value for Money.

Communication

• Working with the London Team leads and the Joint Funds Unit, Prosperity team secretariat , co-ordinate proactive reporting on programme progress, emerging risks and lessons learned, attend relevant Programme Boards and Team meetings in the British Embassy and in London;
• Delivering proactive and timely communication of results to internal customers and external stakeholders, including drafting impact stories and other communications products matched to audience, such as diplomatic telegrams, letters etc.

• Be a self-starter, resilient and resourceful – the aim of the job is to deliver a meaningful and successful range of activities which support both HMG’s objectives more widely as well as the Embassy’s business objectives;
• Create and maintain positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside the British Embassy to help get business done. At all levels, it requires working collaboratively, sharing information and building supportive, responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, whilst having the confidence to challenge assumptions;
• Take responsibility and be accountable for quality outcomes, including by delivering on a timely performance with energy. Work to agreed goals and activities and deal with challenges in a responsive and constructive way. Build a performance culture to deliver outcomes with a firm focus on prioritisation and address performance issues resolutely, fairly and promptly;
• Graduate with a university degree or similar professional experience and at least 2 years of experience in a relevant field;
• Demonstrable experience in managing programmes to budget, to time and to agreed outcomes with a focus on quality of delivery;
• Experience in developing policy and commercial advice/analysis and delivering successful programmes;
• Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems;
• Work collaboratively and effectively with colleagues across the British Embassy to support the One HMG approach;
• Good relationship building skills with a diverse set of local and foreign stakeholders;
• Effective communication skills;
• Enjoys drafting for a variety of audience.