Programme Manager

King’s Global Health Partnerships (KGHP) works with health facilities, academic institutions, and governments to strengthen health systems and improve the quality of care in Sierra Leone, Somaliland, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Gambia. We bring together health, academic and international development expertise from King’s College London, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and our international partners to:

• Educate, train and support healthcare workers
• Strengthen healthcare and training institutions
• Enhance national health policies and systems

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Programmes Manager to oversee the implementation and provide programmatic leadership for project workstreams within the KSLP office, with a main focus on the FCDO Saving Lives in Sierra Leone phase 3 grant and EKFS Emergency Care Systems Development grant. The Programme Manager will be responsible for the successful planning, execution, monitoring, and reporting of all project activities in alignment with the grant’s objectives and donor requirements. This position requires strong leadership, project management, communication, and coordination skills, as well as a commitment to improving healthcare outcomes in Sierra Leone.

Key Responsibilities:

Project Planning and Coordination:

• Manage the implementation of projects, ensuring that plans are delivered on time, on budget and in line with donor guidance. Ensure the management of compliance and risk across grants, including monitoring and mitigation of risk.
• Develop detailed project work plans, budgets, and timelines in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• Coordinate project activities, ensuring alignment with grant objectives, timelines, and budgetary constraints.
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration among project team members, partners, and stakeholders.
• Adopt excellent time keeping skills to ensure project outcomes are met and communicated to Director of Clinical Strategy.
• Proactively organize meetings, take minutes and distribute agendas to support programmatic work.

Grant Management:

Supports the development and implementation of funding plans in collaboration with the Director of Clinical Strategy, support the development of relationships with donors and partners, and development of funding proposals in line with partnership strategies.

• Lead on the financial reporting to donors in collaboration with the Finance and Operations Manager and the narrative reporting, ensuring clear and responsive communication with partners and donors.
• Oversee the implementation of project activities, ensuring compliance with grant agreements, policies, and procedures.
• Monitor project progress, identify risks and challenges, and implement strategies to mitigate them.
• Prepare and submit timely and accurate reports to the FCDO, EKFS and other relevant stakeholders, as required.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, healthcare facilities, and community members.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the sustainability and scalability of project interventions beyond the grant period.
• Represent KGHP in meetings, workshops, and other events related to the project.
• Lead implementation of the KGHP communication plan, working with the Senior Communications Officer to produce engaging and informative internal and external communications and support dissemination of impact.

Capacity Building, Training and Support:

In collaboration with the Director of Clinical Strategy, ensure that there are robust processes for the effective recruitment, coordination and oversight of UK volunteers and fellows.

• Lead on the engagement, recruitment and onboarding of volunteers for the Sierra Leone partnership, ensuring that opportunities are advertised via agreed external and internal channels, ensuring that volunteers have timely and comprehensive information about their assignment, and ensuring that standards around safeguarding and occupational health are met prior to engagement.
• Identify capacity gaps among project staff and partners and develop tailored capacity building initiatives.
• Provide technical assistance to project team members and partners to enhance their skills and knowledge.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL):

• Oversee monitoring, evaluation and learning in collaboration with KGHP Monitoring Advisor ensuring that impact and lessons learnt are disseminated among partners, across KGHP, and externally.
• Support robust MEL frameworks to track project outputs, outcomes, and impacts.
• Regularly collect, analyze, and interpret project data to inform decision-making and adaptive management.
• Facilitate learning workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions to document and disseminate best practices and lessons learned.

Qualifications and Experience:

Essential criteria

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in public health, international development, project management, or a related field.

• At least 3 years of experience managing health or development projects, preferably in Sierra Leone or similar contexts.
• Proven track record of successfully implementing donor-funded projects, particularly FCDO grants.
• Understanding of the development health systems, including knowledge of key stakeholders, policies, and challenges.
• Excellent project management skills, including planning, budgeting, monitoring, and reporting.
• Demonstrated leadership and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare clear and concise reports and presentations.
• Proficiency in English required.
• Commitment to KGHPs mission and values.

Desirable criteria

• Strong understanding of the Sierra Leonean health system, including knowledge of key stakeholders, policies, and challenges.
• Post-graduate degree in a relevant subject.
• Proficiency in Krio or other local languages.
• Project management training course.
• Experience of working with / managing UK volunteers.
• Experience working with FCDO processes of planning, audits, reporting, monitoring evaluation and learning activities, budget reforecasting.