Country Programmes Manager – Rwanda

VVOB is an organisation with programmes and projects in 9 countries worldwide. Our head office is based in Brussels, Belgium. When you join VVOB, you become a key player in VVOB’s mission to ensure quality education as a key enabler for achieving the sustainable development goals. We implement our programmes and projects with one shared passion: to ensure the improvement of quality education. Our teams of national and international experts achieve this by providing technical assistance to governmental and other education actors. In doing so, worldwide we ensure capacity building of governmental and other education actors. Do you share our ambition to ensure that learners around the world can enjoy their fundamental human right to quality education, without exception? Are you convinced as well that quality education guarantees equal opportunities for everyone and is the key to a better world? We are looking for a Country Programmes Manager who will operate from our office in Kigali, Rwanda, who will bear the final responsibility for the totality of all activities in Rwanda. Do you want to take on this challenge? Then continue reading!

VVOB in Rwanda

VVOB started working with the Ministry of Education to support school leaders since 2003.The first decade focused on managerial skills and tools for school leaders in basic education schools, in view of effective and efficient leadership. As of 2013, a smart combination of multiple cycles of funding from the Belgian government, short-term innovation funding from the UK and a welltargeted boost to ICT-innovation and scaling from the Mastercard Foundation made the successful shift of interventions from school management support to school leadership support possible, to strengthen school leaders in their role to improve the quality of teaching at school. More recently, VVOB also started working in early childhood education in Rwanda. As the Country Programmes Manager you bear the final responsibility for the totality of all activities in Rwanda. You carry out the vision and mission of VVOB, you develop our business further and contribute to global business development.

You will:

• You hold the end responsibility of all VVOB operations within Rwanda and are accountable for key results in all areas, including programme operations, finances, human resources and internal organization;

• As a leader and role model, you develop and inspire the team in Rwanda and you offer managerial advice, guidance and support towards them in order to achieve programme results;

• You are actively involved in the further development of the business at country level, including portfolio management, highlighting of achievements, identifying the landscape of both partnerships and competition and seeking new funding opportunities;

• You are actively engaged in strategy and policy development at global organisational level and translate these global strategies and policies into relevant and scalable strategies, policies and programmes at the country level. As a leader you ensure VVOB in Rwanda lives and implements VVOB’s Learning Unlimited strategy;

• You develop and maintain a network with relevant government, funding, technical and network partners and other internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, you represent VVOB towards them.

Your expertise and experience

• A Master’s Degree, or equivalent by experience;

• At least 2 years of international work experience;

• Strong and proven management and shared leadership skills with a track record of success in building effective teams through participative decision-making and leading and motivating a diverse group of professional staff;

• Demonstrated and successful experience in strategic networking and partnership building with a varied range of partners, including government partners, donors and investors;

• Experience in organisational development and leading an organisation through change (experience in leading a Rwandan team or organisation is a plus )

• At least 3 years of work experience in managing a project portfolio with an annual budget of more than 1 million euro;

• Experience with capacity development processes and strategies, change processes and change management at institutional level;

• English proficiency: CEFR level C1.

Matching competences

VVOB core competences:

• Result orientation • Continuous improvement • Cooperation

Function specific competencies:

• Agility • Vision building • Giving direction • Persuasiveness • Strategic networking & partnership development

What we’re offering:

• A full-time contract until 31/12/2026;

• A dynamic working environment in an international context;

• An attractive compensations & benefits package

• An exciting job in a growing organisation with varied responsibilities and opportunities for professional development.

Join us: As soon as possible!

Your duty station: Kigali, Rwanda