Director of Program Implementation - Oosy, SkillUp - Kenya

Position Overview

Educate!, the largest youth skills service provider in East Africa is looking for a dynamic and enthusiastic Director of Program Implementation (DPI)  for Out-of-School Youth Programs to drive the growth and Implementation of our Out-of-school youth products in Kenya towards a scale journey contributing to the broader organization vision of impacting millions of Youths across Africa. As the Director of Program Implementation, you will oversee Program Implementation strategy and co-create implementation processes and strategies while building a strong culture and execution through team leadership, while leading collaboration with other departments for smoother delivery of an impactful user experience in an efficient manner through financial oversight. 

About Educate! 

Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. 

At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent. 

Educate! prepares youth in Africa learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by: 

1) introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary, and 

2) delivering livelihood bootcamps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 250,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 250 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows. 

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Big Bang Philanthropy,  #startsmall, Generation Unlimited, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year. By 2025, we aim to scale our annual reach by 4x and measurably impact over 400,000 new youth. 

Performance Objectives

Program management and Implementation Strategy (40%)

• Co-design a recruitment strategy to reach thousands of Out-of-School Youth in multiple counties 
• Lead the co-creation of a scalable delivery model and expansion strategies for new counties with Impact Unit leaders and frontline teams.
• Experiment with implementation strategies that unlock breakthrough ideas around recruitment, delivery and community partnerships that enhance the org Brand
• Manage the program and take full ownership of driving the impact goals, delivery KPIs and the youth experience.
• Drive broad alignment with other relevant leaders to ensure that both internal and Payer program commitments are met while flagging any potential misalignments or need for trade-offs
• Co-create and track stage and Quarterly goals and objectives with Impact unit leaders and program managers and lead alignment with other functional leaders where necessary
• Create a data driven culture for program management, ensure all decisions are backed by data and all the teams have clear data visibility and are empowered to use data in their day-to-day work

Team culture & Leadership (25%)

• Establish, monitor and reinforce systems and structures that build a high-performing and culturally aligned team.
• Manage the Program management team to achieve program objectives, build strong frontline teams and training the managers to strengthen their leadership capabilities
• Serve as a coach and mentor to staff empowering the team to achieve exceptional results
• Build Leadership Mindset and brand ambassadors among program teams from top to bottom including contractors.
• Model and establish initiatives that promote Educate!’s cultural tenets. Establish a mentor-centered management culture. Ensure honesty, integrity, and professionalism of teams.
• Establish and cascade a culture that places premium on respect, collaboration and inclusivity while continuously ensuring that the team is operating in a psychologically safe environment.
• Create team growth management strategy and maintain a healthy talent pipelining within the program
• Conduct 3 tier management by observing the Program Officers, trainers and other field teams in their role and offering insights on improvements and growth

Collaboration & System Development (20%)

• Oversee the development of Program Management standards, systems and management tools that support the product at scale.
• Co-develop Program procedures and handbooks while building effective communication channels across programs and operations teams.
• Identify areas that need new systems, co-create with the team & improve on already existing systems
• Collaborate with performance metrics, Product Design, Performance Metrics, and Tech to close gaps in strategy and implementation. This can be through but not limited to implementing the rapid assessment process for agile learning
• Create and update the departmental sprint plans and manage the learning process through sprint calls to ensure teams know what has been learnt, and how it has been learnt and make recommendations.
• Partner with Performance Metrics to build end-to-end product dashboards and oversee information management systems (M&E and  programs) and adapt as necessary to receive timely and accurate data.

Financial Oversight (15%)

• Co-develop and take full ownership of program budgets and ensure that this is aligned to the product stage strategy that optimizes for cost and strategic alignment to the Educate!’s budgeting philosophy
• Manage the Cost Per Youth in the planning cycle, share proposals that bring the biggest product cost drivers down to the Managing Director
• Instill a culture of cost-effectiveness and cost-consciousness and always think about scalable costs as teams develop budgets and proposals.
• Co- develop and review annual and quarterly program budgets and review Budget vs Actual with the Program managers and ensure that the budget spend is within the approved threshold.
• Work with the program manager on the strategy to uncover issues of fraud and/or misuse of funds. Ensure all members of the programs management team uphold policies and procedures in instances of fraud or misuse of funds.

Qualifications

• Looking for a steady highly organized strategic thinker & operational  planner and an implementation superstar with at least 5 years of experience owning and  managing programs while building/improving necessary  processes/systems
• Experience working in the youth space or entrepreneurship-related programs at a start-up or social enterprise is preferred.
• Managed a diverse team for at least 3 years building a culture for high-performing teams. Can thrive in a very agile/ adaptive environment.
• Passionate about Out-of-School youth and obsession with frontline teams
• Fits our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below); Learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here 

Terms 

• The location is in Nairobi, Kenya
• Compensation will be competitive and based on experience.
• Health insurance will be included.
• The position reports to the Managing Director. 

Application Process

• Interviews Shortlisting and interviews will be on a rolling basis with a goal to fill position ASAP.

What Is Educate! About? 

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey of their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey.

1. We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We never forget that Educate! exists to impact youth. We are purpose-driven. We obsess over impact daily and if it doesn’t lead to impact, we want nothing to do with it. We prioritize interacting with and listening to youth. We design and manage the organization to ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences that youth value. 
2. We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results. When we know what needs to be done, we do it. We don’t wait to be asked and we don’t stop at what is asked of us. We look for solutions as much as we identify problems.
3. We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded. We know there is always another way and we are excited to learn about it. We continuously look for resources of all kinds from multiple disciplines. We try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
4. We are One Team, Many Views - We say what we think while treating each other well. We believe that all people have the same inherent value and that diverse ideas and open dialogue fuel excellence. We constantly strive to create an environment where everyone can and does express themselves freely. We support and respect each other as people and colleagues. We act as one team: We prioritize the organization's mission and goals over team or individual goals.
5. We have the Startup Mindset - We will always keep innovating to grow our impact. We aspire to be game-changing. We never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.” We question the status quo in our industry. We move fast and embrace change to move towards our long-term vision. We’re not afraid of failure. We interrogate anything that slows us down. 

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do. 

Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community.  In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team. 

Child Safeguarding: Educate! is committed to child-safe/youth-safe recruitment, selection and screening. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to the safety and protection of children in our programs. The successful candidate will be required to provide a satisfactory Certificate of Good Conduct as a condition of employment. We reserve the right to decline to offer employment to an individual or terminate an employment contract with an employee that may pose a risk to children and youth.