Project Officer at Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia

The Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ), established in 1972, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation, which provides non-discriminatory, friendly, gender-sensitive and comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health (SHR) services to hard-to-reach and vulnerable groups who include young people and women of reproductive age in Zambia.  PPAZ seeks to hire a Project Officer for Her Future, Her Choice project, which is a four (4) project to be implemented in Chibombo and Namwala districts of Zambia with support from Oxfam – Canada.

Position Summary:

The Project Officer will be responsible for organizing, coordinating and implementing Her Future, Her Choice project in Chibombo and Namwala districts.  S/he will directly report to the Manager – Program Support for overall technical direction while working with the overall support of the Director of Programmes.

Duty Station: PPAZ Head Office, Lusaka

Responsibilities

Management and Supervisory Responsibilities

• Overall management of the project activities by ensuring implementation is as outlined in the project approved Implementation Plan
• Work closely with the Manager – Program support and the Director of Programmes to ensure needed technical support for smooth implementation of the Project.

Coordination

• Support coordination and collaboration with relevant government ministries and other consortium partners to leverage resources for maximum project impact
• Identify areas of collaboration with district-level stakeholders and promote linkages to other community services and initiatives
• Link the project to other projects within the organisation to contribute to the overall goals of the organisation
• Participate in coordination meetings with other consortium partners and stakeholders at the national and district levels.

Project Monitoring

• Develop required monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports
• Work closely with other key staff in the organisation to engage appropriate resource persons for specific tasks on the project as may be required
• Conduct periodic visits to the field to monitor progress on project Implementation
• Participate in the designing of Monitoring and Evaluation methods and tools for the Project.
• Collection success and lessons learnt to demonstrate project relevance and impact

Budgeting and Planning

• Work closely with finance to meet financial objectives of the project by forecasting requirements; preparing an annual budget; scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances; initiating corrective actions to ensure expenditure are in line with scheduled activities and on time.
• Ensure that project spending is in line with donor guidelines and requirements
• Work closely with the finance team to maintain a healthy burn rate for the Project.
• Develop monthly and Quarterly budget projections and activity plans to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of planned activities
• Work closely with the finance team in the development of the annual budget 

Requirements

• Excellent understanding of project management techniques and methods
• Good understanding of the delivery of health services in Zambia especially sexual reproductive health services (SRH)
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office;
• Excellent organisational and communication skills
• Excellent problem-solving ability
• Bachelor’s Degree in any social Science or health related-discipline or a relevant field
• Minimum of two (2) years’ work experience in a similar position

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