Title: Project Manager
Department: BBC Media Action
Grade: 8
Reports To: Senior Project Manager
Based: Kathmandu with possible travel to field locations
Duration: One Year (possibility of extension subject to funding)
Context
BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development charity. Working with media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in claiming their rights, our aim is to inform, connect and empower people around the world. BBC Media Action reaches some 200 million people through local broadcast partners, BBC channels (especially the BBC World Service), online, mobile and print platforms and through interpersonal communication. We are currently delivering projects in 24 countries, including in Nepal. BBC Media Action has been working on communication for development projects in Nepal since 2007, giving us a well-developed understanding of Nepali audiences and significant experience of producing and evaluating media content on a range of issues to diverse target audiences.
BBC Media Action Nepal is hiring a Project Manager to work full time for a project that is focused on building resilience of communities towards climate related natural hazards. Through this project, BBC Media Action will be working with line agencies, partners, and stakeholders to develop and share Weather and Climate Information Systems for the most vulnerable to climate change.
“The role may involve working with groups of vulnerable children and adults. For the successful candidate, mandatory training will be provided on BBC Media Action’s safeguarding policy and staff code of conduct. A police background check may form part of the recruitment process. BBC Media Action operates a zero-tolerance policy concerning all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people.”
Job Purpose
Reporting to the Senior Project Manager, the Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring the overall coherence of the project, through radio/TV programs, outreach activities, digital and social media contents and technical support to partners. S/he will plan, develop, monitor and evaluate the assigned project(s) and work with other teams (including research, training and networking staff) to apply research findings and the theory of change, to ensure that our programs bring about the changes we seek. The Project Manager will have overall budget management and reporting responsibility for all project activities.
Major Duties and Responsibilities
- Responsible for ensuring that the project is delivered on time, on budget and to high quality standards.
- Coordinate with project partners and key stakeholders to ensure that the activities, particularly media outputs directly support existing initiatives of the overall project and are in line with BBC editorial standards and values.
- Help ensure that broadcast outputs are produced in an integrated and coherent manner, ensuring high editorial and production standards and the most efficient use of resources.
- Ensure gender and child sensitive approach is applied to the design of all media outputs so that the communication does not enhance discriminatory norms.
- Ensure social and behavioral change communication methodologies and processes are used to ensure all media contents are effective in relation to the overall objective of the project.
- Manage members of the project team and build project capacity and support staff development in production and other editorial processes.
- Participate in the design and monitoring and evaluation and conduct regular feedback sessions, adjusting project delivery as necessary.
- Lead on the reporting of progress, both internally to the BBC and externally to partners, the donor, and other interested parties.
- Oversee contractual and logistics arrangement with consultants, advisors, suppliers and trainers.
- Liaise with other BBC and BBC Media Action teams, particularly production support, policy and thematic, business development, research and learning and finance, to coordinate their support for projects and ensure delivery of specific components of projects as agreed.
- Provide mentoring support to project teams which equips them to lead and deliver projects locally building on capacity and performance within teams.
- Assist in analyzing and synthesizing audience research results, applications and innovations with a view to identifying lessons learned and defining best practice.
- Work closely with research colleagues and ensure that research findings are incorporated into project design and implementation as well as disseminate the analysis of key findings and insights.
- Support in analyzing SPSS dataset as required and requested to support project planning and development.
Essential skills and experience:
- Minimum 5 years of progressive experience ideally in project management combined with media and communication experience in the development field.
- Demonstrable understanding and commitment to international development, including the use of media for developmental goals.
- Significant experience in the effective management of diverse teams, including personnel development and capability management.
- Strong financial management skills, with proven experience managing large budgets, including accurate and timely reporting to donors.
- Strong report writing skills (in English language), with experience of writing project reports for donors.
- Experience in working with contracts, ideally with international development donors.
- Proven ability to develop and secure new business, including ability to develop design projects and new business ideas and present these persuasively to potential partners and funders, and write successful proposals.
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise time effectively within a range of often conflicting deadlines.
- Confident public speaker with experience of presentations to colleagues, donors and stakeholders.
- Excellent interpersonal, negotiating and diplomatic skills, including experience working with colleagues whose first language is not English.
- Excellent written and spoken English.
Desirable skills and experience
- Experience in designing and/or managing natural resources management, climate adaption,
- Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience programs.
- Experience using media for developmental goals.
- Experience of working with radio/television production and/or outreach staff, working on a range of outputs.
- Demonstrable creative ability, with ability to support staff to think creatively about programme formats and project design development.
Key Competencies
The following competencies (behaviors and characteristics) have been identified as key to success in the job. Successful candidates are expected to demonstrate these competencies.
- Leadership: Ability to inspire others to realise an identified vision.
- Analytical Thinking: Able to simplify complex problems, process projects into component parts, explore and evaluate them systematically. Able to identify causal relationships and construct frameworks, for problem solving and/or development.
- Strategic Thinking: Can identify a vision along with the plans that need to be implemented to meet the end goal. Evaluates situations, decisions, issues, etc. in the short, medium and longer-term.
- Decision Making: Is ready and able to take the initiative, originate action and be responsible for the consequences of the decision made.
- Influencing and Persuading: Ability to present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince others. Can draw from a range of strategies to persuade people in a way that results in agreement or behavior change.
- Planning and Organizing: Is able to think ahead in order to establish an effective and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritizes and plans activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources requirements.
- Imagination/Creative Thinking: Is able to transform creative ideas/impulses into practical reality. Can look at existing situations and problems in novel ways and come up with creative solutions.
- Managing Relationships: Able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people. Team working.
- Communication: The ability to get one’s message understood clearly by adopting a range of styles, tools and techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information.
- Problem Solving: Able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts, explore and evaluate them systematically. Able to identify causal relationships, and construct frameworks, for decision making and problem-solving. Transforms proposals/ideas into practical reality.
- Flexibility: Adapts and works effectively with a variety of situations, individuals or groups. Is able to understand and appreciate different and opposing perspectives on an issue, to adapt an approach as the requirements of a situation change, and to change or easily accept changes in one’s own organization or job requirements.
- Resilience: Can maintain personal effectiveness by managing own emotions in the face of pressure, setbacks or when dealing with provocative situations. Can demonstrate an approach to work that is characterized by commitment, motivation and energy.
