EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
Introduction
SOS Children’s Villages Malawi is a non-governmental child protection and development organisation established in Malawi in 1991. Our vision is that every child belongs to a family and grows up with love, respect and security. Our mission is to build families for children in need; we help them shape their own futures, and we share in the development of their communities. In pursuit of the vision and mission, we work in collaboration with the Government of Malawi and other partners to implement various projects focusing on child protection and development; entrepreneurship and vocational skills training for young people; livelihood improvement for vulnerable households; child and youth education, as well as advocacy in the areas of child rights and protection. Our programme coverage is country-wide, operating from Chikwawa, Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzimba and Mzuzu.
To strengthen programme impact, SOS Children’s Villages Malawi intends to recruit a Programme Director for Ngabu programme as follows:
Position : Programme Director
Location : Ngabu, in Chikwawa District.
Responsible to : Head of Programmes
Employment contract : 2-year, full-time, fixed-term employment contract, renewable upon funding availability and performance.
Position Summary:
The SOS Children’s Villages Programme Director (PD) leads the overall development and implementation of an SOS Children’s Villages Programme (CVP) in line with the vision, mission, strategies, policies, and standards of the organisation. The PD will represent the organisation in all interactions with stakeholders in the programme location.
The PD will be responsible for coordinating the Children’s Village Programme activities and interventions and ensuring the quality and effectiveness of services and their cost-efficiency through quality assurance and optimal use of resources. Leads and supervises co-workers under him or her and ensures they are given the necessary support to perform their respective roles and responsibilities. Has a role in identifying potential partnerships in cooperation with the National Office (NO). As part of the National Management Team (NMT), the PD will participate in national planning and review meetings and lead the same on programme location and ensure achievement of all required strategic and routine deliverables in line with organisational direction.
The PD reports to the Head of Programmes and receives support from the senior management team and national-level technical officers/advisors.
Main clients:
- Head of Programmes, Project Heads, National Office technical advisors/officers.
- Local and national authorities working in the district/region assigned.
Key performance areas and responsibilities:
Programme development, management and implementation
- Leads the development and implementation of programmes and projects in line with international and national SOS policies, strategies, quality standards, and guidelines.
- Leads the implementation of the programme management cycle, including annual and strategic planning to ensure that interventions are relevant to the local context, respond to the needs of the target group, and contribute to the development of sustainable social support systems.
- Coordinates and ensures cooperation between all areas of work within the programme (specialised as well as general support work).
- Ensures efficiency through best use and sharing of resources across different programme units.
- Regularly reports on programme activities and progress towards targets to DND and relevant National Office functions.
- Ensures that the programme is supportive of the brand of the SOS Children’s Villages Organisation.
Human resource management and organisational development
- Establishes appropriate staffing patterns and ensures full staffing of the CVP
- Leads managing co-workers in the location, i.e., those involved in specialised work with different forms of families and in general support work.
- Ensures the effective implementation of the HR Cycle in the CVP, following internal policy and/or national labour laws.
- Sets up and leads an effective CVP management team
- Contributes to defining CVPP-related processes between the CVP and the NO under the leadership of the DND and/or NMT.
- Facilitates cooperation and information flow between National Office staff and their counterparts in the location according to the national annual plan, job descriptions and NMT-agreed procedures.
Financial and administrative management
- Builds accountability in the programme by ensuring implementation of simple and effective financial and administrative procedures, in accordance with defined policies, guidelines and standards.
- Leads the budgeting process in the location(s).
- Monitors budget expenditures and conducts financial (in cooperation with the responsible person for finance) and content control of the programme, to ensure that funds are properly used.
- Continually looks for ways to provide quality services cost-effectively.
- Ensures overall asset safeguarding and maintenance.
- Ensures adherence to and implementation of internal financial and procurement policies and procedures
Quality management, monitoring and evaluation
- Is overall responsible for quality management in the CVP and ensures the implementation of national and international quality standards with guidance and monitoring from function staff in the National Office.
- Ensures full adherence to and implementation of internal Child Safeguarding (CS) and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) policies and guidelines
- Monitors the implementation of recommendations from national and international quality audits and evaluations.
- Ensures all project reporting requirements are met with the highest required quality standards
Partnership building, advocacy and cooperation with external stakeholders
- Negotiates agreements and contracts with local state authorities and other organisations on behalf of the National Director.
- Leads and coordinates cooperation, partnership building, and networking efforts of the CVP with local and national authorities and other external stakeholders.
- Represents, together with managing CVP staff, the organisation at relevant local networks, forums, platforms, campaigns, working groups and advocates on behalf of the organisation for the promotion of child rights, especially related to children from the target group.
Fund development and public relations
- Promotes the organisation in the public and identifies potential income sources in cooperation with the Fund Development & Communications function in the National Office and/or the NPD.
- Strives for the highest possible level of programme self-financing with a focus on government subsidies, corporate funding, operational income and other public funding within the frame of targets agreed during the strategic planning process.
- Supports the organisational proposal development initiatives to acquire high-value funding partnerships
Special authority and representation:
- Agreements and contracts with authorities and other agencies are negotiated on behalf of the ND.
- Represent, together with managing staff in the location, the organisation at relevant local networks, forums, platforms, campaigns, working groups and advocate on behalf of the organisation for the promotion of child rights, especially related to children from the target group.
Child Safeguarding
- Provide leadership and supervise the performance of child safeguarding efforts by ensuring that all child safeguarding policies, procedures and ways of working are successfully implemented within the programme, programme unit and/or in line with the work of the function so that measures are in place and appropriately operationalised.
- Conduct child safeguarding risk assessments for the programme, programme unit and/or function and periodically evaluate such risk assessments to ensure that programme implementation responds to emerging child safeguarding issues.
- Ensure that individual staff performance and development needs are met in child safeguarding and that clear goals are planned and achieved to ensure that child safeguarding standards are observed and maintained.
- Foster a team environment and collective responsibility in child safeguarding efforts within the programme, programme unit and/or function.
- Ensure that SOS associates, including partners, contractors, service providers, consultants, among others, are aware of and comply with the organisation’s Child Protection Policy, including matters of prevention of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse.
The suitable candidate must have the following minimum qualifications and attributes: -
- Master’s degree in social sciences, Development studies, Project management or any related field
- 5 years’ experience in a senior position.
- Proven experience of working with vulnerable children and communities, and knowledge of child rights and safeguarding issues
- Excellent planning, coordination, and reporting skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload from multiple projects, diverse tasks and responsibilities.
- Strong financial management skills, particularly in budgeting and project financial reporting.
- Ability to work independently and under pressure with minimum supervision.
- Demonstrate a high level of integrity.
- High level of organisational, problem-solving and analytical skills, ability to think strategically. Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- People management skills. Competent to work with significant levels of autonomy and as a team player
- Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing situations. Good communication and reporting skills. Ability to meet tight deadlines.
Note that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. The job posting may close before the listed deadline if the required volume of suitable applications is received."
Please ensure that you include your full contact details, including telephone numbers. The closing date for receiving applications is 30th July 2026. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
“SOS Children´s Villages Malawi has zero-tolerance neither on sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse nor fraud and corruption, amongst other safeguarding aspects. SOS Children’s Villages Malawi also provide equal employment opportunities to all employees & qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or class. The successful candidate will be required to complete safer recruitment checks including police and reference checks to help verify their suitability to work for SOS Children’s Villages Malawi.
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES MALAWI IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER; ALL QUALIFIED CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.
