Opportunity: Program Manager

Opportunity: Program Manager (Freelance or Contract)

About Empowervate

Empowervate is a youth development NPO that was registered in 2013. The flagship programme it runs, The Youth Citizens Action Programme (Y-CAP), was born out of Afrika Tikkun, a well-established NGO, in 2009, initially as a youth dialogue. When the national youth programme, which works through the Department of Basic Education, grew too large to be housed under a community development organisation, Empowervate was born.

Y-CAP is a competition-based programme that encourages learners from primary and secondary schools to identify challenges and create actions to solve or lessen the problems within their schools or communities.

Between 2010 and 2020 we have impacted 40,114 learners across all provinces in South Africa.

Our vision is to see new generations of empowered and motivated youth who are active and responsible citizens.

Our mission is to assist the transformation and social cohesion of the country through the empowerment and motivation of the youth.

Our goals are to:

·       Promote transformation and alleviation of poverty by empowering the youth.

• Promote the protection of family, school and community stability.
• Enrich education and outreach programmes for the poor and needy as priorities, but not to the exclusion of others.
• Promote social cohesion and community development.

About the role

To deal with the operational and strategic requirements of Empowervate and sustain and expand the impact of the Y-CAP program, Empowervate needs a self-driven individual to support the CEO and who is aligned to the purpose of Empowervate, passionate to make an impact to the empowerment of youth in South Africa, and has excellent administrative, project and event management and coordination, communication and relationship management skills to lead and manage the Y-CAP program.

The ideal person would see this as an opportunity to contribute to make an impact on youth, and not someone who is necessarily only looking for a job.

The role would report directly to the CEO of Empowervate Trust.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Event planning and management. This include to source, negotiate and secure venues for Y-CAP events and to plan, coordinate and manage all district, provincial and national events.
• Program management. This includes to plan, administer, coordinate, manage, market, advertise, assist with budget preparation, and report on the Y-CAP program against the approved budget, funding requirements and mission of Empowervate, as well as to review progress and measure the impact of the program and report on and make recommendations to the CEO and ultimately the board.
• Key stakeholder relationship management. This includes keeping stakeholders involved and informed, scheduling meetings and dealing with follow-up actions and to promote and communicate the philosophy, mission and values of Empowervate. Key stakeholders include government (in specific the Department of Basic Education), schools, the Non-executive board, existing and potential corporate funders, venues and suppliers.
• Support the CEO with fundraising. This includes to maintain relationships with existing corporate funders to maintain and grow their funding investment, to find and secure new corporate funders and coordinate requirements funders would need, and to plan and organise fundraising initiatives.

Essential requirements:

• Passion to make a difference to youth in South Africa, and support Empowervate’s mission.
• Understanding and ability to work within the landscape and funding challenges of non-profit organisations and the realities and challenges facing youth in rural and village communities.
• Ability to identify, initiate and act on better and alternative options to save costs, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the program.
• Be a self-starter, self-driven, self-leader contributor who has relentless energy and can take initiative, while at the same time work in collaboration with the CEO and closely with key stakeholders.
• Non-negotiable integrity and ethics.
• An excellent communicator, relationship manager with people and leadership skills, who would also be naturally good at opening doors to initiate relationships with new potential corporate investors.
• Excellent planning, coordination, impact measurement, and project and events management skills.
• Flexibility, agility and effective problem solver and quick decision maker.
• Working knowledge of posting to social media pages and accounts, designing content for posting and ad-hoc website content updates.
• Excellent skills to use technology to carry out work, communicate and work virtually and to measure program impact.
• Business acumen, including financial planning, budgeting and reporting, marketing. Exposure to contract management and governance requirements and HR would be an added advantage.
• Ability to travel across South Africa – must have own reliable transport.
• Ability to work effectively remotely and with flexible work hours – must have own reliable laptop and unrestricted data.
• 5 years’ experience with a proven track record of deliverables similar to what is required in this role.
• A three-year qualification relevant to this role, e.g. Project Management, Marketing, Education, Learning and Development, Educational Psychology, Human Resources or Business Administration.

Preferred requirements:

• Experience in a school, the education sector, or a youth NPO.
• Experience as a COO or a program or project coordinator or manager.
• An existing network of potential corporate investors.

Empowervate is an Equal Opportunity employer who values diversity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, gender, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.

Important considerations for people interested in this role

Start date: Latest 10 January 2021.

Nature of the contract: We are ideally looking for a passionate volunteer that could hit the ground running. It could also be a freelance, fixed-term or fixed-purpose contract where compensation and benefits would be negotiated with the successful candidate.

Time required: This role would in the immediate term require three days per week (full-time) between March and August when then Y-CAP district, provincial and national competitions are running, and ad-hoc for the rest of the year to meet all other responsibilities.

Future opportunity for growth: This position could grow into a full-time position (depending on funding). The ideal candidate for this role would be willing and able to grow and transition into a more permanent role and contribution.

Send your cover letter and CV to info@empowervate.org by 15 December 2020 with subject line: Program Manager