Job Vacancy @ British Council – Head of HESPAL Programme OPT (Ghana)

The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language.

We work in two ways – directly with individuals to transform their lives, and with governments and partners to make a bigger difference for the longer term, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world. We help young people to gain the skills, confidence and connections they are looking for to realise their potential and to participate in strong and inclusive communities. We support them to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Our work in arts and culture stimulates creative expression and exchange and nurtures creative enterprise. We connect the best of the UK with the world and the best of the world with the UK.

These connections lead to an understanding of each other's strengths and of the challenges and values that we share. This builds trust between people in the UK and other nations which endures even when official relations may be strained. We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.

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Role purpose

Provides integral operational management & leadership, often in a small to medium sized team; driving successful development, delivery, impact (incl. MEL) and financial sustainability of a mixed portfolio of education partnerships, programmes or contracts at regional or global level. Services corporate [or regional] outcomes; ensuring value add and mutual UK benefit as well as compliance with published programme management standards across all areas of financial and operational risk. Manages partner and stakeholder relations and can act as an account manager for a major client or stakeholder.

Higher Education The British Council helps to develop stronger, more inclusive, and internationally connected Higher Education systems which support economic and social growth in the UK and globally.  We create educational opportunities and support improvements to higher education worldwide, focusing on shared challenges of quality, inclusion and internationalisation. We do this by engaging institutions, policy makers, education leaders, academics, researchers and students in dialogue, partnerships, mobility and exchange.

HESPAL (Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians) is the largest UK scholarship programme supporting exceptional junior academic staff from Palestinian universities to pursue master’s and PhD degrees at the UK’s world class universities. Since 2010, HESPAL has supported 207 Palestinian scholars (over 60% women), 169 master’s and 38 PhDs, of whom 13 PhD and two master’s scholars are currently studying in UK universities. HESPAL is a unique scholarship programme with its strong emphasis on mobility supporting institutional development and capacity building in higher education. HESPAL is managed by the British Council and funded by participating UK Higher Education Institutions (UK HEIs), the Department for Education, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and Pears Foundation. We work in partnership with all 16 Palestinian universities in the West Bank and Gaza and with the support of the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

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Main accountabilities

Leadership & management

• Provides technical input and design to Education (could be specific sector here) contracts, programmes and projects, assuring quality and impact and managing issues and risks
• Uses digital platforms and technological advancements to improve efficiency, impact and quality of project and/or programme design and delivery
• Incorporates specific actions to address equality, diversity and inclusion priorities in programme delivery
• Manages country portfolio day-to-day ensuring global standards on programme and contract management are achieved
• Direct line management where applicable, with matrix management support provided to sector programme teams in country/across the region as required.
• Ensures effective financial management and compliance -manages and delivers to target, budgets, profitability, timelines, and to corporate quality standards in all areas
• Monitors, reviews and ensures that the country portfolio is achieving agreed impact measures, and monitoring, evaluation and learning and reporting is in place against Cultural Engagement’s Strategy 2025 and FCDO key performance indicators.
• Supports an inclusive organisational culture where staff have opportunities for continuous professional development and are actively contributing to the British Council’s anti-racism action plan and EDI strategy to mainstream EDI and become anti-racist in our cultures and practices within our organisation and in our programmes, particularly through a time of change.
• Lead by example and model compliance with British Council policies and processes, Code of Conduct, values and behaviours in all day-to-day activities and in the management and liaison with colleagues and external stakeholders.

Strategy and/or planning

• Leads on planning process for designated portfolio in country in accordance with global and regional sector strategies and programming
• Contributes to regional/country business strategy
• Strategic leadership of design, development, delivery and closure of projects and or programmes as needed
• Develop and nurtures internal relationships across Cultural Engagement within the region
• Considers the role of digital products, services and channels in optimising the impact and sustainability of the portfolio, working with regional marketing and digital colleagues.

Relationship & Stakeholders

• Builds and maintains business critical relationships with key local clients and partners with a view to identifying new business opportunities and partnerships
• Supports the government and institutional relationships that the UK needs to succeed in region/country
• Leads on relationships with a range of stakeholders and partners at a sector level
• Represents the British Council externally and internally

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Sector/subject expertise

• Uses sector expertise to provide insight and content for corporate responses to public consultations in country, representing British Council’s perspective
• Provides up-to-date and well-informed briefings on current and emerging matters in area of expertise, conducting detailed analysis and research, contributing cutting-edge sector knowledge and content to proposals
• Identifies and develops opportunities for the sector to build their work in country/region
• Supports internal capacity building, ensuring that teams can access appropriate and cost-effective L&D opportunities and grow their sector knowledge and skills

Brand and market positioning

• Promotes the UK education sector in country/region
• Works with wider country leadership to ensure British Council’s value proposition and support to the UK sector is clear, agreed and communicated.
• Ensures that British Council’s reputation for quality and as a valued not-for-profit partner remains high and contributes to our organisational mission of building trust between the UK and other countries.

Programme management/ Business development

• Contributes to business and partnership development for the portfolio, aligning with country/regional and corporate priorities, systems and processes
• Contributes to the development of strategic responses to partner/ client needs as efficiently and effectively as possible, including developing and promoting new ideas for services
• Contribute to the development of internal and external communications materials to highlight impact and learning, as well as effectively positioning for new opportunities

Commercial & Financial Management

• Directly plans and controls specific cost variables (rather than the total budget) to meet established targets, ensuring compliance with all relevant corporate financial systems and processes
• Using agreed financial procedures/templates, conducts monthly and year-end analysis and reporting on income and expenditure/profitability and risk/pipeline/actual performance versus plan targets.

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About You (essential Requirements For The Role)

• Degree and/or equivalent and/or equivalent experience
• Proficiency in Arabic and English
• In depth understanding of local education market
• Extensive experience of working in Education (could be focused by sector)
• Demonstrable expertise of programme management, ideally in the Education sector
• Experience of financial planning in project delivery and design
• Experience of embedding M&E into programme design to support development of systematic evidence
• Knowledge of UK and international policy in the sector and approaches to internationalisation.
• Experience of managing stakeholder relations.
• Active and up-to-date network of senior level sector contacts
• Experience of collaborating effectively with others to develop solutions to issues where there is not an established framework
• Confident user of information technology (Word; Excel; PowerPoint), Microsoft 365 functionality and working knowledge of British Council SAP system (aptitude if recruiting externally)
• Able to manage delivery of digital events on basic platforms (Microsoft Teams) ensuring all corporate standards are met, including those for accessibility and safeguarding
• Ability to analyse relevant equality issues and identify opportunities to address these in the portfolio

Further Information

• Number of positions: 1
• Pay Band: 7/F
• Location: Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territories
• Contract type: 18 months Fixed term local contract
• Closing date: 13 June 2022 (23:59 Gulf Standard Time)

Other Requirements

• Need to hold the legal right to live and work in the country
• Please submit your supporting statement with evidence highlighting the minimum essential requirements.
• It is advisable to apply in advance to avoid any technical issues at the last moment

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

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Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement

The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.

We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.

Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you have any problems with your application please email askhr@britishcouncil.org

Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our ‘ASK HR’ email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.

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