Project Delivery Officer at British High Commission: Closing date: November 18,2020

Main Purpose of Job

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) entered into a partnership in 2018. The partnership is led by a Strategic Adviser who started in country in April 2019.

The partnership aims to support NISR to deliver on its “vision to unlock the potential of a productive data value chain and a mission for NISR to deepen its role as leader of the National Statistical System”. NISR see the UK as a natural partner to enable them to lead the Data Revolution Policy for Rwanda and deliver on the objectives set out in Rwanda’s Third National Strategy for Statistics by modernising their operations and improving evidence-based decision making by stakeholders. ONS is supporting NISR in five key areas:  Progress towards building a fully-functional Data Science Department in NISR, improving the operating environment for data science in Rwanda, SDG Platform fully functional with correct data being used, more effective communications improving the awareness and use of NISR data and increased capacity in terms of working practices improving the underlying efficiency of NISR.

The partnership model relies on deploying technical expertise from the ONS, as well as taking advantage of support from other organisations with the appropriate expertise.  To effectively deploy this expertise and deliver on the workplan, a substantial amount of networking and collaboration is required both with internal NISR stakeholders as well as externally with both State and non- state actors in the data ecosystem. The Project Delivery Officer will be instrumental in managing, leading and the implementation of several high-level support portfolios.

The position will be managed by the Strategic Advisor with support from ONS Headquarters in the UK.  ONS will also ensure that the role stays plugged into the team in FCDO Rwanda due to their interest and leadership on Statistics within British High Commission (BHC) and to facilitate regular contact with colleagues in the BHC.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

To support NISR to make improvements on how they operate and support NISR to deliver key policy objectives set out in Rwanda’s Third National Strategy for the Development of Statistics and the 2017 Data Revolution Policy. It requires a motivated self- starter interested in delivering on a range of topics and building relationships across varied stakeholders. The postholder will need to work independently and be confident in managing, leading and implementing several portfolios. There are technical statistical elements to this work, however the postholder does not need to have technical statistical expertise; rather the understanding of how this expertise should be delivered to achieve planned objectives.

NISR – ONS Partnership:

• Develop a good understanding of NISR, the services they provide, how these are implemented and how they work with other parts of Govt. A keen understanding of the institution and how it is run will be crucial for the job.
• Develop a clear understanding of the partnership Theory of Change (ToC), workplan and activities and develop working relationships with NISR officials as well as Officials in other areas of Govt to ensure that the partnership workplan is well understood including requirements from these colleagues especially for expert visits and training.
• Manage, lead and implement several statistical and partnership portfolios that will help us deliver against our programme objectives, in line with the ToC. This will involve working closely with senior NISR leaders, their staff and broader stakeholders as well as ONS staff.
• Liaise with NISR staff to progress project activities and ensure effective, timely communication between NISR and ONS experts, whether this is through calls, email or expert visits. Record, communicate and follow-up on decisions or actions agreed during meetings. Flag any emerging risks that could affect project delivery.
• Work closely with ONS in the UK to ensure that the right staff and expertise are available and that ONS fully understands NISR needs and working environment in order to effectively deploy experts.
• Develop Terms of Reference for specific deliverables for example: training courses, short-term projects or short-term visits for technical experts. Ensure NISR and ONS staff involved in the partnership have a clear understanding of the objectives of the intervention, appropriate timelines are set up considering NISR competing priorities, and any agreed follow-up (e.g. reports, evaluation forms) are completed on time.
• Manage and coordinate visits including preparing a timetable, organising meetings and booking all the relevant travel and accommodation considering BHC Duty of Care and security requirements.
• Support the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework collecting the relevant data using M&E tools to assess partnership performance against objectives.
• Provide quarterly reporting including on the workplan activities, results and the impact of those activities based on the partnership Theory of Change including risk management reporting.
• Support learning activities within the partnership reporting back to the ONS international team lessons and best practice so these can inform implementation of the workplan and future partnership plans.
• Stay connected to the British High commission providing regular briefing on activities of interest to staff.
• Draft and proof-read project terms of reference, memos, reports and other project documents to ensure they meet a good standard.
• Any other support as required.

Resources Managed (Staff and Expenditure)

This postholder will manage financial and human resources relevant to their several portfolios. They will be expected to ensure that work stays within budget and the time allocated. They will also have responsibility of managing the risks and issues for these portfolios.

All resources (portfolio delivery, finance and human resources) will feed into the country programme plans and be reported quarterly to our DFID UK funders.

·       Educated to degree level.

·       Proven programme/project management experience, including managing complex areas of work, working with a broad range of stakeholders.

·       Good understanding of the use of all Microsoft Office Applications.

·       Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

·       Strong Customer Focus with good Attention to detail.

·       Display strong organizational, analytical and time management skills.