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Project Officer

Role Title

Project Officer

Role Information

Role Type

Pay Band

Location

Duration

Reports to:

Administrative

Pay band 4

Libya

24 months

Project Manager 

Role purpose

The purpose of this role is to support the management and implementation of the Technical and Vocational Education Project (Libya TVET) activities and results and to ensure effective delivery of all operational aspects of the project. The selected candidate will provide key coordination and logistical support and apply authoritative understanding of systems and processes to overcome day-to-day problems and ensure things run smoothly.

About us

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.

Project background:

The EU funded project “EU Libya Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Delivery and Development” originally started in January 2013 and was suspended on the grounds of “force majeure” in October 2014. The project is now re-launching and will be remotely managed from Tunis with visits to Libya from some project staff as required.

The original purpose of the project was to improve capacity and provide quality technical and vocational education and training in Libya, and to improve the quality of content and relevance of education and training to meet demands in the labour market. The revised implementation will continue to develop capacity and methodologies for the TVET offer in Libya in line with real demand for skills in the Libyan economy. It will also focus on supporting the establishment of Centres of Excellence in a limited number of TVET institutions. Activities in these Centres of Excellence will include:

• Capacity building in leadership and management
• Raising the skill levels of teachers
• Providing relevant advice and guidance to graduates and the unemployed
• Improving collaboration and understanding between education and business.

As a result, the Centre of Excellence institutes will be better equipped to provide higher quality training that is more relevant and matched to the needs of local employment.

Overall Result Areas of the programme are as follows:

• Result Area A: Enhance the quality and relevance of training provision in a selected number of TVE schools to meet the social and economic needs of the community (Centres of Excellence)
• Result Area B: Reinforce capacity of the main stakeholders representing the demand side such as employers’ organisations, syndicates and others to play an active role in the modernisation of the TVE system
• Result Area C: Dissemination of project success and lessons learned informs wider initiatives at a national level and provides resources for further development of Centres of Excellence in additional municipalities.

Main opportunities/challenges for this role:

• This job has the purpose to primarily ensure the identification of team members’ administrative needs across the project team and ensure appropriate support to enable effective and high-quality delivery.
• In accordance with agreed plans and targets, the role should ensure support to the appropriate deployment of resources to the project, so that the delivery team operates efficiently and effectively.
• The Project Officer should provide support in information management and programme reporting, to enable more effective and robust operational planning and decision-making.
• Responsibilities will include to support, establish and maintain effective working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, suppliers and contractors, to facilitate the smooth running of the project
• The post holder should ensure that British Council procurement Policy and procedures are respected, closely collaborating with the British Council Procurement Department (Market place).

Main Accountabilities:

Programme/service support

• Delivers a range of administrative services within agreed corporate procedures, to maximise quality, continuity and efficiency
• Maintains accurate records as they relate to the work area and drafts routine and some non-standard documentation, reports or financial analysis/reconciliations.
• Performs straightforward analysis, manipulation and interpretation of data, tasks or information, presenting findings/results accurately and appropriately to support effective maintenance of management information systems.
• Provides logistical support to the organisation and delivery of internal and external activities/events, to ensure they run smoothly and efficiently.
• Booking venues and ensuring all other logistical arrangements (including security clearance and payments) are confirmed prior to any event taking place.
• Maintains office efficiency by planning and implementing office filing systems for outputs of all results.
• Arrange for travel, accommodation and transportation for project staff, experts and delegates as required.

Relationship & stakeholder management

• Proactively communicates and liaises with others (inside and outside the BC) to ensure effective coordination and delivery of events, services and activities
• Builds an understanding of who’s who within the wider department, unit or region to enable effective resolution of issues when they arise
• Develop, maintain and update a contact list of project stakeholders
• Contact vendors or agency representatives to inquire about existing and new product information, sollicit bids, develop requests for quotations and confer with vendors regarding damaged goods, received invoices, delayed payments or related information.

Finance & resource management

• Monitors and takes responsibility for small-scale resources/cash/stock, following established procedures and ensures that equipment and materials are available and ready to use when needed
• Manage purchases according to British Council rules and procedures respecting the British Council threshold (Process vendor creation, purchase order and purchase request creation, track orders to ensure timely delivery)
• Use SAP effectively mainly to create and track purchase and sales orders. 
• Monitor project expenditures and ensure that all invoices within the project are timely paid/processed.
• Ensure sufficiency of audit evidence and documentation by maintaining track of documentation related to supplier bidding & selection process and procurement, under the supervision of the Project Manager

Managing self & others

• Plans and prioritises own work activities, responding to changing requirements to ensure effective delivery of responsibilities over a daily/weekly time horizon
• Tasks and coordinates others (e.g. internal colleagues or external contractors/suppliers) to complete time-limited, straightforward activities, within established procedures, in order to ensure efficient delivery of services.  Monitors task completion to agreed quality and time standards

Key Relationships:

Internal

• Project Manager, Libya
• Senior Programme Manager, Libya (Tunis-based)
• Country Director, Libya (Tunis-based)
• British Council HR & Support Teams (Tunis)
• Project Management team, Libya
• Overseas project / risk management teams
• Finance (regional & UK)

External

• Key & non-key project experts
• Partners & Suppliers

Role Requirements:

Threshold requirements:

Assessment stage

Passport requirements/ Right to work in country

Right to work in Libya

Shortlisting

Direct contact or managing staff working with children?

No

N/a

Notes

Evening work and weekend commitments will be a requirement for this post.

Person Specification:

Assessment stage

Language requirements (DELETE IF NOT APPROPRIATE)

Minimum / essential

Desirable

Assessment Stage

• English at proficiency level
• Arabic at proficiency level

Shortlisting

Qualifications

Minimum / essential

Desirable

Assessment Stage

• Relevant qualification in areas such as management, accounting, finance management etc.

• Bachelor

Shortlisting

Role Specific Knowledge & Experience

Minimum / essential

Desirable

Assessment Stage

• 1 to 3 years of relevant working experience in the field.
• Proven expertise at managing purchases and expenditures, negotiating and communicating the vendors

• Experience in working with international environments and with EU-funded projects
• Knowledge of the Libyan culture and context

Shortlisting

Role Specific Skills (if any)

Assessment Stage

• Good communication, networking and negotiation skills
• Excellent organisational skills, communication and team working skills
• Be goal oriented striving to complete the assigned project/task on time also under tight deadlines
• Be a team player, possessing the ability to create motivation amongst other team members and also to work independently

Shortlisting AND Interview

British Council Core Skills

Assessment Stage

Communicating and influencing (Level 2)

Relates communications to circumstances.

Displays good listening, writing and speaking skills, setting out logical arguments clearly and adapting language and form of communication to meet the needs of different people/audiences.

Managing projects (Level 1)

Follows project management disciplines

Works with project management systems and procedures and has a track record of compliance with them as a project team member.

Planning and organizing (Level 2)

Plans ahead

Organises own work over weeks and months, or plans ahead for others, taking account of priorities and the impact on other people.

Shortlisting AND Interview

British Council Behaviours

Assessment Stage

Connecting with others (Essential):

Making regular opportunities to understand others better

Working together (Essential):

Ensuring that others benefit as well as me

Making it happen (Essential):

Delivering clear results for the British Council

Interview

Prepared by:

Date:

Aisha Meddeb, Senior Programme Manager, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Delivery and Development – Libya, Education & Society, British Council

January 2020