The Project Leader will be fully responsible for steering, overall coordination, and the operational and financial implementation of project activities. He/She ensures continuous contact with project partners and ensures their involvement. He/She manages the project team in Manila and specifically oversees all actions planned within the project framework.

The Project Leader's main responsibilities will include:

• Ensuring quality and timely implementation of the project in line with the technical, budgetary, and legal requirements outlined in the contract signed between Expertise France and AFD;
• Managing Strategic and operational steering as well as project governance, and supervising M&E of the project;
• Supervising the administrative, budgetary, and financial management of the project;
• Managing the field team;
• Representing the project and managing its institutional and partnership relations.

More specifically, his/her tasks and responsibilities are as follows:

Strategic and Operational Project Management:

• Ensure compliance with the operational planning;
• Define the project's strategic and operational orientations in consultation with all parties, respecting the contractual framework;
• Lead and coordinate the work of the project team based in Manila to ensure the team effectively implements the project's strategic orientations;
• Oversee activity and resource planning, develop the annual budget, and manage monitoring, evaluation, and capitalization of project activities;
• Collaborate closely with the technical experts involved, supervise and coordinate the implementation of activities related to the various expected outcomes;
• Familiarize with headquarters procedures (missions, security, operational and financial monitoring tools, etc.);
• Ensure compliance with the donor contract, anticipate and manage risks and project-related changes, and alert management when necessary;
• Ensure quality control of deliverables produced as part of the project;
• In close collaboration with the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) expert, ensure the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system. Throughout the project, use this system as a project management tool and oversee the intermediate and final external evaluations of the project, including supervising the provider's mission.

Administrative and Financial Management:

In close collaboration with the logistics, administrative, and financial assistant, the administrative and financial manager, the HQ team, and EF's transversal functions, the Project Leader will:

• Ensure budget planning aligns with operational planning;
• Monitor the quality of the project's overall administrative and financial tracking;
• Approve project expenses up to €40,000;
• Provide regular updates on commitments, disbursements, and budget forecasts;
• Ensure the timely update of project tracking tools (financial and budget forecasts, workplan, dashboard, procurement plan, audit monitoring/reporting calendar);
• Ensure compliance with donor and agency requirements (eligibility rules for expenses, procurement, grants, reports, etc.);
• Supervise internal financial reporting (monthly and quaterly reviews, budget closures) and external financial reporting to the donor;
• Oversee the project's audit follow-up.

Project Team Management:

• Lead the recruitment for the positions within the team that are still to be filled, as well as for external expertise, in compliance with the agency's procedures.
• Onboard new staff, assess training needs, and ensure they are adequately trained (including in agency procedures);
• Lead and coordinate the work of the project team;
• Ensure the team successfully executes activities by managing their workload;
• Set objectives for team members and evaluate their performance;
• Support the team in their roles;
• Provide appropriate conditions for the context and work environment (offices, equipment, well-being, etc.);
• Facilitate and support the adoption of tools, best practices, and work methods;
• Ensure, in collaboration with the agency's Security Department, that safety procedures are followed;
• Ensure compliance with the agency's rules and procedures, including security, conduct, and procurement rules;
• Mobilize technical expertise (identification of needs, planning, drafting TORs, organizing missions, ensuring the quality of deliverables submitted by all experts);
• Monitor the performance of all mobilized experts.

Reporting:

• Provide weekly updates and maintain close relations with EF’s HQ team. Liaise with Expertise France's transversal services in Paris as needed (legal affairs, financial affairs, communication);
• Organize data collection by implementing actors to regularly update the program's logical framework indicators and consolidate annual indicator monitoring reports;
• Prepare progress and final project reports (narrative and financial), in accordance with contractual deadlines and requirements. Draft part of the reports, consolidate other sections written by the project team and partners, and ensure the quality control of finalized reports before submitting them to the Project Manager at HQ for validation.

Institutional and Partnership Relations, Representation:

• Represent Expertise France with the donor, the French Embassy, the EU Delegation in Manila, project partners, and any national or regional actor or institution;
• Facilitate collaboration with partners to ensure the strategic orientations of the project are effectively implemented;
• Directly manage institutional relations with national partners and actors in line with the project objectives;
• Ensure all stakeholders have the knowledge and ownership required by fostering efficient information sharing and appropriately integrating all actors according to their respective roles;
• Organize and oversee the Steering Committee (SC) and Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings, ensuring these governance bodies are as constructive and effective as possible in achieving project results; Take and share the meeting minutes;
• Maintain operational relations with AFD in Manila;
• Ensure the project's complementarity with other national and regional initiatives in the sector and develop synergies;
• Monitor and identify project and funding opportunities in disaster risk reduction and/or civil protection;
• Stay updated on current events, stakeholders, best practices, and partners in the field;
• Contribute to developing the PRAR unit's portfolio in the region.

Communication and Capitalization:

• Contribute to program communication and promotion activities;
• Participate in experience-sharing and dissemination of best practices;
• Ensure synergies among different projects and actors;
• Draft technical and/or thematic notes.

This job description is not exhaustive. In general, the Project Leader is responsible for achieving the project's contractual objectives and must perform all activities necessary for the project's successful implementation.