Field Manager

Position: Field Manager
Location: Ho Chi Minh and other project sites
Employment: Full time
Starting: January 2015

Organization Profile

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

We are non-governmental, non-religious and work with many local NGOs and community based organizations to implement our programs. We currently work in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia – countries with a desperate lack of resources to educate their children. Since our inception, Room to Read’s worldwide team has impacted over 7.8 million children by constructing more than 1,600 schools, establishing over 15,000 libraries, publishing 874 new children’s book titles in 27 local languages, and reaching over 20,000 girls through our Girls’ Education program.

Room to Read has an annual budget of approximately US$43.7 million and our global staff numbers over 600. Our global headquarters is located in San Francisco, and we have smaller fundraising offices in New Delhi, New York, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Sydney, and Tokyo. We have an Asia Regional Office located in New Delhi and program offices in Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kathmandu, Lusaka, New Delhi, Pretoria, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane.

In Vietnam, Room to Read is implementing Literacy Program and Girls Education Program in the Mekong Delta and the Northern upland area, and in the Central Coast. Our country office is located in Ho Chi Minh City.

Position Overview

The Field Manager (“FM”) is responsible for Room to Read Vietnam’s operations in Southern Region. The FM is primarily responsible for ensuring the timely and effective implementation of programs in the field, including implementation, spending, local procurement, distribution and logistical support. The position is required to take initiative for project management, improving work approaches, partnerships, selection of projects sites, and ensuring adequate staff to work at the field level. S/he will work to strengthen coordination and collaboration within teams and across all CO program teams, maintaining and ensuring constructive communication, building team morale within individual teams and contributing to a positive working environment. S/he will report to the Program Operations Director and will have various positions reporting to him/her.  The Field Manager directly manages the Program Sr. Operations Officer, Program Operations Officer, and Girls’ Education Program (“GEP”) Officers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Management and Coordination

• Ensures efficient and effective coordination across all elements of the Literacy Program and Girls’ Education Program in his/her area.
• Supervises and oversees the operation of field offices in Tra On and Tra Cu, work of the field staff and is responsible for optimizing their productivity through effective management and leadership (i.e., coaching/advising).
• Ensures staff are consistently complying and adhering to policies, procedures and guidelines articulated in the CO handbooks, and facilitates the dissemination of information to all staff members to promote transparency. 
• Supports staff through consultation with CO-level technical team to regularly assess staff capacity building needs.
• Ensures the performance management process is well-planned and conducted in a timely for all direct-report staff. This includes setting performance goals, conducting progress check-ins, providing feedback, conducting year-end appraisals, and making recommendations for staff development and career advancement.
• Collaborates with Human Resources to handle recruitment and training of staff according to need.
• Leads and facilitates field staff in monthly meetings to review progress against plans, find solutions to problems, share lessons learned, exchange expertise across programs, and to motivate and encourage teamwork.
• Ensures that field staffs are aware of and understand the programs’ goals and objectives, working approaches and methodology, and have all necessary information related to annual plans, targets, and implementation calendars.
• Supervises fund disbursement, reviews and approves the field monthly financial expenses in accordance with financial and purchasing policy and procedures.   
• Perform other tasks as assigned by the Program Operations Director or Country Director.

Program Implementation and Monitoring

• Leads, coordinates and reports the implementation and achievement of the CO's program targets in the region, while ensuring high impact for children, quality and cost-effectiveness in accordance with the strategy, policies and guidelines of RtR.
• Conducts regular field visits to monitor and verify the programs’ progress and impact, understand the challenges and needs of stakeholders (e.g., RtR staff, Social Mobilizers, Field Facilitators, communities, children, etc...), and the appropriate RtR solutions.
• Oversees the implementation of the global Family & Community Engagement (“F&CE”) strategy in the region, including coordinating site selection activities, ensuring schools are advancing along the F&CE strategy continuum, as appropriate, and supervising the regular support provided to schools by field staff.

Planning, Reporting and Documentation

• Develops annual and long-term plans, and budgets for region in charge appropriately to meet the goals and objectives of the RtR Country Office.
• Coordinates the timely completion of annual planning.
• Prepares monthly and quarterly implementation and budget forecasting.
• Develops quarterly report for distributing to partners, if applicable.

External Coordination and Networking

• Attends to donor affairs including hosting donor and project site visits in collaboration with programs staff.
• Meets regularly with local government representatives, NGO partners, school administrators and parent groups.
• Promotes and protects the reputation of Room to Read in external settings, ensuring that the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are looked upon as a professional Education organization.
• Liaises with NGO Partner and Government Agencies, especially at provincial and district education levels. This includes periodic meetings with partners to exchange information and updating programs’ work progresses.

Qualifications

Required:

• Degree in Education Administration, Social Science, Project Management, or equivalent experience
• Minimum of 10 years’ related work experience, with experience in leadership and management roles
• Strong planning, budgeting/financial management, administrative, supervisory, coaching and program development skills
• Good knowledge and understanding of education issues, including teaching methodologies and community involvement in schools
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to travel to designated project sites
• Computer literate (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Workshop/training and facilitation skills
• Prior success working closely and building relationships with diverse groups of people
• Proven track record of achieving results
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously and take initiative

Preferred:

• Prior experience working with schools, teachers, administrators and government officials
• Prior experience in a fast-paced, growth-oriented global or regional organization
• Report writing experience
• Effectiveness in working or volunteering in a non-profit organization that is focused on maintaining high quality work and low overhead

To be successful as a member of the Room to Read team, you will also:

• Have passion for our mission and a strong desire to impact a dynamic nonprofit organization
• Be an innovative and creative thinker that tries new things and inspires others to do so
• Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
• Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
• Work well independently as well as part of a team
• Thrive in a fast-paced and fun environment

Application Procedure:

Please send your Curriculum Vitae (in English) to HR department at [email protected]
Application due:   until the position is filled.

Due to the high volume of applicant response, not all applicants may receive a response from Room to Read. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.   

Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.