Background information about the job or company (e.g., role context, company overview)

Created in 2012, FSD Africa is a £30 million financial sector development programme or 'FSD’ based in Nairobi. It is funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). FSD Africa aims to reduce poverty across sub-Saharan Africa by building financial markets that are efficient, robust and inclusive.

Responsibilities or duties

Programme Planning & Coordination

• Lead the development and maintenance of a single, integrated AFIYA delivery plan covering all workstreams and countries, ensuring clear sequencing of activities, identification of dependencies, and visibility of key decision points across the programme lifecycle.
• Maintain a rolling 12–18 month forward delivery horizon, refreshed quarterly to reflect programme performance, emerging risks, contextual shifts, and adaptive management decisions.
• Ensure strong alignment between AFIYA strategic priorities, approved budgets, partner delivery plans, and implementation timelines, supporting realistic planning and effective resource utilisation.
• Provide end-to-end visibility of programme delivery progress, surfacing implementation risks, bottlenecks, and cross-workstream dependencies early to enable timely decision-making and course correction.
• Strengthen programme delivery discipline through structured planning cycles, milestone tracking, and clear reporting rhythms across countries and delivery partners.
• Support the Head of Delivery by ensuring that programme decisions are informed by credible, timely performance data, delivery insights, and forward-looking risk analysis.
• Coordinate planning and delivery interfaces across technical teams, country teams, implementing partners, to ensure coherent and efficient programme execution.
• Support adaptive programme management by ensuring delivery plans are living tools that respond to learning, evidence, and evolving programme priorities.

Delivery Cadence & Governance

• Design, institutionalise, and drive a clear and consistent programme delivery rhythm to strengthen accountability, visibility, and timely decision-making across AFIYA, including:
  • Weekly internal delivery check-ins focused on progress tracking, risk surfacing, and immediate priority actions
  • Monthly country performance reviews assessing delivery progress, financial performance, partner implementation status, and emerging risks and opportunities
  • Quarterly portfolio performance and decision reviews to assess strategic alignment, resource utilisation, delivery trajectory, and key investment or course-correction decisions
• Establish and maintain strong governance standards across programme forums, ensuring discussions are focused, decision-oriented, and aligned to programme priorities and outcomes.
• Prepare clear, concise, and decision-focused agendas, high-quality pre-read materials, and structured action trackers to support productive and efficient governance engagements.
• Ensure all decisions, actions, and agreed next steps are clearly documented, assigned to accountable owners, and systematically tracked to completion.
• Strengthen transparency and information flow by ensuring governance outputs are communicated to relevant stakeholders in a timely and accessible manner.
• Continuously review and refine delivery cadence and governance structures to ensure they remain fit for purpose, proportionate, and supportive of adaptive programme management.

Risk, Dependency & Decision Management

• Maintain a programme-level risk and dependency register covering delivery, financial, facility-related, reputational, and fiduciary risks.
• Proactively identify and surface emerging risks, bottlenecks, and trade-offs, escalating them to the Head of Delivery with clear options for resolution.
• Monitor critical dependencies across workstreams, countries, and implementing partners to ensure timely interventions and minimise delivery delays.
• Support structured, evidence-based decision-making by providing credible information, timely analysis, and actionable insights to the Head of Delivery, AFIYA.
• Ensure financial and operational decisions are aligned with programme priorities, dependencies, and strategic objectives, enabling coherent and efficient delivery across all AFIYA projects.

Adaptive Management Support

• Ensure milestones and budgets are treated as adaptive tools, enabling the programme to pivot and respond effectively to emerging information, risks, and changing contexts.
• Facilitate structured learning and reflection sessions across workstreams and countries, encouraging evidence-based discussions and collaborative course-correction where needed.
• Proactively monitor assumptions underpinning programme design and delivery; trigger timely decision-making conversations when assumptions are no longer valid or when emerging issues could impact outcomes.
• Support the integration of lessons learned into planning, prioritisation, and resource allocation to strengthen programme resilience and maximise development impact.
• Foster a culture of adaptive management within the programme, encouraging teams and partners to respond constructively to change while maintaining alignment with strategic objectives.
• Carry out any other duties or special assignments as assigned by the Management.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Qualifications and Education

• Master’s degree and 9 years of experience or Bachelor’s Degree and 11 years of experience in Project Management, Finance, Economics, Business or a related field.

Essential Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• At least 10 years’ experience managing or supporting complex, multi-country development programmes
• Demonstrated experience with adaptive, market-systems or financial-inclusion programmes
• Strong ability to synthesise complex information and communicate clearly to senior stakeholders
• Proven judgement in risk identification and escalation
• High comfort operating in ambiguity and fast-moving environments
• Strong capability in planning, forecasting, and tracking project performance across multiple workstreams
• Ability to analyse complex project information, exercise sound judgement, and provide clear, actionable recommendations

• Lead the development and maintenance of a single, integrated AFIYA delivery plan covering all workstreams and countries, ensuring clear sequencing of activities, identification of dependencies, and visibility of key decision points across the programme lifecycle.
• Maintain a rolling 12–18 month forward delivery horizon, refreshed quarterly to reflect programme performance, emerging risks, contextual shifts, and adaptive management decisions.
• Ensure strong alignment between AFIYA strategic priorities, approved budgets, partner delivery plans, and implementation timelines, supporting realistic planning and effective resource utilisation.
• Provide end-to-end visibility of programme delivery progress, surfacing implementation risks, bottlenecks, and cross-workstream dependencies early to enable timely decision-making and course correction.
• Strengthen programme delivery discipline through structured planning cycles, milestone tracking, and clear reporting rhythms across countries and delivery partners.
• Support the Head of Delivery by ensuring that programme decisions are informed by credible, timely performance data, delivery insights, and forward-looking risk analysis.
• Coordinate planning and delivery interfaces across technical teams, country teams, implementing partners, to ensure coherent and efficient programme execution.
• Support adaptive programme management by ensuring delivery plans are living tools that respond to learning, evidence, and evolving programme priorities.
• Design, institutionalise, and drive a clear and consistent programme delivery rhythm to strengthen accountability, visibility, and timely decision-making across AFIYA, including: Weekly internal delivery check-ins focused on progress tracking, risk surfacing, and immediate priority actions; Monthly country performance reviews assessing delivery progress, financial performance, partner implementation status, and emerging risks and opportunities; Quarterly portfolio performance and decision reviews to assess strategic alignment, resource utilisation, delivery trajectory, and key investment or course-correction decisions.
• Establish and maintain strong governance standards across programme forums, ensuring discussions are focused, decision-oriented, and aligned to programme priorities and outcomes.
• Prepare clear, concise, and decision-focused agendas, high-quality pre-read materials, and structured action trackers to support productive and efficient governance engagements.
• Ensure all decisions, actions, and agreed next steps are clearly documented, assigned to accountable owners, and systematically tracked to completion.
• Strengthen transparency and information flow by ensuring governance outputs are communicated to relevant stakeholders in a timely and accessible manner.
• Continuously review and refine delivery cadence and governance structures to ensure they remain fit for purpose, proportionate, and supportive of adaptive programme management.
• Maintain a programme-level risk and dependency register covering delivery, financial, facility-related, reputational, and fiduciary risks.
• Proactively identify and surface emerging risks, bottlenecks, and trade-offs, escalating them to the Head of Delivery with clear options for resolution.
• Monitor critical dependencies across workstreams, countries, and implementing partners to ensure timely interventions and minimise delivery delays.
• Support structured, evidence-based decision-making by providing credible information, timely analysis, and actionable insights to the Head of Delivery, AFIYA.
• Ensure financial and operational decisions are aligned with programme priorities, dependencies, and strategic objectives, enabling coherent and efficient delivery across all AFIYA projects.
• Ensure milestones and budgets are treated as adaptive tools, enabling the programme to pivot and respond effectively to emerging information, risks, and changing contexts.
• Facilitate structured learning and reflection sessions across workstreams and countries, encouraging evidence-based discussions and collaborative course-correction where needed.
• Proactively monitor assumptions underpinning programme design and delivery; trigger timely decision-making conversations when assumptions are no longer valid or when emerging issues could impact outcomes.
• Support the integration of lessons learned into planning, prioritisation, and resource allocation to strengthen programme resilience and maximise development impact.
• Foster a culture of adaptive management within the programme, encouraging teams and partners to respond constructively to change while maintaining alignment with strategic objectives.
• Carry out any other duties or special assignments as assigned by the Management.

• Strong ability to synthesise complex information and communicate clearly to senior stakeholders
• Proven judgement in risk identification and escalation
• High comfort operating in ambiguity and fast-moving environments
• Strong capability in planning, forecasting, and tracking project performance across multiple workstreams
• Ability to analyse complex project information, exercise sound judgement, and provide clear, actionable recommendations

• Master’s degree and 9 years of experience or Bachelor’s Degree and 11 years of experience in Project Management, Finance, Economics, Business or a related field.
• At least 10 years’ experience managing or supporting complex, multi-country development programmes
• Demonstrated experience with adaptive, market-systems or financial-inclusion programmes