Afghanistan: Program Management Support Officer (PMSO) Takhar

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a non-denominational international development agency established in 1967 by His Highness the Aga Khan. Its mission is to develop and promote creative solutions to problems that impede social development, primarily in Asia and East Africa. Created as a private, non-profit foundation under Swiss law, it has branches and independent affiliates in 19 countries.

AKF seeks to provide sustainable solutions to long-term problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and health. In Afghanistan, AKF works with rural communities in mountainous, remote or resource poor areas to improve quality of life in the areas of natural resource management, market development, governance, education and health.

The Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan (AKF (Afg)) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) www.akdn.org , a group of international, private, non-denominational development agencies working to improve living conditions and opportunities for people in some of the poorest parts of the developing world. The Network’s organizations have individual mandates that range from the fields of health and education to architecture, rural development and promotion of private-sector enterprise and institutions that seek to empower communities and individuals, usually in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities.

At present, it is seeking an exceptional individual to fill the position of Program Management Support Officer (PMSO) at its Takhar Regional Office.

Job Summary:

The PMSO is responsible to support the regional and the national coordination team under the Policy and Partnerships Director, to analyze programming and produce high quality donor reports and proposals and contribute to internal learning process.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensure timely submission of high quality donor reports to the donor or the AKF National Programme Office (NPO) in Kabul;


• Ensure quality of all external documents in consultation with Regional Director (RD);


• Coordinate the regional team in the preparation of new proposals to donors; lead the process of proposal writing for submission to the national team;


• Monitor and identify concerns / challenges of the regional program progress, attitude, and approaches, and ensure that issues relevant to them are effectively and appropriately addressed;


• Develop a comprehensive understanding of programmatic approaches and methods to facilitate internal and external engagement;


• Support review of programme progress against yearly planning;


• Facilitate regular and consistent meetings with finance managers to monitor spending against grants;


• Assist the Regional Director with programmatic support as directed, including areas such as the yearly budgeting and planning exercise;


• Support the Regional team on cross-cutting programmatic issues such as gender equality, evaluation, learning and research (ERLU) and the Takhar Development Forum;


• Ensure that AKDN maintains current intelligence on stakeholders operating within the region;


• Support the Regional Director and sector heads in strategic engagement with donors and other NGOs;


• Maintain regional Grant Management Information System, logical framework, Yearly Planning of Operations (YPO), and project overviews;


• Ensure that management, finance and relevant sector heads are provided with grant information;


• Mentor the Program Support Officer (PSO) in the Takhar regional office as appropriate;


• To carry out the responsibilities of the role in a way which reflect AKF’s commitment to protecting children in accordance with the Child Safeguarding Policy.

Occasional Significant Duties:

• Participate in periodic national level meetings in Kabul;


• Conduct frequent visits to partner communities in the region;


• Travel to AKF programme regions to work with field staff;


• Facilitate/organize workshops to build capacity and coordination among field teams related to new grants/programme components;


• Any other duties relevant to this position’s core responsibilities and duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

• Undergraduate degree in relevant field and at least two years relevant experience;


• Excellent English written and verbal skills;


• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines;


• Ability to critically analyse and provide constructive recommendations;


• Good team player with ability to build and maintain collaborative relationships with colleagues;


• Willingness to live and work in a remote, isolated environment.