Program and Partnership Manager, Uganda job at Right To Play

About Right To Play:

For more than 25 years, Right To Play has been protecting, educating, and empowering millions of children each year to rise above adversity through the power of play. We offer programs in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America, reaching millions of children each year in some of the most difficult places on earth, helping them to stay in school and learn, overcome prejudice, heal from trauma, and develop the skills they need to thrive. We do this by harnessing play, one of the most fundamental forces in a child's life, to teach children the critical skills they need to dismantle barriers and embrace opportunities, in learning and in life. This work is supported by our two global offices in Toronto, Canada and London, UK; and seven National Offices in North America and Europe. Right To Play has collaborated with local partners in Uganda since 2001 to deliver high-quality programs that increase access to quality education, empower girls, and promote health and well-being. Learn more about our programs in Uganda from our website.

Benefits Highlights:

• Connect and collaborate with a global team who are passionate about protecting, educating and empowering children and youth using the power of play!
• Culture premised on our Culture Code (accept everyone, make things happen, display courage, demonstrate care, and be playful)
• Paid leaves (21 days annual leaves, 3 personal days per year)
• Competitive benefits such as medical insurance – up to 4 dependents, life insurance, group personal accident cover, and communications allowance.
• Learning opportunities and 5 learning and development (L&D) days per year
• More information on what we offer is available on our website.

Job Description:

1- Purpose:

The Program and Partnership Manager leads the design, planning, and implementation of in-country programs while focusing on partnership development, management, and donor compliance.

2- Accountability & Responsibilities:

• Program management – 30%: Support the strategic planning, design, and oversight of all in-country programs, and aligning strategies, partnerships, and resources with children and young people’s needs, organizational priorities, donor requirements, and country strategic goals. Translate strategy into actionable operational plans and budgets, guiding teams to manage risks, ensure compliance, and deliver timely, sustainable, scalable and high-quality programs, with appropriate risk planning and mitigation measures
• Partnership management – 30%: Build and manage strong partnerships with governments, civil society organizations, and project partners to foster collaboration, share capacity and ensure sustainable program delivery. Represent the organization externally while strengthening existing partnerships and identifying new partners to expand reach, visibility, and impact.
• Quality assurance and learning – 15%: Ensure consistent, high-quality implementation of country programs by strengthening MEL practices at project level and ensuring compliance with organizational and donor standards. Support and coach program teams to apply quality programming approaches in their day-to-day work, embedding learning and reflection into implementation cycles. Use monitoring data, reporting, and lessons learned to identify gaps, address risks, and continuously improve program delivery and outcomes within the country portfolio.
• Financial management – 15%: Oversee program budgets and financial management, ensuring funds are planned, tracked, and used in compliance with organizational and donor procedures. Collaborate with the finance team and program staff to provide guidance, integrate new initiatives, and support accurate financial reporting.
• Policy and advocacy – 10%: Drive policy implementation and advocacy to promote child-centered, safeguarding, and gender standards in programs and partnerships. Ensure organizational policies are integrated into projects and partner agreements for compliance and best practices.
• Perform other duties as assigned

3- Scope (geographical and/or functional), Impact and Autonomy:

• This is a country level role that has an oversight on overall program planning and implementation, Program Quality & partnership management in country.

4- Leadership and Staff Management:

• Ensures the program team has a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities, and provides strategic leadership, guidance, and performance oversight to ensure effective program delivery and alignment with organizational objectives.

5- Information Requirement for Decision-Making:

• Requires accurate programmatic, financial, MEL, and stakeholder data to support planning, compliance, risk management, and effective program delivery.

6- Innovation and Improvements:

• Leads continuous improvement by identifying innovative approaches, strengthening systems and processes, and integrating lessons learned to enhance program quality, efficiency, and impact.

7- Relationships & Communications: Internal / External:

• Internally: gets guidance from the Country Director; collaborates with program, impact, Finance and P&C team to design, implement, and evaluate Program; coaches the project team to effectively implement program activities. Externally: engages with government officials, local partners, community stakeholders to maintain positive relations for localized program implementation.

8- Expertise (Certifications / Education, Professional Experience)

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, development studies or other related disciplines.
• Ample experience managing international development programs and liaising with government officials and donors.
• Proven experience in project planning, proposal development, report writing, resource mobilization, networking, partnership-building, and working with NGOs.
• Proven people management experience of remote teams and volunteers
• Fluency in written and spoken English local language

9- Core Competences:

• Collaboration: Clear communicator able to influence others, share knowledge, and leverage diverse skills to achieve common goals. Works effectively with cross functional teams.
• Growth Mindset: Establishes a culture of feedback and opportunities for continuous learning and skills development, encouraging new ideas and new approaches for improvement
• Resilience: Able to problem-solve and take setbacks as learning opportunities
• Professionalism: Demonstrates integrity and accountability, upholding organizational values on day-to-day actions
• Management and Interpersonal Skills: Builds an inclusive and safe culture. Leads and motivates diverse teams to achieve high performance, encouraging collaboration, accountability, and shared ownership of results

10- Additional Information:

Ability to frequently travel within the country and possible international travel. May require working outside of regular business hours.

• Program management – 30%: Support the strategic planning, design, and oversight of all in-country programs, and aligning strategies, partnerships, and resources with children and young people’s needs, organizational priorities, donor requirements, and country strategic goals. Translate strategy into actionable operational plans and budgets, guiding teams to manage risks, ensure compliance, and deliver timely, sustainable, scalable and high-quality programs, with appropriate risk planning and mitigation measures
• Partnership management – 30%: Build and manage strong partnerships with governments, civil society organizations, and project partners to foster collaboration, share capacity and ensure sustainable program delivery. Represent the organization externally while strengthening existing partnerships and identifying new partners to expand reach, visibility, and impact.
• Quality assurance and learning – 15%: Ensure consistent, high-quality implementation of country programs by strengthening MEL practices at project level and ensuring compliance with organizational and donor standards. Support and coach program teams to apply quality programming approaches in their day-to-day work, embedding learning and reflection into implementation cycles. Use monitoring data, reporting, and lessons learned to identify gaps, address risks, and continuously improve program delivery and outcomes within the country portfolio.
• Financial management – 15%: Oversee program budgets and financial management, ensuring funds are planned, tracked, and used in compliance with organizational and donor procedures. Collaborate with the finance team and program staff to provide guidance, integrate new initiatives, and support accurate financial reporting.
• Policy and advocacy – 10%: Drive policy implementation and advocacy to promote child-centered, safeguarding, and gender standards in programs and partnerships. Ensure organizational policies are integrated into projects and partner agreements for compliance and best practices.
• Perform other duties as assigned

• Clear communicator able to influence others, share knowledge, and leverage diverse skills to achieve common goals. Works effectively with cross functional teams.
• Establishes a culture of feedback and opportunities for continuous learning and skills development, encouraging new ideas and new approaches for improvement
• Able to problem-solve and take setbacks as learning opportunities
• Demonstrates integrity and accountability, upholding organizational values on day-to-day actions
• Builds an inclusive and safe culture. Leads and motivates diverse teams to achieve high performance, encouraging collaboration, accountability, and shared ownership of results

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, development studies or other related disciplines.
• Ample experience managing international development programs and liaising with government officials and donors.
• Proven experience in project planning, proposal development, report writing, resource mobilization, networking, partnership-building, and working with NGOs.
• Proven people management experience of remote teams and volunteers
• Fluency in written and spoken English local language