1. Job Purpose

The Project Manager will provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership for the Health Happens Here (HHH) project, driving its theory of change to reduce teenage pregnancies, STIs, HIV, and unsafe abortion by strengthening health systems, improving provider capacity, and equipping young people. The role ensures high-quality implementation of inclusive SRHR interventions, fosters gender-transformative and youth-friendly services, supports enabling laws and policies, and generates evidence through research and innovation. The Project Manager will coordinate with governments, civil society, research partners, and young people to strengthen SRH and aligning with Rutgers requirements and FGAE standards.

Location: Addis Ababa (with frequent travel to Amhara, Oromia, and Harari Regions)

2. Key Roles and Responsibilities

A. Strategic Leadership and Project Management

• Lead the overall planning, execution, monitoring, and reporting of the Health Happens Here (HHH) project across multi-year implementation.
• Ensure strict alignment with the HHH Theory of Change, which links strengthened health systems and youth SRHR knowledge to reduced teenage pregnancies, STIs, HIV, unsafe abortion, and improved opportunities for young people.
• Develop and manage annual work plans, performance tracking tools.
• Ensure timely, high-quality delivery of all project outputs, particularly those strengthening health system resilience and accessibility for young people.

B.  Stakeholder Coordination

• Coordinate implementation and joint review mechanisms with civil society organisations, health service providers, young people, research partners, governments, and the private sector as outlined in the HHH TOC.
• Strengthen collaboration with government institutions (Health, Education, Youth, Women’s Affairs), CSOs, CBOs, OPDs, religious leaders, and community gatekeepers.
• Represent FGAE in national and regional coordination platforms, Technical Working Groups (TWGs), and high-level advocacy forums to elevate the HHH project’s profile.

C. Technical Oversight of Project Components

i. Health Systems Strengthening

• Oversee interventions to improve capacity and resilience of health systems to deliver quality SRH information and services in places where young people engage and seek support.
• Strengthen SRH lawss, coordination, budget execution, and policy implementation.
• Train public and private healthcare providers, integrating SRHR competencies.
• Strengthen SRH information systems, reporting, and data use.
• Guide the expansion and quality assurance of integrated SRH services, including contraception.
• Oversee strategic deployment and tracking of the supplies and commodities budget to prevent stockouts of essential SRH medicines, contraceptives, and medical equipment.
• Ensure clinical spaces meet youth-friendly, gender-transformative, and quality standards.
• Oversee delivery of SRHR information and evidence generation to ensure young people gain the knowledge and skills to make safer, more autonomous health choices, thereby easing demand on health services.
• Supervise community-based youth interventions, including peer education networks, youth center initiatives, and life skills programs for adolescent girls and marginalized youth.
• Strengthen supportive laws, policies, and services to improve and sustain all young people’s access to SRH information and care.
• Lead community engagement initiatives to elevate awareness, sensitize gatekeepers, and foster supportive environments for youth SRH.
• Engage and capacitate community leaders, women’s groups, and youth advocates to challenge restrictive socio-cultural norms around gender equality and reproductive choice.

ii. Service Delivery & Commodities Access

iii. Youth Empowerment & SRHR Knowledge

iv. Advocacy, Social Norms Change & Enabling Environment

v. Learning, Innovation

• Promote a culture of continuous learning, translating project evidence into national policy briefs and strategic improvements.
• Capture and publicize verified best practices, learning notes, and human-interest stories for broader dissemination.

D. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL)

• Maintain a robust, disaggregated MEAL framework that captures real-time progress against project indicators, including reductions in teenage pregnancies, STIs, HIV, and unsafe abortion.
• Support routine data quality assessments (DQAs), participatory learning reviews, and adaptive management adjustments.
• Use emerging programmatic data to refine implementation tactics, ensuring interventions remain inclusive, safe, and context-responsive.

E. Financial, Compliance, and Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Oversee financial management, tracking burn rates to achieve optimal cost-efficiency.
• Ensure complete institutional compliance with donor financial guidelines, audit provisions, and FGAE’s operational policies.
• Enforce zero-tolerance standards regarding safeguarding, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEA), child protection, and gender-transformative principles across all project activities.
• Supervise the dedicated project implementation team, providing strategic guidance, routine performance monitoring, and customized professional mentorship.
• Strengthen technical capacity of FGAE project staff and field personnel in advocacy, research, innovation, health system strengthening, gender-transformative programming, and disability-inclusive service design.
• Foster an accountable, inclusive, and mission-driven team culture aligned with FGAE’s core values and the HHH Theory of Change.

F. Team Leadership and Capacity Building