Job Description

About African Leadership Academy and the Africa Career NetworksAfrican Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting a new generation of young leaders who will lead the continent towards lasting peace and shared prosperity for all. Since our inception in 2008, we have worked to lay the foundations of this audacious mission by identifying and developing a group of exceptional young leaders who will work together to shape Africas future. Since 2012, the Africa Career Networks (ACN) program at ALA has enabled students and alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and African Leadership Academy (ALA) to access transformative early-career opportunities and accelerate their progression to impact. Partnerships with various foundations and supporters have allowed ACN to build 7 growing, pan-African career networks focused on key economic sectors - Education, Health, The Arts, Agribusiness, Infrastructure, Governance and Professional Services. Our network-theory-driven approach has facilitated powerful social impact collaborations among our young leaders and connected them to over 5000 internships and full-time job opportunities.
About AL for GovernanceAfrican Leaders (AL) for Governance is a network of impact-driven public leaders who share a commitment to address Africas most pressing governance and development challenges. We believe that lasting peace and shared prosperity on the African continent is only possible if we build and sustain accountable institutions together. Our network develops a new generation of ethical public leaders who will work together to address the public leadership crisis in Africa. The network facilitates diverse career pathways for our young leaders into the governance sector, catalyses connections between members, and fosters powerful intergenerational mentorship relationships to drive lasting change.
Position OverviewWe are looking for a dynamic AL for Governance Program Manager within our ACN Programs team. The AL for Governance Program Manager will be responsible for accelerating the career paths of our young leaders, through sector success and challenge programs, and professional development and by connecting them to a variety of internship and job opportunities within the Governance sector, with a focus on DEI, wellbeing, and safeguarding. This role has the exciting task of building a pan-African network of employers and partners in the Governance sector to grow and develop the network. He/she will engage with top employers in this space, to build relationships and place young talent in their organisations. The Governance program manager must engage network members by managing programs and events in which key government and civil society players, professionals, thought leaders and our young leaders can participate.As the Program Manager for AL for Governance, you will also provide full oversight of the Umholi We Africa Fellowship program, with the support of the senior program associate and program associate. This role has the exciting task of building and growing this important Fellowship across the continent and providing the Fellows and their Principals with the best possible Fellowship experience. You will engage with ministers and stakeholders in this space, to build relationships and partnerships to place Fellows in their organisations. You will engage network members to create a pipeline of Fellows. You will coordinate and arrange the relevant events and activities around the Fellowship, be responsible for budget management and reporting and manage stakeholder relationships. You will be working with various stakeholders, both internally (IL, Marketing, Finance etc) and externally (service providers, employer partners, technical partners, and funding partners), to drive the success of the program. Lastly, the sector program manager will find ways of igniting and fostering collaboration where facilitated knowledge transfer and the exchange of ideas can inspire impactful creative solutions for Africa in the ALA community, including ALUs Public Sector Fellowship Team. The overall goal is to create a community engaged in the most important strategic challenges facing this sector and to help develop young talent in Africa.
Position Responsibilities

• Stakeholder Management: Recruit, build and sustain partnerships with existing and new employers, program partners, technical partners, and potential funders (internally and externally).
• Manage a portfolio of programs for emerging and existing talent in the public service domain, ensuring adequate resource allocation across the team
• Grow the sector network by implementing the network engagement strategy that will enable diverse stakeholders to connect and collaborate consistently to innovate and improve public service in Africa.
• External Communications: Manage all external communications in line with required branding guidelines and required protocols.
• Budget management and reporting: Manage the sector budget and all grant reporting
• Get stuck in: Participate in program design and delivery, providing coaching, program facilitation and other engagement as necessary for program success and as a means of engaging network members.
• Manage a team: You will support and supervise a senior associate, associate, and interns to deliver on the program work, providing them with opportunities for growth and professional development when needed.

Profile of the ideal candidate

• Demonstrate leadership: you identify, evaluate, and execute high-impact opportunities using entrepreneurial thinking.
• Program Implementation Skills: Ability to organise and implement events and programs that will contribute to, and build, the creative network.
• Highly organized: Ability to plan and deliver on projects timeously. Good planning, priority, and organisational skills, especially when under tight deadlines
• You have a strong existing network in the governance sector and are passionate about building and sustaining relationships and networks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Experience with public speaking and publishing written work, and/or developing communication strategies and plans.
• Communication and Marketing skills: Must have effective communication skills, both verbally and in writing. In practicality, this translates into report writing skills, grant applications, marketing blurbs, social media posts, formal letter writing and newsletter writing.
• Professional development skills: Ability to coach young, highly skilled, ambitious talent (potentially in their first job) with a strong growth trajectory and provide career guidance as needed.
• Data Management and Analysis skills: CRM Data management, generating analytics that can be used for reporting. (Salesforce knowledge is an added advantage.)

Desired Experience

• Masters degree in public administration, international relations, or related discipline
• 6+ years of experience working in civil society, government, or governance focused organizations. Supervisory experience is a requirement.
• Public Service knowledge and a broad understanding and knowledge of the development challenges and opportunities facing the African continent.
• An awareness of career opportunities in this sector through the lens of leadership development and be passionate and eager to engage in continuous learning and networking in these fields.
• Dedicated to shaping the future of the Governance sector in Africa.
• Budget management and report writing is a requirement.

Reporting: This role reports to the Director of Sector Programs.
Start Date: 1st March 2025, or earlier.
Location: Johannesburg, ALA Campus.

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