Project Administration:

• Provide project administration support to the various teams within the local government support structure,
  including:
  o Manage day-to-day project administrative activities
  o Manage diaries and arrange meetings
  o Take minutes, distribute for inputs and follow up on actions required
• Perform secretariat functions for the various committees, programmes and meetings that are part of the structures ensuring compliance with governance prescripts.
• Administer the master schedule to support the Programme Leads and Units/Teams with the development and implementation of the project schedule and management plan.
• Support the unit/teams’ efforts in the development of the project plan and translate the plan into a workable project schedule.
• Analyse the project schedule for time impacts, delay analysis as well as forecasting (trend analysis, including schedule reserve) and provide early warnings on anticipated changes to the schedule.
• Identify milestones and the critical path (including multiple / near critical paths).
• Provide administrative support for procurement and contract management, submission and processing of invoices and claims.
• Liaise with internal and external stakeholders (SCM, Legal, Finance, ICT, etc.) on administrative requirements.
• Collate and edit various presentations and reports on project/programme performance updates for the various Steering Committees, DBSA, etc.
• Implement systems to track performance throughout the life cycle of projects and the programme and take responsibility for the system’s (SAP) information accuracy, updates and quality management.
• Participate actively in project deliverables using specific systems and programmes ensuring that tracking occurs throughout the implementation phase.
• Provide support in the preparation and collation of materials for client meetings, proposals, and presentations.

Project Reporting and Records Management:

• Monitor, analyse and report on schedule performance across programmes and projects.
• Consolidate reports on the performance of programmes against targets and highlighting risks or concerns (i.e., non-performing service providers, process of system failures, non-compliance).
• Consolidate monthly programme cost reports, including project variances of actuals vs. budgets and update forecasts.
• Collate reports, including accounting information, summarising and forecasting project activities and financial performance in (i.e., disbursements and projections, income and expenditure) current and expected operations for portfolio, programmes, and projects.
• Maintain the record and retrieval systems, including the programme and project document repository, a paper and e-filing system.
• Coordinate service providers’ database administration to ensure a central repository of information on service providers.
• Maintain and organise all project-related documents, including contracts, reports, proposals, and agreements,ensuring they are accessible and up to date.

Key Measurements of Outputs:

• Successful project administration of agreed projects, programmes and portfolio assignments.
• Management and completion of day-to-day project administration tasks (diary management, meeting arrangements, minutes distribution etc.).
• Accurately maintaining the master project schedule, including milestone identification and critical path analysis.
• Early warnings and proactive adjustments based on time, impact, and delay analysis.
• Efficiency and accuracy in procurement support, including processing invoices and claims.
• Quality and timelines of performance reports and presentations for Steering Committees.
• Data accuracy and regular updates in tracking project performance using various systems (e.g., SAP and others).
• Consistent tracking of project deliverables through implementation phases.
• Monthly cost report consolidation, monitoring of budget variances, and updating financial forecasts.
• Completeness and accuracy of consolidated performance reports, highlighting risks, issues and areas of nonperformance and non-compliance.

Key Internal Liason Relationship:

1. Head: Local Government Support
2. Head: Partner-A-District
3. CEO & Managing Director of DBSA
4. Executives
5. Overall DBSA management
6. DBSA Staff

Key External Liason Relationship:

1. External Service Providers
2. Metros / Municipalities (Districts and Local)
3. National/ Provincial/ Local Governments
4. Development Finance Institutions
5. Public and Private Sector Investors and Partners
6. External Stakeholders

Minimum Requirements:

1. A Diploma in project management or administration or related qualification
2. A minimum of 3 years of experience in a similar function
3. Considerable knowledge of standard administration practices and procedures is a necessity for this position
4. Excellent knowledge of protocol and etiquette.
5. Demonstrated experience in working in a multi-disciplinary team.
6. An understanding of organisational processes and group dynamics.
7. Experience in supply chain management processes (preparing project tender documents, etc.)
8. Demonstrated knowledge and use of project methodology such as PMBOK, Prince or similar
9. Demonstrable ability to use of the Microsoft Office (MS Projects, Excel, PowerPoint, Word & MS Outlook)
10. Proven track record of preparing project/programme progress reports and presentations for various stakeholders (Programme Managers, Steering Committees, Exco and Board)
11. Demonstrated experience in preparing meeting documentation (agendas, minutes, etc.)

Technical Competencies:

a) Project Management

• Demonstrates a practical knowledge of project management principles and techniques.
• Plans, defines, and manages projects within a department or area.
• Identifies resources required and their appropriate role and skills.
• Assists in the management of projects where the objectives, milestones and time scales have been defined.

b) Solutions Focused

• Identifies standard problems based on a range of factors, most of which are clear.
• Identifies alternate solutions, considering applicable precedents.
• Identifies optimal solutions based on weighing the advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches.
• After implementation, evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of solutions.

c) Planning and Organising

• Uses time management procedures effectively.
• Can exercise independent judgement regarding all planning and organising issues.
• Uses specialised software to plan and manage own time.
• Plans and manages multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Uses effectively advance time management processes to deal with high workload and tight deadlines.
• Organises, prioritises and schedules tasks so they can be performed within budget and with the efficient use of time and resources.
• Achieves goals in a timely manner, despite obstacles encountered, by organising, reprioritising and re-planning.

d) Detailed Oriented

• Quickly identifies relevant and irrelevant information to support accurate decision making.
• Maps out all the logistics and details of a situation to ensure smooth and flawless implementation.
• Consistently identifies all relevant details that are not obvious in complex situations.
• Requires the highest standards for accuracy and quality for their work.
• Establishes processes to ensure accuracy and quality of services delivered by the team.

e) Reporting & Communication

• Prepares both standard and non-standard reports to time and quality standards.
• Collate and analyses readily available data for inclusion in a report.
• Designs / customises reports to meet user needs.
• Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report.
• Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs.

f) Presentation Skills

• Can reinforce key presentation points with examples.
• Is able to translate technical terminology into language understandable to the audience.
• Has insight into the audience’s behavior and motivation and responds appropriately and professionally, adapting communication style as appropriate.
• Has knowledge of various feedback mechanisms to check levels of audience understanding.

g) Computer Skills

• Consistently uses relevant office software products such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Projects, Excel,
• PowerPoint presentations and email packages to an acceptable standard for the job.
• Has the ability to use standard and/or programme-specific the organisation databases, and merge / import data from one program to another.
• Adapts method of working to accommodate changes in the technological developments.

a) Customer Service Orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and match these needs to available or customised products and services.
• Adapts processes and procedures to meet on-going customer needs
• Utilises the feedback received by customers, in order to develop new and/or improve existing services/ products that relate to their on-going needs.
• Thinks of new ways to align offerings with future customer needs.

b) Self-awareness and Self Control

• Withholds effects of strong emotions in difficult situations.
• Keeps functioning or responds constructively despite stress.
• May apply special techniques or plans of time to manage emotions or stress.

c) Strategic and Innovative Thinking

• Experiments with new approaches, tests scenarios, questions assumptions and challenges conventional thinking.
• Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others, leveraging internal and external sources of information, to build incremental revenue and growth opportunities.

d) Driving Delivery of Results

• Sets challenging goals that will have a significant impact on the business or support the organisational strategy.
• Commits significant resources and/or time to ensure that challenging goals are achieved, while also taking action to mitigate risk.

e) Teamwork and Cooperation

• Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts.
• Creates opportunities for cross-functional working.
• Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.