ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME MANAGER

ROLE PROFILE

Title Economic Empowerment Programme Manager

Functional Area Programme

Reports to Head of Programme and Strategy

Location Amman, Jordan

Travel required As Required

Effective Date ASAP

Grade Level 16

The organization

Plan International is an independent child rights and humanitarian organisation committed to children living a life free of poverty, violence and injustice. Plan actively unite children, communities and other people who share our mission to make positive lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives. Plan support children to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. Plan place a specific focus on girls and women, who are most often left behind. Plan have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 80 years and are now active in more than 70 countries. Plan International Jordan is established in 2016 and has programmes in governorates in the centre, north and south regions as well as host communities and Azraq camp

ROLE PURPOSE

The Economic Empowerment Programme Manager leads the technical implementation and programme management of Plan Jordan's Skills, Opportunities and Youth Economic Empowerment (SOYEE) programming — now repositioned under the broader Economic Empowerment thematic area. The post holder is part of the Programs Department, reporting to the Head of Programme and Strategy, and contributes to both programme implementation and business development.

The Economic Empowerment Programme Manager provides technical leadership and quality assurance across Plan Jordan's economic empowerment portfolio, while simultaneously holding full programme management accountability including budget holding, grant compliance, work plan management and direct supervision of assigned staff and partners. The role covers four interconnected technical areas:

• Youth livelihoods and vocational skills: equipping vulnerable young people — particularly young women, refugees and marginalised youth — with market-relevant technical, soft and digital skills to access decent work.
• Entrepreneurship and self-employment: supporting young people to establish and sustain micro and small enterprises through business development services, mentorship and access to finance linkages.
• Financial inclusion: strengthening young people's financial literacy, access to savings mechanisms and linkages to financial service providers.
• Private sector engagement: building strategic partnerships with employers, private sector actors and vocational training institutions to create demand-driven pathways to employment and self-employment for young people.

The role also contributes to Plan Jordan's SOYEE Centre of Excellence — a regional shared services platform hosted by PIJO — by ensuring that programme evidence, tools and learning from Jordan's economic empowerment portfolio feed into the Centre's knowledge base and regional positioning.

Dimensions of the Role

• Reports to the Head of Programme and Strategy (HoPS) and is a member of the broader Programme team.
• Directly supervises: project officers, field staff and partner focal points assigned to economic empowerment projects .
• Holds budget holder accountability for all economic empowerment grants assigned to this position.
• Covers Plan Jordan's full operational footprint across host communities and Azraq Refugee Camp.
• Works closely with the Impact and Research Manager, Head of Resources Mobilisation, Head of Operations and Finance and PMU to ensure integrated delivery.
• Contributes to the SOYEE Centre of Excellence as a technical resource, supporting regional knowledge sharing and evidence generation.

Accountabilities

1. Technical Leadership — Economic Empowerment Programming

• Lead the technical design, adaptation and implementation of Plan Jordan's economic empowerment programming across all intervention modalities — vocational skills, livelihoods, entrepreneurship, self-employment and financial inclusion — ensuring approaches are market-relevant, gender-transformative and contextually appropriate for both host community and refugee youth.
• Ensure skills and training programmes are aligned with Jordan's labour market demands and respond to the specific barriers faced by young women, youth with disabilities and refugee youth, integrating cross-cutting aspects including digital literacy, green skills, social and financial literacy, and disability inclusion.
• Lead on the design and delivery of capacity-building programmes and contextualised training materials for staff, implementing partners and government counterparts across all economic empowerment modalities.
• Oversee the quality of training and programme delivery by partners, ensuring minimum quality standards are consistently met across all modalities — in-person, community-based and digital.
• Lead the integration of financial literacy and financial inclusion components, ensuring young people — particularly young women — develop the knowledge, skills and access to manage their finances andengage with formal financial systems, including linkages to financial service providers, savings groups, microfinance institutions and digital payment platforms adapted to Jordan's regulatory context.
• Lead the technical design and implementation of entrepreneurship and self-employment components, including business development services, mentorship, incubation support and access to finance linkages — actively addressing social norms, mobility barriers and systemic constraints that limit young women's participation in enterprise.
• Lead Plan Jordan's private sector engagement strategy, building and maintaining strategic partnerships with employers, private sector companies, industry associations and TVET institutions to create demand-driven pathways to decent work, including internship placements, on-the-job training arrangements, job fairs and employment matching services.
• Conduct regular labour market assessments and employer consultations to ensure Plan Jordan's skills programming remains aligned with private sector demand, and work with the Head of Resources Mobilisation to identify corporate partnerships and private sector co-investment opportunities.
• Coordinate with the Ministry of Labour, TVET institutions and other relevant government bodies on skills standards, certification, policy alignment and technical assistance.
• Support the documentation and dissemination of programme models, success stories and lessons learned to inform programme improvement and advocacy.

2. Programme Management and Grant Accountability

• Hold full budget holder accountability for all economic empowerment grants assigned to this position, ensuring budgets are managed efficiently, expenditure is on track, and variances are identified and addressed proactively.
• Lead grant start-up processes for assigned projects, including development of detailed work plans, procurement plans, staffing plans and partner agreements in coordination with the Head of Support Services and PMU.
• Monitor project implementation against approved work plans and log frames; take corrective action where delivery is off track and escalate risks to the HoPS in a timely manner.
• Ensure timely and compliant grant close-out for assigned projects, including final reporting, asset disposal and financial reconciliation in coordination with the Finance team.
• Manage project risk registers for assigned grants, identifying, rating and mitigating risks throughout the project cycle.
• Ensure full compliance with donor requirements and Plan International policies across all assigned grants, including procurement thresholds, visibility requirements and reporting deadlines.
• Work closely with the Head of Support Services and Finance team on monthly budget versus actual reviews for assigned grants, ensuring proactive budget management and timely escalation of underspend or overspend.

3. Programme Design, Monitoring and Reporting

• Contribute to proposal development — technical and financial — by providing technical input on economic empowerment, livelihoods, entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in close coordination with the Head of Resources Mobilisation, including contribution to proposal budgets.
• Lead on labour market analysis, needs assessments and situation analyses to inform evidence-based programme design across the economic empowerment portfolio.
• Develop and contribute to innovative, evidence-based and gender-transformative programme models for PIJO's economic empowerment portfolio, integrating disability inclusion and adolescent girl programming.
• Contribute technical inputs to Plan Jordan's SOYEE Centre of Excellence, supporting regional knowledge products, tools and evidence generation as requested.
• Work closely with Plan Jordan's MERL team to ensure that tools and methodologies are aligned with global SOYEE standards; support the development of M&E frameworks including employment and income outcome tracking.
• Facilitate regular review meetings with staff and partners; conduct regular field visits to monitor project sites and partner implementation.
• Review monthly and quarterly progress reports; contribute to high-quality donor reports on activities, indicators, achievements and lessons learned, and to Plan's semi-annual reporting and annual planning exercise.
• Ensure outcomes from monitoring and periodic evaluations feed into learning and programme improvement, documented in a way that demonstrates value for money.

4. Networking, Coordination and Representation

• Attend national coordination meetings and represent Plan International Jordan in relevant economic empowerment, youth employment and livelihoods forums.
• Actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders including donors, government actors, UN agencies, INGOs, local NGOs and private sector partners.
• Develop and maintain working relationships with Plan International country offices, National Offices, Regional Hub and Global Hub — particularly in relation to the SOYEE Centre of Excellence.
• Coordinate with the Head of Resources Mobilisation to ensure all communications related to economic empowerment are in line with Plan's policies and the Do No Harm approach.
• Provide technical assistance to national stakeholders including ministries and TVET institutions in the development and implementation of youth economic empowerment programmes.

5. People Management and Capacity Development

• Directly manage, coach and develop assigned project staff — fostering an empowering, inclusive and values-based work environment aligned to Plan's feminist leadership principles.
• Set clear performance objectives for supervised staff, conduct semi-annual and annual performance appraisals, and provide regular feedback, coaching and mentoring; ensure performance records are submitted to P&C on time.
• Work with the HoPS and P&C Manager to identify training needs and development opportunities; participate in recruitment of supervised staff in coordination with P&C.
• Support orientation, ongoing development and capacity building of staff, volunteers and partners on Economic Empowerment, livelihoods, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion and private sector engagement.
• Lead development and facilitation of trainings and workshops on economic empowerment approaches, tools and standards; promote knowledge sharing and ensure refresher sessions are continuously carried out.

Child protection, gender equality and inclusion

• Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children, Young People and Programmes Participants and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan

Key relationships

Internal:

• Head of Programme and Strategy (HoPS) — direct line manager
• Impact and Research Manager — close collaboration on tools, data quality and reporting
• Head of Resources Mobilisation — proposal development and donor engagement
• Head of Operations and Finance — budget management, procurement and grant compliance
• PMU — grant management, reporting and compliance support
• Project officers and field staff under direct supervision
• SOYEE Centre of Excellence team — knowledge sharing and regional coordination
• National Offices, Regional Hub and Global Hub Economic Empowerment /SOYEE technical networks

External:

• Implementing partners, local organisations and CBOs
• Government stakeholders — Ministry of Social Development, TVET institutions, Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), and relevant governorate-level authorities…etc.
• Private sector — employers, industry associations, business development service providers, microfinance institutions and financial service providers
• UN agencies, INGOs and national NGOs in youth employment, livelihoods and economic empowerment coordination forums
• Donors — technical focal points and programme officers for assigned grants

Technical expertise, skills and knowledge

Essential

• Bachelor's degree — Master's preferred — in Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, International Development, or a related field.
• Minimum 5-7 years of progressively responsible professional experience in youth economic empowerment, livelihoods, TVET or related programming; at least 5 years in field-based roles in an NGO or INGO environment.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in at least three of the following areas: youth livelihoods, vocational skills development, entrepreneurship and business development, financial inclusion, private sector engagement, labour market analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in programme management including budget holding, work plan management, grant compliance and donor reporting across institutional donors.
• Strong understanding of the Jordan labour market context, including barriers to youth employment, TVET system, and regulatory environment for refugee economic participation.
• Proven experience in private sector engagement including employer partnerships, demand-driven skills programming and labour market linkages.
• Demonstrated commitment to gender-transformative programming and understanding of the specific barriers faced by young women and girls in accessing economic opportunities.
• Strong facilitation skills and demonstrated experience in designing and delivering capacity-building programmes for staff, partners and government counterparts.
• Proven experience managing and developing teams, including setting objectives, conducting appraisals and supporting staff development.
• Excellent negotiation, coordination and representation skills with government, private sector and donor stakeholders.
• Excellent reporting skills with strong command of spoken and written English and Arabic.
• Commitment to Plan International's global policies on Safeguarding Children and Young People, and on Gender Equality and Inclusion.

Desirable

• Experience with Plan International's Economic Empowerment / SOYEE framework, tools and global standards.
• Familiarity with the SOYEE Centre of Excellence and Plan International's regional economic empowerment positioning.
• Experience in digital skills and green skills programming.
• Knowledge of financial service provider landscape in Jordan including microfinance and digital payment platforms.
• Experience with donor reporting requirements for Danida, EU, FCDO, Novo Nordisk Foundation and similar institutional donors.
• Familiarity with SAP or equivalent ERP systems for budget monitoring.
• Experience working with refugee populations and understanding of the legal and regulatory framework governing refugee economic participation in Jordan.

Plan International’s Values in Practice

We are open and accountable

• Promotes a culture of openness and transparency, including with sponsors and donors.
• Holds self and others accountable to achieve the highest standards of integrity.
• Consistent and fair in the treatment of people.
• Open about mistakes and keen to learn from them.
• Accountable for ensuring we are a safe organisation for all children, girls & young people

We strive for lasting impact

• Articulates a clear purpose for staff and sets high expectations.
• Creates a climate of continuous improvement, open to challenge and new ideas.
• Focuses resources to drive change and maximise long-term impact, responsive to changed priorities or crises.
• Evidence-based and evaluates effectiveness.

We work well together

• Seeks constructive outcomes, listens to others, willing to compromise when appropriate.
• Builds constructive relationships across Plan International to support our shared goals.
• Develops trusting and ‘win-win’ relationships with funders, partners and communities.
• Engages and works well with others outside the organization to build a better world for girls and all children.

We are inclusive and empowering

• We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential
• We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge equality in our programs and our workplace
• We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives.

Physical Environment

Typically office-based with regular in-country travel and occasional international travel.

Level of contact with children

Low contact: No contact or very low frequency of interaction

ROLE PROFILE

Type of Role: Fixed Term Contract

Contract Duration: Six Months, renewable subject to the availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

Reports to: Head of Programme and Strategy

Location: Amman, Jordan

Grade: Level 16

Closing Date: 19 July 2026

Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. Plan International operates an equal opportunities policy and actively encourages diversity, welcoming applications from all areas of the international community.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

Internal candidates will be given priority consideration.

Please note that only applications and CVs written in English will be accepted.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International's Child Safeguarding Policy.