The Project Team Leader plays a central role in ensuring the strategic, inclusive and efficient implementation of the ISONGA program by managing the technical assistance team, overseeing project management functions and coordinating technical support across all program components. This role ensures alignment with national priorities, oversees planning and monitoring systems, and facilitates collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including federations, local authorities, development partners, and implementing schools. 

Project management and coordination

• Support the SPIU in the planning, implementation, and tracking of ISONGA program activities across the five pillars (Infrastructure, Coaching, Competition, Monitoring, and Gender equality and social Impact), and ensures that all activities are gender-responsive and inclusive by design. 
• Support the timely execution of activities, and follow up on deadlines. 
• Facilitate coordination between SPIU and line ministries, federations, consultants, and district-level actors. 

Technical assistance coordination

• Coordinate technical assistance missions, including needs identification, expert sourcing, and logistical organization. 
• Act as liaison between international or national consultants and SPIU / beneficiaries, ensuring effective knowledge transfer and documentation of lessons learned. 
• Ensure all technical outputs (curricula, toolkits, protocols) are reviewed, validated, and archived in the program knowledge management system. 
• Coordinates the organization of internal and external missions related to the project (e.g., headquarters visits, short-term expertise assignments, partner missions, etc.);
• Ensures compliance with Expertise France’s administrative and financial procedures.
• Oversees and validates deliverables in coordination with subject-matter experts.

Budget support and procurement liaison with the SPIU

• Assist in the development of technical specifications and Terms of Reference for procurement of services, training, or goods
• Coordinate with the SPIU to ensure alignment of budgets and activities. 
• Support the planning and tracking of the budget allocation and usage, under the guidance of SPIU, support on budget forecasts

Stakeholder engagement

• Facilitate strategic partnerships with federations, gender equality organizations, and international technical partners.
• Work closely with the gender expert to ensure that especially gender equality, safeguarding, and community participation are integrated across all activities. 
• Contribute to communication efforts to raise program visibility and highlight impact. 

Monitoring and evaluation

• Work with the M&E officer and the gender expert to consolidate program data and track KPIs, gender specific indicators aligned with program targets. 
• Monitor adherence to work plans, deliverables, and budget allocations, and flag implementation risks or delays. 
• Support reporting processes by preparing technical updates, dashboards, and briefing notes for Sport technical committee meetings and donors

Project or context description

Expertise France is the French agency for international cooperation established in 2015. The agency develops and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in low- and middle-income countries and focuses on four priority areas:

• Strengthening health systems, social protection and employment;
• Democratic, economic and financial governance;
• Stability of countries in crisis/post-crisis situations and security;
• Combating climate change and favouring sustainable urban development.

In these areas, Expertise France engineers and implements capacity-building projects, mobilises technical expertise and acts as a project coordinator, bringing together public expertise and private know-how. With an annual business volume of 445 million euros in 2024 and over 400 projects in 145 countries, Expertise France's activities are part of France's international cooperation policy and official development assistance.

Active since 2020 in Rwanda, Expertise France Rwanda implements technical assistance projects, primarily funded by the European Union, AFD and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The agency's main areas of intervention in Rwanda are:

• Health
• Education and TVET
• Sustainable development, climate and agriculture
• Digitalisation

Project description

Rwanda recognizes sport as a powerful catalyst for human development and social transformation. Since the adoption of the Rwanda Sports Development Policy in 2012, the government has affirmed its commitment to promote mass participation, equitable access, and talent development in sport. This commitment was further consolidated through the 2020 School Sports Policy, which positioned sport as an integral part of the national education pathway, encouraging health promotion as well as structured and inclusive opportunities for talent to emerge from pre-primary through higher education.

However, this developing sector faces systemic challenges, including insufficient number of adequate infrastructure, insufficiently qualified technical staff, gender disparities, and limited access for learners with disabilities which continue to hinder the development of a truly inclusive sports ecosystem.

AFD supported the first phase of ISONGA programme (2021–2024) with a €1.5 million grant, reaching 599 student-athletes (42% girls) across 17 pilot schools. This phase delivered initial training, coaching support, equipment, and coordination mechanisms.

In alignment with these ambitions, Isonga Phase 2 financed through and loan and a grant of AFD, hold the core objective to establish a sustainable, inclusive, and gender-responsive national school sports system. This system aims to guarantee that all girls and boys, regardless of their background, have equitable opportunities to access high-quality sports activities as part of their educational journey. Thus, the program seeks to strengthen their academic retention, nurture civic values, and contribute to greater social cohesion and youth empowerment across Rwanda. The phase 2 will also extend the geographic scope, and cover all the districts of the country to expand the opportunities for the young Rwandan generation.

The second phase of ISONGA (2025–2029) aims to expand and consolidate this school-based sports system in 42 schools nationwide. Expertise France is mobilized to provide technical assistance to reinforce the MINISPORT and notably its Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) capacity, enhance multi-level coordination, and support the professionalization of a sustainable, inclusive school sports ecosystem throughout the country. The objective of the technical assistance mission is to ensure strategic, operational, and institutional support to the Ministry of Sports’ SPIU for the effective implementation of the ISONGA 2 program.

Required profile

Qualifications

Master’s in Public Administration/Project Management/Engineering/Education/Economics (or equivalent);

Professional experience

• 8+ years leading multi-stakeholder and/or donor-funded programmes; 5+ years as Team Leader/Coordinator on technical assistance or sector programmes.
• Management of workplanning, budgeting and delivery, with quality assurance across components (infrastructure, coaching, competition, M&E and /or gender/social impact).
• Experience in management of teams
• Previous experience of coordination with government counterparts, federations, and/or districts and schools would be an asset
• Oversight of M&E systems and gender-responsive indicators; consolidation of dashboards, risk logs, and progress against KPIs.
• Proven reporting to donors/government (semi-annual, annual, final), aligning with results-based frameworks.
• Knowledge of sport ecosystem and stakeholders in Rwanda would be an asset.
• Experience in Coordination of technical assistance/capacity building missions (needs identification, expert sourcing, knowledge transfer) would be an asset
• Required experience in budget monitoring and financial processes

Skills

• Strategic planning and adaptive management; issue/risk resolution and negotiation;solution-oriented and proactive mindsed
• Stakeholder engagement and partnership management across ministries, federations, schools and partners;
• Excellent written/oral communication and reporting; clear ToRs/briefs; effective meeting facilitation.
• Strong project controls: schedules, budgets, KPIs/dashboards; proficient with MS Office and collaboration tools.
• Perfect command of English and Kinyarwanda; fluency in French is an asset.

• Support the SPIU in the planning, implementation, and tracking of ISONGA program activities across the five pillars (Infrastructure, Coaching, Competition, Monitoring, and Gender equality and social Impact), and ensures that all activities are gender-responsive and inclusive by design.
• Support the timely execution of activities, and follow up on deadlines.
• Facilitate coordination between SPIU and line ministries, federations, consultants, and district-level actors.
• Coordinate technical assistance missions, including needs identification, expert sourcing, and logistical organization.
• Act as liaison between international or national consultants and SPIU / beneficiaries, ensuring effective knowledge transfer and documentation of lessons learned.
• Ensure all technical outputs (curricula, toolkits, protocols) are reviewed, validated, and archived in the program knowledge management system.
• Coordinates the organization of internal and external missions related to the project (e.g., headquarters visits, short-term expertise assignments, partner missions, etc.);
• Ensures compliance with Expertise France’s administrative and financial procedures.
• Oversees and validates deliverables in coordination with subject-matter experts.
• Assist in the development of technical specifications and Terms of Reference for procurement of services, training, or goods
• Coordinate with the SPIU to ensure alignment of budgets and activities.
• Support the planning and tracking of the budget allocation and usage, under the guidance of SPIU, support on budget forecasts
• Facilitate strategic partnerships with federations, gender equality organizations, and international technical partners.
• Work closely with the gender expert to ensure that especially gender equality, safeguarding, and community participation are integrated across all activities.
• Contribute to communication efforts to raise program visibility and highlight impact.
• Work with the M&E officer and the gender expert to consolidate program data and track KPIs, gender specific indicators aligned with program targets.
• Monitor adherence to work plans, deliverables, and budget allocations, and flag implementation risks or delays.
• Support reporting processes by preparing technical updates, dashboards, and briefing notes for Sport technical committee meetings and donors

• Management of workplanning, budgeting and delivery, with quality assurance across components (infrastructure, coaching, competition, M&E and /or gender/social impact).
• Experience in management of teams
• Oversight of M&E systems and gender-responsive indicators; consolidation of dashboards, risk logs, and progress against KPIs.
• Proven reporting to donors/government

• Master’s in Public Administration/Project Management/Engineering/Education/Economics (or equivalent);
• 8+ years leading multi-stakeholder and/or donor-funded programmes; 5+ years as Team Leader/Coordinator on technical assistance or sector programmes.
• Previous experience of coordination with government counterparts, federations, and/or districts and schools would be an asset