Place-based Synergies Manager

Key Responsibilities

Advance
the Place-Based Approach to ECD:

• Serve
  as a champion for the Place-Based Approach within SmartStart and its
  partner network, ensuring strategies are tailored and locally responsive
  to the unique social, economic, geographic, and cultural realities of
  diverse communities (e.g., farming, energy, mining, fishing, border, and
  other place-centric settings).
  
• Conduct
  community mapping to understand the local context (place) and identify
  existing assets (e.g., stipends, clinics, food systems, schools) for
  leveraging.
  
• Use
  gap analysis to tailor SmartStart models (e.g., home-based, mobile
  classrooms, Hub & Spoke) to specific community needs.
  
• Document
  what works, what doesn't, and why, especially in different Community Trust
  contexts, integrating continuous learning loops via community and
  programme feedback.
  

 

Ecosystem
Orchestration and Cross-Sectoral Coordination:

 

• Engage
  community stakeholders as active partners, fostering strong partnerships
  and deep understanding of local contexts.
  
• Coordinate
  efforts across sectors (government, NGOs, Community Trusts, local leaders,
  caregivers, ECD forums etc.) to dismantle siloed approaches and build
  coordinated, cross and inter-sectoral action among all community
  stakeholders.
  
• Establish
  referral networks and resource coordination mechanisms within target
  communities.
  
• Foster
  strategic operating partnerships with provincial education departments and
  metros-municipalities regarding venues, funding flows, regulation,
  registration, and monitoring for practitioners.
  

 

Community
Engagement, Co-creation, and Local Ownership:

 

• Prioritise deep listening and
  long-term relationships, ensuring relational and trust-based engagement.
  
• Facilitate inclusive
  participation of caregivers, NGOs, municipalities, churches, and local
  leadership in co-design processes.
  
• Empower people on the ground to
  lead and adapt solutions, ensuring sustainability through local ownership,
  trust, and embedded capacity.
  
• Promote equity by reaching
  children excluded due to disability, geography, or affordability.
  

Integrated Program Implementation &
Impact:

• Enable the implementation of
  integrated human development programmes, providing holistic investment from
  preconception to employment with an aim to close opportunity gaps and open
  pathways to self-sufficiency.
  
• Develop shared goals with local
  stakeholders for child wellbeing and service sustainability, supporting
  infrastructure upgrades for DBE registration and state subsidies.
  
• Support the implementation of
  best practice programs that address children’s needs across all developmental
  stages, complemented by community-building initiatives.
  
• Explore and facilitate
  opportunities for economic participation within place-based communities,
  connecting SmartStart practitioners and families to local job creation
  initiatives and enhancing micro-enterprise support
  
  

Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization:

• Strengthen Place-Based
  Approaches through engagement with Community Trusts (e.g., those formed through
  social obligations of mining, agriculture, or renewable energy sectors) to
  co-fund and coordinate local initiatives.
  
• Support efforts to secure
  complementary big-picture investors to fund further exponential growth in
  place-based communities, leveraging existing assets and inspiring new
  investors.
  
• Ensure inclusion of the most
  marginalised and work to dismantle systemic barriers in line with equity and
  social justice principles.
  

Requirements

Qualifications
and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Development Studies, Community
  Development, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
  
• At least 5-7 years of experience in community development, integrated
  program management, or stakeholder engagement, preferably in the NGO or social
  enterprise sector in South Africa.
  
• Demonstrated experience working with diverse community contexts,
  including rural, farming, energy, mining, fishing, and border communities.
  
• Experience in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector or
  education is advantageous but not essential.
  
• Proven ability to work collaboratively with multiple stakeholders and
  facilitate multi-sectoral initiatives.
  
• Working knowledge of Sotho/Tswana and Afrikaans preferred