Project Officer

JUST TRANSITION FINANCE MECHANISM (JTFM) MANDATE

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), in partnership with the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC), has established the Just Transition Finance Mechanism (JTFM) to mobilise and channel finance towards inclusive, locally owned and scalable just transition initiatives across South Africa. The JTFM is intended to address financing barriers that limit the implementation of just transition priorities at local, provincial and national levels. Through the mobilisation of public, private and concessional finance, the mechanism seeks to support projects that create sustainable livelihoods, strengthen community resilience, promote social ownership and participation, and advance South Africa's transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. Supported through funding from the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the programme is being implemented jointly by DBSA and the PCC. The initiative focuses on strengthening stakeholder participation, supporting local and provincial just transition planning, developing a pipeline of investable projects, mobilising transition finance, and establishing a sustainable institutional platform for long-term implementation.

The Project Officer is responsible for providing cross-cutting programme coordination support to the JTFM team, ensuring effective implementation of project outputs, alignment, communication, and delivery across DBSA, PCC, service providers, and key stakeholders. The focus is on implementation coordination, milestone tracking, and delivery support, ensuring that outputs are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with programme objectives.

Key Responsibilities

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS

1. Project Management

• Coordinate the delivery of key programme outputs during the initial implementation phase (Years 1–2), with a central focus on developing the Partnership Implementation Model and advancing the Socially Owned Renewable Energy project pipeline.
• Drive implementation coordination, milestone tracking, and delivery support, ensuring outputs are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with programme objectives.
• Support the JTFM Teams’ efforts in the development of the project plan and translate the plan into a workable project schedule.
• Provide project coordination and project administration support for the JTFM and the various Units/Teams within the partnership, including:
  • Manage day-to-day administrative activities
  • Manage diaries and arrange meetings
  • Take minutes, distribute for inputs and follow-up on actions required
• Perform secretariat functions for the various committees and meetings that are part of the JTFM structures ensuring compliance with governance prescripts.
• Administer the master schedule to support the Deliverable Leads and Units/Teams with the development and implementation of the project schedule and management plan.
• 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, ) on administrative requirements.
• Collate and edit various presentations and reports on project performance updates for the various Steering Committees, DBSA, etc.
• Implement systems to track performance throughout the life cycle of the project and take responsibility for system’s (SAP) information accuracy, updates and quality management.
  • Participate actively in projects deliverables using specific systems and programmes ensuring that tracking occurs throughout the implementation phase.

2. Project Reporting and Records Management

• Monitor, analyse and report on schedule performance across the project duration for specific project outcomes including the Social Ownership of Renewable Energy (SORE) and Partnership Implementation Model (PIM) project development.
• Consolidate reports on the performance of the project against targets and highlighting risks or concern (i.e., non-performing service providers, process of system failures, non-compliance).
• 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 projects and programmes.
• Maintain the record and retrieval systems, including the project document repository, a paper and e-filing.

3. Programme Implementation Coordination

• Coordinate day-to-day implementation activities across JTFM work programme.
• Support integrated planning and delivery across Outputs I–V.
• Track milestones, timelines, and deliverables to ensure alignment with programme schedules.
• Facilitate coordination between DBSA, PCC, service providers, and stakeholders.
• Assist with stakeholder engagement processes for JTFM design and piloting.
• Provide secretariat support to governance structures, preparing meeting packs, agendas, and trackers.
• Consolidate progress inputs into structured programme reports and maintain repositories.
• Provide regular implementation data to MEL Officer and Monitoring/Gender Analyst.
• Coordinate service provider deliverables, procurement administration, and payment documentation.
• Support institutionalisation of governance and sustainability arrangements for long-term impact.

KEY MEASURES OF OUTPUTS

• Successful coordination of day-to-day implementation activities across JTFM work

• Support integrated planning and delivery across Outputs I–

• Track milestones, timelines, and deliverables to ensure alignment with programme

• Facilitate coordination between DBSA, PCC, service providers, and

• Assist with stakeholder engagement processes for JTFM design and

• Provide secretariat support to governance structures, preparing meeting packs, agendas, and

• Consolidate progress inputs into structured programme reports and maintain

• Provide regular implementation data to MEL Officer and Monitoring/Gender

• Coordinate service provider deliverables, procurement administration, and payment

• Stakeholder satisfaction with advisory support, financing solutions, and transaction

• Clean audit outcomes and effective resolution of audit

Expertise & Technical Competencies

Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s Degree or Diploma in Project Management, Development Studies, Public Administration, Climate Finance or related field.

Minimum Experience

• A minimum of 5 years programme/project management

• Considerable knowledge of standard administration practices and procedures is a necessity for this position

• Excellent knowledge of protocol and etiquette

• Demonstrated experience in working in a multi-disciplinary

• An understanding of organisational processes and group

• Experience in supply chain management processes (preparing project tender documents, )

• Demonstrated knowledge and use of project methodology such as PMBOK, Prince or similar

• Demonstrable ability to use of the Microsoft Office (MS Projects, Excel, PowerPoint, Word & MS Outlook)

• Proven track record of preparing project/programme progress reports and presentations for various stakeholders (Project Managers, Steering Committees, Exco and Board)

• Demonstrated experience in preparing meeting documentation (agendas, taking minutes, )

• Excellent knowledge of protocol and etiquette.

Desirable Requirements

• Familiarity with donor-funded programme

• Knowledge of legislation, regulations, policies, processes and procedures governing the development finance and public sector procurement in South Africa (e.g. PFMA).

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

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, including ensuring value for money.
• Assists in the management of projects where the objectives, milestones and time scales have been defined.

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

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.

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 / customizes 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.

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.

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 organisation databases, and merge / import data from one program to another.
• Adapts method of working to accommodate changes in technological development.

Required Personal Attributes

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

Customer Service Orientation

• Tries to understand the underlying needs of customers and matches these needs to available or customized 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.

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 plan of time to manage emotions or stress

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.

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.

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.