Place- Synergies Manager

Johannesburg, South Africa | Posted on 07/28/2025

Smart Start is a successful national network of NGOs and partners that is realising quality, affordable early learning for all children aged three to five. We are achieving this by scaling a network of and building a platform for providers, achieving specific ecosystem transformations with governments and partners, and promoting early learning as a priority societal cause.

Key Responsibilities

Advance the Place-Based Approach to ECD:

• Serveas a champion for the Place-Based Approach within Smart Start and itspartner network, ensuring strategies are tailored and locally responsive to the unique social, economic, geographic, and cultural realities ofdiverse communities (e.g., farming, energy, mining, fishing, border, andother place-centric settings).
• Conductcommunity mapping to understand the local context (place) and identifyexisting assets (e.g., stipends, clinics, food systems, schools) for leveraging.
• Usegap analysis to tailor Smart Start models (e.g., home-based, mobileclassrooms, Hub & Spoke) to specific community needs.
• Documentwhat works, what doesn't, and why, especially in different Community Trustcontexts, integrating continuous learning loops via community andprogramme feedback.

Ecosystem Orchestration and Cross-Sectoral Coordination:

• Engagecommunity stakeholders as active partners, fostering strong partnership sand deep understanding of local contexts.
• Coordinateefforts across sectors (government, NGOs, Community Trusts, local leaders,caregivers, ECD forums etc.) to dismantle siloed approaches and buildcoordinated, cross and inter-sectoral action among all communitystakeholders.
• Establishreferral networks and resource coordination mechanisms within targetcommunities.
• Foster strategic operating partnerships with provincial education departments andmetros-municipalities regarding venues, funding flows, regulation,registration, and monitoring for practitioners.

Community Engagement, Co-creation, and Local Ownership:

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

Integrated Program Implementation &Impact:

• Enable the implementation of integrated human development programmes, providing holistic investment frompreconception to employment with an aim to close opportunity gaps and openpathways to self-sufficiency.
• Develop shared goals with localstakeholders for child wellbeing and service sustainability, supportinginfrastructure upgrades for DBE registration and state subsidies.
• Support the implementation ofbest practice programs that address children’s needs across all developmentalstages, complemented by community-building initiatives.
• Explore and facilitateopportunities for economic participation within place-based communities,connecting Smart Start practitioners and families to local job creationinitiatives and enhancing micro-enterprise support

Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization:

• Strengthen Place-Based Approaches through engagement with Community Trusts (e.g., those formed throughsocial obligations of mining, agriculture, or renewable energy sectors) toco-fund and coordinate local initiatives.
• Support efforts to securecomplementary big-picture investors to fund further exponential growth inplace-based communities, leveraging existing assets and inspiring newinvestors.
• Ensure inclusion of the mostmarginalised and work to dismantle systemic barriers in line with equity andsocial justice principles.

Qualification sand 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