Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is the girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years and are now active in more than 70 countries.
role PURPOSE
Plan International’s global strategy All Girls Standing Strong Creating Global Change (2022-2027) emphasises that working with and through partners is critical to achieving the goal of impacting positively the lives of 200 million girls over the next five years. Partnerships and civil society strengthening are intrinsic to Plan’s priority to be locally led and globally connected, authentically and consistently co-creating our programming and influencing strategies with young people, their networks, and youth partners as active drivers of change and meaningfully involving them in decision-making across the organisation and at all levels.
Plan International is committed to advancing the quality of our partnering across all contexts where we work and this newly created regional role supports our country offices in the WACA region on partnership development and management, while linking to our global standards, learning and processes on partnerships to ensure our work with partners is principled, impactful, and continuously improves.
Reporting to the Regional Head of Partnership, this role’s purpose is to strengthen organisational partnership building and partnership management, helping the regional hub and all country offices within the region to develop robust and practical operational partnership guidelines, processes, and practices which are responsive to organisational ambitions, quality frameworks, and risk management. The position will develop Plan International’s approach to working with partners in development as well as humanitarian, fragile and high-risk contexts. The role will ensure that country offices follow high standards of partnership management, guiding partners through all stages of the partnership process and ensuring partnership needs are adequately incorporated into planning, budgeting and other resourcing.
We are looking for an individual with strong experience of working in programme partnerships, grant management and projects at a country level, and who has direct, in-depth understanding of country office operational and financial systems.
The position will be based in any of the 15 countries in the WACA region, with regular travel to other country offices and the regional hub as needed. This role links with and will be managed by the newly created role of Regional Head of Partnership .
Dimensions of the Role
The role primarily focuses on providing direct support to country office colleagues, and also supports the regional hub to develop its own quality partnership management processes and practices. Specifically, the dimensions of the role include:
- Developing capacity development processes and providing support for country office technical teams, including the Head of Programme Development & Influencing, Head of Programme Implementation, Emergency Response Manager and Partnership Manager to ensure that partnering basics are in place and country offices are identifying the right partners for our areas of work, conducting contextually appropriate assessments and involving partners at the project development stage to ensure fit-for-purpose design.
- Working with Partnership Managers in country to ensure there is effective partnership management with adequate organisational oversight and coordination, integrating different data points and information from other feedback mechanisms to assess and improve our work in partnership and developing a culture where poor partnering behaviours are recognised and challenged.
- Working with Partnership Managers to establish a mechanism to ensure that we are providing adequate resourcing for partnerships – via project design and budgeting processes, but also beyond project cycles so partners are better prepared to work with us on projects and we allocate and monitor sufficient financial, technical and other resources (such as contacts, networks, knowledge) for capacity strengthening of partners while monitoring the outcomes of these activities.
- Support in making our organisational systems more agile and responsive to partnering needs, both inclusive and diverse partnerships (e.g. CSOs led by youth and women) including in high-risk contexts, sharing responsibilities, risks and donor compliance requirements.
Accountabilities
Technical support to country offices and regional programmes to ensure strong partnership management practices are integrated across all stages of the project cycle in programming and influencing work
- Support country offices and regional programmes/ projects to develop localised partnership operational guidance aligned with Plan’s global ambitions, respective offices’ partnership strategies and other core organisational guidance, for example Plan International’s Building Better Partnerships and ‘ready to respond in emergencies’ guides. Specifically, to include developing humanitarian partnering guidance to improve processes in fragile and high-risk contexts.
- Develop, apply and advise on the adaptation of contextually relevant guidance and tools to strengthen partnership management within the project cycle, including due diligence tools, project monitoring tools and reporting templates.
- Support in fast tracking the development of agile toolkits and partnership mechanisms for strengthening youth-led partnerships, autonomous women’s rights organisations and partnership with government.
- Advise on strategies to mitigate risk in specific partnerships where due diligence processes raise potential issues.
- Provide advice and support to country office prioritised recommendations from project delivery and operational reviews where there are implications for partnership management.
- On request, provide in-depth analytical support for partnership portfolio reviews/ deep dives around partnership management operational processes, technical advice and coaching on process improvement.
Technical advice to country offices and regional programmes on the application of partnership models in proposal/ project development
- Advise country office business development teams on the alignment of proposal and project development with Plan International’s priorities on financing partnerships equitably and resourcing partners in line with our external commitments (including for example cost recovery for partners, scaling support).
- Support offices to develop partner friendly versions of donor compliance requirements as required.
Upskilling and capacity development support
- Develop and provide training to key staff on partnership operations within project management processes to advance good partnership management and equitable partnering, including with non-traditional partners such as youth-led organisations, social movements and activist groups.
- Support country offices to develop appropriate training materials/ resources to use with partners to strengthen partner capacities in partnership and project management processes.
- Develop a regional resource bank for capacity strengthening on operational aspects of partnership and share appropriate resources with country offices for use in capacity strengthening work across development and humanitarian settings.
Direct support for regional partnerships/ regional programmes
- Support WACA regional hub to adapt business development, partnership management and oversight systems for monitoring country office partnership management, including the management of multi-country projects involving partners.
- Support WACA regional hub to develop and strengthen partnership management processes for regional partnerships – including due diligence, risk identification, partnership agreements, resourcing requirements and capacity strengthening plans.
Monitoring, evaluation, accountability, research and learning
- Actively participate in regional spaces to incorporate learning on partnership operational management and supporting development of appropriate regional management action plans
- Work closely with Global Assurance colleagues to ensure Plan International’s partnership principles and quality partnership management are reflected in Country Framework Audits and the annual Working with Partners analysis reports
- On request, support and advise country offices in their response to external audit findings and approach to actioning recommendations on partnership management findings.
- Assist country offices in the systematic tracking and follow up of audit recommendations on partnership management issues.
- Coordinate the implementation of the agreed recommendations from the Partnership Risk Management working group across all WACA country offices.
- Support country offices with system requirements for partner set up and monitoring in the project cycle and help troubleshoot any common system errors that may arise.
- Support and actively contribute to learning within the regional community of practice on partnerships and civil society strengthening
- Facilitate discussions on partnership best practices and challenges across the WACA region during quarterly reflections and propose recommendations for improvement.
- Actively participate and contribute to the global community of practice on project management, and feedback learning into the region
- Support the transition to Y.O.D.A.[1], building on existing systems across WACA countries to leverage best practices and ensure connectedness among systems across the organisation.
Working Relationships
- Country Offices, especially Partnership Managers
- Regional Head of Partnerships
- Global Assurance (at regional level)
- Regional Youth Engagement Lead
- Global Projects and Funds Team, to share learning and get support on working with partners in the project cycle.
Technical expertise, skills and knowledge
Knowledge
- Master’s degree in International Development, Social or Political Science, Project Management, or related field.
- At least 7 years’ experience in the development and/or humanitarian sector including working in or supporting country programmes and partnerships in different operating contexts.
- Previous experience designing, implementing and overseeing projects with diverse partners and partnership models, including working in consortia, including in humanitarian response contexts.
- Recognised sector project management qualifications.
- Experience of networking with humanitarian and development actors and robust knowledge of humanitarian architecture, coordination mechanisms and sector trends.
- Demonstrated success in building consensus among diverse stakeholders and working with virtual teams.
- Ability to critically analyse data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children and youth, partnerships and civil society strengthening
- Training, facilitation and capacity building experience for staff capacity strengthening and partner organisational development
- A sound understanding of power and privilege, gender equality and inclusion, and working with a rights-based perspective
Skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills: ability to develop and maintain successful professional relationships at all levels
- Ability to motivate teams and encourage learning and development opportunities.
- Proven experience in designing and delivering bespoke training packages for diverse stakeholders
- Experience of coaching and mentoring colleagues and partners by explaining key concepts; familiarising them with standards and resources; and working alongside them on the application of technical knowhow
- Strong communication, influencing and information presentation skills.
- Excellent organisational and time management skills; proactive problem solver and self-motivated.
- Ability to work under pressure and to meet challenging deadlines.
- Ability to analyse complex organisational challenges and present innovative solutions.
- Fluent in English and French, with high level of writing skills
Behaviours
- Demonstrable commitment to safeguarding and creates an environment where children, young people, partners and colleagues are supported and safe
- Upholds and demonstrates Plan International’s values and behaviours
- Has the courage to challenge the status quo, to question the way we work, especially when work or behaviour is not of the quality required
- Strives for high quality, respecting deadlines, working continuously to improve performance
- Pro-actively working to support mutuality and equal working in all relationships, and taking action to address power imbalances
- Helps the team to achieve their goals and creates an environment where colleagues, teams and partners feel comfortable to ask for help and have space to grow
- Listens to and understands views of colleagues and partners. Draws on their experience to ensure high quality work
- Adjusts approaches, communication style and behaviour to work effectively across cultures and with diverse stakeholders and communities
- Actively promotes diversity, gender equality and inclusion internally and externally
- Actively contributes to both internal and external information-sharing network
Plan International’s Values in Practice
We are open and accountable
We create a climate of trust inside and outside the organisation by being open, honest and transparent. We hold ourselves and others to account for the decisions we make and for our impact on others, while doing what we say we will do.
We strive for lasting impact
We strive to achieve significant and lasting impact on the lives of children and young people, and to secure equality for girls. We challenge ourselves to be bold, courageous, responsive, focused and innovative.
We work well together
We succeed by working effectively with others, inside and outside the organisation, including our sponsors and donors. We actively support our colleagues, helping them to achieve their goals. We come together to create and implement solutions in our teams, across Plan International, with children, girls, young people, communities and our partners.
We are inclusive and empowering
We respect all people, appreciate differences and challenge inequality in our programmes and our workplace. We support children, girls and young people to increase their confidence and to change their own lives. We empower our staff to give their best and develop their potential.
Physical Environment
- Office based – anywhere Plan has a legal entity within the region
- Around 30% travel, including willingness to travel to remote areas
Level of contact with children
Mid-level: Occasional interaction with children
[1] Your Organisation’s Date and Analytics – Plan International’s enterprise resource planning.
HOW TO APPLY?
This position is opened for all applicants and females’ candidates are highly encouraged to apply. The successful candidate should be immediately available. To apply, click on the link below and send by December 19th 2022:
Your application should include:
- A comprehensive cover letter
- A comprehensive and clear CV that includes the contact of four (4) of your professional referees, one of whom should be your current employer.
Females’ candidates are highly encouraged to apply.
