Partnerships Analyst at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Partnerships Analyst

Job ID: 28578
Location: Abuja
Practice Area Job Family: Crisis Prevention and Recovery – Stabilization
Grade: P2
Vacancy Type: FTA International
Posting Type: External
Contract Duration: 1 Year with possibility for extension

Background
Millions of civilians continue to grapple with extreme adversity across north-east Nigeria and the rest of the Lake Chad region where a recent surge in violence has uprooted tens of thousands more people, exacerbating an already dire crisis situation. An intractable extremist insurgency that has left tens of thousands of people dead, approximately 2.5 million displaced, and more than 10 million people in the region affected and in need. It is unlikely that security responses alone will be sufficient to address the complex factors that gave rise to the insurgency, and which continues to sustain it. There is increasing consensus that military efforts must be coupled with significant investments in complementary stabilization activities to benefit the local population with both local and Lake Chad Basin (LCB) regional levels, if the security-humanitarian-development nexus around Lake Chad is to be effectively addressed.

While robust national and multi-national military operations have re-taken territory previously controlled by Boko Haram, a new approach is required to consolidate these gains and establish the conditions necessary to transition from military to civilian responsibility for security, and from the provision of humanitarian assistance to the resumption of stalled development processes.  To this end, UNDP has launched Lake Chad Basin Regional Stabilization Facility, supporting four Lake Chad Basin countries (i.e., Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad) as well as LCB regional institutions, such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).

The Facility will act as a rapid-response package– delivering within 90 days of target area selection – that relevant authorities can sequence with military operations as necessary, to ensure immediate follow-up in specific locations and curtail the ability of armed opposition groups to re-infiltrate and exploit any security vacuum or community perceptions of non-responsive Government by extending an organized and effective civilian security umbrella, consolidating military progress with development ‘dividends’ for the local population.

The National Window of the Regional Stabilization Facility for Nigeria aims to address the needs of immediate stabilization in the target areas in North-East Region of Nigeria with high degrees of insecurity, promoting the phased transition of insecure areas toward greater security, and the reduction of current volatility whereby previously secure areas have become more rather than less vulnerable.

It is expected that various donors, such as Germany, Sweden, the UK and the EU, will make their financial contribution to the Regional Stabilization Facility. Given the extremely complicated crisis situations in the North East (NE) region of Nigeria and the LCB region as a whole, establishment and maintenance of effective donor relations is indispensable for successful implementation of the Regional Stabilization Facility and UNDP’s projects in North East Region of Nigeria. To this end, UNDP Nigeria is seeking for a qualified expert to identify, establish, and promote partnership with development partners and promote resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility and other projects in NE Nigeria.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Resident Representative, the Partnership Specialist will be required to:

• Support and maintain strong relationships with donor and government partners;
• Support Senior Management in ensuring compliance with donor agreements and requirements;
• Facilitate reporting and communications with donors and development partners;
• Support Senior Management’s engagement with donors;
• Support resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility and NE Projects in general.

Support and maintain strong relationships with donor and government partners:

• Assist Senior Management in UNDP Nigeria and the Programme Team for the Stabilization Facility Nigerian Window in facilitating partner dialogues to market UNDP’s comparative advantages and obtain buy-in from the partners for their support to UNDP’s Stabilization Facility.
• Ensure that all donor partners are well-informed on the progress and issues related to the Stabilization Facility in Nigeria and NE Projects in general, by providing pertinent and timely information, responding to the inquiries, and producing ad-hoc reports/information brief whenever required.
• Collect donor intelligence information and conduct donor actor mapping for identification or establishment of innovative partnership and potential partners (e.g., emerging donors, the national/local government, CSOs, academic institutions, private sector);

Support Senior Management in ensuring compliance with donor agreements and requirements:

• Support Senior Management in UNDP Nigeria and the Programme Team for the Stabilization Facility to meet the requirements of donors, especially those relating to earmarking or special conditions outlined in agreements;
• Facilitate partnership agreement/formalization process with new potential partners to determine concrete areas and modality for the partnerships (e.g., financial, in-kind contribution, information sharing, technical cooperation).
• Facilitate management of donor agreements in collaboration with the respective offices (e.g., PMSU, Finance, NE Sub-Office) to ensure compliance with donor agreements, including the contribution deposit schedule, fund earmarking/restrictions, and due diligence/validation exercise.
• Support the Programme Team in NE Sub-Office for preparation and organization of donor site visits
• Ensure the government and donor visibility, including organization of the donor visibility occasions and issuing the public announcement on the partnerships (e.g., press release) in close collaboration with Communication Team.

Facilitate reporting and communications for donor partners on the Stabilization Facility:

• Oversee donor-specific and corporate reporting, ensuring reporting is in line with donor agreements and corporate standards;
• Harmonize communications and reporting products in collaboration with M&E Officers, PMSU, and Communication Team;
• Ensure linkage and synergy between public outreach with donor/partner outreach and communication needs in collaboration with Communication Team.

Support Senior Management’s engagement with donors:

• Support Senior Management meetings with high-level officials or donor meetings
• Support content development for presentations, briefing notes, or other documentation required for Senior Management donor engagement and meetings;
• Support senior management outreach to regional donors and host national government to communicate developments, the strategy of the Country Program Document, and priorities.

Support for resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility in Nigeria:

• Assist in drafting proposals to current or potential donors in line with the donor’s interests and requirements.
• Develop materials, strategies, and other communications or products to support resource mobilization with donors;
• Support engagement with regional donors and with the host-country government to contribute resources to UNDP.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development, International Relations, Business, or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience at the national or international level in stabilization, partnerships, including demonstrated experience in partnerships with donors and people management.
• Previous experience of working in donor institutions in either humanitarian or development assistance can be an asset;
• Knowledge about the UN coordination systems, particularly on humanitarian or early recovery, would be an advantage;
• Previous experience with UN or international organization working in crisis-affected country, would be an advantage;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Proficiency of French is an asset.

Other:

• Highly effective written and verbal communications skills;
• Effective organizational skills;
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Demonstrates high tolerance for change, complexity and unpredictability.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:
Advocacy / Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda:

• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating UNDP’s mandate

Results-Based Programme Development and Management:

• Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work
• Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration
• Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation
• Analyzes country situation to identify opportunities for project development
• Participates in the formulation of project proposals and ensures substantive rigor in the design and application of proven successful approaches and drafts proposals accordingly.

Building Strategic Partnerships:

• Maintains an established network of contacts for general information sharing and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues
• Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

• Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches

Resource Mobilization:

• Analyzes information/databases on potential and actual donors
• Develops a database of project profiles.  Identifies opportunities for project proposals for presentation to donors.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches.

Job Knowledge / Technical Expertise

• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments
• Demonstrates in-depth understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals:

• Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for UNDP’s goals for a variety of audiences
• Identifies and takes advantage of opportunities for advocating for UNDP’s mandate

Client Orientation:

• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
• Anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control
• Managing conflict
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making.

Application Closing Date
24th February, 2020.