Country Managers at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) – Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Country Manager

Reference: ADB/19/075
Locations: Various duty stations (West, Central and Southern Regions)
Grade: PL2

The Complex

The Bank has reorganized and is developing the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex whose major objective is to build regional capabilities and bring responsibility for client activities closer to the regions. Five Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Hubs have been created, each run by a Director General: Southern Africa, North Africa, West Africa; East Africa, and Central Africa.

The Hiring Department/Division

Each Country Office falls within one of the five (5) Regions of the Africa Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Hubs. The Hub oversees a combination of country and liaison offices, as well as non-presence countries.
The Country Manager will be accountable to the Director General, in the specific African region where they are located.
Each Hub will house relevant operations, business development and project implementation functions and administrative capabilities in a shared service for rapid deployment into the individual countries, to help drive the overall business of the Bank effectively on the ground.

The Position

The Country Manager will lead the AfDB’s business development and delivery for sovereign, non-sovereign investment and provide advisory services in the assigned country.
He/she will support Bank’s teams in executing transactions, managing and expanding portfolios, and lead in executing projects and relevant work-programs, inclusive of the Bank’s High 5 priority areas.
H/she will establish and maintain strong relationships with business partners and high level in-country donors and representatives, as well as with governmental and non-governmental organizations, with the view of maximizing the development impact and effectiveness of the African Development Bank’s interventions, thus contributing to the overall development of the country, including the private sector.

Duties and Responsibilities
Management of the Country Portfolio:

Initiate and lead dialogue with Government and the private sector on systemic issues relating to portfolio management, to improve the performance and quality of Bank operations based on agreed result framework, which will be assessed using key performance indicators and targets;
Identify and address cross-cutting and country specific portfolio issues, and advise the Country Team in the design, implementation and supervision arrangements for the portfolio as well as new business development;
Oversee all aspects of portfolio management, sovereign and non-sovereign, to ensure quality at entry and during implementation, including performance monitoring, in line with Bank corporate policies, strategies, guidelines and directives;
Continuously reviewing country portfolio, country operations and work programs to ensure that it is aligned to the implementation of the new Business Development and Delivery Model;
Initiate and support resource mobilization in the country and follow up on related works, including counter-part contributions, co-financing opportunities, as well as Country Policy and Institutional Assessments;

Relationship Management:

Manage and develop relationships with key clients (governments, central and local authorities and private actors) at the highest level of seniority, and position the African Development Bank (AfDB) as the partner of choice to support high development impact operations in the country. Build relationships with key stakeholders (including relevant regulators, businesses, NGOs and institutional and private investors);
Develop and maintain strong relationships with sector departments to originate, process and manage an expanding pipeline of high quality investments, and support proactive and strategic economic and sector work as well as portfolio development and management, to meet the AfDB’s targeted objectives;
Ensuring diplomatic tact and respect for due protocol, especially when it comes to dealing with the host country’s authorities and protecting the Bank’s reputation and image in the country.

Development of Strategy:

Develop and implement, in consultation with the Director General , an integrated investment and advisory support strategy for the AfDB’s activities, including country priorities and business targets for key industry groups, and key engagements, with a particular focus on High 5s and other high impact projects aligned with the Bank’s strategy to support the country’s development efforts;
Lead/coordinate capacity building, to enable the country to engage with key actors involved in the country’s sustainable, inclusive and green development;
Assess and provide advice to the Bank and to the Country with a special focus on addressing Fragility situation as appropriate and supporting climate resilient development in the country.
Support the alignment of the country strategy to the Bank’s High 5 priorities;

Fragility Assessment:

Conduct fragility assessments as per business requirement;
Ensure the fragility lens is being applied in the design and implementation of the Bank Group operations in the country;

Identify opportunities:

Identify areas where the Bank can catalyze sustainable, inclusive and green development through innovation based on a thorough understanding of local markets and leading practices from the Bank’s international experience, as well as draw on the expertise of similar development partners especially in terms of conducting dialogue with authorities, resource mobilization, and co-financing opportunities;
Develop knowledge to ensure that the AfDB is effectively working closely and coordinating with appropriate stakeholders within the country. Develop and maintain relationships with these stakeholders and identify business opportunities taking into account the AfDB’s strategy, comparative advantage and operational policies, instruments, procedures and products;
Identify and initiate opportunities directly linked to the Banks High 5 areas;

Country Office Management:

Lead, manage, develop and mentor performance of country office by ensuring that the team is high performing, well-motivated, innovative, well-trained; have clear deliverables and remain highly committed to the success of ADB in the country;
Supervise staff in the country office and undertake staff development and performance evaluation. For sector experts, evaluation shall be done jointly by the Country Manager and the relevant Sector Department;
Prepare, supervise and manage implementation of the country office budget and submit periodic reports in accordance with the Bank’s budget management regulations;
Plan and supervise the administrative, financial and personnel support services required; prepare budget and financial reports; authorize expenditures, personnel actions, acquisitions and other administrative actions, and monitor the best possible contribution of the Action Time Recording System (ATRS) to the Cost Accounting System (CAS) of the Bank.
Liaise and work closely with other department staff on issues such as audits of the country office, human resources, pipeline development in SRAS, portfolio management in BPPS and asset management (CHGS) and IT issues (CHIS).
Championing the Complex / Regional mandate and purpose – providing a direct and indirect operational support that will contribute to the regional output and mandate in assigned Country;
External communication – Develop locally the AfDB’s ‘brand’, building on the brand and the overall communications strategy, including engaging with civil society, non-government organizations as well as the local media.
AfDB Visibility – Represent and provide visibility for and including through organizing/participating in high profile events (Senior level visits, interviews, seminars, business events and conferences);
Quality Management – Focus on ensuring quality and performance of the country portfolio; Ensure all reports and submissions are timely and of high quality; work jointly with relevant country teams and managers to meet Key Performance Indicator (KPI) assigned targets;
Play a key role and advise the Country Team on economic, political, social and other developments relevant to the Bank’s operations in the country;

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

Minimum of a Master’s degree or its equivalent in Business Administration, International Relations, Political Sciences, Economics or another relevant field;
A minimum of eight (8) years of extensive and progressive experience in country program operations in an international organization, including preferably three (3) years at a managerial or supervisory level;
Senior level experience in macroeconomic management, especially in public finance and debt essential;
Portfolio management experience and expertise as an economist would be an asset and a track record in Business Development and delivery a clear advantage;
Solid knowledge and good grasp of the political economy, as well as the socio-economic and development issues in Africa specifically in the region of assignment;
Excellent analytical skills, strong capacity to analyse actions from the perspectives of stakeholders and translate strategic thinking into compelling plan of action;
High degree of personal commitment, interpersonal skills with proven communication, leadership, management, people management and supervisory skills;
Ability to work effectively with individuals of different views, culture, nationality, gender and age;
Strong ability to cope with multiple demands and competing priorities under pressure;
Demonstrated leadership in conducting country dialogue with other development partners, especially on the core areas of the Delivery and Business Development Model (DBDM) where the Bank has comparative advantage.
Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language. (Knowledge of Portuguese for Lusophone Countries and Arabic for North African Countries would be an advantage)
Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications and preferably, SAP.