Regional Partnership Advisor
THE ROLE
The role holder is expected to work with the
Kenya Country Office with approx. 25% of his/her time allocated to working with
and supporting other COs in the MEESA region. He/ she shall focus on creating a
consistent approach to how we work with partners but also working on strategy
level and reporting on the goals set out in the new global strategy that refer
to partnership engagement.
The role primarily focuses on developing
partnership strategy at the Country Office level and supporting the region in
enhancing the quality of partnership management processes and practices. the
post holder will work closely with colleagues at Regional Hub levels to embed
good practices on partnering within Plan’s operational processes, responding to
organisational learning and demand, and connecting closely with the global
partnerships team and projects and funds team to ensure strong technical
alignment and feedback processes are integrated into daily work.
The position focuses on providing technical
support to Kenya Office primarily while extending support to countries within
the MEESA region aiming to support them to develop good partnership operational
management practices which enable Plan International and our partners to work
on more equal terms, and with strong mutual oversight in our work together. It
involves a mixture of providing technical advice and guidance, developing and
facilitating training and materials for colleagues and partners, supporting organisational
learning through formal and informal processes, and providing direct, demand
driven coaching and mentoring to country offices in order to strengthen
organisational partnering practices, systems and processes.
To succeed, you will need to enjoy working
with a wide range of stakeholders, have strong communication and relationship
building skills, and a service orientated approach to your work.
MANAGEMENT SCOPE, REPORTING LINES, KEY RELATIONSHIPS
Direct reports – Country Director Direct reports – none
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
- Work closely with the Plan Kenya
BD unit, Director of Programme Strategy to coordinate efforts in partners’
mapping and formulating a partnership strategy aligned with Country
strategy and Resource Mobilization Strategy.
- Global Partnership Team to share
learning and support global initiatives
- Projects and Funds Team (GH) to
share learning and get support on working with partners in the project
cycle.
- Regional and Country Offices to
support working in partnership
- 25% – Support other COs in the
MEESA region to create a consistent approach to how we work with partners
but also working on strategy level and reporting on the goals set out in
the new global strategy that refer to partnership engagement.
- Other organisations and forums
externally, for representation, coordination, collaboration, learning and
advocacy
LEVEL OF CONTACT WITH CHILDREN
Medium contact: Medium level PHYSICAL Environment
It is an Office-based environment, the office is located at Plan Kenya
(Nairobi). The Post holder will be expected to travel in the region as required
Key Responsibilities
1. Technical support to ensure strong partnership management
practices are integrated across all stages of the project cycle in programming
and influencing work – 30%
- Support Kenya Office (programmes/
projects) to develop partnership strategies aligned with Plan’s global
ambitions, and support the other offices within the region to replicate
the same strategies each localized according to their country strategies
and other core organisational guidance, for example Plan International’s
‘ready to respond in emergencies’ guide and conduct partnership mapping
aligned with respective partnership strategies.
- Develop, apply and advise on the
adaptation of contextually relevant guidance and tools to strengthen
equitable partnership approaches and improve the quality of Plan’s
programming and influencing work when working with partners and partnering
relationships, including mutual partnership appraisals, partnership
monitoring tools and partnership evaluation/ impact tools
- Advise on strategies to mitigate
risk in specific partnerships where partnership risk assessment processes
have raised issues with potential to impede the effectiveness of the
collaboration, such as power dynamics in partnership relationship
management, conflict sensitivity and shrinking civic space.
- Provide advice and support to
Kenya office prioritized recommendations from partnership review
processes, including annual partnership reviews, the annual partnership
survey and programme, audit findings and project and programme evaluations
where there are implications for principled, equitable partnering.
- On request, provide in-depth
analytical support for partnership portfolio reviews/ deep dives in
relation to working with diverse actors, application of partnership
principles and equitable partnership management approaches, and provide
technical advice and coaching on process improvement.
- Technical advice to on the
application of partnership models in proposal/ project development
2. Up skilling and capacity
development support- 30%
- Work closely with business
development team and Project teams on the alignment of proposal and
project development with Plan International’s priorities on equitable
partnering and the integration of civil society strengthening approaches
- Develop and provide training to
key staff on advancing equitable partnership approaches and quality
partnership management with diverse actors
- Support in developing appropriate
training materials/ resources to use with partners to strengthen partner
capacities for partnering
- Advise other functional areas on
the development of partner friendly training materials/ resources to
strengthen partner capacities
- Develop a regional bank of
capacity strengthening resources on partnering approaches and practices,
and civil society strengthening and share appropriate resources with COs
for use in capacity strengthening work
3. Direct support for regional
partnerships/ regional programmes-20%
- Support MEESA 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 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.
4. Monitoring, evaluation, accountability, research and learning-10%
- Active participation in regional
spaces to advance learning on partnership approaches for programming and
influencing in line with Plan International’s strategic ambitions and
supporting the development of appropriate regional management action plans
- On request, support and advise
country offices in their response to external audit findings and approach
to actioning recommendations on partnership management findings.
- Lead and co-ordinate regional
engagement around research and knowledge products connected to partnering
practices and civil society strengthening, as appropriate, and
socialisation of outputs and learnings
- Lead and co-ordinate a regional
community of practice on partnerships and civil society strengthening, and
actively participate and contribute to global community of practices on
partnerships and civil society strengthening, civic space, working with
young people and others (as relevant)
- Facilitate the documentation and
sharing of partnership experiences and learnings on civil society
strengthening, including good practices, lessons learnt and innovation
among Plan COs and CSO partners.
- Monitor the environment for civil
society across the region and ensure analysis is shared with relevant
programs, initiatives and networks.
5. Safeguarding Children and Young People
(Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) 5%
- Understands and puts into
practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan
International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported
and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
- Leads the orientation of
programme staff to ensure that they are properly inducted on and
understands their role in upholding Plan International’s safeguarding and
GEI policies;
- Ensures that Plan International’s
global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender
Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in project design, during
implementation and as principles applied in day-to-day work of Programme
team;
- Ensures that Plan Kenya
contributes to Plan International’s global efforts to ensure safeguarding
and GEI, including making sure that relevant reporting and data are
submitted.
6. Other duties (5%)
- Any other assignment within the
scope of work.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Development
Studies, social sciences or another related field;
- At least 10 years of
progressively responsible of supporting country programmes and
partnerships in different operating contexts within the humanitarian
sector in Kenya and MEESA region.
- 5 Years in a
leadership/managerial role
- Fluency and excellent command of
English language with a high level of English writing skills
- In depth knowledge on the concept
of and trends in civil society strengthening and effective partnership
building in development and humanitarian context
- Understanding the nature and
approaches of key movements, actors and institutions relevant to Plan’s
ambitions and activities
- Understanding and deploying
participatory approaches which strengthen civil society, including with
children and young people
- Experience of developing
partnership strategies (including approaches to localisation), and
designing partnership systems and tool
- 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
- Ability to and experience of
coaching and mentoring colleagues and partners in their daily work by
explaining key concepts; familiarization them with standards and
resources; and working alongside them on the application of technical
knowhow
- Strong communication 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.
Behaviors
- 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 behaviors
- Has the courage to challenge the
status quo, to question the way we work, especially when work or behavior
is not of the quality required
- Strives for high quality in all
they do, 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 behavior to work effectively across cultures and with diverse
stakeholders and communities
- Actively promoting diversity,
gender equality and inclusion internally and externally.
- Actively contributing to both
internal and external information-sharing network
Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the
very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.
We want Plan International to reflect the
diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to
everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil
partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual
orientation.
Plan International is based on a culture of
inclusive and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every
team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts,
and ideas.
We foster an organisational culture that
embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and
inclusion.
Plan International believes that in a world
where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we,
as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that
we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with
and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.
A range of pre-employment checks will be
undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and
Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter
Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this
scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any
findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during
employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left
employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their
understanding of these recruitment procedures.
How to Apply
Disclaimer: Plan International is an equal opportunity employer and does
not discriminate applicants on any basis. We also do not charge Job seekers any
fees at any point of the recruitment process