Job Overview
Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) East Africa Regional Lead provides coherence and direction to the provision of technical support for Cash & Markets; Resilient Food Systems; and Economic Inclusion programming in East Africa. As a member of both the regional team and the technical unit senior management team, the ERD East Africa Regional Lead has accountability for technical quality and responsibility for assuring the advice from Technical Advisors is taken into appropriate action by the country office.
The ERD East Africa Regional Lead will lead a highly effective, strategic ERD regional team to ensure the East Africa Region has high quality, sound technical support needed to deliver on global program goals and effectively serve our clients. The role will serve as a functional leader, advisor, and a thought partner to both TU leadership and regional leadership, with a particular focus on leading the operationalization of the Economic Wellbeing strategy in East Africa, multi-sector and sub-sector program integration, mainstreaming of Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion across programming, evidence-based design, business development, and quality assurance for high-impact and scale strategic projects. The ERD East Africa Regional Lead will coordinate across individuals and projects, ensuring clear priorities are set and communicated, and navigating the challenges inherent in being an advisory function. They will be excellent people managers, with great team building/animation skills, able to help technical staff succeed and grow in their careers. The ERD East Africa Regional Lead will invest deeply in understanding the context and dynamics of the country and regional teams and the challenges they face. They will ensure coherent ways of working within and across the regional technical team, as well as within the wider ERD TU, to align high quality technical support with the operational realities of the country offices. The Regional Lead will champion technical external representation in regional fora for promoting learning, advocacy and showcasing IRC’s programming as well as engage with regional colleagues on donor facing engagement. By doing so, the Regional Lead will ensure high quality programming across the Cash & Markets; Resilient Food Systems; and Economic Inclusion practice areas in East Africa, high quality coordination and partnership with regional teams, effective team performance, and efficiency and impact of technical excellence service offering to the East Africa region and country programs. In East Africa, ERD programming operates in all IRC’s EA countries (Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan) with at least 3 technical advisors working across the 3 practice areas.
Major Responsibilities
Functional Leadership, Coordination and Implementation Support:
Provide technical leadership across the region, including by contextualizing the Economic Wellbeing at the regional level in partnership with Technical Advisors, DRD, + Deputy Director of Programs (DDP) and in line with Country Program Strategic Action Plans
Promote programming coherence and strategic direction of the ERD programming portfolio including identifying opportunities for intra and cross-sectoral integration
Closely coordinate with Global Practice Leads and HQ functions to facilitate translation of global standards to the region and of country-generated innovation and learning to global practice
Support regional Technical Advisors to address implementation bottlenecks and critical quality concerns in the region’s programming portfolio, in partnership with the Deputy Regional Director (DRD)
Increase quality of technical collaboration across the region by fostering cross-regional dialogue with other regional technical teams
Provide technical oversight of regional strategic projects in collaboration with the Global Practice Leads as appropriate and/or budgeted, escalating quality assurance challenges as needed
Foster relationships with a wide range of both internal and external stakeholders to make strategic connections and identify opportunities
Provide stop-gap direct implementation support as/if appropriate and budgeted on CP-grants
Staff management, learning, and development
Lead and line manage a high performing team of ERD Technical Advisors to design and support ERD programming across the region, and generate evidence and learning for local and global strategies
Accountable for ensuring TAs maintain core knowledge and expertise and apply global best practices to their work across health sub-sectors
Work closely with Regional and CRRD HQ People & Culture colleagues to devise strategies of attracting, onboarding, developing, and nurturing diverse regional technical staff at the Advisor and Coordinator levels, and ensuring an inclusive work environment. In collaboration with the DRD, Regional and CRRD HQ P&C, and Global Practice Leads, plan and implement professional development for staff ensuring targeted learning.
Program Design and Business Development
Provide technical leadership and oversight to region-led (multi-country) business development, as well as particularly large single-country opportunities, together with the Technical Advisors, Global Practice Leads and others as relevant.
Support and promote technical and programmatic innovation in the region, based on technically-sound and contextually-grounded creativity and/or insights
Collaborate with other technical area Regional Leads and Technical Advisors to promote regional uptake of solutions that are proven to increase scale and deepen impact, with close attention to where integrated programming would multiply efficacy and efficiency
Work with DRD, Director of Awards Management and DDPs for country programs to understand the region’s donors for the ERD sectors, the donors’ priorities in the region, and the regional funding priorities of Country Programs for the Economic Wellbeing Outcomes
Support regional donor engagement to deepen donor understanding of IRC’s work the region, strategically foster and develop new donor relationships in close coordination with the regional team, and support the development of regional business development opportunities
Support the development and growth of strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organizations at the regional level who share commitments towards scale and impact and have complementary areas of expertise for collaboration towards delivering better outcomes for clients
Accountable for coordinating across expert staff to better integrate cross-cutting issues into ERD programs (e.g., gender equality, diversity and inclusion, climate adaptation, etc.).
Knowledge Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
Lift up program learning for sharing across the region and to inform global strategic direction of (relevant) Global Practice Areas
Facilitate interpretation and use of sector data in regional learning routines and put in place routines and accountability mechanisms to encourage uptake of data-driven recommendations made by TAs
Collaborate with Regional Measurement Advisors to ensure that Regional Technical Advisors support good MEAL practice for ERD programming in East Africa, including the use of high-quality indicators, the use of IRC standard data tools, and the inclusion of MEAL activities in project plans
External Influence and Representation
Engage in regional sector coordination groups and bilateral relationships as appropriate, to represent IRC, showcase learning from our client-centered program implementation, and support priority policy and practice shifts
Support regions in addressing policy & practice shifts needed to enable program impact and scale
In close collaboration and partnership with the DRD, regional Awards Management and Advocacy focal points, ensure effective networking and representation in relation to Cash & Markets; Resilient Food Systems; and Economic Inclusion through mobilizing input from global practice leads.
Key Working Relationships
Position Reports to:Dual reporting line to Deputy Director, ERD TU and DRD, East Africa
Direct Reports:
Cash & Markets Technical Advisor
Livelihood Technical Advisors
Key Internal Relationships:
ERD Deputy Director
Global Practice Leads for Cash & Markets; Resilient Food Systems; and Economic Inclusion
ERD Regional Leads and Regional Focal Points across 5 other regions
Regional Measurement Advisor
Regional Leadership Team, Country Directors, DDPs, CRRD colleagues across multiple roles
Regional Advocacy and Comms leads
Regional Safety & Security lead
East Africa Awards Management Unit team
CRRD Senior Management Team and Leadership Group; Regional Leadership Teams
Global HQ and AMU focal points
Key External Relationships:
Regional Cash, Food Security, and Economic Inclusion coordination clusters, INGOs, donors and policy makers, counterparts in relevant UN agencies.
Desired Experience and Skills
Highly seasoned professional with at least 8+ years of progressive technical and management experience leading and managing technical teams
Established technical expertise in at least one of the ERD Global Practice Areas relevant to East Africa. Professional and/or lived experience in East Africa context and sound understanding of the region is a huge advantage.
Excellent management and leadership skills including coaching, mentoring, and performance management
Strong track record of leading multi-location technical programs
Strong track record of driving uptake of evidence-based practice
Experience managing multiple projects with multi-disciplinary collaborators
Demonstrated ability to influence across a wide range of diverse stakeholders internally and externally
Strong track record of identifying and converting business development opportunities (when leading and managing the leader)
Knowledge and understanding of the respective regional context
Ability to work, manage, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment; outstanding business acumen, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills required
Superb inter-personal, written and verbal communication skills with ability to collaborate across countries, cultures, and departments
Fluency in English required. Additional regionally spoken language is a huge advantage.
Ability to travel regionally and globally up to 35% of the time, occasionally on short notice
Education:Masters’ degree in economics, business management, international development, agriculture or any other relevant fields or an equivalent professional experience of background is required. Sound training on the use of data and research evidence for programmatic decision making and rigorous analytic skills are an advantage.
Compensation:
Posted pay ranges apply to UK-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.
go to method of application »
Use the link(s) below to apply on company website.
Apply via :
