Africa Regional Coordinator

Job Summary: The International Land Coalition is a global coalition of civil society and intergovernmental organizations working together to realise land governance for and with people at the country level, responding to the needs and protecting the rights of the women, men and communities who live on and from the land.
The ILC network is organised into regional platforms. These provide opportunities for members to strengthen their ownership of the ILC and ensure that the priorities and actions of the ILC are more relevant to specific regional and sub-regional contexts.
The ILC Africa Regional Paltform is composed of 61 national and regional CSOs from 21 Sub-Sahara African countries. Its Coorindation Unit is hosted at the offices of Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Typically the main responsibilities of the Regional Coordination Unit- RCU for which the Coordinator is overall responsible include:
Facilitate the effective functioning of the regional platform according to their strategic priorities
Consolidate multi-year and annual regional work-plans, budget and reports for their implementation in the region, including by organising and supporting annual regional assemblies
Ensure synergies among global, thematic and national activities of ILC
Support implementation of the Strategy, by mobilising and administering resources against priorities set out in regional work-plans.
Represent the regional platform of ILC as required
Facilitate member-to-member relationships including joint learning, actions and communication among members and with other stakeholders.
More specifically on the Coordinator, her/his principal tasks include:
Job responsibility 1 – Provide strategic direction to ILC Africa
Develop and keep updated and relevant the ILC Africa’s programme strategy in line with the ILC Global Strategy so as to maintain a high quality portfolio for Africa.
Coordinate the programme-related elements of the periodic strategic and annual planning process, and design the resulting programme strategy including membership engagement in contemporary or emerging land issues on the African continent.
Promote ILC visibility and relevance, and facilitate entry into membership of ILC of an increased diversity of organizations working on land issues in Africa, establishing strategic alliances with other relevant organizations on the African Continent.
Develop and maintain an awareness of the external operating environment and pursue specific external relationships / partnerships that contribute to the quality, relevance and positioning of ILC Africa on the Continent and globally.
Design, or coordinate the design, of new projects and activities consistent with ILC Africa’s strategy and the ILC Global strategy, and with respect to a coherent, viable and manageable portfolio.
Pursue new funding opportunities for innovative programming from a variety of sources.
Representing ILC in the region and globally before the Council and in other venues when requested – including by serving as the focal person in the relationship with the Secretariat
Coordinate and facilitate member linkages to better establish priorities and form common platforms necessary to increase the capacity of members to engage in advocacy, capacity building and research on land issues.
Job responsibility 2 – Oversee overall ILC Africa programme development and implementation
Support development and implementation of Africa Regional annual workplan – including the quality of the actual document and reporting on its implementation (a regional annual report)
Work with ILC members to provide project development support and ensure effective project implementation, including by monitoring visits, with good outcomes and reports that show ILC Africa impact
Take measures to remain regularly informed of project progress, and provide feedback, advice and direction as required.
Facilitate regular, transparent, accessible and timely communication among members and partners in Africa, the Africa Steering Committee, the ILC Global Secretariat and the wider membership of ILC.
Regularly inform members about progress in ILC Africa workplan implementation – by inter-project learning and communication within ILC Africa and with other organizations and institutions in Africa and globally.
Support and facilitate research, analysis and learning initiatives in collaboration with competent partner institutions
Ensure that gender justice is mainstreamed in all projects and programs of ILC Africa
Job responsibility 3 – Oversee overall Organizational performance
Use the host organization’s performance management system to supervise his/her direct reports, and ensure that they are doing the same with their own direct reports.
Establish communicaions functions in the RCU so as to support proper communication within and outside ILC Africa, and Facilitate experimentation and learning among staff and members, so as to promote innovation and coherent programme development.
Provide support and supervision to program staff members and other direct reports as well as facilitate conceptual and analytical staff and membership development.
Establish comms functions in the RCU so as to support proper communication within and outside ILC Africa, and Facilitate experimentation and learning among staff and members, so as to promote innovation and coherent programme development.
Perform such other tasks as may be assigned by the Steering Committee and the
Job responsibility 4 – Serving ILC governance in Africa
Under guidance of the Africa Steering Committee, prepare main documents for the Regional Assembly and facilitate its deliberations, document its main decisions and ensure follow-up.
Under guidance of the Africa Steering Committee, prepare main documents for the Regional Steering Committee meetings and facilitate its deliberations, document its main decisions and ensure follow-up.
Prepare the ILC annual report, work plan and budget under the supervision of the ASC, to be approved by the ILC Africa Regional Assembly and present them during meetings of the Annual Coalition Council.
Provide monthly activity updates to the ILC Africa Regional Committee and Host Organization as well as timely reports/updates/information as may be requested by Members and ILC Secretariat
Develop and implement a membership capacity support and performance management system and ensure that membership growth and development is periodically measured.
Verify and support the design and implementation of effective M&E systems by all projects in line with ILC M&E system.
Relationships and Collaboration: This position requires both sensitivity and responsiveness to the needs of the ILC member organizations as well as the mission, programme directions and core values of global ILC.
Especially, close collaboration will be required with governmental, regional bodies and institutions within Africa and non-governmental counterparts, other partners internal and external to ILC Africa as well as internally with other programme staff of the host organization.
Authority and Reporting: The Regional Coordinator for Africa manages and oversees the development and growth of the Regional Coordination Unit of ILC Africa. The Regional Coordinator will directly supervise program Staff of the coordination Unit and ensure quality projects and programs development and implementation by members of the ILC.
The Regional Coordinator has a mandate to develop partnerships and collaborative arrangement to strengthen and give visibility to ILC in Africa. The Regional Coordinator must raise the financial portfolio of ILC Africa.
A Matrix reporting approach is applied. The incumbent will report to the Host Organization of ILC Africa (ELCI) on all administrative issues, for financial management, and human resources.
S/he will report to ILC Africa Steering Committee (of which ELCI is ex-officio member) when it comes programmes, coordination and budget implementation performance. S/he will work in close liaison with the global secretariat of ILC and the other Regional Coordination Units, with whom the RCU shares common work systems and processes.
Work Conditions:
The Coordinator will follow the norms and the regulations of ELCI. S/he will be formally recruited as an ELCI international staff and will comply with all laws and regulations applicable to ELCI.
The contract, offered by ELCI, will be a period of one year, renewable subject to availability of resources and a satisfactory performance evaluation at the completion of year one. The incumbent will be under probation for an initial period of three months.
The position is based in Nairobi at ELCI premises, but with a regional responsibility for which a significant amount of time will be on travels, supporting land rights work in Africa and globally.
A lump‐sum compensation package will be offered that reflects the regional nature of the post. If the coordinator is recruited from outside Kenya, a one‐time relocation lump sum will be offered.
Qualifications and Competences
1. The Regional Coordinator will be thoroughly committed to ILCs mission and vision.
2. Should have proven leadership, coaching, and relationship management experience.
Concrete demonstrable experience and other qualifications include:
Advanced degree in Environmental sciences, natural resources management, economics, or law political sciences; international relations; social sciences etc.
Demonstrated affinity and work experience in Africa with grassroots/ peasant/small farmers organizations, landless rural workers unions and/or indigenous peoples organizations, with clear understanding of land and resource access issues.
5-10 years of management experience in development; track record of effectively leading and scaling a performance- and outcomes-based organization and capacity to effectively manage staff and small teams; ability to point to specific examples of having developed and operationalised strategies which have taken an organization to the next stage of growth.
Proven experience in developing/implementing successful grant proposals;
Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget.
Experience in facilitating inter‐institutional collaboration with civil society organizations, governments and inter‐governmental organizations;
Past success working in member led organizations with the ability to cultivate existing member relationships.
Strong marketing, public relations, and fundraising experience with the ability to engage a wide range of donors, stakeholders and cultures.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; a persuasive and passionate communicator with excellent interpersonal and multidisciplinary project skills.
Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, and innovative approach to business planning.
Ability to work effectively in collaboration with diverse groups of people and willing to travel across the region
Fluency in English and French.