Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships

Background/IRC Summary:  The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

IRC has been working in Pakistan for over 30 years, and manages and delivers large, complex programs to meet the needs in health, education, protection, environmental health and livelihoods for displaced, poor and disaster affected communities. IRC works in partnership with local government and non-governmental organizations and currently works in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Sindh provinces.

Job Overview/Summary:

Under the direct supervision of Senior Awards Management Coordinator, the Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships will be part of the Awards Unit and support the country program in mapping of potential strategic partnerships with key I/NGOs, contractors, private sector organizations, foundations and relevant government departments.  The position will be specifically responsible to lead on firming up different consortia for large scale competitive bidding for grants as well as contracts. In addition, the position holder will have overall responsibility for developing and managing strategic partnerships with potential national NGOs that are identified as emergency partners across the country. Moreover, the position holder will be responsible to liaise and maintain effective working relationships with NDMA, PDMAs and DDMAs in the already identified hazard prone districts across the country. The position holder will help IRC to build and strengthen relationships with partner organizations based on transparency, mutual respect, inclusion, accountability, effective communication, and quality service delivery.

Major Responsibilities:

Partnership Development (consortia, private sector, Foundation and Govt. departments)

o   Work closely with relevant thematic leads, DDP and other relevant departments to map, analyze and select strong consortia partners for firming up a winning consortia for applying for large scale bids.

o   Hold partnerships review meetings with the longlisted potential partners, conduct comparative analysis and put forward clear recommendations on pros and cons of potential partners for the consortia.

o   Draft teaming agreements with the finalist consortia partners and ensure that all parties have understood and signed the teaming agreements.

o   Map, manage and establish partnerships with in-country foundations, private sector (CSR departments) for enhanced IRC’s visibility and tapping resources.

o   Facilitate the program implementation teams in establishing and maintaining working relationships with key government departments including Health, Local Government, Education, Social Welfare, NDMA, PDMAs, DDMAs.

o   Manage awards process including ATC and Due Diligence for all consortia, foundation and private sector related partnerships; ensure data is recorded in award/grants management system (OTIS)

o   Participate in initial program design discussions, proposal reviews and bilateral discussions for all consortia grants/bids, private sector and foundation funding;

Emergency Partnership Development

o   Support the awards team in finalization of pre-award assessment of pre-identified NGOs as framework partners for emergency response.

o   Support the Awards team in developing framework agreements and implementation of capacity strengthening plan of individual emergency partner ensuring that the partners are onboarded and have capacity to be deployed quickly in case of any emergency situation.

Partnership Management

§  Coordination:

o   Mobilize, train and provide on-going technical support to Technical Coordinators and Program Teams on working with consortia partners, private sector companies/organizations and foundations.;

o   Work closely with Project leads/Team Leaders for IRC’s consortia projects and assess possible improvements based on lessons learned, best practices, etc.;

o   Encourage overall program cohesion of consortia projects, private/foundation funding through coordination and information sharing with and among all relevant departments;

o   Ensure technical resources to support working in partnership for consortia and private/foundation funding are available for program staff;

o   Support relevant colleagues in conducting grant opening and closing meetings as well as regular budget reviews for all consortia and private/foundation projects/programs;

o   Support joint evaluations of consortia and private/foundation projects and ensure that lessons learned are being documented to maximize the impact of IRC’s and partners’ projects and contribute to future program strategy and direction;

o   Support implementation team in establishing and maintaining effective relationships with key government departments including technical support in drafting MoUs, holding regular meetings etc.

§  Capacity Building:

o   Identify capacity building needs at pre-award stage particularly of consortia partners (particularly local NGOs), and support program teams in developing capacity building plans

o   Effectively roll out IRC’s Partnership System namely Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) for effective monitoring progress made against consortia partner capacity building plans  both at project and organizational levels

o   Support the technical/ program units to undertake joint program design with consortia partners;

o   Collate lessons learned on a regular basis and disseminate these among IRC and consortia partner staff to maximize the impact of projects and contribute to future program strategy and direction.

§  Collaboration with other departments:

o   Work effectively with the Supply Chain and Finance teams to ensure that sub-granting mechanisms particularly for consortia projects are in-line with the IRC’s PEERS; 

o   Work collaboratively with M&E Coordinator to

§  Provide advice on strengthening monitoring and evaluation with consortia partners;

§  Advise on rolling out of tools under PEERS to effectively monitor progress made against partner capacity building plans;

o   Support AMU with other tasks and responsibilities when and where required.

Job Requirements:

Education:

o   Post-graduate or Master degree in relevant field from any recognized University

Work Experience:

o   Minimum 05 years work experience in projects/programs development within a similar setup. At least 02 years of managing partnerships with Government departments, I/NGOs, Private Sector Organizations/Companies and Foundations.

Languages:

o   Excellent written and spoken Urdu & English language skills Good knowledge of MS Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)

o   Knowledge of logical framework, program design and budgets highly desired.

o   Knowledge of donor rules and regulations for sub-granting and reporting desired (e.g. DFID, ECHO, BPRM, USAID)

o   Demonstrated sound knowledge and expertise of managing and interpreting partnership agreements/contract in terms content and language

o   Demonstrated interpersonal skills, sound judgment, planning, team building and facilitation skills.

o   Demonstrated ability in facilitation and conducting partners and staff capacity building plans and their implementation.

o   Strong presentation skills.

o   Highly developed analytical and communication skills, including excellent oral and written English communication skills.

o   Team player, with good personal and management skills.

o   Proven track record of quality performance and timely delivery.

Desirable Criteria:

o   Master degree with further studies in humanitarian action/disaster management, MBA, community development or related field

o   Working experience of private sector organizations/companies, Foundations is a strong advantage.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Senior Awards Management Coordinator Position directly supervises: None

Coordinates with: Internal: DDP, Technical Coordinators, M&E team, Finance, Operations, HQ, Consortia and emergency Partners

External: Government departments/Authorities, I/NGOs, Contractors, Private Sector organizations/companies, Foundations

The IRC Core Values and Commitments;

·         The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons.

·         IRC is committed to ensuring that IRC staff is suitable to work with children and have the knowledge s/he needs to uphold and abide by the IRC’s Child Safeguarding Policy.

o   Level of interaction with children: Frequent direct contact with children

·         IRC ensures that its staff must actively practice the roles and responsibilities related to client responsiveness, accountability to people in affected communities and must have competencies to solicits and listens to feedback and other’s perspectives, responds to feedback with maturity and sensitivity and takes appropriate decisions and makes changes to behavior or actions in response to feedback.

·         IRC recognizes that gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of our organizational mission. As such, IRC is committed to the promotion of gender equality in all aspects of our operations and programs. Our organizational policies, procedures and actions demonstrate this commitment.

Women candidates and persons with disability are highly encouraged to apply.