Governance Advisor- Partnership and Accountability at Palladium Group

Project Overview and Role   

• The Governance Advisor - Partnership and Accountability of PERL Engaged Citizens is responsible for providing technical support to the PERL Delivery Teams (in partner states, regional hubs and at the federal level) on strengthening existing strategies to forge effective partnerships between citizens groups; between citizens and government and among critical stakeholders to facilitate inclusive and participatory governance and improved service delivery.
• He/she may be supported by strategic advisors provided by consortium and niche partners on citizens’ engagement and inclusive governance issues/processes and manages any mentoring and advisory inputs from them to Delivery Teams.
• The Governance Advisor - Partnership and Accountability is part of the PERL Engaged Citizens National Support Team and is expected to actively collaborate with other members of the team and with colleagues in the other pillars of PERL (ARC and LEAP), as well as relevant contact points in other development programmes, to ensure a coordinated, integrated partnership approach.

Primary Responsibilities
Visioning, strategizing, development of approach:

• Contribute to thinking on PERL’s overall strategic direction and approach, and ECP’s role with this, primarily through programme level planning and learning processes, cross-pillar task teams and development or review of strategic approach papers / technical learning briefs relating to citizen partnership: i.e. partnerships among citizens and their representatives and with government.
• Support the development of new aspects of PERL’s engagement in core governance processes linked to service delivery, and ECP’s role in this, as the need arises.
• Support the delivery teams to review their partnership development frameworks and seek ways of  expanding relevant partnership (where necessary) to incorporate new actors/stakeholders based on emerging information and opportunities to make them more effective
• Contribute to periodic assessments of political economy, conflict, gender equity and social inclusion in relation to citizen partnership. Support Delivery Teams to use research findings to update their strategies for  forging and strengthening partnerships among critical governance stakeholders (government and citizens constituencies)
• Facilitate periodic reflection and review of ECP’s approach to forging and strengthening citizen partnership in line with new information and learning.
• Provide focused support to the Delivery Teams to update and further develop their citizen partnership strategies and plans.

Leadership, Teamwork and Relationship management:

• Actively contribute to team-building within the ECP team
• Maintain strong working relationships with other members of ECP’s Technical Support Team (and where necessary, ARC and LEAP) to deliver a shared approach and work-plan.
• Maintain close working relationships and ensure co-ordination and integration of approach and plans with members of ECP’s MEL and Operational Support Teams.
• Provide support to the Delivery Teams in a manner that respects their autonomy and the specificity of their context.
• Maintain close working relationships and ensure co-ordination with counterparts in ARC and LEAP.

Operationalisation of Approach, Delivery of support and Results:

• Advise Delivery Teams on best tactics and approaches to deliver their work-plans through planned interventions which involves an effective working relationship with their counterparts in ARC. Work closely with ECP’s MEL Support Team to support Delivery Team’s to establish/review technically-smart, MEL-smart and operationally feasible progress makers and KPIs for each intervention.
• Where relevant, oversee external support to ECP delivery teams from local consultants and from ECP’s consortium and niche partner organisations.
• Support the Head of Technical Support to review and approve Delivery Team’s monthly / quarterly forecast of programme activities through a coordinated approach within the Technical Support Team.
• Work with ECP’s MEL Support Team and other members of the Technical Support Team to review progress made by Delivery Teams against agreed plans on a quarterly, six monthly and annual basis and to capture and report results. Support Delivery Teams to adapt their plans based on review findings.
• Contribute to the monitoring and promotion of Value for Money (VFM) analysis and diminishing financial dependency of local partners on ECP in line with ECP’s broad empowerment approach

Job Requirements
Minimum education and experience required:

• Educated to university degree level or above, preferably holding a Masters’ degree
• Significant experience in facilitating citizen engagement with government and voice and accountability in Nigeria
• Experience in facilitating complex and multi-level partnerships, relationships or engagements within the governance space/sphere
• Experience of working in or with a donor (preferably DFID) funded programme

Key Competencies and Professional Expertise Required:

• Expertise in forging and working with partnerships among citizens and their representatives and with government in Nigeria, building, sustaining and extending the relationships within and between them, with shared learning and scale-up
• Very strong understanding of state, governance and civic engagement  dynamics in Nigeria, particularly at the state level
• Strong understanding of public policy, planning, budget development and implementation process and the role of citizens within it
• Expertise in providing technical support and capacity building to complex teams - mentoring based approaches in particular
• Strong knowledge of systems for programme delivery, including strategic planning, M&E, adaptive leaning and knowledge management