Division Manager - Operations Committee Secretariat at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/342
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Position N°: 50092390
Grade: PL2

The Complex

• The Senior Vice-Presidency is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results.
• The Senior Vice-Presidency will provide effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions. The Senior Vice-Presidency will lead senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions.

The Hiring Department

• The role of the Operations Committee Secretariat is to support the Bank’s Operations Committee in its efforts towards sharpening the country focus and strategic selectivity of the Bank’s operations; enhancing the quality of operations; strengthening the Bank’s internal cooperation and cohesion among operations departments; and improvement in the development impact of the Bank’s support to its Regional Member Countries.
• Under the supervision of the Director, the Division Manager:
  • Supports the Operations Committee to sharpen the country focus and strategic selectivity of the Bank’s operations, strengthen its internal cooperation and cohesion, and improve its development impact;
  • Coordinates and manages the Bank review and clearance process for all Operations;
  • Manages and oversees continuous enhancement of the Bank’s review and clearance processes and systems ensuring their consistency with industry standards and quality review; and
  • Manages Operations Committee meetings and contribute to the management of the Operations Committee’s activities in consultation with operations department and their respective Front Offices of Vice Presidents.

The Position

• The Operations Committee Secretariat ensures that the African Development Bank delivers high quality and impactful investments to meet the development priorities of its Regional Member Countries.
• The core mandate of the Operations Committee Secretariat to provide secretariat support to the Operations Committee in its day-to-day activities and support the Committee in developing the required processes and procedures to effectively carry out its work.

Duties and responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the Director, Operations Committee Secretariat, the Division Manager performs the following:

Review of operations proposals:

• Assist in ensuring that all Bank operations, policies and strategies are prepared in accordance with Bank rules, policies and procedures.
• Ensure compliance and quality control of all documents prepared for Operations Committee discussion before dissemination.
• Submit for Operations Committee’s consideration proposals that are ready for appraisal, negotiation, and submission to the Board.
• Support Operations Committee’s decision-making process and prepare the necessary materials to inform the President as necessary.
• Monitor and report on the effectiveness and compliance  of the review process;
• Coordinate and manage the review process to ensure the quality and timeliness of reviews to support Operations Committee decisions and timely submission of quality proposals to the Board.
• Establish and maintain streamlined, efficient and high quality review and clearance processes at appropriate levels
• Revamp the review systems and procedures as deemed necessary to support fast-track quality review.

Management of OpsCom:

• Coordinate the review of documents submitted for Operations Committee’s clearance to ensure compliance with all relevant corporate policies and strategies and alignment with the High 5s and the Ten-Year Strategy, as well as clearly established readiness and delivery mechanisms prior to submission for Operations Committee’s consideration.
• Manage the preparation of Operations Committee meetings, requisite minutes and related reports, as well as tracking implementation of Operations Committee’s decisions.
• Review all documents post Operations Committee’s review and ensure timely clearance as appropriate.
• Monitor and report on the implementation of the review and clearance process at lower levels and on country and regional teams’ compliance with established process and systems.
• Develop appropriate guidelines to accommodate various processing need for proposals without undermining quality.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve Operations Committee internal operating procedures.
• Review and propose improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Operations Committee’s review and clearance process.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master's degree or its equivalent in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Economics or related disciplines.
• Have a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in the development and management of operations or programs, and policies/strategies within the Bank or other Multilateral Development Banks or in similar organizations.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of operational policies and strategies of Development Finance Institutions, as well as understanding of processes for developing and implementing development projects and programs.
• Track record of successful coordination and management of work program with innovation, flexibility, and on short notice.
• Solid analytical skills, with problem-solving capacity while balancing long and short-term trade-offs.
• Demonstrated capacity to engage with multiple stakeholders at Senior management level as well as at professional staff level to consistently deliver support for compliance and assist in delivering high quality proposals on time.
• Ability to think strategically and make sound decisions fast, and to provide sound advice to Senior Management on policies, proposals, processes, and procedures.
• Ability to manage heavy workloads as well as multi-tasking, in an environment with shifting demands, priorities and deadlines.
• Strong communication skills, coupled to ability to work effectively across institutional boundaries in order to achieve institutional effectiveness without compromising quality.
• Excellent on building team capacity and team work, with strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Ability to work in French and/or English, with a working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, SAP, PowerPoint, MS Project).