Lead Coordinator/Fragility Expert - RDTS at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/080
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL2
Position N°: 50069784

The Complex

• Within the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex (RDVP), the Bank has five (5) Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery (RDIBD) Directorates, one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central. Each Regional Directorate is headed by a Director General (DG) and is staffed with the relevant sectoral functions and administrative capabilities for rapid delivery of services to client countries.
• The Regional Directorates provide overall strategic direction to country offices within the regions and are responsible for the Bank’s operations, business development, project management and overall effective delivery of the Bank’s High 5s of ‘Light up and Power Africa,’ ‘Feed Africa,’ ‘Industrialize Africa,’ ‘Integrate Africa,’ ‘Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.

The Hiring Department

• The Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS) is responsible for leading and implementing African Development Bank Group (the Bank) Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in its Regional Member Countries. It coordinates the Bank’s work on addressing fragility and building resilience, including activities of all fragility and resilience professionals stationed in the various Regional Hubs or Country Offices. Over the past decade, Africa has seen enormous growth and transformation that has expanded opportunities and improved living conditions for millions of people.
• More than two-thirds of African countries have strengthened their quality of governance, improved basic services, and expanded economic opportunities. Yet, there are significant risks that this momentum could be undermined by important pressures—continuing patterns of exclusion and poverty, unemployment, high migration, rapid urbanization, climate change and poor management of natural resources-that  threaten to overwhelm existing institutional capacities for managing political, economic, social and environmental challenges.
• These pressures are making every single African country more vulnerable. RDTS aims to place the Bank at the center of Africa’s efforts to address fragility and pave the way for a more resilient and inclusive development trajectory. A major part of RDTS’ activities involves the identification of the main drivers of fragility, including economic, social, political and environmental dimensions, and how the Bank’s programs and projects can contribute to equity and inclusive development.
• Central to RDTS engagement is the systematic application of a fragility lens to identify, respond to and prevent fragility and to build resilience and focus the Bank’s engagement in the areas where it can have the biggest impact.

The Position

• Under the supervision of Director of The Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS) the Lead Coordinator/Fragility Expert will principally be responsible for the implementation and execution of the African Development Bank’s agenda for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa.
• The Lead Coordinator/Fragility Expert will also be responsible for providing leadership and supervising the implementation of the Bank’s programs and frameworks.
• This will entail advising senior management on the actions needed to meet the Bank’s commitments under each cycle of the African Development Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities
The Lead Coordinator will provide leadership, manage and supervise all staff and activities of the Office, determine the overall objectives, oversee the execution of the work program and ensure effective use of the Coordination Office’s budget. Her/his duties and responsibilities will include the following:

• Lead and coordinate the formulation of the Bank’s strategies, guidelines on fragility and the preparation of the Bank’s work program; oversee and ensure regular review and update of the Bank’s strategies and guidelines;
• Lead work on the development of new tools, knowledge generation and participate in policy dialogue with Regional Member Countries;
• Oversee the execution of the Bank’s annual work program in the areas of Fragility, Conflict and Violence;
• Provide leadership in the analysis of fragility trends and their likely impact on the Bank’s portfolios; lead and supervise the staff of the Office;
• Build and maintain the Bank’s reputation through developing effective partnerships, maintaining frequent contacts, representing the Bank at seminars, and conferences on relevant topics and discussions with counterparts and inspire the staff to do the same. Manage internal relations, ensure effective information dissemination, deepen and widen the Bank’s investor base;
• Ensure strict compliance with operational guidelines for implementing the Bank’s fragility strategy as derived from the Ten-Year Strategy, and long-standing practices and relevant operating procedures/manuals as well as apply best practices for mobilizing the funding of the fragility strategy, while keeping abreast of trends and new developments in fragility discourse.
• Provide advice on resource mobilization, including during each cycle of the African Development Fund replenishment, and  administrative management of the Transition Support Facility;
• Build working relationships with other Bank Departments and Units, reporting the Bank’s work on addressing fragility and building resilience and monitor and assess progress towards the attainment of relevant key performance indicators assigned to the Office;
• Manage relationships with regional member countries, donors, partners and other clients;