Country Manager (Nigeria) at International Budget Partnership

About this role

• The International Budget Partnership (IBP) is looking to appoint a strategic team leader and dynamic political strategist with a strong understanding of fiscal governance and a proven ability to engage and support effective civil society led campaigns to lead its work in Nigeria. We seek an experienced manager, with excellent external representation skills and a strong network of influence with civil society, government and other key stakeholders.
• The successful candidate will manage a small but capable team with significant expertise and experience, to effect change and impact lives by ensuring that public resources match public priorities. You will need technical expertise and credibility to lead this team and contribute to advancing strategic change objectives in several areas of fiscal governance programming.
• The Country Manager is also responsible for ensuring a strong monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approach and culture among the program team and partners, enabling adaptive strategic approaches and evidence-based results.
• In addition, the successful candidate should be comfortable representing IBP in a variety of external facing spaces, cultivating relationships with new and existing donors and managing relationships with government officials and other stakeholders. You will ensure our IBP Nigeria Office is financially sustainable and can achieve further operational growth and success.
• IBP is a cutting edge, passionate and devoted organization which admires people who can bring new ideas to the table. This is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to their mission and really make a change.

Responsibilities and duties (Essential duties of the job include, but are not limited to, the following):

Strategy and Learning (30%) 

• Leads and directs the development and implementation of the country strategy, including program strategies for SPARK, Tax Equity and other new areas of programming as relevant.  This includes identifying the key program partners, and planning and providing the optimum mix of support that partners require to increase the impact of their strategic engagement. 
• Oversees and facilitates planning, monitoring and evaluation, and learning processes that feed into adaptive country program strategies at country level in accordance with IBP frameworks and processes, and in collaboration with SPARK and Strategy and Learning (SALT) teams.   
• Maintains current knowledge of public financial management and broader civil society space, governance and political economy issues within the country. 

Networking and Partnerships Development (30%) 

• Maintains current knowledge of public financial management and broader civil society space, governance and political economy issues within the country. 
• Identifies and cultivates opportunities for new partnerships and forms of engagement. 
• Represents IBP at the national, and where appropriate the regional level. 
• Manages relations with partners in -country, including facilitating linkages between and among grantees, broader civil society partners and other key governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. 
• Ensures that partners are provided with analytical support, technical assistance and learning facilitation in a timely manner.  This includes workshops and meetings with program partners and technical advice for designing and completing technical and political analysis needed to strengthen their campaigning and engagement efforts. 

Financial and People Management (30%) 

• Supervises IBP Nigeria team, ensuring a collaborative, supportive and accountable team culture oriented towards achieving strong results in partnership with program stakeholders, and reflecting IBP’s shared values.  
• Supports partners in the processes of applying for, and overseeing the use of their grant resources, as appropriate and/or required.  
• Manages and monitors the annual budget for the Nigeria country strategy and conducts outreach for potential donor partners in/for the country, as may be designated by the Executive Director, to explore, negotiate, and secure funding support required to implement the IBP country strategy.  
• Leads and directs the work of in-country consultants, as appropriate, to undertake the effective implementation of the country strategy, including engagement with government actors, media, and other relevant stakeholders. 

Other Responsibilities (10%) 

• Participates in IBP all-staff retreats, and in all Spark and Tax Team meetings.  
• Develops terms of reference for independent contractors required in the implementation of the IBP country strategy, negotiates and secures approval for these terms of reference, and recruits and manages consultants for the IBP country strategy as appropriate. 
• Supports the Director of International Programmes in managing all awards to IBP that support work in the country, whether for SPARK or other activities under the country strategy, including narratives for proposals, reports, and other communication materials as required. 
• Implements and complies with IBP administrative and financial protocols, policies and procedures. 

Core competencies

Strategic, Political and Systems Thinking Skills 

• Strategic thinker, superior political analytical skills; and strong experience in identifying and addressing challenges that relate to fiscal governance systems.  In particular, strengthening the role of citizens and civil society in strategically engaging public institutions and processes related to public policies, resources and service delivery.  This includes:  
• Deep understanding of the complexities of power and political dynamics in the country and how they relate to exclusionary fiscal governance and inequitable service delivery outcomes. 
• Ability to constantly read and interpret the environment for opportunities that will advance IBP’s country strategy priorities in general (and risks that must be mitigated), and the initiatives of CSO partners directed at realizing budget impacts and outcomes in particular.  
• Ability to adapt and refine IBP’s country and program strategies as progress and challenges emerge, context shifts, and evidence and learning evolve.  
• Ability to advise CSO partners on effective strategies for campaigns and engagements, based on extensive knowledge of both successful and less successful approaches and experiences. 
• Ability to identify potential problems and formulate alternative courses of action 
• Experience with guiding relevant Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) approaches relevant to adaptive programming and collaborative learning in collaboration with partners and other stakeholders to create a shared culture of learning, adaptation and impact. 

Capacity Building and Engagement 

• Extensive experience in building capacity of CSOs and supporting CSO and citizen engagement in fiscal governance processes and issues.  This includes:   
• Ability to support CSO partners in strengthening their own analytical and strategic capacities needed for their campaigns and other engagements.  
• Ability to engage with membership-based and grassroots organizations (unions, cooperatives, social movements) around service delivery and public resources issues. 
• Experience with coalitions or other collective platforms bringing together civic (and where relevant, government or private sector) actors to work towards shared objectives. 

Relationship Management 

• Strong interpersonal skills, including the sensitivity for building relationships and alliances across different groups, and the ability to thrive in and contribute to a culture of collaboration and teamwork in a diverse work environment.  This includes:  
• Ability to establish, support, and grow networks of CSOs, including CSO networks for specific service sectors or issues, as well as multi-stakeholder networks where CSOs actively engage.  
• Ability to effectively facilitate the connections between CSOs partners, and their networks, and other accountability actors from government, oversight institutions, the media, and other CSOs. 
• Ability to support CSO partners gain the skills to build and strengthen relationships with other accountability actors. 

Leadership and Management Skills 

• Extensive management experience, covering the key areas of grant management, managing implementation of advocacy, research and networking undertakings, and managing staff and budgets.  This includes:  
• Ability to effectively oversee the administration of grant awards to CSO partners. 
• Ability to plan, execute and manage budgets for the country program. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; high-level ability to communicate effectively with partners, colleagues, consultants, and representatives of government and other multilateral organizations. 
• Demonstrates a high level of organization; a strong ability to prioritize tasks to meet multiple deadlines. 
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, while maintaining regular and frequent communication with other colleagues geographically dispersed 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office package, required, proficiency with other specialist software applications, desirable. 
• Proficiency in language(s) relevant to the country is required. 

Personal Attributes 

• Personal qualities of integrity, credibility and a commitment to and passion for IBP’s mission 
• Highly flexible and adaptable to shifting environments and works very well under pressure.  
• Motivated to learn and willing to contribute to learning initiatives.   

Education and Experience

• Master's Degree in a relevant field (Public Finance Management, Public Administration, Public Management etc.) Equivalent experience in a relevant field combined with specialized experience in similar organization/s, may be considered in lieu of a master’s degree. 
• Minimum 10 years of experience in fiscal governance, government budgeting or public policy, or related development field, in Nigeria. 
• Experience in managing adaptive program implementation, including leading and directing program teams, managing program budgets and grant funding to civil society organizations, and proactively coordinating with other work units of a larger organization. 
• Substantial working knowledge of fiscal governance, government budgeting or public policy, or related development field, in Nigeria.  
• Proven ability to work with marginalized communities and the organisations that represent them, including supporting grassroots service delivery monitoring and/or advocacy campaigns.   
• Substantial working knowledge of fiscal governance, government budgeting or public policy, or related development field, in Nigeria.  
• Proven ability to understand the complexities of power and political dynamics and how they relate to inequitable outcomes.  
• Proven effective networker with considerable social influence able to convene broad reform coalitions of civil society, media and government in country.