Deputy Relationship Manager - Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) at Palladium Group

Reference ID: req12957

Project Overview and Role

• The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a 6-year and €114 million programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that aims to create a prosperous future for 200,000 young women and men in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa and Horn of Africa regions. The Fund will be supporting initiatives in 23 focus countries that will offer youth, in particular young women, opportunities for work that is demand-driven and productive, offering a stable income and safe working conditions, and that is contributing to their personal development and social protection.
• Private sector, civil society and knowledge institutions will be invited to submit proposals geared to scalable solutions for creating more and better jobs and income generating opportunities for youth. Solutions will in particular focus on an integrated approach that addresses the shortcomings on the demand side (jobs) and supply side (skills) and bridging the mismatch between these two in the labour market.  
• The Deputy Relationship Manager will be responsible for supporting CFYE’s Implementing Partners (IPs) in Nigeria. The Supporting Relationship manager, is the secondary point of contact for the IPs as well as CFYE headquarters and will closely work with the existing Relationship Manager for Nigeria.  
• The Deputy Relationship Manager will work directly with all IPs on project management and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) related activities, ensuring that IPs are compliant with the Fund’s delivery guidelines. This includes monitoring progress of the Implementing Partners’ projects, and supporting Implementing Partners with technical and financial reporting, mobilizing technical assistance (TA), and any other needs that may arise. Although the Relationship Manager has final responsibility for the portfolio’s performance, the Deputy Relationship Manager will play a crucial supporting role to this end.
• Although most communications will go through the Lead Relationship Manager, the Deputy Relationship Manager will also – where required directly liaise with the Central Team (including Fund Management, Technical Assistance, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning, Financial Management, Communications, and Project Delivery).  

Primary Duties and Responsibilities
The responsibilities and duties of the Deputy Relationship Manager include the following:

Project and Relationship Management (40%):

• Support the Relationship Manager and the Fund’s central team in project operations and management including periodic review of progress against due diligence improvement plan, Results Planning (both outputs and outcomes), as well as other areas identified by team;
• Ensure the documentation of key project documents (workplan, budget, reports etc.) is complete, meets the CFYE requirements and has been uploaded in the CFYE IT system;  
• Support the realization of any Contract Amendments;
• In case of any in-country events, support the Lead Relationship Manager and Central Delivery team in their organisation.

Financial Reporting (20%):

• Guide the IPs in the preparation of financial information and supporting documents as part of the Quarterly and Annual Review -Process and internal reviews or external project audits;
• Alert the Relationship Manager and Finance Team when issues arise in relation to financial management that require a response from the fund management team; and
• Liaise with the IPs and Finance team on invoicing and contractual payment processes.  

Reporting and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) (30%):

• Support partners to monitor and evaluate the impact of their projects in accordance with the CFYE MEL system, and validate documentation tied to Outputs and Outcomes for disbursements;
• Support the quarterly progress review meetings with each Implementing Partner (IP), and document minutes, observations, and reflections, including external conditions and local external factors relevant to project implementation;
• Support IPs to prepare knowledge and communications material and present learnings during learning events or other Learning and Innovation Agenda events, where relevant;

Technical Assistance (10%):

• Support the TA planning to the IP’s: assist in drafting the TA assignment (Scope of Work), requesting approval from central team;
• Support recruitment and on-boarding of the TA provider;
• Support daily management of TA implementation (receipts, transport, Q&A, Sorting out travel arrangements in Egencia) as well as TA service provider management (Timesheets & invoice management for TA);  
• Support the Lead RM in ensuring high quality of TA delivery.

Level of Effort and Reporting:

• The Deputy Relationship Manager will report to CFYE’s Country Lead Relationship Manager for Nigeria. However, they will need to work and coordinate closely with other members of the Challenge Fund Team, as and when demanded by assigned tasks. The position will be a full-time employment role, initially for one year with possibility for extension.  

Minimum Requirements

• Relevant Academic qualifications in a related field such as Business Administration, Economics and Finance.
• Proven experience with project management and performing related administrative tasks.
• Relevant technical work experience in one of the following areas; youth employment, private sector development, and/or business consulting.
• Nigerian national, based in Nigeria.

Core Competencies:

• Strong Project Management skills.
• Strong affinity with youth empowerment, gender and social inclusion, and decent work.
• Good knowledge of financial reporting principles.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Good organisational and planning skills.
• Sound problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Comfortable to work with Microsoft Office and preferably SalesForce.
• Ability to work successfully as part of a team.