Institutional and Policy Development Advisor at RTI International

RTI International in collaboration with Plan International and other partners are implementing a 4-year USAID funded Effective Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (E-WASH) program. E-WASH will provide technical assistance to and will work in collaboration with state governments to improve urban water service delivery by strengthening the governance, financial, and technical viability of six (6) state water boards (SWBs) in Nigeria- Abia, Delta, Imo, Niger, and Taraba.

The overall goal is improvement of urban water and sanitation service delivery.

In collaboration with the respective state governments and SWBs, E-WASH works toward achieving the following mutually reinforcing objectives:

• Creating professionally managed and commercially oriented SWBs.
• Improving the financial and operational viability of SWBs.
• Strengthening policy, institutional, and regulatory frameworks for improved WASH services, including establishing accountability mechanisms.
• Building national and state WASH advocacy, coordination, and communications for reform.
• The program is part of USAID’s wider efforts to build closer coordination with the Government of Nigeria, including the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, select SWBs, and allied stakeholders, to advance broad-based economic growth and resilience through improved WASH services in urban areas.

RTI International hereby invites applications from highly resourceful, motivated and experienced professionals to fill the position of Institutional and Policy Development Advisor.

Institutional and Policy Development Advisor- Abuja

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Chief of Party-Technical, the Institutional and Policy Development Advisor will be leading the technical capacity building and institutional development of State Water Agencies, WASH Utilities, and CSOs including capacity assessments, trainings and related interventions.

 Primary responsibilities:

• Lead technical capacity building and institutional development of State Water Agencies, WASH Utilities, and CSOs, including capacity assessments, trainings, and related interventions.
• Serve as a Resource Person for regional project institutional development specialists in order to coordinate all interventions (e.g. conduct of stakeholders’ consultations, focus group discussions/key informant interviews and other relevant activities with the urban water utilities, LGU’s, CSOs, and the Private Sector)
• Document processes/approaches/strategies employed in the conduct of institutional and capacity development interventions.
• Take the lead in the processing and analysis of data generated from institutional and organizational capacity assessments.
• Identify partnerships and alliances that can work to facilitate improvement in WASH service delivery.
• Strengthen coordination and functional capacity of water utilities and other WASH service-providers.
• Develop and introduce systems to facilitate inter and intra governmental coordination
• Conduct rapid appraisal on the level of participation of CSOs, local water/sanitation associations, and communities especially women and girls on safe water, sanitation, and hygiene projects/programs/activities in priority urban areas of the target states.
• Lead technical capacity building and institutional development of State Water Boards (SWBs), WASH utilities, and CSOs, including capacity assessments, trainings, and related interventions. Serve as a resource person for regional project institutional development specialists to coordinate all interventions (e.g., conduct of stakeholders’ consultations, focus group discussions/key informant interviews, and other relevant activities with the urban water utilities, local government areas (LGAs), CSOs, and the private sector);
• Assist the SWBs in establishing and institutionalizing a Sanitation Unit including sanitation policy development, organizational structure and organizational development; Institutionalize and strengthen sanitation units for SWBs; and
• Oversee State Team Leaders and overall state-level implementation.  

Minimum Required Education & Experience

• PhD and 8 years of experience or Master’s degree and 12 years of experience or Bachelor’s Degree and 15 years of experience in Organizational Development, Business Management, or a relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of 10 years experience designing and implementing institutional/organizational development initiatives in Nigeria or in environments comparable to Nigeria. Preference will be given to those with considerable working experience in Nigeria with institutions and civil society organizations in the urban water and WASH sectors.
• At least six years of experience and demonstrated success in implementing programs aimed at building capacity of national, state and utility level organizations in Africa, preferably in Nigeria.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience in national, state and municipal institutions, development of sustainability plans, and policy development and reforms.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the latest developments in advancing good/best practices in water and WASH, governance, as well as sector engagement that reaches all stakeholders, including women, youth, the poor and very poor, creativity, willingness to innovate, think systemically and design catalytic.
• Demonstrated experience in collaborating across projects stakeholder groups and donor projects.
• Strong management capacity with proven ability to oversee multiple activities simultaneously in multiple locations.

 Skills & Abilities

• Possession of excellent organizational and analytical skills.
• Strong verbal and written English communication skills
• Strong computer skills: Microsoft Office Applications
• Strong reporting and management skills
• Strong presentation and facilitation skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills and ability to coordinate activities with officials from host country government, US Government, NGOs and other agencies.
• Demonstrates supervisory skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to build effective relationships with all clients, peers, and stakeholders
• Demonstrated success managing and leading technical and administrative teams.
• Willingness to travel frequently to the field offices.