LGA Manager at DAI

Start date: April 2021

Background

• The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of selected states and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria.
• This will be achieved by: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]); increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary).
• State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers and building on locally derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

• The LGA Manager in Akwa Ibom will oversee and implement all aspects of State2State at the LGA Level.
• They will individually provide support to their respective State Lead activities and ensure relevant LGA interventions within the state.

Responsibilities

• The LGA Manager will be responsible to provide strategic leadership for the LGA level engagement activities and, effective management of reform support with local government representatives and community level stakeholders.
• LGA Manager will be responsible for: delivering support for improved governance and service delivery within the local government; maintaining strategic relationships with government counterparts and other relevant stakeholders, including local government, civil society and development partners; taking overall responsibility for operation and technical delivery of LGA activities whilst ensuring governance improvements are owned and delivered by the state governments under their own agenda; engaging local partners in setting sector and budget priorities and strengthening LGA budgeting and planning procedures while adapting existing citizen guides to the budget and co-create CSO grants to raise budget literacy;
• Applying a Do No Harm approach, work with local partners to mitigate the potential for conflict by using grants to forge partnerships between state and LGA institutions and CSOs to support participatory mechanisms for dialogue on budget priorities; provide training and mentoring to LGA finance and administration staff on developing systems for more rigorous controls on LGA expenditures; focus on tracking improvements at the state and LGA levels in all areas of governance including auditing, budgeting and planning, and procurement processes as well as the ability to address conflict; provide M&E support at both the state and LGA levels including establishing KPIs that flow down to the LGA level on health, education, and WASH facilities.
• Reporting: The LGA Manager will report to the State Lead, Akwa Ibom and will coordinate closely with the MEL Director on M&E matters.
• Line Management: The LGA Manager will supervise the LGA Coordinators.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Social Sciences, Law, development studies, etc. However, four (4) additional years of relevant international development experience can be substituted for the bachelor’s degree. Master’s degree is preferable.
• At least nine (9) years of demonstrated experience in the successful implementation of international development activities or relevant technical activities, with preference given to democracy and governance activities under a USG instrument, related to technical area of the position.
• Experience of leading successful reform interventions and evidence of good working relations with relevant local, ward, and state-level governments and other key stakeholders.
• An ability to manage relationships and a sound understanding of institutional change in complex environments.
• An excellent understanding of financial and technical delivery, monitoring and evaluation of program impact and reporting against results.
• Prior experience in overseeing the awarding and managing grants to local organizations to promote democracy and governance goals preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Fluency in the English language.