Partnership Analyst - Nigeria at UNDP

Background

• Millions of civilians continue to grapple with extreme adversity across northeast Nigeria and the rest of the Lake Chad region where a recent surge in violence has uprooted tens of thousands more people, exacerbating an already dire crisis situation. An intractable extremist insurgency that has left tens of thousands of people dead, approximately 2.5 million displaced, and more than 10 million people in the region affected and in need.
• It is unlikely that security responses alone will be sufficient to address the complex factors that gave rise to the insurgency, and which continues to sustain it. There is increasing consensus that military efforts must be coupled with significant investments in complementary stabilization activities to benefit the local population with both local and Lake Chad Basin (LCB) regional levels, if the security-humanitarian-development nexus around Lake Chad is to be effectively addressed.
• While robust national and multi-national military operations have re-taken territory previously controlled by Boko Haram, a new approach is required to consolidate these gains and establish the conditions necessary to transition from military to civilian responsibility for security, and from the provision of humanitarian assistance to the resumption of stalled development processes.
• To this end, UNDP has launched Lake Chad Basin Regional Stabilization Facility, supporting four Lake Chad Basin countries (i.e., Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad) as well as LCB regional institutions, such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
• The Facility will act as a rapid-response package– delivering within 90 days of target area selection - that relevant authorities can sequence with military operations as necessary, to ensure immediate follow-up in specific locations and curtail the ability of armed opposition groups to re-infiltrate and exploit any security vacuum or community perceptions of non-responsive Government by extending an organized and effective civilian security umbrella, consolidating military progress with development ‘dividends’ for the local population.

Position Purpose

• The National Window of the Regional Stabilization Facility for Nigeria aims to address the needs of immediate stabilization in the target areas in North-East Region of Nigeria with high degrees of insecurity, promoting the phased transition of insecure areas toward greater security, and the reduction of current volatility whereby previously secure areas have become more rather than less vulnerable.
• It is expected that various donors, such as Germany, Sweden, the UK and the EU, will make their financial contribution to the Regional Stabilization Facility. Given the extremely complicated crisis situations in the North East (NE) region of Nigeria and the LCB region as a whole, establishment and maintenance of effective donor relations is indispensable for successful implementation of the Regional Stabilization Facility and UNDP’s projects in North East Region of Nigeria. To this end, UNDP Nigeria is seeking for a qualified expert to identify, establish, and promote partnership with development partners and promote resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility and other projects in NE Nigeria.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Support and maintain strong relationships with donor and government partners.
• Support Senior Management in ensuring compliance with donor agreements and requirements.
• Facilitate reporting and communications with donors and development partners.
• Support Senior Management’s engagement with donors.
• Support resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility and NE Projects in general.

Support and maintain strong relationships with donor and government partners:

• Assist Senior Management in UNDP Nigeria and the Programme Team for the Stabilization Facility Nigerian Window in facilitating partner dialogues to market UNDP’s comparative advantages and obtain buy-in from the partners for their support to UNDP’s Stabilization Facility.
• Ensure that all donor partners are well-informed on the progress and issues related to the Stabilization Facility in Nigeria and NE Projects in general, by providing pertinent and timely information, responding to the inquiries, and producing ad-hoc reports/information brief whenever required.
• Collect donor intelligence information and conduct donor actor mapping for identification or establishment of innovative partnership and potential partners (e.g., emerging donors, the national/local government, CSOs, academic institutions, private sector).

Support Senior Management in ensuring compliance with donor agreements and requirements focusing on the following:

• Support Senior Management in UNDP Nigeria and the Programme Team for the Stabilization Facility to meet the requirements of donors, especially those relating to earmarking or special conditions outlined in agreements.
• Facilitate partnership agreement/formalization process with new potential partners to determine concrete areas and modality for the partnerships (e.g., financial, in-kind contribution, information sharing, technical cooperation).
• Facilitate management of donor agreements in collaboration with the respective offices (e.g., PMSU, Finance, NE Sub-Office) to ensure compliance with donor agreements, including the contribution deposit schedule, fund earmarking/restrictions, and due diligence/validation exercise.
• Support the Programme Team in NE Sub-Office for preparation and organization of donor site visits
• Ensure the government and donor visibility, including organization of the donor visibility occasions and issuing the public announcement on the partnerships (e.g., press release) in close collaboration with Communication Team.

Facilitate reporting and communications for donor partners on the Stabilization Facility focusing on the following:

• Oversee donor-specific and corporate reporting, ensuring reporting is in line with donor agreements and corporate standards.
• Harmonize communications and reporting products in collaboration with M&E Officers, PMSU, and Communication Team.
• Ensure linkage and synergy between public outreach with donor/partner outreach and communication needs in collaboration with Communication Team.

Support Senior Management’s engagement with donors focusing on the following:

• Support Senior Management meetings with high-level officials or donor meetings.
• Support content development for presentations, briefing notes, or other documentation required for Senior Management donor engagement and meetings.
• Support senior management outreach to regional donors and host national government to communicate developments, the strategy of the Country Program Document, and priorities.
• Support for resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility in Nigeria focusing on the following:
• Assist in drafting proposals to current or potential donors in line with the donor’s interests and requirements.
• Develop materials, strategies, and other communications or products to support resource mobilization with donors.
• Support engagement with regional donors and with the host-country government to contribute resources to UNDP.

Impact of results:

• The Partnership Analyst Stabilization is expected to identify, establish, and promote partnership with development partners and promote resource mobilization for the Stabilization Facility and other projects in NE Nigeria.

Requirements
Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development, International Relations, Business, or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years of relevant work experience at the national or international level in stabilization, partnerships, including demonstrated experience in partnerships with donors and people management.
• Previous experience of working in donor institutions in either humanitarian or development assistance can be an asset.
• Knowledge about the UN coordination systems, particularly on humanitarian or early recovery, would be an advantage.
• Previous experience with UN or international organization working in crisis-affected country, would be an advantage.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
• Highly effective written and verbal communications skills.
• Effective organizational skills.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Demonstrates high tolerance for change, complexity and unpredictability.

Competencies:
Core Competencies:

• Achieve Results - LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively - LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
• Learn Continuously - LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility - LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination - LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner - LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion - LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Functional & Technical competencies:

• Business Management - Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
• Business Management - Partnerships Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.
• Business Direction & Strategy - Strategic Thinking : Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP's objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.
• Business Management-  Digital Awareness and Literacy: Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skilfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed
• Business Management- Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs.  Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.
• Business Management- UNDP Representation: Ability to represent UNDP and productively share UNDP knowledge and activities; advocate for UNDP, its values, mission and work with various  constituencies
• Business Management- Integration within the UN: Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and  engage in joint work; knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this  knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations.

Language Criteria:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Proficiency of French is an asset.