Regional Director, Policy & Partnerships at NewGlobe

Job Description

• As the Regional Director, Policy & Partnerships, you will provide support and oversight to the entire programs within Group Nigeria. You are responsible for building and managing diverse stakeholder relationships, and focused on account management and sustaining our work and operations. 
• You’ll be taking over existing relationships from the Policy and Partnerships Programme Development teams and other Executives, and make these your own to ensure close collaboration and on-time execution of the programs. This entails significant relationship management, as well as project management in ensuring data and approvals needed to pass between the government and programs do so in a timely way for program deadlines. You will ensure that the government partners understand the programs, and support its implementation.
• This will require coordination of stakeholder sessions, government workshops, and government public events and celebrations. During government workshops, there will be a need for careful engagement and collaboration on programme details -- to be successful in this role, you must learn about all aspects of our programming, and what can be negotiated and what cannot to ensure we deliver on what the government requires of us -- improved learning outcomes. You will need to be diplomatic and have discretion; know when to speak and when to listen

What You Will Do

• Provide support for the Group MD regarding advocacy with the Government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary at the federal, state and local government levels) on various market-friendly policies
• Map all key government officials, and create robust stakeholder management plans for each
• Regularly monitor regulations and policies relevant to NewGlobe and our partners nationally and at sub-national levels
• Scanning the education policy environment with a bid to guiding and influencing policy
• Work closely with the Group MD to build and manage the Group Nigeria Board of Advisors as a unique sponsor/influencer body for our in-country government programmes
• Secure strategic relationships within the newly inaugurated Federal administration that are relevant to the achieving the objectives of NewGlobe at a national level.Help build partnerships, relationships and execute strategies to sustain our goals across programs.
• Work closely with the Programme Development counterparts and regional leadership, be responsible for overseeing key government relationships and programming. To do this, you’ll lead government engagement, training and stakeholder meetings. 
• Ensure creation of governance committees according to core programming guidelines, and establish a regular meeting schedule.
• Ensure thorough weekly and monthly reporting to the government begins and is continued under permanent programme leadership.
• Manage and oversee all Policy and Partnerships program staff (focussed on Programme Management).
• Manage the diverse strategic stakeholders across multiple Government departments and levels within those departments; with prominent education ecosystem stakeholders, including but not limited to the local and national teacher labour unions; and  important 'influencers’ to ensure the successful and popular launch of the government’s new programmes. 
• Establish and implement short- and long-range goals, objectives, policies and operating procedures for the government relations support function; monitor and evaluates program effectiveness; effects changes required for improvement;
• Work with key stakeholders on consultative efforts to drive reforms in delivery of education to underserved communities;
• Utilize lead management techniques and maintain a detailed and dynamic database of these key influencer communities while tracking progress of programme launch;

What You Should Have

• Bachelor's degree with superior academic performance;
• Over 8 years’ experience in government program delivery or working in account management or as an engagement manager; 
• In depth experience building and systematically managing key complex relationships and accounts to ensure program delivery in a complex, multi-stakeholder program or project; 
• Previous experience working with a Ministry of Education on program delivery, preferred; If not within education, experience with another government delivery program or project, such as in health or ICT; 
• Confidence, authority, and level-headed decision making needed as the leadership voice for the program;
• Knowledge of local, state and federal government issues related to the provision of primary education in the country would be preferred;
• Ability to balance commercial interests and social benefits - a blend across business and political acumen, but also high emotional intelligence and relationship-building skills;
• Experience acting as an on-the-record spokesperson;
• Highly capable and thoughtful problem-solving skills; able to act as an intermediary and a solutions driven lead, to ensure effective collaboration and communication between the Government client and our organization;
• Prior experience within a fast-paced, high-growth, metric-driven operational organization will be an advantage;

You’re also

• A detailed doer – You have a track record of getting things done. You’re organized and responsive. You take ownership of every idea you touch and execute it to a fine level of detail, setting targets, engaging others, and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. You can multi-task dozens of such projects at once and never lose sight of the details. Likely, you have some experience in a start-up or other rapid-growth company.
• A networking mastermind – You excel at meeting new people and turning them into advocates.  You communicate in a clear, conscientious, and effective way in both written and oral speech. You can influence strangers in the course of a single conversation. Allies and colleagues will go to bat for your ideas. You have an existing network from prior experience in the country, preferably in the regulatory, education, or business sectors.
• A creative problem-solver – Growing any business from scratch comes with massive and constant challenges. On top of that, NewGlobe works in often fragile, sometimes volatile low-resource communities and with complex government systems. You need to be flexible and ready to get everything done effectively, quickly, and affordably with the materials at hand.
• A relentless advocate –The children we serve and teachers we empower never leave your mind. You know them, get them, have shared a meal with them (or would be happy to in the future). You would never shrink back from shaking a parent’s hand or picking up a crying child, no matter what the person was wearing or looked like.  Every decision you make considers their benefit, experience,
• and value.
• A malleable learner –You believe you can always do better. You welcome constructive criticism and provide it freely to others.  You know you only get better tomorrow when others point out where you’ve missed things or failed today.
• A data-driven decision-maker – When making decisions, you don’t rely on your intuition alone. You collect data, you analyze it and make decisions with clear justifications.
• A curious investigator – You ask why a lot. You don’t just take what you see and accept it. You wonder why it is that way, and are aware that the world we see is created by human choices and actions – and it could be different. You wonder, and see the world as wonderful even when you want to change a part of it that is unjust.