Partnerships Development Advisor at International Rescue Committee

Requisition ID: req22865

Sector: Awards Management

Open to Expatriates: No

Background

Over the past 80 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC’s mission is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. The IRC has offices in Washington DC, New York, Berlin/Bonn and London, and is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 28 regional offices in cities across the United States, the IRC also helps refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient. The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

Working in partnership with local civil society, government and private sector actors is fundamental to the IRC’s mission to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Effective local partnerships are central to the IRC’s strategic ambitions in Strategy100, resulting in more effective, responsive, and durable assistance that reaches more people and produces better outcomes for the people we serve. Collaborating with local civil society organizations (CSOs) and government entities recognizes those organizations not only as allies in achieving outcomes, but also as catalysts and drivers of change.

The Purpose of the Role

The Partnership Development Advisor will work closely with Award Management Unit’ Senior Program Development Advisers (SPDAs) and Technical Excellence country facing Technical Advisers (S/TAs) to support and guide IRC country offices to identify and pursue opportunities to build collaborative, principled, strategic partnerships with civil society, government and private sector actors in each context, to enable the delivery of the IRC’s Strategy100 partnership ambition. The Advisor will collaborate with the Capture Advisors to specifically support IRC country offices and technical teams to ensure they have the collaborative partnerships in place for multi-year complex funding opportunities with bilateral and multi-lateral public donors. 

Key Working Relationships:

Position reports to:  Partnership Director, Awards Management Unit (AMU) and Governance Technical Unit under the Crisis Response, Recovery and Development (CRRD)

Close collaboration with: regional and country facing Award Management Unit Senior Program Development Advisers/Program Development Advisers and Senior Technical Adviser/Technical Advisers.   Interacts with IRC internal departments, including external relations, finance, and global supply chain departments.

RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Collaborate with Governance Unit country facing TAs to analyze the roles, capacities and relationships between local government, civil society, and private sector actors, based on the stakeholder analysis process
2. Based on the stakeholder analysis, and guided by anticipated bids and donor strategies, work with technical unit leads to identify the civil society organizations, government entities and private sector actors with which we will build partnership relationships, and which existing partnerships we will continue to build (seeking alignment with S100 strategic partnerships)
3. For specific USG, FCDO, and other competitive bids, collaborate with and support country facing SPDAs/PDAs/STAs/TAs to support country offices to define IRC’s approach based on how it can best ‘add value’, prioritizing opportunities to support and reinforce local capacities and systems (asking ‘why not partner’), and reflecting the strategies of targeted bilateral and multi-lateral public donors
4. Guide AMU and TE country facing staff in supporting the early phase development of collaborative, principled partnerships with local actors, through the application of PEERS policy, process, guidance, and tools
5. In collaboration with the Capture Advisors, Governance TAs and AMU SPDAs, provide partnership related support to business development strategies and approaches, as well as donor submissions
6. In collaboration with Governance TAs, promote inclusive governance and management approaches, including full participation of local actors in consortia
7. Support country facing TAs across Technical Excellence to promote approaches that maximize collaboration in the design and development of programs, identify, understand and build partnerships that leverage the complementary capacities of each partner
8. Where relevant, promote and guide principled, collaborative risks analysis and management with partners across all organizational functions, consistent with PEERS
9. Support country programs to conduct partnership capacity self-assessments, and to address the priority strengthening opportunities identified through those self-assessments
10. Support with the recruitment of staff with significant partnership responsibilities for targeted opportunities
11. Contribute to the continued development and strengthening of PEERS policies, processes, and tools
12. Contribute to the pro-active building of our reputation with key donors and potential primes as a leading humanitarian partnership agency

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, including international relations, political science, public administration, and communications or other related field.
2. Seven years’ plus experience leading partnership work; demonstrated expertise in building successful, principled, collaborative partnerships with civil society, government and private sector actors.
3. Experience working with USAID, FCDO, EU institutions, and/or other European donors, including developing proposals. 
4. Excellent written and oral communication; able to convey complex concepts clearly and concisely in writing and orally.  
5. Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in ‘remote’ and diverse teams; outstanding interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment;
6. The ability to work productively and accurately while under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment;
7. Flexible work attitude: the ability to work in a team environment and independently and ability to meet unexpected demands, prioritize and multi-task;
8. Ability to travel internationally (up to 20% of time);
9. Fluency in English; proficiency in French, Arabic, and/or Spanish is an asset.