To achieve sustainable change, which benefits vulnerable communities, GOAL applies a systems approach. GOAL understands that all people live and work within existing, interconnected socio-economic systems, such as health, education, legal and market systems. Where GOAL works, systems often function poorly or not at all, leading to inequality and exclusion, usually amongst the most vulnerable. GOAL appreciates that it is the permanent players (Government, civil society / communities and the private sector) who catalysts and sustain change. GOAL’s role is to facilitate the permanent players to create change so that those who are excluded can participate in, and gain access to socio-economic opportunities on a sustainable basis. GOAL does not intervene anywhere without first understanding the socio-economic systems in which we operate, in order to design effective interventions, which enhance these systems and does not displace permanent players. Initiatives blend social and economic objectives, strengthening the bottom line whilst contributing to social, economic, and environmental outcomes for society.
GOAL was first operational in 1984, the current country programme has a strategic focus on those affected by crisis in health, nutrition, WASH, food security and sustainable livelihoods for women, men, children and refugees and those displaced. GOAL Ethiopia has a large geographic footprint (40 districts across six regions: Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Oromiya, Somali and SNNPP), an annual operating budget of ~€13 million and a team of ~700 people committed to creating sustainable change and assisting those in crisis.
Resilience in Pastoral and Agro-pastoral Areas (RIPA) is a five-year initiative (2020 – 2024), implemented by PCI, iDE and GOAL, targeting pastoral and agro pastoral communities in Borana, Guji, South Omo and Dawa. The purpose of RIPA is to improve resilience through improved food security and inclusive economic growth, it is supported by USAID in Ethiopia with a budget of $30 million.
The programme has five components, each led by a consortium member, PCI as the consortium lead have overall programme and grant management and are responsible for monitoring, evaluation and learning using USAID’s Collaboration, Adaptation & Learning (CLA) approach. The programme components are:
The Private Sector Co-investment Manager (PSCoM) reports to Head of Compliance and Internal Audit and with matrix management to the Production and Market Team Lead and will have overall responsibility for overseeing the coordination of all aspects of the financial and compliance deliverables of the local private sector partners in the Resilience in a Pastoral and agro-pastoral Areas (RIPA) across the project cycle in collaboration with Compliance and Programme team. This includes assessing partners’ operational capacity, developing capacity building plans jointly with the partners, supporting the partners to achieve programme objectives. The role will also ensure partners understanding and use of accountability frameworks including maintaining compliance with donor regulations and requirements. He/she will be dedicated to support and closely work with programme team (Production and Market Team Lead and MEAL team) on partnership management reporting and monitoring.
1.Partnership Management, Reporting and Monitoring
To have a detailed understanding of what are the potential private sector actors, their business geographic coverage, products and services they offer, and the barriers pastoral and agro-pastoral communities have to accessing products and service that the private sectors offer.
· Support the team leader in portfolios of coordination in defining, drafting, and co-design partnership with intervention partners, leading on conducting due diligence and financial assessments
· In liaison with Head of CIA prepare Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for selected private sector partners.
· In coordination with the programme management unit, ensure that all partners have collaboratively developed project workplans and that these are implemented in an effective manner.
· Research on co-investment opportunities in alternative business options for monitoring and or comparison purpose on the performance of the existing co-investments
· In coordination with Compliance team organize regular Grants Management Meeting with partners and/or other events that facilitate the progress review and sharing of learning across partners.
· Monitor the timely submission of accurate financial reports and regularly review and share partner financial forecasts with the P&M Team Lead.
· Support the partner in preparation and submission of timely, accurate and well written donor reports and other reporting requirements
· Closely monitor partner burnout rates to ensure actual expenditure is in line with approved budget.
· Conduct regular compliance review and monitoring visits to partner field offices/areas of operation to ensure partners are in conformity with the terms and conditions of the agreement.
· Work closely with MEAL teams and Production and Market Team Lead to ensure that the partners are being monitored for progress against deliverables and develop monitoring tools tailored for partners.
· Prepare partner disbursement requests in line with partner funding agreements. Prepare partner payment data base to follow up partner installments.
· Maintain partner issues log to follow up compliance review findings.
· Ensuring that a positive and mutually respectful relationship is maintained at all times between GOAL and partners, addressing any issues as they arise
· In coordination with programme team, organize project closeout meeting with partners
· Be responsible to liaise with the RIPA North cluster counterparts and share lessons learnt from ongoing and previous projects
2.Partners Capacity building
To ensure private sector partners achieved program objectives meeting compliance and grant management requirements of GOAL and donor, the position holder will assess partners’ operational capacity, developing capacity building plans jointly with the partners and facilitate need-based partners capacity building training in coordination with Compliance team (Compliance Training & Sub-grant Manager).
· Conduct organizational capacity assessments and development of capacity building plans for all private sector partners in coordination with programme team and ensure that these plans are implemented in a timely and effective manner
· Responsible for organizing briefing / trainings on operating procedures, tools, and donor requirements in collaboration with the Compliance Training &Sub-grant Manager and programme management unit (especially at the beginning of the partnership
· Develop the capacity of partners finance personnel in areas of partnership management. Provide on-job training for partner’s staff when required.
· Follow up with partners in respect to areas of improvement identified during assessments and internal audits/compliance reviews and work closely with the partners in closing the issues
· Support the partners on the establishment of systems around finance, HR, procurement, and logistics etc. as per the needs identified during the capacity assessment.
3.Risk assessment and facilitation of audit
· Regularly assess potential risks related to the partners and provide an input to the management to be included in the country risk register.
· Coordinate with compliance and finance team during donor, annual statutory and other government audits related to activities implemented by partners
· Maintain records of communication, commitments, market values, and distributions
4.Other tasks
· Contribute to establishing a team culture grounded in collaboration, openness, and learning
· Perform other duties as assigned by the Head of CIA and the Production and Market Team Lead.
· To keep up to date information on market development and regulation changes
· Be responsible to liaise with the RIPA North cluster counterparts and share lessons learnt from ongoing and previous projects
5.Team management
This position has no direct supervisory role, but it requires the incumbent to work closely with the Sr. Financial Inclusion Officer and Consortium team members to achieve the objectives of enhancing production and market for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities.
6.Collaboration, learning and adaptation (CLA)
To manage joint initiatives adaptively to identify what work (and what does not), take successful initiatives to scale and contribute to learning in financial inclusion for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities within the consortium and more broadly within the sector.
· Work collaboratively with the RIPA MEAL team to ensure the monitoring and evaluation plan is fit for purpose and reflects all internal and donor reporting requirements.
· Work collaboratively with the RIPA MEAL team to develop the private sector engagement learning questions and ensure that appropriate data is being collected and analyzed.
· Produce at least one co-investment learning brief each year, prior to the annual learning event
· Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within private sector management which align with grant management systems and contribute to project indicators.
· Manage joint initiatives with private sector partners adaptively, monitoring KPI very regularly to know what is working and what is not, adapt initiatives and either stop those that are not working or take to scale those that are.
· Convene at least quarterly informal learning events with key stakeholders (e.g. government, communities / civil society, and private sector), to learn about what is working and what is not.
· Plan and manage the private sector content and participants for the RIPA annual learning event.
· Review and report private sector data on a monthly basis to the Production & Marketing Team Leader.
