Period of employment:- 1 year with possibility of extension 

Job Purpose:

• The senior partnership officer will generally be responsible for facilitating the due diligence for the partners, preparing partnership agreements and relevant annexes, working collaboratively with the partners, facilitating partnership monitoring and review initiatives, coordinating the reporting processes for all partners and managing all communications with the partners. The Senior Partnerships Officer will also lead in identifying areas for capacity strengthening of each local partner and capacity sharing among partners.

Main duties & Responsibilities:

• The Senior partnership Officer will be  carrying out the following specific tasks:

Effective Partnership management

• Lead accurate and timely mapping  and development of new and update existing local partners Database in Concern’s areas of operation

• Lead/ Support the implementation of the partnership strategy across all areas of partnership management including the pre-award assessment, partner budget review and partnership agreements

• Lead /Organize the Partner Capacity Assessments with respect to all new partnerships through Concern’s Integrated local Partner assessment tool(CILPAT) and contribute to efforts to collaboratively analyze and manage any risks identified

• Participate and contribute to Partnership project Opening Meeting to ensure  partnership project agreement terms and conditions are well understood by the partners

• Work collaboratively with partners to ensure the timely submission of reports in accordance with the partnership agreement, ensuring clear communication with the partner and efficient resolution where for whatever reason there is challenge

• Support and Collaborate with partners to ensure completeness, correctness, and accuracy of requests and reports

• Lead timely and effective monitoring review as per partner capacity assessment Results and ensure programmatic and compliance monitoring visits happen in coordination with the responsible internal team.

• Review partner program reports and supporting documents to ensure compliance with the partnership agreement, donor regulations and Concern’s policy, and provide feedback to the partner as appropriate

• Lead/ Participate in Partnership project review and Closure Meetings, including to review successes, challenges, and lessons learned with the partner, and capture effective practices for future partnerships.

• Support on the functions of the Partnership Working Group (PWG) to deliver the functions of the PWG, including referral of issues to Senior Management Team as appropriate.

Partner Support and Capacity strengthening

• Support the resourcing of organizational development support where appropriate for partners; coordinate organizational development support to partners

• In accordance with partner project capacity development plan, provide and follow up the provision of capacity strengthening and mentoring support to partners, with a focus on supporting the partner to strengthen partner’s systems and capacities that are responsive to the needs of the partner

• Collaborate with program, systems and finance team to integrate technical capacity sharing approaches, including how concern can learn from local partners.

• Promote and identify ways for continuous learning between Concern staff and partners.

Communication, documentation and Reporting

• Support comprehensive information management and filing system to ensure all partnership agreements, reports, key correspondences, etc. are appropriately filled

• Oversee and work with project team and other relevant staff to review partner reports and support the drafting and compilation of partner reports in the overall donor reports.

• Provide support, as required, in taking minutes during partnership-led meetings, as well as project review meetings, and following up action points, as required.

Representation and additional tasks:

• At the request of the line manager, represent Concern at relevant partnership coordination meetings and feedback important information from those meetings relevant to Concern staff.

• Perform gap-filling role in the Country office and other locations, when necessary

• At the request of line manager and as part of learning, take responsibility for miscellaneous projects not falling under responsibilities underlined in this job description.

Gender Equity        

• Demonstrate understanding of Concern Ethiopia’s Gender Equality Strategy

• Contribute to ensuring that Concern Ethiopia is a place where men and women are treated equally and with  dignity and respect

• Demonstrate gender equality awareness and gender sensitivity and an ability to integrate a gender equality perspective into tasks and activities

Accountability

• In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);

• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed; work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Emergency response       

• Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and the Ethiopian Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization.

Safeguarding

• Able to seek appropriate advice and report concerns, and feel confident that they have been understood.

• Understands local safeguarding structures and arrangements.

• Practises in a manner that seeks to reduce the risk of abuse, harm or neglect.

• Identifies and refers to appropriate services any other associated persons including carers, family members and children at risk.

• Able to document safeguarding concerns, and maintain appropriate record keeping, recording the wishes and views of the adult or child at risk, differentiating between fact and opinion.

Job Requirements

Personal specification

Qualification

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences or other related field relevant to Project/Program Management, Compliance, Organizational Development, Strategic Planning, Systems Development and Governance.

• Experience

• 5 years of relevant experience with the first degree. • 3 years of relevant experience plus post graduate degree. *1 year supervisory skill

• Demonstrated experience working with sub-grantees and/or local partner organizations and demonstrated ability to form effective and productive relationships with stakeholder counterparts.

• Demonstrable understanding of project planning and management cycles, and strong program design skills.

• Experience working in an international NGO with  involvement in more than one of the areas of Programme Management, Administration and Finance

• Experience in  provision of training, capacity development, and mentoring of internal staff and National/ Local non-governmental organizations,

• Experience working with databases and/or other tracking systems

• Professional fluency in spoken and written English and able to communicate concisely.

Competencies:

Required

• Ability to build strong relationships within the Concern team as well as with staff members of local  partner organizations, recognizing power imbalances in relationships and how to offset them.

• Experience facilitation in the design and delivery of trainings and workshops

• Demonstrated mind-set for continuous learning and process improvement.

• Strong capability to organize and prioritize own work, ability to work effectively under pressure to meet tight deadlines.

• Self-starter with ability to set strategic targets independently with minimal supervision, while asking for support when appropriate.

• Ability to communicate complex information in clear/ simple format.

• Proficiency in MS Office software suite – including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook

What we offer

• A competitive salary and benefit package

• Excellent medical benefits (100% cover including dependents)

• 20 days annual leave

• 26 weeks (paid) maternity leave, 18 weeks (unpaid) parental leave

How to Apply

Interested applicants should send non-returnable C.V., application letter outlining how their experience and education fit this vacancy, please note that no need to submit your supporting documents at this stage:

Interested applicants should apply through THIS LINK

Only short listed candidates will be contacted

Safeguarding at Concern: Code of Conduct and its Associated Policies

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Women and people with disabilities are particularly encouraged to apply