Partnership & Strategy Lead – West & Central at Christian Aid

Home to more than 160 million people, Nigeria has the largest population and the second largest economy in Africa, and has a major influence on the continent’s political agenda.

However, Nigeria has a history of political instability, corruption and mismanagement of public resources, and has recently seen religious and ethnic conflict. As a result, more than half of Nigeria’s population still live in poverty.

Despite four peaceful transitions of power since a return to civilian rule in 1999, Nigeria’s politics continue to be characterised by patronage, ineffective opposition, low voter turnout and voting along ethnic and religious lines.

Most of Nigeria’s wealth is held by a tiny economic and political elite and many people feel powerless to challenge the current system, campaign for their rights or hold their gAbout the role

Reporting in to the Head of Impact for the Multi-Country Cluster (MCC), the Partnership & Strategy Lead for the West & Central Africa region is s responsible for leading a team working across the cluster and across national boundaries, ensuring that the cluster has a wide and diverse programme portfolio of Civil Society partners contributing to Christian Aid’s global strategy and aligning with organisational values and goals to maximise impact.
The role spearheads the decolonised and localised approach across the cluster and ensures that programme delivery contributes to progress towards Christian Aid’s decolonial journey.
The post-holder will ensure that all work is carried out in line with Christian Aid partnership approach and standards, and ensures demonstrable best practice in programme delivery, including quality and consistency.
As a key member of the MCC Senior Leadership Team, the role collaborates closely with the other leads within the cluster and with global programme colleagues to ensure that advocacy is rooted in community experience for impact, and that learning is carried out in a way that is mutually beneficial to CA and our partners.

Some of the main responsibilities of the Partnership & Strategy Lead includes:

Lead the cluster programme team to identify, foster and build potential new active and inactive partnerships (e.g. local partners, civil society networks, alliances and relevant government bodies) that can contribute to greater impact in the priority countries.
Ensure efficient and effective management of Christian Aid’s programmes across the cluster by setting objectives that align to organisational values and goals and ensuring that grants and initiatives are co-designed, strategic and that they connect partners and communities across diverse geographies.
Oversee both restricted and unrestricted budgets and effectively engage resources required for the MCC partnership portfolio to achieve success.
Use the decolonised and localised approach as the framework to support cluster-based and dispersed staff to build a diverse portfolio of partners that can deliver locally led responses, be prepared for crises and challenge systems that drive poverty.
Ensure work is happening across national boundaries, that the local is connected to the global, while horizon scanning and keeping a watching brief for radar countries linked to the cluster.
Collaborate with MCC Leadership Team, particularly the Advocacy and Policy Lead to ensure advocacy and policy work at national and global levels are connected and rooted in community experience to drive meaningful change.
Foster a leadership style which reinforces collective responsibility, mutual accountability, open communication, dynamism, interdependence, and organisational learning to support a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Liaise with head of operations to oversee delivery of donor commitments and ensure that contracts are managed by the Restricted Funding Manager to enable funds to be released.
Lead innovative approaches to supporting Civil Society, particularly alongside the ACT Alliance, in Christian Aid’s thematic areas, building alliances, reaching new audiences (including donors) and working with new and different entities to ensure programmes, partners and communities have what they need to eradicate symptoms and challenge structures of poverty.

About you

Who we are looking for

Essential:

Degree ideally in Social and/or Political Sciences.
Significant senior management experience.
Substantial experience in development and/or humanitarian programming.
Substantial experience leading strategic development through programme cycles, incl. monitoring and review.
Substantial experience of leadership and management.
Substantial experience working with church, ecumenical and Civil Society organisations in a representational role.
Substantial experience working with multi-donor fundraising and/or consortium working.
Substantial experience of application of organisational development, processes and systems thinking.
Detailed understanding of development issues and best practice.
Detailed understanding of thinking and working strategically to improve impact.
Detailed understanding of contemporary approaches to the evidencing of impact and monitoring of NGO interventions.
Detailed understanding of supporting organisations through change and growth.
Highly developed analytical ability and the ability to identify innovate new ways or working.
Highly developed communication skills, both verbal and written, and ability to represent in public and the media.
Highly developed problem-solving, creative and strategic thinking, and planning skills.
Highly developed interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships with key stakeholders.
Posts in Francophone contexts, fluency in both French and English (written and spoken) is required.