Deputy Partnership Coordinator at International Rescue Committee (IRC) | April 2024

Requisition ID: req51375

Job Title: Deputy Partnership Coordinator

Sector: Governance

Employment Category: Regular

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: Not Applicable

Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Work Arrangement:

Job Description 

Background/IRC Summary:

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading emergency response and development organization, supporting communities in transition in over 40 countries. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has implemented programs in Tanzania for over 20 years through education, protection, and health programs.

Job Overview

The Deputy Partnerships Coordinator will support the IRC Tanzania Country Program in its strategic management and oversight of its robust partnerships across the country. The Deputy Partnerships Coordinator will facilitate the Tanzania team’s delivery of high-quality partnerships that are strategic for IRC, compliant with IRC and donor requirements in order to provide quality services and outcomes for the communities we serve, consistent with the IRC’s PEER System. Working in close collaboration with the programs, grants and operations departments, the Deputy Partnership Coordinator will oversee all steps in the partnership management lifecycle ensuring that partnerships are appropriately integrated into the overall project cycle management.

With the support from the Deputy Director of Programs, the Deputy Partnerships Coordinator will also be a leader in building and promoting a culture, attitudes, and values conducive to collaborative partnerships among the team, based on a clear and shared understanding of IRC’s role and approach, and core partnership principles. The Deputy Partnerships Coordinator will report directly to the Deputy Director of Programs. The Deputy Partnerships Coordinator is based in Dar, with travel to the field sites when necessary.

Major Responsibilities

Strategy and Program Approach

• Lead in the review of the Country Program Partnership Strategy (2024-2026).
• From the list of 13 identified stakeholders, support the Technical Coordinators in establishing a minimum of 10 strategic partnerships, with an emphasis on ensuring that 4 of these partners are led by women and are dedicated to addressing the needs of women and girls.
• Collaborate with technical coordinators in updating of the partner mapping and selection processes to identify new partners, including identifying women-led and women/girls serving organizations.
• Proactively engage partners in program development efforts.
• Co-facilitate and support thorough stakeholder reviews throughout the SAP Phase 2 design process. This involves making informed decisions in each outcome area regarding the most effective approach: working in partnership with local civil society, government, and private sector actors, implementing services directly, or a combination of both, to ensure optimal outcomes for the people we serve.

Promote Effective Partnerships

• Revamp the Partnership Working Group (co-responsible for delivering the functions of the PWG), including referral of issues to the Senior Management Team as appropriate.
• Using the Responsible, Accountable, Support, Consulted, Informed (RASCI) tool, lead in establishing a partnership community of practice within the country program.
• Promote and apply the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS). Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout IRC Tanzania, and to ensuring that IRC’s partnership principles, skills, and approaches are applied by staff across programs and projects with partners.
• Facilitate systematic partner feedback on IRC’s management of the partnership relationship, including the documentation of, and response to partner feedback.
• Monitor for opportunities to improve IRC’s overall performance as a partner and make periodic recommendations to SMT.
• Provide a quarterly Partnership Management Report to the SMT, incorporating input from technical coordinators and operational leads as appropriate.

Partnership Agreement Management

• Lead facilitation and coordination of partnership management processes to ensure well planned, timely, coordinated, and coherent partnership management.
• Contribute relevant proposal content and ensure appropriate budget resourcing for partner projects and support.
• Co-facilitate and guide competitive and non-competitive partner selection processes to identify new partners, as well as new applications from existing partners.
• Manage and facilitate funding opportunities for local and national civil society organizations, making efforts to target women-led and women/girls serving organizations.
• Coordinate and co-lead Partner Identity and Background Review (Vetting) processes, including completion of the report for approval.
• Coordinate and co-lead Partner’s Capacity Assessment (PCA) processes, including contributing to and facilitating the collaborative risk analysis and management.
• With support from compliance focal points at the Regional and the Country levels, determine appropriate partnership agreement type and draft agreement, considering the due diligence outcomes and specific project and donor requirements, liaising with Regional and HQ for review and approval (and obtaining donor approvals as necessary).
• Co-lead partnership project opening, review, and closing meetings alongside project managers, with the assistance of the Technical Coordinator.
• Coordinate and participate in timely and effective partner program, project managers, finance, and compliance review and reflection (monitoring), and work with the Technical Coordinator to address any project performance issues.
• Coordinate the narrative report with the Technical Coordinators (TCs) and the finance report with the Deputy Director of Finance (DDF), overseeing the reporting processes, including review and feedback, under the leadership of the program managers and the finance partnership focal point.
• Liaise with finance to achieve timely funds transfers and proper financial follow-up and support for partners; work with finance to address any challenges in payments and raise proposed disallowed costs to SMT.
• Work collaboratively with partners and IRC staff to constructively resolve any issues that may arise.
• Where partner performance issues are identified, facilitate timely action by the IRC to address any areas of non-performance as they arise.
• Maintain complete and organized partnership files for each partner.
• Co-lead the review of the performance of the partner, of the IRC (including on the basis of partner feedback), and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.

Partner Support and Capacity Sharing

• Facilitate the collaborative development and delivery of the partner project support plan, ensuring that it appropriately addresses issues identified in the due diligence process, Organization Capacity Assessment (OCA), and coordinate with relevant departments for the timely, quality implementation of the plan.
• Ensure IRC understands partner capacity strengthening priorities and identifies opportunities and plans for IRC to support partner capacity strengthening efforts.
• Support the resourcing of organizational development support where appropriate for partners; coordinate organizational development support to partners.
• Collaborate with technical coordinators to integrate technical capacity sharing approaches, including how IRC can learn from local partners.
• Promote and identify ways for continual learning between IRC staff and partners.

Partnership Resourcing, Training, and Development

• Work with the senior management team to ensure the partnerships management function is appropriately resourced and structured.
• Lead efforts to build a strong understanding and application of PEERS and partnership principles, skills, and approaches among all departments.

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Deputy Director of Programs
• Position directly supervises: None.
• Other Internal and/or external contacts: Regional Partnership Senior Advisor, Regional Program & Award Unit including Business Development team.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree (MA) or equivalent in international affairs, development, Business Administration, international political economy, or other relevant subject; bachelor’s degree required.
• At least 3 years of experience of working in partnership management, preferably in the development sector.
• Good communicator with strong organizational, time management and analytical skills
• Fluency in English, spoken and written.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures but also use own initiative, meet deadlines, and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing requirements and circumstances.
• Ability to mentor and build staff and partner capacity.
• Ability to juggle competing priorities, meet deadlines and work under pressure in an insecure environment.
• Willingness to travel
• Commitment to women’s rights and IRC’s vision, mission, and values, including sensitivity to cultural settings.
• Prior knowledge of donor compliance regulations (USAID, GFFO) is desirable.
• Proven previous successful experience developing projects, writing proposals and donor reports is desirable.

Working Environment: Security level yellow – The situation in most of the country is calm. Some parts of Kigoma region experience insecurity-highway banditry.

Partnership: The IRC is committed to working with partners as our preferred operating model and adhering to our six partnership principles: equality, complementarity, mutuality, solidarity, results orientation, and humility.

Commitment to Client Responsiveness: By committing to Client-Centered Programming, at the IRC Tanzania, we place the people we serve – our clients – at the center of our programming and services. The IRC Tanzania Staff have an important role to play in supporting the implementation of client-responsive programming through raising awareness to the community and clients about expected staff behavior, project information, the existing feedback mechanisms and how to use them including the response processes, access, and eligibility to services, and contribute to building an institutional culture that prompts staff to listen to clients and to communicate and respond to their requests, feedback, and complaints.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation. 

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity: IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity.  We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal. 

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status or disability. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.