Organization Description:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading crisis response agencies, providing life-saving assistance and supporting recovery and reconstruction for people affected by war and natural disasters. Active in public health, education, livelihoods, women’s empowerment, youth development, and protection and promotion of rights, IRC assists people from harm to home.
The IRC was registered in Uganda in mid-1998 and implements rehabilitation activities in the sectors of Child and Youth Protection and development, Health, Economic recovery and Development and women protection and empowerment as well as contributing to the response to the Southern Sudanese Refugee situation. IRC Uganda has a head office in Kampala, field offices in Kiryandongo, Lamwo, Moroto, Kyaka and West Nile.
Job purpose:
Under the direction of the Partnership Coordinator, the Partnership Manager will support the Uganda Country Program in its strategic management and oversight of its robust partnerships across the country. The Partnership Manager will facilitate the Uganda team’s delivery of high-quality partnerships that are strategic for IRC, compliant with IRC and donor requirements to provide quality services and outcomes for the communities we serve, consistent with the IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results (PEER) System. Working in close collaboration with the programs, finance, grants and operations departments, the Partnership Manager will co-lead all steps in the partnership management lifecycle ensuring that partnerships are appropriately integrated into the overall project cycle management.
With the support of the senior management team, the Partnership Manager 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 Partnership Manager will report directly to the Partnership Coordinator. The Partnership Manager is based in Kampala, with travel to the field sites.
Major responsibilities:
Partnership management
- Lead facilitation and coordination of partnership management processes to ensure well planned, timely, coordinated, and coherent partnership management.
- 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 Project Capacity Review (PPCR) processes, including contributing to and facilitating the collaborative risk analysis and management.
- Determine appropriate partnership agreement type and draft agreement, considering the due diligence outcomes and specific project and donor requirements, liaising with HQ for review and approval (and obtaining donor approvals as necessary).
- Co-lead Partnership Project Opening, Review, Monitoring and Closing Meetings, together with the project teams, Technical Coordinator and ensure partner participation in all project cycle meetings.
- Coordinate and participate in timely and effective partner program, finance, and compliance review and reflection (monitoring), and work with the Technical Coordinator to address any project performance issues.
- Liaise with the Partnership finance manager and grants team in the development of the partnership tracker.
- Coordinate narrative and finance reporting processes, including review and feedback.
- 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 based on partner feedback), and of the partnership, including successes, challenges and lessons learned, fostering ongoing partnerships beyond the sub-award project cycle.
Promote effective partnerships.
- Co-manage the Partnership Working Group (co-responsible for delivering the functions of the PWG), including referral of issues to Senior Management Team as appropriate.
- Promote and apply the IRC’s PEER System. Contribute to building a strong understanding of PEERS throughout the Uganda country program, and ensure 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.
- Co-facilitate and guide partner mapping and selection processes to identify new partners, including to identify women-led and women/girls serving organizations.
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, 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.
- Promote efforts to strengthen the understanding and application of PEERS and partnership Principles, skills, and approaches in all departments.
- Ensure the implementation of partner strengthening and monitoring plans by all relevant departments (supply chain, technical sectors, finance, monitoring and evaluation) so that partners build effective internal systems.
- Support the resourcing of organizational development support where appropriate for partners in liaison with finance and program departments.
- 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.