Senior Partnership Advisor

Position Title: Senior Partnership Advisor

Organization: Concern Worldwide

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Duration: 5-year program

Programme Budget: $45M

Salary: €45,457-50,509 (Grade 4)

About the Program:

The Strengthening Integrated Health Services Activity (SIHSA) aims to contribute to the Government of Sierra Leone’s overarching goal of improving the health of adolescents, pregnant and postpartum women, and children under five years old. The program seeks to 1) enhance the quality of family planning, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (FP/RMNCAH), malaria services, 2) promote the adoption of crucial health behaviors and 3) strengthen the stewardship and governance of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation at central and district levels. SIHSA seeks to promote the integration of health services, including malaria services, to rapidly scale-up evidence-based interventions to address preventable causes of maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent morbidities and mortality. SIHSA seeks to demonstrate innovative models to catalyze community-driven solutions and show models to promote private sector engagement.

Role Overview:

The Senior Advisor will lead the design and implementation of local health partners’ capacity strengthening outcome of SIHSA. This will include mapping of the functional and technical capacity of local health partners, and ensuring delivery of mentorship and support supervision to select two to three local organizations thus enabling them to transition to direct recipients of donor funding. The role reports into the Chief of Party for SIHSA.

Recruitment is contingent upon successful award and USAID approval.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of the activity’s overall strategy for local health partners’ capacity strengthening and transition to direct donor funding.
• Conduct organizational capacity assessments of local health partners, focusing on both technical and functional capacity criteria in financial, administrative, and technical management as well as their programmatic un-met needs constraining them from receiving direct awards.
• Develop and oversee implementation of the transition plan, including the process of identifying potential local organizations, and the chosen approach to their mentoring, coaching and capacity strengthening that could make the local organizations eligible for a direct Transition Award.
• Supervise selection of local organizations that meet all the criteria that would develop them as potential transition award recipients.
• Develop mentoring and coaching plan for strengthening the chosen local organization’s financial, administrative, human resources, IT, managerial and organizational capacity.
• Regular tracking of achievements in target and timelines of chosen capacity strengthening activities for each selected local organization, and their readiness for potential transition award applicants.
• Timely identify risks and challenges that may affect the local capacity development and transition works, and propose and implement context appropriate risk mitigation measures promptly.
• Represent the activity at meetings and forums that involve national and local partner engagement and dialogue.
• Uphold and promote Concern’s values, including our workplace equality, diversity and inclusion, and safeguarding values.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Public Health, International Development, Public Administration, Social Sciences or a related field.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of experience designing, and managing organizational development/ strengthening initiatives for local partners, preferably in west Africa or similar context.
• Strong understanding of USAID’s localization agenda and approaches.
• Demonstrated experience on organizational development and capacity strengthening of local entities, and mentoring them to be direct recipients of donor funding, preferably from US Government/ USAID.
• Experience in designing and implementing organizational capacity development and training programs.
• Demonstrated skills in mentoring and coaching.
• Strong coordination skills specifically with the ability to effectively coordinate, influence, and negotiate with partners and grantees.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English language skills.

Desired Qualities:

• Cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Commitment to capacity building, protection, and participation.
• Demonstrated experience of team building and participatory approaches.
• Flexibility and adaptability in a changing environment.