Business Enabling Environment Lead

About Palladium

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 3,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

Project Overview and Role

The goal of the USAID Enterprises, Employment, and Enabling Environments (E4) Activity is to increase employment and jobs through increased private productivity and competitiveness. The theory of change is: “For the number of jobs to increase, businesses must grow; and for businesses to grow, constraints preventing growth must be removed.” Following this logic, Palladium will focus on removing obstacles to growth at the firm level and will work to develop skills identified by employers or develop entrepreneurial expertise. Additionally, Palladium will work to address legal and regulatory constraints, if they are determined to be significant inhibitors of firm growth. These efforts will result in creation of new firms, the growth of existing firms, and new job creation.

Work performed under the E4 IDIQ is divided into three components:

• Component 1: Enterprises – Fostering Competitive Industries
• Component 2: Employment – Developing a Capable Workforce and Entrepreneurship
• Component 3: Enabling Environments – Creating Conditions for Jobs and Investment

The E4 IDIQ regional office is located in Almaty, Kazakhstan and country offices are located in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This Opportunity

The Future Growth Initiative (FGI) Task Order will increase the competitiveness of high-growth industries to provide jobs and incomes for Central Asia’s growing workforce, propelling the region toward self-reliance. FGI will transform market systems in ways that help high-potential firms and sectors grow, foster market linkages to match demand for workforce skills with training offered to youth and women, link entrepreneurs to high-growth markets, and build more business- and worker-friendly policy environments and institutions to sustain private sector–driven growth.

Palladium seeks a Business Enabling Environment Component 3 Lead for the FGI Task Order under the USAID E4 Activity. Activities performed under this Task Order cover Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Business Enabling Environment Comp 3 Lead will provide leadership, vision, technical direction, and management over Component 3 of the project, which focuses on improving the legal, regulatory, and institutional environment for investing and doing business in Central Asia countries. The BEE Lead will oversee the development and implementation of creative, impactful, and sustainable approaches to dismantling binding constraints that prevent high-potential businesses and sectors from attracting investments and reaching new markets. In cooperation with the private sector and the state bodies of CA countries, the BEE Lead will identify opportunities for customized technical assistance on the national and regional level and carry out a range of activities designed to deliver results.

Location

Almaty, Kazakhstan

You and Your Career

We are looking for a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer. If you have expertise in project assistance and ensuring that all duties are addressed in a timely manner regardless of challenges that may arise, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

The BEE Comp 3 Lead will support institutional policy development and intergovernmental coordination and further strengthen the transparency, efficiency, accountability, and implementation of the regulatory requirements applied to businesses at both the national and regional levels. The BEE Comp 3 Lead will coordinate all technical assistance efforts and reporting requirements under Component 3 of the Activity with field staff, short-term consultants, and Palladium home office personnel. S/he may be responsible for implementing additional specific technical tasks within the project (to be determined according to needs and expertise).

Specific tasks include:

• Leads technical implementation and manages policy-related efforts under Component 3 and ensures that challenges and constraints identified are addressed in the BEE workplan.
• Leads efforts to design and institutionalize reforms to improve policy and regulatory environment that enables key stakeholders to articulate policy positions, translate them into specific recommendations, assess their impact (e.g., rapid impact assessment), and advocate to the relevant government bodies for implementation or enactment.
• Leads adaptive approaches to policy initiatives, analyzing results and pivoting to adjust activities where necessary when meeting unanticipated delays or roadblocks.
• Leads efforts to build the capacity of private sector policy forums to develop and implement evidence-based policy research and analysis.
• Leads activities to build the capacity of national and regional reformers, business associations, and the broader policy community to conduct evidence-based policy analysis and engage in more effective advocacy and dialogue.
• Provides technical and managerial support to develop and implement innovative strategies to assist businesses and agencies and associations for sustainable development.
• Managing relationships with public and private sector counterparts and other donors in the areas of activity;
• Leads the design, implementation, and reporting requirements under the BEE activity. Work closely with the project’s in-country team, partner institutions, and beneficiaries to deliver effective technical assistance and BEE support.
• Implement Component 3 Workplan activities and ensure delivery on time, within budget, and compliant with client and stakeholder expectations.
• Develops scopes of work for the short-term technical assistance based on needs identified through annual work plans and supervises implementations of such assistance.
• Managing BEE daily activities to meet or exceed all quantified project targets as articulated in the project Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (MELP) as well as execute all tasks as included in annual work plans in accordance with deadlines and outcomes anticipated, including in related quantitative indicators, outcomes, and other metrics as may be included in the MELP.
• Prepares reports for USAID on weekly, quarterly, and annual basis and other ad hoc reporting papers that might be requested by Project Management and USAID.
• Managing BEE Comp 3 stuff and its activities in all participating Central Asia countries (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan)
• Other duties assigned by Project Management.

Key Competencies Required

• At least 10 years of experience in law, public policy, governance administrative, business environment reform, trade reform, e-governance, or related area, with a proven record of legal reforms and governance improvement, including legal drafting, and/or policy coordination, etc.
• Experience managing single project or its part with at least two stuff members in chain of command. Master Decree in law, public policy, economics, trade, business administration, public administration, or related area.
• English and Russian fluency, with excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Advanced skills in using word processing (Microsoft Word), spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), Microsoft Project, as well as electronic communications programs.
• Strong relationships with trade and investment community in Central Asia, including business and professional associations, private sector companies, financial and commercial law professions.
• Proven ability to work professionally, constructively, and collaboratively as part of team, meet deadlines, communicate effectively, and deal with diverse partners (including high-level government officials, entrepreneurs, and international donors) in a challenging environment.

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred

• Experience in BEE assessment and improvement, including the development, analysis, and/or implementation of commercial laws and policies;
• Experience implementing projects funded by USAID or other donor organizations;
• Experience working with state bodies, government officials and NGOs in Central Asia;
• Relevant experience in advocacy, consensus-building, communications, and economic empowerment;
• Demonstrated initiative and self-motivation in handling all assigned tasks with minimal supervision, and proven ability to effectively function in a complex, challenging environment;
• Solid experience in coordination of project activities, events, and documentation

Duration

The FGI Task Order under USAID’s E4 project ends on September 30, 2024.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion – Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected] and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding – We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.