Global Surge Team Roster: Partnerships Coordinator

The IRC’s Global Surge Team (GST) is a roster of esteemed and highly qualified humanitarian professionals who deploy on short notice to non-emergency and emergency contexts to support the IRC’s mission. Members of the GST provide specialist support where talent is most needed for short-term deployments of up to three months. The GST is a flexible employment opportunity for staff, requiring members to be available for deployments only 50% of the year (with opportunities for additional deployments if incumbent is interested).

Job Overview

Working in partnership with local civil society, government and private sector actors is fundamental to the IRC’s mission to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their futures. We contribute to greater impact and scale, and more sustainable outcomes, when we partner with local actors, including in acute emergencies. Our commitment to being an organization that promotes diversity, equality and inclusion requires that we champion and resource leadership and action that comes from the communities in which we work.

The Partnerships Coordinator represents an exciting opportunity to advance IRC’s strategic commitment to ‘partner first and as equals’ with local civil society, government and private sector organizations. This role will be responsible for ensuring consistent collaboration with partners and promoting and modeling effective partnerships with local actors.

Major Responsibilities

The Partnerships Coordinator will work within the country team to support the development of principled, strategic partnerships, coordinate the appropriate engagement of all departments in the partnership strategy processes, provide guidance on PEERS policy and process, and manage partnership agreements. They will serve as a facilitator, convenor, and the secondary focal point for partners. The specific details and priorities will vary from context to context but may include the following responsibilities:

Strategy and Program Approach

• Co-facilitate and support robust stakeholder analysis processes that enable the Strategy Action Plan (SAP) and each program design to be based on how we can best support, reinforce and complement local civil society, government and private sector actors.

• Collaborate with technical coordinators to foster a network of local civil society, government and private sector partners, empowering those entities to lead key decision making and service delivery, and positioning IRC as the partner of choice.

• Under the guidance of the SMT, support technical coordinators to identify, engage with and build long term Strategic Partnerships with local actors, fostering collaborating on strategy, program design and development, and capacity sharing, with regular senior management engagement.

• Serve as secondary focal point for and facilitate relationship management with partners.

• Facilitate IRC’s progress toward its Strategy100 partnership spending and Strategic Partnerships targets.

• Support effective engagement with donors to resource the SAP partnership component.

Building Blocks of Partnership Success

• Facilitate the ongoing development of IRC’s internal capacity to partner, including by establishing the six core building blocks for partnership success: self-assessment; defined and resourced roles across all departments; partnership working group; partnership training; stakeholder analysis; and collaborative design.

• Consistently promote and effectively use IRC’s Partnership Excellence for Equality and Results System (PEERS) and ensure that partnership decision-making and action is driven by IRC’s partnership principles.

• Provide a quarterly Partnership Management Report to the SMT, incorporating input from technical coordinators and operational leads as appropriate.

• Manage the Partnership Working Group, helping the PWG drives cross departmental collaboration and the effective and efficient management of partnerships, including referral of issues to SMT as appropriate.

Program Facilitation

• 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 organizations, making efforts to target women-led and women/girls serving organizations.

• Actively promote partner collaboration in program design and resource allocation, and partner participation in key program delivery design making in the context of PCM.

• Co-lead and coordinate due diligence processes, and facilitate collaborative partnership risk management, including through effective mitigation, monitoring and reflection and reporting processes.

• Develop draft partnership agreements with partners and facilitate internal review and approval.

• Lead facilitation and coordination of partnership management processes to ensure well planned, timely, coordinated and coherent partnership management.

• 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 any proposed disallowed costs to SMT.

• Facilitate effective, timely partnership project support and broader capacity sharing.

• 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.

• Oversight of partner feedback systems, including by co-leading partnership health check processes, ensuring that IRC consistently addresses partners’ concerns and recommendations in a timely manner.

• Maintain complete and organized partnership files for each partner.

Staffing

• Ensure IRC’s structuring, recruitment, staff development, and performance management processes for partnership management roles are guided by PEERS and IRC’s principles, skills and approaches.

• Lead efforts to build a strong understanding and application of PEERS and partnership principles, skills and approaches among all departments.

Job Requirements:

• Minimum 5 years of program and/or grants experience with local and/or international NGOs in humanitarian settings.

• Strong understanding of partnership principles (equality, complementarity, mutuality, solidarity, results orientation and humility).

• Demonstrated experience and competence communicating, planning and collaborating with partners in a way that builds trust and mutual understanding, preferably in the context of partnerships between local and international organizations.

• High-level interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

• Effective at leading and building programs and/or operations in fast-paced, multifaceted environments. Leadership and team management skills are important.

• Solid track record leading in an emergency environment and/or start-up environment as part of a multinational team, as well as resource mobilization for health emergencies.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including demonstrated ability to communicate technical information in a clear, accessible manner.

• Fluency in English. Working knowledge of French, Arabic or Spanish strongly preferred.

• Digital literacy: MS Word, Excel & email applications required.

• Excellent writing and editing skills, and ability to effectively write and edit grant proposals and reports.

• Effective people- and program-management skills in humanitarian contexts: can train and lead staff productively under stressful circumstances.

• Flexible, focused, and reliable in an environment of changing demands.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.