Centre of Government and Delivery Francophone Advisor

Focus of the Role

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We believe that politics done well has the power to transform lives. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people.

We do this within two connected divisions:

Government Advisory

Our Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It has both non-profit partners and a client base and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Policy Futures

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas:

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics;
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world

As an organisation the core beliefs we all embrace are:

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity
• Optimistic Changemakers: you’ll be focused on results

TBI’s Centre of Government and Delivery Team (CoGD) is a central function that provides technical leadership and support around TBI’s CoGD initiatives in Africa. Our mission is to be a global centre of excellence for learning and innovation in Centre of Government effectiveness in low income and emerging countries. The team supports TBI’s embedded advisory work in 16 countries in Africa where we work in the centre of the government. At present six are Francophone countries. The team supports on thought leadership, the development of our centre of government and delivery product offering, project scoping, business development, relationship networks, measuring impact and in-house trainings and mentoring.

TBI is seeking to hire a Francophone Africa Advisor with experience in centre of government and delivery to advise our partner governments and other key stakeholders on strengthening the centre of government and delivery in Francophone Africa. Under the direction and guidance of the Head of CoGD, and with input from the practice membership and the Francophone Africa Regional Director, the candidate will own and drive the implementation of our centre of government and delivery strategy in the Francophone Africa countries we work in, while also supporting on our work across the continent.

This is a fixed term role for a two year period.

Key Responsibilities

Quality assurance and capacity building

• Support product development of our centre of government and delivery offer in areas like delivery, strategy and policy, strategic communications and international relations
• Develop the membership and community of the practice to foster experience sharing and learning among practice members in Francophone countries
• Provide high impact advisory support to country teams to help projects ensure impact (e.g. scoping, strategy support, strategy review, technical advice, quality assurance, running induction sessions, short-term advisory, mentoring calls, manage networks and connections)
• Serve as focal point for quality assurance on advice given and topics related to centre of government and delivery across the Francophone Africa work, maintaining links to project teams and Institute-wide teams
• Define existing capability gaps and support project teams to build capacity of centres of government in Francophone Africa to effectively implement their transformation agenda, including technological transformational initiatives 
• Ensure transformational technology initiatives are streamlined in centres of government priorities

Business development and partnerships

• Support fundraising efforts in collaboration with the Fundraising Team, Regional Directors, Country Heads and other sectoral team leads (e.g. energy, agri-food)
• Identify and scope business development opportunities in collaboration with Francophone Africa Regional Director
• Build partnerships for fundraising, business development, thought leadership, policy influencing and programme delivery relevant for the region’s work
• Maintain intelligence on market needs, competition and market gaps

Thought leadership

• Develop a robust and targeted thought leadership and policy influencing agenda
• Become a spokesperson for TBI Francophone Africa on the pressing topics in this sector in order to become a recognised thought leader among the sector’s stakeholders

Contribution to TBI

• Contribute to wider TBI activities
• Support the Head of CoGD in overall strategy development and implementation, thought leadership and management of the practice team

Person Specification

This is a role in a fast-paced team working out of different geographies and in complex policy areas.

To be successful in this role you will need to be closely aligned with the Institute’s outlook and mission and be entrepreneurial in your approach to your work.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate the following skills, knowledge and experience:

• 5-7 year’s of experience in management consulting or centre of government/delivery work in Africa
• A proven track record of delivery – whether policy, operational or functional – is essential, as is relevant experience of working in a project and programme environment. Familiarity with portfolio management approaches would be valuable
• The confidence, experience, and credibility to operate at a senior level in a government operating environment. Excellent political judgement and discretion is essential
• Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts
• The ability to deliver a challenging and complex agenda - particularly in supporting projects which need to turnaround; to deliver a step-change in performance; or handling agendas that are diffuse or ill-defined
• The ability to work in the face of a range of competing views and priorities, possessing highly-developed communication and negotiation skills
• High quality communication, drafting and presentational skills are key
• Be a self-starter, able to work independently but also be a strong team player. Be comfortable working in a small but highly dynamic and adaptive team.
• Relevant educational experience in political science, policy, economics, business or other related fields
• Fluency in French and English