Delivery Advisor

Focus of the Role

Please note that we require all successful candidates to be in post by the beginning of January.

Job Introduction

Our Governance (Africa) pillar supports the governments and leaders of developing and emerging states to enhance their effectiveness. We are focused on helping governments and leaders make their vision for the development of their country a reality. We work in the centre of government and key line ministries and our work is shaped by national priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Following the recent Presidential election, the Federal Government of Nigeria has set transformation of its agriculture sector as a top priority. It is establishing an agriculture delivery unit, the Project for Agriculture Coordination and Execution (PACE) in the Office of the Vice-President, with responsibility for the coordination of the implementation of two flagship programmes: the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) and the Green Imperative (GI) - a partnership with Brazil to improve access to mechanization and technology in Nigerian agriculture.

The TBI Delivery Advisor will be assigned to work with the Office of the Vice President to support it to establish the secretariat and to ensure it becomes fully functional and effective. The role will work with and report to the Lead Delivery Advisor as well as working closely with the rest of the team particularly the experts to implement the two flagships at the state level.  

The role will ensure that at the state level, there are strong management systems and practices in the state teams, identifying any capacity gaps to ensure a highly effective team focused on the implementation and coordination of the two flagship programmes.

The role will require travel across Nigeria, and potentially to a few international locations such as Brazil.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provision of flexible, adaptive management support to the state teams and to key officials in the Office of the Vice President and State Governments, including through coaching and on-the-job mentoring. This requires building a strong trusted working relationship with the Programme leads at the state level to allow for constructive challenge in a suitable manner, particularly on issues of state team management and effectiveness.
• Support the state programme leads to develop and implement a politically smart strategy to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the flagships.
• Support the state programme leads to build or manage an existing, cohesive and effective team that can become a highly effective implementation and coordination mechanism for these flagships at a state level.
• Ensure operational functioning of the state teams, as well as the clarity of roles, responsibilities, internal coordination and learning so that its staff are fully empowered to deliver.
• Ensure the state offices have the systems needed for effective monitoring and evaluation of the two flagship programmes.
• Help the state programme led to ensure that key decision makers and politicians in the state government have timely information and the structures to collaborate in order to unblock the key bottlenecks to implementation.
• Help state teams to mobilise and align additional resources as needed, including from development partners, for example to provide suitable support for State Governments and other Federal Ministries and agencies to implement as needed.

Person Specification

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Ideally 7 years’ experience in roles that require strong management skills, political smartness strong relationship management, business acumen pro-activeness, going the extra mile and strong team work
• Experience developing competitive proposals and reports that unlock project funding
• A University degree at a minimum of a Masters’ level
• In-depth knowledge and experience of Nigeria’s political and government system, ideally both at Federal and State levels.
• Nigerian language skills will be an added advantage

ESSENTIALS SKILLS:

• A strategic mindset and experience in adaptive management, PDIA, etc.

• Strong understanding of and experience implementing and managing complex programmes and projects
• Ability to operate and succeed in a highly political environment
• Strong analytical and management skills, including sound knowledge of strategic planning and project management tools.
• Effective inter-personal and leadership skills with an ability to develop and foster relationships across a wide range of diverse and senior stakeholders
• Relevant experience in the agriculture and/or private sector development space, with in particular an ability to be able to understand investment and agriculture value chain facilitation issues.
• A decent understanding of how governments and businesses operate and how to succeed in them

PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS:

• Drive, motivation and ability to consistently achieve results in a fast-paced environment.

• Experience of living and working in developing countries is desirable but not essential.

VALUES WE LOOK FOR:

• COURAGE… because to tackle global challenges, we must innovate and take smart risks
• COLLABORATION… because when we work together and with external partners, we can overcome even the largest problems
• COMPASSION … because our work is ultimately about improving people’s lives

About The Institute

At the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change we are dedicated to making globalisation work for the many, not the few. We do this by helping countries, their people and their governments, address some of the most difficult challenges in the world today – beginning with those where we think we can break new ground, offering leaders new thinking and new approaches. Our staff – over 200 of them, based all over the world – are working on some of the most intractable problems around issues of co-existence, governance, the peace process in the Middle East and renewing the centre.