Institutional Partnership Advisor - Partnership and Policy

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Geneva leads NRC’s representation with the IASC and UN agencies, and coordinates donor engagement with the UN and Swiss donors. NRC strives to assist and protect vulnerable and displaced people during crises, especially in situations of conflict. Established in 1946, NRC is an independent, humanitarian, non-profit, non-governmental organisation working in around 31 countries with approximately 14’000 staff. NRC employs a rights based approach, challenging those with responsibility to uphold the rights of displaced people set out within national and International Laws. NRC endeavours to secure the acceptance of local stakeholders for activities and is committed to the principles of humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality. 

NRC seeks to engage with all relevant actors in order to promote the full respect for the rights of displaced and vulnerable people; secure and maintain access for humanitarian operations and promote the achievement of durable solutions. NRC requires consistent and targeted engagement with institutional partners to identify partnership opportunities, raise funds and ensure compliance with donor requirements. NRC Geneva, with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC), are NRC’s primary presence in Geneva.

Role and responsibilities

The Institutional Partnership Adviser works in Geneva, with strong substantive and technical linkage to the Insitutional Partnership Section (IPS) located in Oslo, the NRC Europe office in Brussels, NRC Germany in Berlin and NRC USA in Washington D.C. The IPA reports to Head of Partnership and Humanitarian Policy Unit in Geneva and is part of the Partnerships and Policy Department. The role of NRC’s institutional partnership function in Geneva is to maintain and enhance funding and partnership relations with institutional partners, with a focus on UN and Swiss partners, and to develop funding prospects with new partners/donors. The recruited IPA will act as main focal point for UN agencies with a view to strengthen strategic partnerships.

Generic responsibilities

• Stay updated on donor trends and priorities.
• Develop new funding prospects.
• Further professionalize NRC’s engagement with institutional partners, including strategic liaison with relevant donors, and contribution to quality improvements in donor submissions as well as improved adherence to donor rules and regulations.
• Be responsible for the daily administration of framework, partnership or MOU agreement(s) relevant to their portfolio.
• Play a key role in the application process and negotiation of new framework, partnership and MOU agreements for their relevant donor portfolio.
• Provide an internal help-desk function.
• Inform NRC staff in HO, ROs and COs about relevant funding opportunities, including donor priorities and calls for proposals.
• Identify opportunities for advocacy vis-à-vis donors, including preparing, coordinating and participating in meetings and/or other initiatives, when relevant.
• Represent NRC in conferences and meetings organised by institutional partners, including preparing, coordinating and delivering presentations or other input, when relevant.
• Maintain an overview of NRC’s grant agreements and relations with institutional partners
• Contribute to the revision of the NRC Financing Strategy and the development of plans.

 Specific responsibilities

• The IPA shall have specific responsibility for dealing with UN and Swiss partners including the administration of current and future partnership, MOUs and/or grant agreements.
• Maintain the internal help-desk function by supporting the day-to-day administration of grant agreements relevant to the partner/donor portfolio:
  • Contribute to the development and updating of the NRC Donor Handbook that will collect and organise partner /donor guidelines, tools, etc.
  • Respond to enquiries (from NRC’s HQs and field offices) related to partner/donor funding priorities, procedures, rules, regulations and policies.
  • Develop and deliver trainings on partner/donor requirements.
• Proactively engage to enhance strategic partnerships with key Swiss donors.
• Lead the reinvigorated engagement with OCHA Funding Coordination Section, managing Country Based Pooled funds.
• Stay updated on partner policy development and support/conduct advocacy for enhanced partnership conditions with all relevant actors and keep NRC departments and CO/ROs informed of developments.
• Represent NRC in relevant inter-agency, partner or NGO forums relevant to the partner/donor, and ensure cross-departmental input into relevant discussions and initiatives.
• Support the preparation and coordination of partners /donor meetings and/or related initiatives by making presentations, when relevant.
• Stay updated on developments within humanitarian financing, with the aim to create synergies between NRCs partnerships with institutional donors and UN organizations, and policy work, taking responsibility for selected topics.
• Manage the internship program run by NRC Geneva which includes recruitment, training and day to day supervision of three interns.
• Any other tasks and responsibilities as required by the Head of Partnership and Humanitarian Policy unit, Geneva.

Experience

• Prior experience with government or UN donors, or larger international foundations.
• Knowledge of fund-raising with institutional donors.
• Relevant Master Degree or equivalent qualifications/experience.
• Detailed knowledge of the humanitarian system and funding mechanisms.
• Minimum 5 years of experience from a humanitarian/development organisation and/or from  donor administration, either at head office/capital or field/embassy level.
• Professional experience with institutional donors, including submitting funding proposals and reporting (narratives and budgets) against commitments.

Competencies

• Strong communication skills and fluency in written and spoken English.
• Ability to think strategically, and translate this into plans for action and then results.
• Strong networking and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work autonomously and to tight deadlines.
• Communicating with impact and respect.
• Coping with change.

All staff should act in accordance with NRC’s values, values that are aspirational attitudes and beliefs that influence the way all NRC staff work. NRC’s values are:

• Dedicated
• Innovative
• Inclusive
• Accountable

Please note that internal candidates will be prioritised. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.