Head, Special Programs

Background/Job Purpose

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has recently developed a new strategic plan: Transformative Capacities for a Sustainable & Inclusive Growth in Africa 2023-2027 that focuses on four thematic program pillars: Economic and Social Governance, Climate Change and Energy for Productive Use, Trade as an engine of economic development, and Agribusiness and Food Sovereignty. In addition, the new Strategic Plan has identified four key cross cutting issues: women and youth, digitalization, and data talent.

The Head of Special Programs will oversee a portfolio of projects that fall outside of the key impact areas of the new strategic plan and are governed by agreements that ACBF has with their respective partners or are meant to explore new areas for innovation. These programs are part of ACBF’s commitment to the continual development of human capital and strengthening institutions in Africa. The Head of Special Programs will report to the Director, Programs & Impact.

The ideal candidate for this role thrives working within a team structure, sharing information and insights, and engaging in ongoing intellectual exchange. The incumbent must be comfortable building bridges between academia, non-profit, government, and private corporate sectors. He/she should have experience in designing, planning, and implementing cross-country programs and projects, and in managing people and processes.

 Main Duties and Responsibilities:

·    Establish and maintain functional and empowering relationships with partners, policymakers, government officials, and other interest groups who can either be targets or alliance partners of ACBF’s influencing work.

·       Contribute to knowledge production and maximise use of the knowledge networks to share strategic thinking and learning more widely to ensure that programming builds on learning and is evidence based, innovative and agile to respond to opportunities for change.

·     Map issues, trends, narratives and stay abreast with development and discourses on the thematic areas of the Special Programs portfolio with specific reference to ACBF’s area of work.

·       Provide strategic leadership and management of ACBF’s Special Programs portfolio, while contributing to other program areas.

·      Working within and across the ACBF Programs and Impact team, ensuring tactical and effective engagement from program staff within designated thematic area.

·       Work collaboratively with other team members to develop, define, and implement program strategies to achieve significant and scalable impact across Africa.

·  Coordinate the overall budget management, work planning, administrative requirements, monitoring, and reporting of activities throughout the program cycle, in line with the set-out program work plan and partner requirements.

·       Ensure that all program expenditures are in line with the approved budget and properly accounted for.

·       Produce monthly, quarterly, and annual program progress reports to ensure smooth implementation of activities and timely submission of reports to ACBF Management team and partners.

·     Working closely with the Business Development team, contribute to the development of quality funding proposals to ensure the financial sustainability of the Special programs and projects.

·       People management: Attract, motivate, retain, and develop team members, creating a positive work environment.

·       Manage and provide the required guidance and support to the program team to deliver the program’s expected results, using the results framework, and work plans including the design of training programs and an outline of learning outcomes.

·       Manage team members’ performance.

·       Line and matrix manage entire thematic team.

·       Manage all thematic projects in the Special Programs Portfolio.

·       Implement Budget and Annual work plans and projects that emanate from these.

·       Design and supervise implementation of team processes and tools that support external engagement (e.g., CRM) 

 External

·     Representing the Foundation in diverse communities, including speaking engagements, attending conferences and participating in other key internal and external meetings.

·       Network building and connecting grantees, partners, and other stakeholders.

·       Build the influence and leverage of ACBF work to achieve greater impact. This includes facilitating and managing partnerships/relationships with other capacity building actors, donors, and other actors to advance the strategy.

·     Manage relationships and coordinate engagement with Ministries, and other stakeholders, and role of stakeholder, expected results, and milestones.

Partnership Development

·       Build, prioritize and manage a pipeline of prospective partners.

·       Actively source new partners for the Foundation and manage a portfolio of existing relationships. 

·       Help shape the broader strategy for engaging partners at scale as effort matures.

·    Manage relationships and coordinate engagement with key partners, and the role of each partner’s expected results, and milestones.

·       Develop and sustain effective partnerships and networks for the delivery of an impactful program ensuring the delivery of ACBF’s value add.

Desired Qualifications, Competencies and Experience

·    Master’s degree or higher in an appropriate field with a minimum of 10 years professional experience in an appropriate area linked to development, with significant experience in program design and implementation gained at a relevant organization/institution, with experience of employing market-based solutions to address complex social and development challenges.

·       Leadership and management experience in leading the delivery of complex operations and program strategy with a multi-disciplinary team, working with multiple external stakeholders, across locations and time zones.

·   Strong understanding of market-based solutions, ideally with experience engaging with investors/donor communities.

·       Deep understanding of political, economic, and social trends in Africa, with an ability to work across different sectors in the continent.

·       Strong project management skills, deadline management, sense of responsibility and accountability and the ability to effectively multi-task.

·     Powerful conceptual and analytical skills, with a track record in using data and analytics to inform dynamic strategy implementation, priority setting, and decision-making.

·       Experience in communicating externally, either in large groups or in smaller engagements for representational and influencing purposes

·       Ability to travel frequently, particularly within Africa.

Personal Characteristics

·       An intellectually curious but humble leader with a high degree of compassion, able to engage, enable and inspire.

·       A hands-on approach to all activities with real passion and high levels of energy. Agile and comfortable adapting to different environments.

·       Creative and resourceful in overcoming barriers and unexpected roadblocks. Courageous in spirit, driving change through innovation.

·       An authentic leader who intuitively engenders an inclusive environment, enabling program to reach its ambitious goals.

·       Possesses high personal standards of ethics and integrity towards employees, stakeholders, and beneficiaries.

·   Diversity of thought and experience. Continually seeks new perspectives and feedback, takes an inclusive approach,

·       High levels of learning-agility with a real interest in the capacity building ecosystem.

·       Entrepreneurial and comfortable with ambiguous and change-led environments; self-confident with an authentic style that gravitates to championing change.

·       Eager to seek a challenge and expand frontiers; brings a visionary approach. Sets and meets a high bar of goals and principles.

·       Servant leadership mentality, deeply committed to serving and listening to others. Natural ability to build strong relationships and enable collaboration through empathy and authenticity.

·       Committed to building a community through ACBF’s principles.

Compensation

The African Capacity Building Foundation offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience. The Foundation provides a very generous package of benefits.

 About the African Capacity Building Foundation

For more than 30 years, The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has been building human capital and institutional capacity for Africa’s sustainable development. With membership from 40 African Countries, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, The African Union, and The World Bank, ACBF is the leading institution for capacity development in Africa.

While serving all actors, ACBF recognizes the importance of and pays attention to improving the effectiveness of Africa’s public sector institutions at local, national, regional, and continental levels to become effective systems integrators and catalyzers of sustainable and transformative change.

Since its creation in 1991, ACBF has trained over 50,000 personnel in civil service, most of whom hold key positions in Ministries of Finance, Planning or Economic Development and Central Banks across the continent. The Foundation has established a network of over 50 think tanks supporting evidence-based policymaking across Africa and conducted numerous policy research/analyses, which have been critical in informing economic management and establishing benchmarks for success.

ACBF’s strategy for the next five years focuses on responding to the current and future needs identified by member states such as, Climate Change and Energy for productive use, Agribusiness & Food sovereignty, Trade as an engine of economic development, and Economic & social Governance.

The Foundation currently maintains offices in Accra, Addis Ababa, Harare, and Nairobi.

To apply for this position please submit in confidence a resume and a cover letter that details why you are a good fit for this career position quoting the reference, “Head, Special Programs/04/2023,’ to E-mail: 

Recruitment@acbf-pact.org

 Please note, only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.

 The African Capacity Building Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer

 We strongly encourage qualified female candidates to apply.

 For detailed information and the application process, visit our website on https://www.acbf-pact.org/work-us/vacancies