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Governance Advisor – Delivery

Employer
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Location
Nairobi (KE)
Salary
Competitive Package
Closing date
31 Jan 2019

Governance Advisor – Delivery

 

Nairobi, Kenya

 

About Tony Blair Institute for Global Change:

 

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.

 

 

 

Focus of the Role:

 

Our Governance work supports the governments and leaders of fragile, 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.

 

Politically and economically, the President’s Big Four economic transformation plan (affordable housing, food security, improved manufacturing and universal health coverage, underpinned by education reforms) as extracted from the wider Vision 2030 priorities, is at the forefront of government policy-making.

 

Established in 2015, The President’s Delivery Unit is a centre of government function based in the Office of the President. Its primary remit is to improve the coordination of National Government flagship programs; and to monitor, evaluate and report on the timely fulfilment of H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s key development priorities.

 

The Delivery Unit, which reports to the Chief of Staff and Head of the President's Delivery Unit, works alongside other essential offices and departments within the Presidency, including: the Office of the Deputy President, Office of The Chief Of Staff and Head of the Public Service, Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of Performance Management, State Corporations Oversight Office, Office of Budget Management and the Vision 2030 Secretariat.

 

TBI played a significant role in helping to establish the President’s Delivery Unit and providing strong support in key developments such as the Standard Gauge Railway and performance management systems for the government. With the recent revamping of the President’s Delivery Unit and the recruitment of a new Kenya team, accelerating the performance of the President’s Delivery Unit is a priority.

 

TBI has accumulated rich experience working with governments across the world in coordinating and supporting delivery efforts.  In addition, through the extensive experience of our country team coupled with our years of work in Kenya, we have also acquired in-depth knowledge of the Government systems and structures and have built a set of trusted relationships which will enable TBI to provide impactful advice and coordination of the delivery process over the coming years. 

 

What We Look For in Our People:

 

The successful candidate will thrive in an environment where the importance of personal initiative coupled with teamwork is critical. Above all they will build effective relationships, win trust, and help shape and influence change delivery in government. With a good knowledge of delivery principles and processes, they will have a grounding in project and programme management, capacity development and policy reform.

 

The post-holder will play a pivotal role in supporting the Country Head and Senior Advisor to engage across the PDU or in one or more thematic areas across government.  They will regularly engage senior government officials and will work shoulder to shoulder with the PDU team on a daily basis. Key areas of responsibility will include:

 

·         Supporting PDU, Centre of Government and County Government delivery capacities to bridge implementation gaps and accelerate delivery:

 

·         Working with the Country Head and Senior Advisor, support the Secretary of the PDU and his team to to institutionalise the delivery culture including through:

 

·         Providing skills-gap analyses

 

·         Delineating a long-term professional development strategy

 

·         Establishing a working guideline and modality for the PDU

 

·         Providing continuous capacity building support, through 1-1 coaching, on-job trainings (World Management Survey-WMS and Project Cycle Management) and process facilitations.

 

·         Developing a better outcome-based performance management product for the government

 

·         Developing a sustainable vision for the PDU as a centre of excellence at both regional and county levels

 

·         Providing quality assurance and oversight on delivery programming

 

·         Work with counterparts and project colleagues to plan, sequence and deliver the right interventions at the right time

 

·         Ensure robust project management processes are in place, including reporting and documentation of activities.

 

·         Support the PDU to assess progress against project delivery plans, highlighting key risks to delivery, proposing mitigation measures and escalating to decision-makers where appropriate.

 

·         Support M&E processes with detailed analyses and working with counterparts to address findings

 

·         Provide briefings and assessments of progress – whether thematically or on a project and programme basis – for a range of senior audiences

 

·         Support the Country Head and Senior Advisor, to develop high quality reports and recommendations for decision-makers across government to take action upon.

 

 

 

Relationship Building/Management

 

·         Be visible to counterparts and stakeholders and regularly undertake activities to engage and build trust with people and generate commitment

 

·         Develop strong collaborative networks and effective communication with main counterparts, and other relevant agencies and organisations

 

·         Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders within implementing agencies in order to facilitate issue resolution and unblock issues delaying implementation.

 

·         Support the Kenya team to identify new partnership and project opportunities

 

 

 

Support the coordination of project oversight between the Centre of Government, implementing institutions and other stakeholders such as the private sector

 

·         Support government-to-government and government-to-private sector coordination, engage stakeholders and synthesise inputs

 

·         Develop thematic workstreams as directed and in response to requests from counterparts.

 

 

 

Other internal TBI responsibilities

 

·         Contribute to wider TBI-K activities including strategic development, reporting, organisation wide coordination and engagement; and deputising as appropriate.

 

·         Support the Country Head and Senior Advisor to participate and collaborate with other TBI projects, sharing knowledge and supporting thought leadership efforts.

 

·         Provide overall support to the Country Head including in providing overall advice on economic transformation and delivery to GoK.

 

 

 

In all these areas of work, the Advisor will be expected to work closely with the members of the TBI global team to benefit from the network effect of TBI.

 

 

 

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

 

·         The successful candidate will have the confidence, experience, and credibility to operate at a senior level in a government operating environment. They will also have excellent judgement and highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts.

 

·         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.

 

·         Policy and/or programme delivery experience in one of the areas of the President’s Big 4 Agenda (manufacturing, universal health care, food security and affordable housing) will be an advantage

 

·         They will have 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.

 

·         They will also have 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.

 

 

 

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

 

·         Relevant educational experience in political science, policy, economics, business or other related fields (Master's degree or equivalent is preferred)

 

·         Ability to reside in Nairobi for the duration of the project – two (2) years

 

·         Fluency in English required. Fluency in Swahili an advantage (oral and written)

 

 

 

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

 

To apply please visit our website via the link.

 

 

 

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