Partnership Manager – Libya At INTERSOS

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference

Job Title: Partnership Manager

Code: 52-6278

Duty station: Tripoli (with travels to Benghazi and Sabha) and Tunis

Starting date: 01/06/2023

Contract duration: 10 months

Reporting to: Program Coordinator

Supervision of: CSO – NNGO partnerships

Dependents: non-family duty station

General context of the project

INTERSOS Libya aims to further work in partnership which is central to maximize its impact for the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance in Libya. Move over, INTERSOS has identified working in partnership as a key program approach and one of the mission’ priorities in the 2023-2024 Country Strategic Plan (CSP).

The Partnership Manager will be responsible for delivering on this strategy, working to develop a strategic framework and systems to strengthen partnerships with government, civil society, the private sector, research institutions and others. The Partnership Manager will be responsible for undertaking activities with regard to professional engagements of INTERSOS with other partners and NGOs. This will involve collaborating with INTERSOS programs department to engage and support partners inside Libya, as well as, mapping and coordinating with external organizations working with INTERSOS partners. The Partnership Manager will coordinate and develop INTERSOS’ partnership approach in Libya. The Manager will play a lead role in strengthening INTERSOS’ approaches to partnership, building on INTERSOS’ localization strategy and partnership principles. S/he will work in continuous collaboration with different INTERSOS support departments to establish systems and approaches for identifying, pursuing and maintaining effective partnerships that contribute to INTERSOS’ strategic direction and support reaching breakthroughs for the most vulnerable individuals and population groups in Libya. The Partnership Manager will map and identify new partnership opportunities, assess partners’ capacities, support the development of action plans and adapted tools, facilitate/support/deliver relevant capacity strengthening support, provide/ensure ongoing support to the partner organization throughout the program implementation, and document best practices/lessons learnt. S/he will work with the different teams/departments to ensure that partner agreements are in place and donor/INTERSOS requirements complied with by the partner organizations.

General purpose of the position

The Partnership Manager will be responsible for delivering on this strategy, working to develop a strategic framework and systems to strengthen partnerships with government, civil society, the private sector, research institutions and others. The Partnership Manager will be responsible for undertaking activities with regard to professional engagements of INTERSOS with other partners and NGOs. This will involve collaborating with INTERSOS programs department to engage and support partners inside Libya, as well as, mapping and coordinating with external organizations working with INTERSOS partners. The Partnership Manager will coordinate and develop INTERSOS’ partnership approach in Libya. The Manager will play a lead role in strengthening INTERSOS’ approaches to partnership, building on INTERSOS’ localization strategy and partnership principles. S/he will work in continuous collaboration with different INTERSOS support departments to establish systems and approaches for identifying, pursuing and maintaining effective partnerships that contribute to INTERSOS’ strategic direction and support reaching breakthroughs for the most vulnerable individuals and population groups in Libya. The Partnership Manager will map and identify new partnership opportunities, assess partners’ capacities, support the development of action plans and adapted tools, facilitate/support/deliver relevant capacity strengthening support, provide/ensure ongoing support to the partner organization throughout the program implementation, and document best practices/lessons learnt. S/he will work with the different teams/department to ensure that partner agreements are in place and donor/INTERSOS requirements complied with by the partner organizations.​

Main responsibilities and tasks

Partnership Strategy:

• Lead the implementation of the INTERSOS partnership strategy in Libya, informed by building on INTERSOS’ localization strategy and partnership principles and the specificities of the Libyan context.
• Participate in any Partnership Working Groups that will support the development and operationalization of the partnership strategy.
• Stay abreast of current trends in partnerships and share learning with country Senior Management Team (SMT) and others, as well as linking with the INTERSOS Localization Focal Point.
• Lead the mission in developing systematic approaches to selecting partners, and in identifying and pursuing strategic partnerships.
• As part of the strategy, clearly articulate a vision for INTERSOS partnerships, and help promote that vision with INTERSOS staff and partners.

Partnership Systems and Policies:

• Work across departments to develop systems and policies that are supportive of the Partnership Strategy, and ensure periodic review and updating of policies once they are in place.
• Ensure effective and collaborative partnership assessments and vetting on a routine basis so that the organization is not exposed to undue risk.
• Review partnership management practices; identify and follow up on actions to improve management practices.
• Help ensure partners’ involvement in strategic planning, program design and proposal/concept paper development.
• Establish and ensure implementation of standard communication framework and medium with partners, so that both INTERSOS and partners have easier access to information.
• Define a standard framework of roles and responsibilities among various departments and between area office levels for partnership communication and engagement.
• Establish and maintain a partnership database that maps out partner capacity, influence, and strategic alignment.
• Work with the humanitarian lead to set up systems for working with partners (implementing and strategic) in a humanitarian preparedness and response, as per the Core Humanitarian Standards.

Establishing partnerships:

• Assess the current partnership portfolio identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks related to current partners.
• Identify and explore new partnerships, including the updating of the partnership mapping and establishing relationships for collaborating on programming and capacity building.
• Review existing partnering resources and identify additional needs to support capacity assessment, monitoring, compliance/vetting, project cycle management etc., coordinating closely with the field teams.
• Undertake the initial risk and capacity assessment of the partners.

Partner program management:

• Develop, and/or coordinate with other departments in the management and monitoring systems in regards to partner programming.
• Ensure that the sub-grant agreements, TOR and terms of Partnerships, as well as institutional policies and procedures are complied with by the partner organizations, including policies on child safeguarding and advocate for amendments and flexibility where necessary.
• Work with the grants management and legal teams, to ensure that partnership tools and financial standards meet donor requirements and lobby for adaptation and flexibility as needed.
• Provide support to the partner organization in the project cycle management of the INTERSOS funded program, including ensuring work plans, phased budgets, procurement plans and benchmarks are in place for each project and assist partner teams to put these in place.
• Convene grant opening meetings with partners when new grants are awarded, involving INTERSOS program staff and field staff.
• Assist partner management to monitor outputs against activity plans and budgets and timeframes. Assist partner to strategize ways to ensure program delivery meets targets and to support their own organizational development towards operating as potential fully fledged NGOs.
• Keep track of relevant technical, operational, finance, HR or grants issues and where necessary facilitate support from relevant INTERSOS technical or operations teams to ensure continuous support and involvement at all stage of the program cycle.
• Facilitate the provision of technical advice by the INTERSOS technical departments and ensure that the INTERSOS technical staff checks the quality of the work on site.
• Work with finance teams, to ensure the timely payment of partner instalments, review of partner reports and the close out of partner sub-grants.
• Organize partner review meetings on a monthly basis with representation from partner and relevant INTERSOS operations and program staff to discuss progress, roles, responsibilities, expectations, communication between the organizations, any conflict of policies, any areas of concern and future planning.

Partnership Management and Capacity Development:

• Coordinate key processes and actions between and among partners and INTERSOS staff.
• Establish and orient staff and partners on principles of partnership and partnership management; facilitate on-boarding of new partners; build capacity of INTERSOS staff to effectively work with partners.
• Coordinate the strengthening of local and national partner capacity to deliver quality results for children, working across relevant departments to set up systems for coaching and capacity building.
• In collaboration with partners, plan and facilitate regular partnership meetings between partners and INTERSOS staff, ensuring that discussions are as constructive, relevant, and mutually beneficial as possible; Follow up to ensure that mutually-agreed-upon actions are met.
• Coordinate across teams to carry out partner organizational capacity assessments. Analyze assessments to identify specific capacity building and organizational development needs, and provide training and targeted capacity strengthening support.
• Promote relationships of mutual respect and mutual learning with partners, and provide guidance to relevant staff on balancing between holding partners accountable while supporting them.
• Conduct periodic partnership audits to check on consistent application of core partnership strategy across projects and programs.
• Work closely with operations to ensure partnership and risk assessments are conduced and relevant partnership functions and compliance maintained.
• Work across departments to identify and address partnership-related action points, and to introduce new ways of working to make partnerships more effective.
• Facilitate partners’ feedback on their partnership with INTERSOS and work with relevant departments to address feedback.
• Coordination with external agencies working with the same partners, ensuring a partner-centered approach and minimizing risk of duplicating capacity strengthening efforts.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning:

• Coordinate with the MEAL team to ensure the development and implementation of appropriate M&E and program management tools and systems for use by partners, and that appropriate training and ongoing support is provided to partners on use of the same.
• Develop a system for accountability towards partners where INTERSOS regularly seeks feedback from partners on its strategies and plans.
• Secure mutual learning with partners in terms of program delivery and partnership building.
• Analyze results of on-going partnerships, remote management and results on the ground to produce lessons learnt and inform strategic decision-making.

Perform any other related duties as required.

Required profile and experience

Education

Holds an post graduate or master degree in International relations, Social Sciences, Business and Administration, Economy and Finance degrees, or Project management and development relevant field or similar.

Professional Experience

Minimum 3 years work experience in the development / humanitarian sector/with NGOs, with at least 2 years’ experience in partnership-based programming or community based programming​.

Professional Requirements

• Proven computer skills (proven computer literacy), especially in excel, word and other data base software, database management skills
• Demonstrated experience in working with CSOs (NNGOs and/or CBOs)
• Strong team spirit, high level of discipline, tolerance and comfortable in a multi-cultural environment
• Excellent communication skills (listening, speaking and writing), patient
• Attention to detail and structured way of approaching tasks
• Ability to plan-ahead and output oriented
• Able to ensure quick quality delivery in stressful environment
• Very strong interpersonal skills: strong communication and diplomatic skills
• Practical and problem-solver
• Highly disciplined and ability to deal with heavy work pressure
• Ability and willingness to move around in Libya (East, West South)
• Readiness to commit and adhere to the values, mission and vision of INTERSOS
• Adhere to strict confidentiality and information management standards and protocols sharing information only in compliance with these standards

Languages

• Excellent written and spoken English
• Ability to speak and write in Arabic is highly desirable

Personal Requirements

• Stress-resilient to be able to cope with deadlines and complex problems
• Strong organizational, interpersonal and communications skills
• Flexibility in working hours
• Ability to maintain accurate, clear and updated records/report
• Adhere to strict confidentiality and information management standards and protocols, sharing information only in compliance with these standards
• Comply with all relevant INTERSOS policies and procedures.
• Strong team spirit, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment
• Excellent analytical skills, observation and analysis capacity
• Very strong interpersonal skills: strong communication and diplomatic skills
• Practical and problem-solver
• Ability to deal with heavy work pressure