Farringdon, London (This position can be based outside the UK provided it is in a country with an SC office from which you would be able to work)
Fixed term contract for 12 months
We are looking for an Equitable Partnerships Project Lead to lead on our equitable partnerships project and support the development of SCUK’s approach to equitable partnerships, helping to to shift power to local and national actors.
- Do you have experience of co-designing and delivering development programmes involving equal partnerships between local and national actors (L&NAs), INGOs country offices and / or programming governments?
- Do you have experience of the practical implementation of partnership governance, risk management, or revised funding models that have led to greater leadership of development programmes by L&NAs?
- Are you motivated by our vision of creating a world where every child doesn’t just survive, but thrives, and can go on to change the world?
If the answers to these questions are yes, we would love to hear from you!
Please Note: The role is for a 12 month contract.
About Us
We are Save the Children. Together, we fight for children every single day so that they can make their mark on the world and build a better future. We stand side by side with children in the toughest places to be a child. We do whatever it takes to make sure they survive, get protection when they are in danger, and have the chance to learn.
About our Programme Partnerships Team:
We work across Save the Children International and the movement to build partnerships and support the design and delivery of programmes that enable children to reach their full potential. The team works to access the funding needed to deliver our programmes around the world, streamlining our relationships with both institutional donors and trusts. Through our regional portfolio structure, we support and manage SCUK’s funding and interests in country programmes.
The Equitable Partnerships Project Lead will participate closely with the Shifting the Power Hub
**‘**Shifting the Power’is a bold movement-wide strategic enabling programme that seeks to shift power to children, communities, and local & national actors so they gain more agency and power to determine their own futures – both abroad and in the UK. The focus of the work in SCUK encompasses the following:
- Building equitable partnerships with local & national actors
- Increasing children’s voice participation and accountability
- Opening decision-making spaces to those most impacted by our work
- Words & Images: decolonising our approach to storytelling, images, and communications.
The Shifting the Power hub works across all SCUK’s divisions to catalyse the strategic shift of power to children, communities, and local and national actors. The hub is sponsored by senior leaders in each of the outward-facing divisions, and its role is to convene resources to address problems, capture and share emerging best practice, and maintain a theory of change and roadmap for the organisation to follow. This team will provide alignment and support to the this role during the secondment/contract.
This role will support the development of SCUK’s approach to equitable partnerships – a key element of the enabling programme.
Job Purpose
This is a new role that will provide strategic and technical leadership to the Equitable Partnerships project, inspiring and guiding the project team to develop new processes and approaches, and work with key stakeholders within SCUK and SCI to pilot and test new processes and value propositions.
The project is sponsored by the Director of Programme Partnerships and aims to establish commercially sustainable models for growing equitable partnerships with local and national actors through revised value propositions and management processes for donors, philanthropists, corporate partners and programming governments.
This role also seeks to bring leading practice expertise, experience, and insight gained from working directly with local & national actors, programming governments and/or country offices to ensure implemented models are quickly adopted and commercially sustainable. In particular, the role will bring senior commercial and technical insight to the revision to the way our funding models are operated and contractually governed that enables power to be effectively shifted to local and national actors.
You will work with departmental leaders to assess current funding model flows and contract governance from donor to programme delivery and lead the design and piloting of changes that will significantly increase the proportion of contracts that can be delivered through equitable partnerships.
Working as a champion for this change with the Shifting the Power hub, you will provide a constructive challenge to SCUK in terms of speed and rationale for change, help convene attention on the most significant practical issues, and inspire internal stakeholders to work together to develop and pilot implementable solutions.
Key Accountabilities:
The Equitable Partnerships Lead key duties will include:
- Leading the Equitable Partnership project, providing clear purpose and direction to the project team and prioritising deliverables to meet overall objectives.
- Managing the focus of the project team’s work and is accountable for the deliverables
- Aligning work with strategic objectives and manages dependencies with other stakeholders
- Building and maintaining strategic external relations that contribute to equitable partnership leadership within the Save the Children movement and the UK INGO sector
- Ensuring effective use of discretionary budget and resources, regular reporting of progress against plan, outcome measurement, and management of risks and issues
- Chairing project team meetings and leads workstream reviews with stakeholders
- Leading the work to refine key funding model designs to support the Shifting the Power strategy
- Working with stakeholders to develop a practical approach to contract governance, risk management, and cost recovery to ensure a sustainable business model
- Working with SCUK and SCI stakeholders to refine and enhance value propositions to corporate partners, donors, programming governments, and local & national partners
- Desiging and supporting pilot implementation(s) to test, learn and improve
- Applying localisation and partnership agreement best practice to underpin changes
- Participating in communications and staff engagement on Shifting the Power topics – leveraging own experience on the topic
Person Profile
Experience/Knowledge/Skills
- Significant local senior leadership experience of grant/contract management and delivery involving at least two of the following contexts: INGO country office, local or national actor, national government funding a domestic development agenda multi-lateral funding
- Experience of international project leadership or senior management programme delivery with relationship management responsibilities and clear evidence of impact
- A proven track record of championing and driving locally led action and the decolonisation of aid in an organisation or network
- A strong understanding of the governance, politics, financial flows, and risk management of the development / NGO sector.
- Experience of bidding for or awarding development contracts
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to synthesise and process information
- Excellent representational, advocacy and diplomatic skills to enable the job holder to operate effectively within Save the Children
- Highly developed communication skills, written and verbal, and the ability to present information clearly and effectively to a wide range of internal and external audiences
Abilities
- Able to provide clear, strategic leadership, and prioritisation of deliverables for impact, and coaching of team members
- Ability to apply and adapt best practice for locally led work including co-design and delivery
- Proven ability to navigate and influence complex organisations and effectively drive positive change.
- Able to leverage personal experience and enthusiasm to inspire SCUK teams, trustees, and partners to drive this exciting strategic shift.
Please Note: This position can be based outside the UK provided it is in a country with an SC office from which you would be able to work. Pay will be based on local salary structures.
Please note:
To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
Ways of Working:
Remote First – The majority of our roles can be performed remotely, however you may work from the office as often as you wish. Whilst you will be predominantly working from home, we may at times require you to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). Note: This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team. This is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building.
On-site – There are certain roles that cannot be performed remotely and so your role will be based in an office location and you may occasionally be able to work from home.
Flexible Working – We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview**.**
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be “Free to Be Me”. We are not looking for just one type of person – we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences – of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability – help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.