Antecedentes

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Country Director, the External Relations Advisor provides advice to the Country Director in the overall effort to mobilize an appropriate and sustainable funding base for the country office. The External Relations Advisor will be responsible to provide strategic advice in mobilizing resources and partnership building. The External Relations Advisor will be responsible for developing the country office resource mobilization strategy, tools and procedures and coordinates their implementation. The incumbent will also be responsible for formulation of strategies and policies required to implement the decision of management related to partnerships building and resource mobilization and the framework within which UNDP’s resource mobilization efforts should take place; donor intelligence and business development conduct; strengthening of UNDP’s position within the UN family and developing strategic partnerships with government, donors, private sector and CSO.

The External Relations Advisor will supervise and lead the External Relations Unit in resource mobilization and partnerships building. The External Relations Advisor will also oversee and supervise the Communications team in implementing the corporate/country office communication and publication strategies. The incumbent maintains a network with colleagues from UNDP, UN Agencies, IFIs, Government officials, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors, private sector and civil society.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Provide strategic advice to Country Office Management and lead in the formulation of strategies and policies related to resource mobilization and partnerships building, develops and implements strategic partnerships, identifies opportunities for building partnerships focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Provide strategic advice to the Country Director and coordinate with the Deputy Country Director (Programme) in the mobilization of core and non-core resources through in-depth analysis of donor-specific ODA trends, political and economic developments, aid policies, practices and budget allocations in specific donor countries and factoring in the overall resource context;
• Effective management and supervision of the External Relations Unit in resource mobilization and partnerships building;
• Develop and execute an aggressive resource mobilization strategic plan to generate financing for the Governance, Inclusive Growth and Economic Empowerment and Environment and Climate Change sectors;
• Set clear resource mobilization targets for each of the sectors and meet the targets to ensure successful implementation;
• Provide guidance in preparing proposals for donors and development finance institutions to leverage additional resources for the above sectors;
• Support existing partnership and proactively identify new potential sources of fund to finance the programme activities;
• Cultivate and manage the entire portfolio of donor partners with a view to building trust and ensuring a sustainable funding mechanism for the execution of the programme activities;
• Coordinate all the financing by external donors and provide monitoring and reporting to the donors;
• Set up a financial monitoring system for all donor funds for transparency and accountability;
• Ensure that high quality technical and financial reports are developed and sent promptly to donors and other relevant partner institutions;
• Lead in developing and maintaining a donor database including contact details, areas of interest/objectives, funding and contractual modalities and formats with a view to sustaining existing cordial relationships and identifying new potential funding opportunities. Develop and conduct a Competitive Landscape Analysis for knowing the partners, their priorities and characterization of their relationships/partnerships;
• Lead in developing a capacity building programme for UNDP and Government personnel to enhance their resource mobilization skills;
• In consultation with the Regional Bureau and in close coordination with the Government authorities, organize and represent Country Office Management at resource mobilization events locally and internationally;
• Coordinate closely with Government and National Institutions for Government Cost-Sharing;
• Advise in carrying out both the external and internal analysis for assessing CO opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Guide in scanning for opportunities in the country based on partner-specific intelligence and the competitive landscape in order to map out where the CO competency strengths overlap with partner/client needs;
• Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners;
• Lead in developing specific donor fund-raising strategies and approaches;
• Build, nurture and maintain effective internal and external working relations, including with relevant Liaison Offices responsible for the donor countries within his/her portfolio;
• Responsible for developing a detailed Partnership and Resource Mobilization (PRM) Strategy with planning, monitoring and evaluation tools to implement the strategy;
• Lead in carrying out analysis of key development and sectoral policies and key donors willing to support policies and identify potential “champions” of cooperation with UNDP within the different levels of administration;
• Negotiate, draft and revise Co-operation Framework (CF) agreements with donors. Monitoring of overall implementation of CF agreements;
• Assess the level of CO engagement with each donor: type and frequency of contact, level of contact and particular areas of interest and develop strategy to position the CO to become a priority partner for the donor;
• Advise programme units in negotiating and structuring (i) cost sharing arrangements with Development Partners (DPs). and (ii) joint programmes (JPs) with other UN agencies according to UNDG JPs guidelines;
• Provide advice in monitoring projects and highlight the importance of compliance with donor agreements to improve UNDP’s performance on reporting;
• Lead in developing Survey Worksheet for Assessing Demand for CO Services;
• Identify Emerging sources of funding and assess if emerging sources of funding are currently being implemented and what their potential could be in future;
• Build partnership with CSO to promote the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to support CSO develop their own capacity by connecting them to knowledge, experience and resources from around the world, including from CSOs in other countries and regions;
• Lead the preparation of regular analytical reports, including funding reports to RBAS and other stakeholders, as required;
• Responsible for developing on-line matrix to be periodically updated for gathering and updating information and references in the country context ranging from overall trends in development to specific partner activities. This will include a comprehensive overview of current UNDP partners, funding priorities of bilateral donors, recent trends in Official Development Assistance (ODA), the level and type of assistance provided by key donors to Iraq for a period of three years;
• Provide guidance to the External Relations team in developing a Client Relationship Management strategy and tool to support country office promotion of a partnership culture in the office at all levels that includes networking and knowledge management with an outward, client-oriented mentality; build strong personal relationships not only with donors and government officials, but also with all key players in local development, including civil society and the private sector; prominent figures, intellectuals, academics and community leaders; and establish partnerships beyond cost-sharing arrangement, which also means reciprocity in relationship;
• Be a source of knowledge and information for partners at any time, even if information is not related to our core operations;
• Negotiate mutually beneficial agreements;
  
• Comply with partner requirements, including reporting requirements;
• Lead in developing appropriate tools and systems to enhance coordination, track commitments and opportunities with partners (donor database, pipeline management system, etc.);
• Provide overall support on the relationship with critical partners, such as Global Fund, GEF, etc., including in the negotiation of any agreements;
• Advise and support in negotiations of memoranda of understanding (MOU) or funding arrangements with donor DPs, thereby ensuring a clear scoping of services to be provided, appropriate distribution of responsibilities, as well as clear cost recovery mechanisms.

Strongly positions UNDP in the UN family focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Identify opportunities for UNDP in its relationship with other UN Agencies;
• Development and implementation of CO strategy for partnering with UN Agencies around UNDAF, MDG and other joint programming.

Oversee the implementation of Corporate / Country Office communication and publication strategies:

• Advises in the formulation and implementation of internal and external communications, advocacy and outreach strategies;
• Provides guidance in the implementation of CO publications strategy and in developing the CO website
• Provide technical advice in improving communication with donors and development partners and in developing targeted communications materials in support of the strategic partnership-building objectives of UNDP Iraq;
• Advises in business development activities relating to communications, such as launching of corporate publications, promotion of public information campaigns on UNDP activities, outreach programmes to position UNDP as a leader within the development space and promotion of public information materials.

Facilitates knowledge building and knowledge sharing as required by the organization, focusing on the following results:

• Identification and formulation of lessons learned and make recommendations to CO management;
• Participate and contribute in a regional knowledge network of COs focusing on building and managing strategic partnerships to facilitate exchange of information on best practices, standard business models and tools;
• Elaboration of proper documentation in support of RM efforts, in consultation with the program staff, including concept notes, project documents, and any other document as required;
• Proposes and implements activities, initiatives and programs to promote public awareness of the work of UNDP.

Competencias

Core Competencies:  

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building support and political acumen;
• Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.  

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda:

• Builds consensus concerning UNDP’s strategic agenda with partners on joint initiatives;
• Dialogues with national counterparts and other stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives.

Results-Based Programme Development and Management:

• Identifies country needs and strategies using a fact-based approach;
• Makes use of a variety of resources within UNDP to achieve results, such as cross-functional teams, secondments and developmental assignments, and collaborative funding approaches;
• Ensures the full implementation of country programme and Financial Resources to obtain results.

Building Strategic Partnerships:

• Makes effective use of UNDP’s resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships;
• Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

• Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
• Conceptualizes more effective approaches to programme development and implementation and to mobilizing and using resources.

Resource Mobilization:

• Contributes to the development of resource mobilization strategies at CO level;
• Actively develops partnerships with potential donors and government counterparts in all sectors at country level;
• Strengthens the capacity of the country office to mobilize resources.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Promotes UNDP as a learning/knowledge sharing organization.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

• Possesses expert knowledge of advanced concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
• For managers: applies a broad knowledge of best management practices; defines objectives and work flows, positions reporting relationships in such a way as to obtain optimum effectiveness for the unit/branch;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself personally;
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates expert knowledge of the current programme guidelines and project management tools and manages the use of these regularly in work assignments.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals:

• Advocates for increased priority given to human development issues internationally and in national planning frameworks;
• Advocates for increased resources at international and national level.

Client Orientation:

• Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
• Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
• Advises and develops strategic and operational soutions with clients that add value to UNDP programmes and operations.
  

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Economics, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Sciences or related field.

Experience:

• 10 years of relevant experience at the national or international level involving resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder projects and partnership development;
• Extensive experience in research and policy-level analysis. Some experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Demonstrated track record in building, leading and managing high-performing organizations and teams;
• Experience at the national or international level in public relations, communications or advocacy. Exceptional experience in communicating consistently, clearly and effectively with a broad range of stakeholders;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.,) and experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written in English required;
• Working knowledge of Arabic desirable.