Partnership and Engagement Advisor – Mogadishu

Role PURPOSE

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.  We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination.  And its girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.  We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood.  And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 80 countries.

Plan international has opened an office in Somalia/Somaliland and started programmes that focus on child protection, education and youth economic empowerment programming both humanitarian and development setting, working with/through partners and providing technical support to INGOs.

The position is expected to be the focal person in Plan international southern interventions to coordinate and manage ongoing interventions within Plan International and also technically support local implementing partners and hence expected to possess extensive professional knowledge and experience in project management, coordination and proven track record in closely working with different actors including the government, clusters and donor engagement.  The post holder will play a key role in establishing and maintaining sound working relationships and partnerships with local partner, donor and government counterpart and other civil society organizations.

management scope, reporting lines, key relationships

The Partnership and Engagement Officer will be based in Mogadishu and S/he will uphold Plan’s Core Values, promote mission and vision, programme principles (transparency, gender equality and diversity) to enhance programmes, and be committed to child protection and respect for human rights.

Reports to:  Country Director

Key relationships:

Internal: Plan International staff including; CD, BDM, PMs, TS, Finance, HR, and Regional /Global Hub staff as appropriate

External: Project partners, government line ministries, target beneficiaries and other agencies and groups.

Physical Environment

This position is based in Mogadishu with frequent travel to field sites and partners’ offices in the southern Somalia.

Accountabilities and MAIN WORK ACTIVITIES

Relations with Government/Business opportunities/donors networking 50%

• Build and maintain strong relations with relevant Line Ministries, UN Agencies, INGOs, Somaliland NGOs and other key stakeholders.
• Support the priority areas of intervention, sectors and specific added value for Plan International in line with the current strategy.
• Coordinate with the fundraising and programme team the identification of funding opportunities
• Maintain coordination networks with delegation of donors in country, UN agencies: identification of specific areas of interested aligned with Plan’s strategy in country;
• Participation in coordination meetings and other relevant forums to raise Plan’s profile.
• Support in identification of national partners suitable for implementation and capacity building support, support to screening/assessing local partners
• Serve as focal point for cluster or sub cluster meetings and activities in the assigned area (provincial level).
• Gather relevant information from cluster or sub cluster meeting share it to management team and submit 4W/5W based on response activities to cluster or sub cluster coordinator.
• Coordinate closely with EiE specialist, CP Specialist, Program development manager, and Program Manager understand and respond to sectoral needs and/or emerging concerns locally.
• Contribute to documentation of technical/project approaches, lessons learnt, and success stories.
• Attend working group and task force meetings on a local level (as required).
• Ensure adequate and accurate reporting of data on Activity Info, internal databases, and Sitreps.
• Provide regular updates on the networking and engagements

Programme development and implementation 15%

• Maintain regular communication and visits for project sites to ensure that the project achieves the goal.
• Collect, update and share information related to project’s progress with Programme Manager.
• Contributes that all Plan International and key donor compliance rules and regulations are adhered to for both Plan International and implementing partners.
• Provide coordination and administrative support in developing and carrying out partner staff trainings and development in the Somalia.
• Maintain ongoing surveillance of the developing humanitarian and security situation in target areas
• Contribute to the development of standards and guidelines for partnership management are regulated updated, understood, adhered and reflected in practice

Safety and Security 20%

• Provide an objective overview and analysis of security trends and their implications for Plan and its partners
• Produce a monthly proactive mapping of security hot spots across the country and upcoming events to the Country Management Team
• Assess application of security policies and protocols

Admin and logistics  10%

• Organize travel arrangements, visa, permits, security, arrangements alien registration for staff and visitors
• Ensure timely renewal certificate and tax clearance
• Organize meeting for staff and visitors to Mogadishu

Safeguarding Children and Young People (Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) 5%

• Understand and put into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures;
• Ensure that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in project design, during implementation and as principles applied in day-to-day work.