Director of Programs & Impact, The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Organization Overview
Adelko Consulting Services has been contracted by ACBF to source for outstanding candidates for the Director of Programs & Impact position. For more than 30 years, The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) has been building human capital and institutional capacity for Africa’s sustainable development. With membership from 40 African Countries, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, The African Union, and The World Bank, ACBF is the leading institution for capacity development in Africa.
While serving all actors, ACBF recognizes the importance of and pays attention to improving the effectiveness of Africa’s public sector institutions at local, national, regional, and continental levels to become effective systems integrators and catalyzers of sustainable and transformative change.
ACBF’s strategy for the next five years focuses on responding to the current and future needs identified by member states such as Climate Change and Energy for productive use, Agribusiness & Food sovereignty, Trade as an engine of economic development, and Economic & Social Governance. The Foundation currently maintains offices in Accra, Addis Ababa, Harare, and Nairobi.
To learn more about The African Capacity Building Foundation, please visit https://www.acbf-pact.org/
Role Overview
The Director of Programs & Impact serves as the lead Generalist in Africa, reporting directly to the Executive Secretary. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work together with partners, to catalyze and scale transformative innovations creating unlikely partnerships to span sectors and geographies. He/she will provide management and leadership oversight for the entire program team as it moves into an exciting period of implementing the foundation’s new strategy. He/she will be working within a team structure, sharing information and insights, and engaging in ongoing intellectual exchange and must be comfortable building bridges between academia, non-profit, government, and corporate sectors. He/she will be designing, planning, and implementing cross-country programs and projects, and managing people and processes.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
- Under the direction of the Executive Secretary, translate the foundation’s strategic plan into actionable programs initiatives that drive impact and relevance across the region.
- Lead and oversee the design and implementation of the different impact area programs, such as Climate.
- Design and implement the supporting frameworks, processes, and tools for strategic and results-based management of program initiatives (e.g., lifecycle and portfolio management)
- Manage partnerships (internal and external) required to deliver programs to ensure tangible outcomes.
- Oversee measurement and reporting of program outcomes to fulfil our accountability to our donors.
- Engage external relevant stakeholders, including advocacy with government officials in partnership.
- Effectively manage program teams, nurturing talent for professional growth.
- Deal effectively with unexpected complex challenges that arise inevitably in any program.
- Effectively “tee up” strategic decisions for the Executive Secretary and or Management team (e.g., choices under uncertainty, risk management issues, etc.)
- Manage timely execution of select internal team processes (e.g., team reviews, budget cycles, strategy soaks, and review processes).
- Prepare written updates for the Executive Board
External
- Representing the Foundation in diverse communities, including speaking engagements, attending conferences, and participating in other key internal and external meetings.
- Network building and connecting grantees, partners, and other stakeholders.
- Build the influence and leverage of ACBF work to achieve greater impact. This includes facilitating and managing partnerships/relationships with other capacity-building actors, donors, and other actors to advance the strategy.
Partnership Development
- Build, prioritize, and manage a pipeline of prospective partners.
- Actively source new partners for the Foundation and manage a portfolio of existing relationships.
- Help shape the broader strategy for engaging partners at scale as effort matures.
- Design and supervise the implementation of team processes and tools that support external engagement (e.g., CRM).
- Ensure broader effort is achieving its objectives and on track to achieve impact; drive decision-making and course corrections when needed.
Strategic Planning
- Ensure initiatives/projects in execution have a solid Project Management Plan in place.
- Assist program teams in setting up their monitoring plan, and a work that ties back to its results framework, to the team's and the Foundation's strategy.
- Standardize best practices and performance across initiatives and allow for easier learning across and from previous projects.
- Deliver initiatives/projects on time and budget.
Any other duty that may be required by Management
Desired Competencies and Experience
- Master’s degree with a minimum of 10 years’ professional experience, with significant experience in program design and implementation, ideally in a relevant field /institution, with experience in employing market-based solutions to address complex social and development challenges.
- Leadership and management experience in leading the delivery of complex operations and program strategy with a multi-disciplinary team, working with multiple external stakeholders, across locations and time zones.
- Strong understanding of market-based solutions, ideally with experience engaging with investors/donor communities.
- Deep understanding of political, economic, and social trends in Africa, with an ability to work across different sectors in the continent.
- Strong project management skills, deadline management, sense of responsibility and accountability, and the ability to effectively multi-task.
- Powerful conceptual and analytical skills, with a track record in using data and analytics to inform dynamic strategy implementation, priority setting, and decision-making.
- Experience in communicating externally, either in large groups or in smaller engagements for representational and influencing purposes.
- Fluent in English and French.
- Ability to travel frequently, particularly within Africa.
Personal characteristics
- An intellectually curious but humble leader with a high degree of compassion, able to engage, enable and inspire.
- A hands-on approach to all activities with real passion and high levels of energy. Agile and comfortable adapting to different environments.
- Creative and resourceful in overcoming barriers and unexpected roadblocks. Courageous in spirit, driving change through innovation.
- An authentic leader who intuitively engenders an inclusive environment, enabling program to reach its ambitious goals.
- Possesses high personal standards of ethics and integrity towards employees, stakeholders, and beneficiaries.
- Diversity of thought and experience. Continually seeks new perspectives and feedback, takes an inclusive approach,
- High levels of learning agility with a real interest in the capacity-building ecosystem.
- Entrepreneurial and comfortable with ambiguous and change-led environments; self-confident with an authentic style that gravitates to championing change.
- Eager to seek a challenge and expand frontiers; brings a visionary approach. Sets and meets a high bar of goals and principles.
- Servant leadership mentality, deeply committed to serving and listening to others. Natural ability to build strong relationships and enable collaboration through empathy and authenticity.
- Committed to building a community through ACBF’s principles.
Terms of Appointment
This role is based in Accra, Ghana, and is a fixed term three-year contract, renewable, and based on a successful one-year probation period.
How to Apply
If you wish to be considered for this position, please forward a copy of your CV in English version and Microsoft Word format, along with any relevant documentation to [email protected] on or before 15th November 2024. All information will be in the strictest confidence as we pride ourselves on our professional service. We will revert to you as soon as feasible when we have reviewed your application.
ACBF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All aspects of employment will be based on merit, competence, and performance.
