THE BANK :

Created in 1964, the African Development Bank is the first pan-African development institution. Its mission is to promote economic growth and social progress across the continent. The Bank has 81 member countries, including 54 African countries (the regional member countries). The Bank’s Development Program aims to provide financial and technical support to transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Africa. To further focus on the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2023-2032) and achieve greater impact on development, five major areas in which interventions will need to be intensified for Africa have been identified, namely: energy, agro-industry, industrialization, integration and improvement of the quality of life of African populations. The Bank intends to establish a management team that will drive the effective implementation of this vision.

THE COMPLEX :

The Bank has reorganized itself and is establishing the Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery Complex, the main objective of which is to strengthen regional capacities and bring together leaders activities intended for customers in the regions for which they are responsible. Five regional development, integration and service delivery centers were created, each headed by a general director. These are the centers for Southern Africa, North Africa, West Africa, East Africa and Central Africa.

THE DEPARTMENT THAT IS RECRUITING:

The Department of Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery for Central Africa (RDGC) provides advice on strategic options to generate revenue and ensure cost effectiveness of operations and strategies of the Bank. The department contributes directly and indirectly to the achievement of key performance objectives by developing detailed and regular reports (dashboard) on the progress of the Bank’s work programs and initiatives. The department also provides support in terms of quality assurance, quality at entry to the Bank’s operations and the formulation of strategies and daily administration.

THE POST :

The main role of the senior country program manager is to ensure that the portfolio of the country assigned to him is healthy and efficient. The incumbent serves as a professional expert responsible for providing support to Heads of Country Offices responsible for multiple activities falling within the scope of work programs and projects and, where appropriate, this support is extended to the Director General on an ad hoc basis or provided as directed. This role requires continuous follow-ups with the project managers concerned and the preparation of improvement plans for country or regional portfolios.

As a Country Program Manager, the post holder provides advice and guides strategic planning through the analysis of strategies and results frameworks in the assigned country. It supports and contributes to the design and development of work programmes/projects and activities, drawing on the approved strategy and results framework for the Complex, and provides expertise for resource budgeting.

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MAIN FUNCTIONS:

Under the supervision of the Director General, the Country Program Manager performs the following tasks and assumes the following responsibilities:

1. Prepare each month a summary of the implementation of the department’s work program and highlight bottlenecks and proposed solutions.
2. Monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the monthly portfolio summary reports.
3. Budget management – ​​as budget coordinator or departmental focal point, coordinate the preparation of the departmental work program and related budget, jointly with country economists and country program managers.
4. Coordination – coordinate reports submitted by the department, based on the Board’s rolling calendar (BRAG), in coordination with Country Program Officers (CPOs) in country offices;
5. Monitoring – monitor and manage the regional portfolio and operational activities.
6. Ensure the follow-up of BDEV recommendations and the recommendations of institutional audits of projects as well as the requirements of the Board of Directors.
7. Project and work program management – ​​work with sector experts responsible for specific projects to ensure that outstanding project issues are resolved and act as country team secretary in the absence of a CPO.
8. Serve as focal point and spokesperson on operational issues to the regional center, external constituents and borrowers.
9. Compliance management – ​​ensure that activity and audit reports comply with Bank requirements and are submitted on time.
10. Ensure the implementation of supervision recommendations, portfolio review and financial audit missions.
11. Ensure effective supervision of project teams with regard to quality and compliance with the Bank’s operational processes and procedures (including directing them to competent staff in fiduciary, legal and safeguarding areas, as well as in other areas). other specialized fields).
12. Monitor and support the work of sector staff in implementing country portfolio performance review processes with government and other development partners.
13. Undertake quality control of key documents, participate in dialogue with public authorities, regional economic communities or national economic groupings, as necessary, and ensure follow-up of agreed measures.
14. Provide support to the Head of Operations Implementation Support Division to ensure compliance of the actions of sector team members with ethics, regulations, policies and guidelines of the Bank.
15. Contribute to the preparation of portfolio-related country information packages for Annual Meetings and other information packages for Management.
16. Highly organized and structured – Structure all work activities so that updates or reports can be provided in a timely manner. Ability to coordinate (tasks, missions, projects, programs): very available and regularly executes very complex/delicate tasks on time.

Coordination of non-lending activities

17. Provide support for the administration of analytical and advisory activities and lending operations at various stages of preparation as well as information on related documents. This function focuses on the review and evaluation of concept notes, preliminary drafts of evaluation reports and other operational documents as well as the final products.

Management of stakeholder relations

18. Under the guidance of the National Office Manager, strategically builds and manages strong working relationships with assigned country government, international development agencies, key clients and stakeholders.
19. Provide support to the Country Director to manage communications and ensure that stakeholders are informed of project activities, their progress as well as exceptions and are able to accept transferred products; provide active support to the head of national office.
20. To manage relations with the government and other development partners (DP);
21. Provide advice on and pilot initiatives and strategies to promote effective and strong relationships with government, the private sector and development partners.
22. Lead the country portfolio performance evaluation process with the concerned RECs/governments and other development partners; This task includes responsibility for quality control of key documents, participation in dialogue with RECs/governments and monitoring of agreed measures.
23. Provide advice to clients on issues that may impact the achievement of project outcomes (including sustainability issues and post-project requirements, such as maintenance).

Knowledge management

24. Actively interact with relevant Bank project managers/units and Project Implementation Units (PIUs)/government agencies to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices in portfolio management.
25. Provide feedback and suggestions to the Country Office Head on the Bank’s operational policies, strategies and procedures, with the aim of working towards continuous improvement in the implementation of Bank policies.
26. Integrate lessons learned into project development and implementation.

Visibility of the AfDB

• Support the country’s efforts to improve the visibility of the Bank in the region.
• Represent and ensure visibility, as appropriate, including through organization/participation in important events, such as high-level official visits, interviews, seminars, professional events and conferences.

Quality management

27. Focus on ensuring the high quality and performance of the Region’s portfolio.
28. Ensure all reporting and communications are timely and of high quality.
29. Work jointly with countries and sectors for the key performance indicator (KPI) targets assigned to the Region; And
30. Play a key role and provide advice in the assigned country on economic, political, social and other developments relevant to the Bank’s operations in the country.
31. Uphold the mandate and purpose of the Region – provide direct and indirect operational support that contributes to the product and mandate of the region or country.

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SKILLS  (qualifications, experience and knowledge)

1. Hold at least a master’s degree in economics, social sciences, engineering, agriculture/forestry, business administration, public administration and knowledge of development issues.
2. Have at least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in the formulation and implementation of policies, programs and projects acquired either within the Bank, or with a similar development institution or in the public service.
3. Have a good knowledge of the Bank’s operational policies and procedures.
4. Have experience in the practice of procurement of goods/works and procurement of consultancy services in accordance with donor financing conditions.
5. Enjoy experience working in a team in a multicultural, multidisciplinary, international and professional environment.
6. Have relevant and mandatory experience acquired on the African continent. Having experience working in a state in transition (fragile state) would be an asset.
7. Have experience acquired within multilateral development finance institutions.
8. Have proven experience in preparing and/or reviewing operations in a multilateral financial institution.

Behavioral skills:

9. Innovation and creativity.
10. Client orientation.
11. Excellent interpersonal skills.
12. Excellent communication skills.
13. Professional expertise.
14. Dynamic and enterprising.
15. Relationship management skills.
16. Skills for exercising influence.
17. Determination.
18. Taking initiative/identification of opportunities/promotion of strategy.
19. High level organization and structuring.

Technical skills :

Business knowledge

20. Comprehensive understanding of project structures, including project planning, risk management strategy, issue management strategy, communication management strategy, with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the elements essential to effective delivery services and measuring the impacts of development through development projects and programs.
21. Ability to identify and create meaningful connections between different sectors.
22. Operational effectiveness skills to leverage all systems, procedures and culture within the organization to achieve required results.

Strategy implementation

23. Highly advanced strategic thinking skills combined with an ability to translate strategic concepts and directions into the implementation of feasible and sustainable projects and programs.

Negotiation

24. Highly developed and proven negotiation skills to produce positive effects with high-level stakeholders, both internal and external, and to understand when and how to apply tact, exercise influence, maintain a firm line, make or break relationships contacts, understand the unwritten lines of influence and behave accordingly.

Executing tasks to achieve results

25. High level of expertise in portfolio performance management.
26. Conducting effective, timely and well-designed interventions to achieve results.
27. Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural and decentralized organization.
28. Customer and results oriented, with strong analytical and communication skills (both oral and written), responsiveness, sense of precision and attention to detail.
29. Ability to build high-performance teams, build relationships and partnerships with a wide range of clients, both internal and external, for the effective delivery of results that meet the long-term needs and interests of clients within and across the outside the institution.

Management/leadership skills:

30. Ability to provide leadership in holistic thinking regarding program delivery and related issues.
31. Mentoring/coaching skills.

Abilities

32. Be able to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other language.
33. Be able to use standard MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint).

 

THIS POSITION HAS INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND IS ENTITLED TO THE RELATED CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.