Business Development & Performance Management Specialist

Background about the Employer

F4J-CS is a Private Limited Company, based in Ramallah, with investment capital from local and international investors, and is responsible for performance management of impact investments aimed towards contracting and overseeing Service Providers that will provide youth employment services for Palestinian youth aged 18 to 29, in the West Bank and Gaza, with a minimum 30% female representation.

This impact investment is in the form of a Development Impact Bond (DIB), an outcomes-based contract that F4J-CS holds with DAI Global (DAI) that implements the Finance for Jobs (F4J) Project on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP), and with funding from the World Bank (WB).

Through DAI, the WB and the MoFP (as Outcome Funders) will repay F4J-CS if, and only if, the services succeed in achieving the targeted job outcomes, that will be checked by an Independent Verification Agent (IVA). Those proceeds will be used to fund on-going operations and repay investors.

Job Description

This is a full-time position, based in Ramallah, with an expected start date in October/November 2020. The position works within the DIB management team and reports directly to the DIB executive director. The position has three main functions:

First: Business Development

Build a pipeline of Quality Service Providers focused on job outcomes, instead of training inputs, to ensure Service Providers have an investable and ready-to-implement project design. These service providers might include Career centers, training companies, youth-focused NGOs, universities, private sector companies, etc. and deliver training and/or other career and employment services to achieve specific, pre-agreed upon training outputs and employment outcomes.

This function involves the following activities:

1. Run a clear and transparent Service Provider application and selection process, which will involve:

• Market engagement and awareness building sessions and meetings with potential Service Providers.
• Identification of potential market/employment opportunities which the programme could pursue.
• Preparing and management of a public “Call for Proposals”, and its bidding process (if needed).
• Review and assessment of applications, for shortlisting and selection.

2. Running of “Due-Diligence” process and “Know-your-client” checks for potential Service Providers, in coordination with the DIB management team.
3. Refinement of proposals through a co-design phase with these Service Providers (including the current pipeline, i.e. previously identified by the DIB team), prior to final selection and launch of services. This co-design phase is an opportunity for capacity building of these service providers to help them in their mind-shift from an input-based, to a results-based programming.
4. During co-design, he/she should help Service providers to:

• Identify subsectors and specific job lines which show the most promising signs of potential growth and employment absorption for their proposed programme.
• Realistically identify and estimate number of training outputs and job opportunities.
• Develop market linkages with potential employers to understand employer needs and identify employment opportunities for youth.
• Design career services and/or skills training to fit employers’ requirements (whether it is life, technical, language, or other type of skills or services).
• Develop the proper tools to plan, deliver, and manage an effective job placement programme.
• Design a program able to produce verifiable results that can be documented/evidenced and ready for the Independent Verification Process, to be held by the Independent Verification Agent (IVA). This is of special importance for programs that produce job results in the informal economy.
• Form partnerships with key market stakeholders to deliver the targeted employment outcomes. These partnerships will help break barriers and overcome obstacles that stand in the way of youth employment, and include employers, trade unions, chambers of commerce, ministries, etc.
• Budgeting their program and pricing it, to be able to produce cost effective results.

Note: The Business Development function is temporary, and should last 6-8 months, for around 40-50% Level of Effort (LOE), until the needed SP pipeline is completed, after which, this function will be gradually replaced with the Performance Management (M&E) function described below.

Second: Performance Management (Monitoring & Evaluation)

This function grows in Level of Effort (LoE) as it gradually replaces the Business Development function, and includes the following activities:

1. Oversee Service Providers’ follow-up and management as part of their ongoing capacity building during implementation and as part of overall program performance management (see third function).
2. Support field management of Service Providers and leading the evidencing of outputs and outcomes claim process across all contracted Service Providers;
3. Conduct field visits to Service Providers (to attend trainings, one-on-one coaching or mentorship, etc.), internship hosts, and employers, as needed, to ensure that SPs maintain robust processes and procedures for data collection and the gathering of evidence for outputs and outcomes;
4. Reviewing collected evidence of outputs and outcomes (collected by SPS) and preparing outcomes claims for submission to the Independent Verification Agent (IVA).
5. Conduct regular audits of Management Information System (MIS) data that is entered by Service Providers, to ensure reporting integrity is maintained by contracted Service Providers;
6. Compare paper documentation -uploaded onto the MIS system- to that entered onto the system, to ensure its integrity and that is free of common data entry errors.
7. Work with SPs to find alternative ways –acceptable to the IVA- to document outputs and outcomes in the case that the currently required evidence is not available or accessible to SPs.
8. Hold SPs accountable to meet and exceed their monthly and quarterly performance targets and help them develop plans to get them back on track in case of delays.
9. Develop and utilize operational dashboards, risk registers and analysis on current SP challenges and opportunities.
10. Use the lessons learned from the above processes to continually improve performance of SPs, their employment services, data collection, and documentation, and eventual employment of youth.

Third: Program Management Support

1. Works within the DIB management team and with the DIB advisor, Social Finance UK in tracking DIB level KPIs, including service provider costs, operational indicators, outputs and outcomes achieved at the DIB level.
2. Support the DIB management team in maintain strong relationships with Outcomes Funders and DIB investors and their Board representatives, through regular reporting and presentations.
3. Support the Financial Management Team to monitor the financial performance of the programme and prepare financial forecasts, mainly related to Service Provider performance.
4. Support the external DIB impact evaluation commissioned by the World Bank.
5. Other work, as needed and considered relevant under the Employee’s title and Job Description, including supporting general DIB operations management.

Jobs.ps, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Required qualifications, experience, education, and skills

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in economics, Business Administration, social sciences, or any related fields; a Master’s degree is highly preferred.
• At least 5 years of experience in international development, preferably focused on youth employment, private sector development, labour force and employment programs, or related fields, preferably through international development agencies, such as World Bank funded programs;
• Strong understanding of youth development issues and challenges, including higher education, unemployment, skills gap, etc.
• Experience working with local Service Providers, with experience in mentoring and coaching.
• Experience of project management in West Bank/Gaza;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Arabic, to deliver technical and management documents and reports;
• Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

Interested candidates should email a copy of their CV and covering letter explaining why you are qualified to fill this role and its three functions (especially the Business Development function).

Please send your emails to [email protected], with the title “F4J-CS Vacancy” in the subject line, no later than September 26, 2020. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.