National Strategy Advisor to the Resident Representative

Job Description

The National Strategy Advisor shall advise and support the Resident Representative in elaborating country strategies and portfolios as well as in implementing, monitoring, and evaluating country portfolios. The Advisor will also support the Resident Representative in pursuing third-party donor opportunities that are aligned with the Country portfolio. The job requires being attentive to new opportunities, detecting them, inferring what adjustments and possible new modes of action are needed and making them known (while observing transparency and controlling risks).

As a National Strategy Advisor, you will report directly to the Resident Representative.

Your main responsibilities and duties:

Result Area 1: Advisor for the Elaboration of Country strategies and portfolios (20%):
• You identify partner country institutions and organisations that could partner with the Belgian Development Co-operation;
• You support the Resident Representative in formulating an innovative country strategy proposal that is aligned with the partner country’s and Belgian priorities and fits the division of labour between donors;
• You support the Resident Representative in analysing the local actors, elaborating the results and framework of the country portfolio, identifying indicators and defining execution modalities of the country portfolio;
• You support the Resident Representative in preparing the country portfolio start up plan in close collaboration with the Enabel teams in the field and in its head office in Brussels;
• You support the Resident Representative in following up on the evolution of the national context, reading about and studying opportunities for adapting the country strategy and portfolio.

Result Area 2: Expert in Monitoring (20%):
• You work with the Intervention Managers to realise the baselines for the new interventions;
• You ensure that the indicator matrix of the country portfolio is updated, of high quality and consistent with Palestine’s development indicators;
• As Pilot Focal point, you provide advisory support and train staff in collaboration with the Intervention Managers;
• You support the use of data recorded in Pilot so that the Resident Representative has the necessary information with regard to the interventions;
• You support the Resident Representative in the  quarterly consultation meetings with the Intervention Managers;
• You prepare the quarterly MOPA of the Representation and submit it for approval to the Resident Representative;
• You actively support the Resident Representative in preparing the Annual Country Action plan;
• You liaise with the head office and the teams in the field for the Mid-term Reviews (MTR’s) and End of term Reviews (ETR’s); provide support for proper realisation of these evaluations;
• You support the Resident Representative in writing the annual report on the country portfolio implementation, particularly regarding the monitoring of the performance and development indicators of the interventions;
• At the request of the Resident Representative, you support the preparation of all meetings with partners and Intervention Managers (Joint consultation meetings, Steering Committee meetings) and participate if needed;
• You support the Resident Representative in analysing the relevance and sustainability of interventions;
• You contribute to the external communication with the Representation’s Communications Officer in order to highlight the development results achieved by the Enabel country Programme.

Your main responsibilities and duties

Result Area 3: Expert in Development Co-operation (15%)
• You analyse Palestine’s development policies, especially those regarding the priority sectors and themes of the Belgian co-operation and stay informed on the recent evolutions;
• you research and document information on sectors and themes of concentration by attending seminars, conferences, as well as networking with other key development partners in the country;
• You actively participate in technical work group meetings with other key players/donors in the development sector;
• You ensure that both positive and negative country portfolio implementation experiences are capitalised in order to ensure continuous improvement and formulate strategy recommendations for the Resident Representative;
• You participate in and feed a network with the strategic advisors of the other partner countries to exchange on the performance and development results of Enabel’s co-operation programmes and draw lessons learned from them.

Result Area 4: Advisor on development of Partnerships with partner country actors (15%):
• You develop and maintain relations with partner country institutions and organizations that are active or may become active in implementing the country portfolio; also documenting about these partner country actors;
• You propose to the Resident Representative, potential partnerships between partner country (Palestine) and Belgian public institutions;
• You provide back-stopping to the Intervention Managers for realising organization analyses of partner country actors;
• You pursue relations with partner country actors, third party procurement opportunities and proposes them to the Resident Representative.

Result Area 5: Advisor to the Resident Representative (30%):
• You ensure contacts, discussions and negotiations with the local authorities, in close collaboration with the Resident Representative;
• You support the Resident Representative in the preparation of meetings concerning the country portfolio and if necessary accompany him/her and prepare the necessary highlights of the meeting;
• You represent Enabel at official public events;
• You contribute to synergy with co-workers at the Representation to increase the visibility and operational efficiency of the Representation office.

Required qualifications

Master's degree relevant to the field of international development cooperation.

Required experience

Minimum 5 years of experience in public or private organisations operating in the development cooperation sector.

Required skills and knowledge

• Broad and in-depth understanding of partner country development policies;
• Knowledge of the Project cycle and the Logical Framework;
• Good Mastery of Monitoring and Evaluation systems;
• Experience with Organizational Analysis;
• Experience in the design of projects or programmes;
• Good knowledge of relevant Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools;
• Excellent oral and written communication, negotiating and networking skills;
• Experience in managing international co-operation programmes is an asset;
• You are fluent in spoken and written Arabic. Considering the international environment you work, excellent knowledge of English is required.

We offer you

• A fascinating job in an international environment.
• You are based in Jerusalem. Missions in the West Bank and Gaza are expected. 
• A salary package that comprises the monthly gross salary, in accordance with our salary scales (Class 6), and a 13-month bonus. The exact salary will be defined according to the relevant recognised experience for the function.

Enabel is committed to equal opportunities and diversity in its workforce. Recruitment is solely on the basis of capacity.